airBaltic

airBaltic was let down on this flight by the totally unprofessional ground handling agents at gate D2 this afternoon. The gate staff were more interested in playing with their mobile phones than doing the job they are paid to do. The inbound aircraft that was used for the flight was late. This meant the flight to London was going to be delayed. The gate staff were rude, unhelpful and let the airline, airport and Latvia down. Having been Cabin Crew myself, I know that it takes minutes to turn an aircraft around and do a crew change. The gate staff gave misinformation to flyers which in my book is a big no no. There were an American Family who were flying from Heathrow later this evening and others who wanted to let people meeting them know that the flight was going to be late but the gate staff did not care less. The answers that were given ranged from the aircraft is not here yet to the aircraft will be in London at 5pm. The aircraft crew were first class and professional both the cockpit and cabin crew apologised for the delay. The service was slick and professional. The Cabin menu is tasty and fresh. The coffee tasted like coffee rather than the lukewarm water on some airlines offer. The flight arrived 35 minutes late and was held in a holding pattern over Kent as we had missed our slot, I got the impression that the pilots did attempt to make up some of the lost time. I am looking forward to flying on the new aircraft that are entering service later this year.

Flew airBaltic from London Gatwick to Riga, Latvia. I have flown with the airline quite a few times and have had some bad, ok and good flights. This was one of the better ones, the cabin crew were very friendly and did not attempt any hard sell. They seem to have the pleasure in their work and smiled at all times. The announcements were clear. It was nice to hear updates from the cockpit telling us the weather and route taken. The aircraft was clean despite a 30 minute turn round at Gatwick. The food available for purchase was first class and tasty. The Salmon flat bread was to die for it actually looked fresh and could of passed for made to order. The prices for food and drink are some of the best I have seen for a while. Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to travelling on the new aircraft which should be in service later this year. Can I suggest that wifi is available on them and also please operate from London City airport? The reason for the low mark for ground service is due to the agents at Gatwick.

Berlin Tegel-Riga-Warsaw aboard 737-300 and 500. Aircraft's were clean and comfy despite the fact that they weren't new. Big legroom in standard seats and in the emergency row legroom was the biggest I've seen. Staff very polite and helpful. Both flights were on time. As it is a low cost airline, nothing is served for free. There are on board sales with quite a large choice but prices are also quite high (compared to other carriers). Price for the flights was really low. It was the cheapest fare, hand luggage is included along with online check in. If airBaltic is the cheapest choice you should try them.

I wrote a review previously which was not heaping praise on this airline. Following the review a representative of airBaltic contacted me offering an apology for the failure in service. I was pleased they are actually listening to passengers and it has made a great difference in how I view them and would recommend them as they are at least mindful of their customers views.

I had an excellent experience with airBaltic from Barcelona to Stockholm via Riga. The trip was very cheap, on-time, and high quality. I needed customer service' help in order to book an animal in the cabin, and they answered my call swiftly and with clear English on a Saturday morning. Despite there being two animals booked on the flight already, the lady made the effort to contact a senior member of staff out-of-hours, on his weekend, so she could override the system so that I may fly back home. She then called me back to tell me my booking was confirmed within the hour. She told me to arrive early to the airport so that Customer Service could be at my assistance in case anyone opposed the booking, and told me not to check-in online, but to do so at the airport at no extra charge. At the airport, I had no trouble checking in, and was not charged extra. No other airline has ever gone through that sort of trouble for me. I highly recommend airBaltic. Just beware of the non-classical luggage permission: 20kg checked luggage and 8kg total in the cabin over a maximum of two items. Not that they checked my luggage!

airBaltic flight from Vilnius via Riga to Helsinki. First leg was 30 min. Got even service and pre-ordered meal. FAs professional and friendly. The flight from Riga to Helsinki quite same service level. Only thing that I can complain was that the FAs rushed through the cabin to talk with each other. Not very professional. I still recommend this airline and will fly again. Low cost carrier. You get what you pay.

Flew airBaltic from London to St Petersburg via Riga. Really rude and unhelpful staff. Unbelievably strict and inflexible baggage policy. Punitive charges for going even a kilogram over (£38 flat fee for anything more than 20kg). For the first time ever, staff weighed everything I owned, both checked, cabin and shopping bag. They probably would have asked me to empty my pockets if they could have. All this after a disingenuous booking process that didn't properly reveal that checked baggage wasn't included in the price (buying allowance at the gate cost €80.) In total, I paid €126.43 on top of tickets that were not cheap to begin with. Worse than Ryanair.

Gatwick to Helsinki via Riga. airBaltic is a strictly budget airline in service but not in the cost of its fares. They charge extra for everything and if you did not book directly from their website you have to go through a strange and complicated procedure to book seats and meals etc. Both flights were late. RIX to HEL no explanation was given nor apology. Service by crew was efficient and quite friendly. The food pre-ordered was terrible. Greasy. No taste whatsoever. I did not eat the salad. I ordered wine because no beer was on offer on the pre-order. They refused to swap my wine to beer on the flight though would have sold me a beer separately. No thanks. All in all an ok flight but very let down by awful and expensive food and lateness.

Everything's smooth. Boarding. Pre-ordered meal was a good surprise. Value for money. Flights on time. Even ahead. As a low cost carrier can recommend. The baggage fee is truly high. So the plane is full of hand luggage even bigger than allowed as a hand baggage. No place for winter jackets.

Airbaltic is a discount airline, with discount service. Entered the Airport in Riga approx 40 minutes before deadline for luggage drop-off, as we checked in online. Due to heavy load of Christmas travelers we had to wait 50 minutes for baggage drop off. In the beginning 3 counters was open but eventually the 2 of them closed down and a single counter was the only one to deal with all these passengers. Luckily the flight ended up being delayed so we made it, but several wasn't that lucky. The support and the level of information from airbaltic was none existing.