airBaltic

Flew LGW to RIX return. Excellent service. Didn't have to put anything in the hold but I have before and I have used their online service to pay for it. This time was a backpack booked myself in online printed my ticket and went straight to security. Flights were all on time and if you want to buy food or drink on board that is available as well. Crew were very friendly. I would indeed fly them again and again.

When I fly a budget airlines I expect a budget experience Air Baltic was hardly a budget airline. Between baggage fees and airfare my ticket cost more than if I'd flown Lufthansa. I flew Air Baltic from VNO to LGW via RIX. The people on the Vilnius-Riga leg were friendly enough but the system for check in was ridiculous. I was traveling on a business class ticket which meant I was allowed 2 pieces of hand luggage even according to the sign at check-in. Yet the woman insisted that I was only permitted one. I also knew I might have to pay for my checked bags. Fine but simply printing my boarding passes took roughly 35 minutes from the time I got to the counter. The woman at check in had to call someone else to get prices even though I knew it was €40 per bag. Then another woman had to come down to take my payment. She came but then had to leave before taking my payment. I was asked to wait for her to come back. I finally got my boarding passes but was still waiting to pay. After waiting for about 15 minutes they told me to go up to the ticketing office to pay there. So I went upstairs and stood in line for another 45 minutes. There was only one woman working. I felt bad for her but she was incredibly slow. There was no priority given to large number of people who had to pay and still get through security. Instead she handled lengthy non-time sensitive matters first. By the time I made it out of the ticketing office the security line was horrendously backed up. I barely made it through security in time. Again people were friendly on the plane but the aircraft was old and didn't look particularly well maintained. On top of that the landing in Riga was one of the worst I have experienced in quite some time. Do yourself a favor if you can and fly another airline.

I recently travelled from Budapest to Riga and found the whole experience totally unprofessional and unacceptable. I had to pay additional fees for check in and baggage which I have never experienced before. The plane was old the service was terrible. I will never fly with them again. The attitude of the staff was terrible with little or no explanation. Stay away do not fly with these people.

Having recently flown from London Gatwick to Riga and on to St Petersburg and returned. I can honestly say this is the worst airline I have encountered. Not for the plane or cabin staff or indeed punctuality. But by their shambolic systems and un-user friendly attitude rules and regulations. Otherwise have illustrated their ludicrous check in policy/costs and exorbitant charges in more and better detail than I as a transfer passenger you are simply left to your own devices and ignored. If there is an alternative to wherever you wish to fly to please take it.

I flew from BRU-RIX-HEL-RIX-BRU between Dec 29 and Jan 5th. If flying with them I would recommend familiarizing yourself with their baggage policies especially if booking via eDreams because it is not pointed out very conspicuously. I ended up paying nearly 80 Euros for my baggage which I thought was included in the ticket price. My ticket cost about the same as my SK flights between BRU and HEL during the same period last year which included one checked bag. They are also anal retentive about the 20kg limit. My suitcase weighed 218 kg and the check in clerk made me remove stuff to get it under the 20kg limit. This really makes no sense for two reasons. 1) It went in my hand luggage which was transported on the same aircraft. The 1.9 kg that went in my hand luggage was unlikely to put the 737 over its MTOW. 2) It encourages oversized hand luggage. There was no enforcement of the 8kg and max physical size rule. On a small aircraft like a Dash-8 this can create huge problems in the event of an evacuation. My transit experience at their home base of RIX was absolutely fine. There were more than adequate food options which for the EU were reasonably priced. Very good free wifi as well. I had to stay at the airport overnight for my connection to BRU and found some very comfortable leather couches in one of the bar areas which was kept open overnight. On the return flight I was confused as to how they picked their aircraft choice. Jumping the puddle from HEL-RIX was done using a Boeing 737. However flying the 2hr 40mins from RIX-BRU was completed inside a Dash 8 puddle jumper. This is illogical. The seats were cramped for this length of flight and this was quite possibly the first time in my life that I did not at least enjoy the 'flying' portion of a flight. While the cabin crew was friendly and professional and the aircraft were for all intents and purposes spotless I don't think I would recommend the airline. When I added up the hassles over baggage and the extra fees I could have easily flown SK for the same price. Air Baltic needs to either be slightly more flexible in its baggage policies or lower their ticket prices significantly. For a LCC it is overpriced.

Before booking with them I'd read the reviews here and was in two minds whether to fly with them or not. I booked LGW to RIX and after a long weekend in Riga booked onwards to LED. The only hiccup I had was the online check-in for my Gatwick to Riga flight but an email was responded to promptly and the problem sorted. Both flights were totally hassle-free the price was right staff were friendly and attentive and I have no complaints whatsoever. Even the onboard snack and drinks selection I didn't find particularly expensive.

I was flying with my 13 year old son from Milan to Helsinki via Riga 17th Oct 2014 flight BT630. There was a passenger who obviously had consumed considerable amount of alcohol and was behaving aggressively and disturbed us. The cabin crew continued serving more alcohol to him. The head of the crew did not offer any help to us but instead of offering to change seats. Me and my son were extremely upset and disappointed with the staff.

No problem with online check-in - had booked tickets using Air Baltic website at a good price paid for hold luggage when booking so all very easy until reaching Tallinn airport. Flight was to Stockholm with a transfer at Riga and first leg was delayed for an hour. Staff had no idea why but our Air Baltic connection could have waited as there were about 20 of us on the same route. The reason for the delay according to the aircrew was a technical fault and a wait for the replacement aircraft the transfer desk said it was bad weather either way we had a wait of over 3 hours at Riga with a voucher for a biscuit and undrinkable coffee. Got into Stockholm 4 hours later than planned. The lesson to be learnt here is never take such a short flight with a transfer and avoid the last flight of the day from the carrier to your chosen destination as small delays during the day build up to a big one in the end otherwise everything was fine.

Surprisingly pleasant experience despite prior scepticism. Properly educating yourself of Air Baltic's policies in advance is likely key here. AMS-RIX-ARN in Y solely for a 22-hour layover to see a bit of Riga. Paid baggage fees in advance checked in online. Staff in AMS and RIX pleasant and quick. No hassle picking up checked bags at RIX and re-checking next morning. Though we were very careful it turned out that hand luggage was never weighed in either AMS or RIX. Many frequent passengers with heavier bags did not seem concerned so I somewhat suspect this policy may be (very sensibly) a bit more relaxed now than it was; will go a long way for goodwill. Crews on both flights were attentive and surprisingly smiley for Eastern Europe (not a judgement just unexpected). Flights on time. B733 old but clean Q400 newer and also clean. Legroom standard for short European flights. Overall a pleasant experience. Would be cautiously optimistic to fly with BT again to RIX or if fares were significantly less than SK or KL on this route. Would recommend with caveat that one should carefully learn policies before booking.

Short 50-minute hops on Dash 8 Q400s TLL-RIX and RIX-VNO. I had booked my tickets via an online booking agency so was dismayed to be informed on checking in at TLL that I would be charged a supplementary fee. Fearing that this would be a swoon-inducing off-the-scale penalty as imposed by certain budget airlines I was relieved that the charge was only EUR 10. Furthermore I was advised I could upgrade to an extra comfort seat with no-one next to me this for another EUR 20. Done deal off I went happy - only to discover that the flight was only one-third full and we all had ample space. Two days later at RIX I presented myself at the ticket sales desk to request payment of the check-in supplement only to be directed to a self-check-in machine at zero extra cost. This flight was also one-third full. At least I can say that Air Baltic was very charming when they relieved me of my EUR 30 at TLL.