Riga Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Riga airport is a nice and clean airport with plenty of shops. There is a lot of seats with power plugs in it, so you won't run out of battery. The design of this airport is scandavian, so you can see wood everywhere and the view from gates are really good. It is a small airport, but worth trying.

Not Verified | I travel all over Europe and the US and have never seen a longer security line than Riga Airport. It is worse than even Denver (#2), worse than Boston (#3), and who can forget Geneva on any Monday morning (Dishonourable Mention). On my last trip (and I live in Riga), I wasted about 45 minutes standing in the queue. Never had the opportunity to have the breakfast that I expected. I would think that the store keepers and restaurants at RIX would be up in arms because their potential passengers are waiting rather than buying.

✅ Trip Verified | Well the arrival was something very much like an arrival at London Stansted not Riga. You have an aircraft, which needs steps, and a coach to take passengers to the arrival terminal, Yes you have guessed it! Aircraft arrives, no steps, a ten minute wait while a set of steps appear, bear in mind there is a rear and front door to an aircraft (not rocket science is it?). Then another wait while the coach to take us to the arrivals terminal. Yes the driver must of attended Basil Fawltys school of logic, he dropped a full coach of passengers off at the most distant door possible. Well all this is due to the cowboy ground handling company at the Airport whos staff must of worked at Stansted or at least its Duty Management team. I will name and shame the company they are called HAVAS and have the monopoly at RIGA airport. The border control point at Riga terminal C have a new green approach and like to sit in the dark, maybe its the case of not liking working. All desks had staff but only 3 of the 8 were lit? Yes you have guessed it, queues soon formed at those desks! Maybe the Latvian border service should remove the little boxes and go open plan so people can see which gates are open? After 5 minutes people soon started to use the dark desks much to the surprise of the officers. Maybe it is time to get some Epass gates at the airport? Then on to baggage reclaim and a 30 minute wait before the bags appeared. Time from landing to clearing customs 45 minutes in my time of visiting Riga since 2005 has ever taken that long! Thank you HAVAS for been so incompetent. Air Baltic you need to find another ground handling agent at Riga ASAP. Yet on departure, I expected the same carry on but it was completely different, plenty of staff at the checkin, and gate. The turn round team on the pan had plenty of staff, 2 sets of steps. The staff were smiling and friendly from Checkin to broading. Even the security team which in most airports get bad press were friendly and polite. On the departure air-side area there plenty of places to eat and drink and there looks to be some construction work been under taken to extend the range of places to eat and shop.

✅ Trip Verified | I am a regular traveler through Riga Airport, I tend to use Ryanair from EMA Airport which is close to where I live and from Riga to other parts of Europe the airport has good connections. However it is becoming frustrating sometimes dealing with some staff at gates, the majority are very arrogant, rude and have no manners in dealing with travellers, even the elderly and travellers with children. I decided to write after experiencing the same attitude and rudeness several times. They have forced people, old, families with children and others to clear a seating area for no reason! Riga Airport have spent so much money on expanding the airport, maybe they need to spend some on educating their staff on European manners and some customer service ethics. I have never experienced such attitude and such service at any international airport I have been to. Pushing people and make them stand and wait in un-organised manner, and blocking access is risky and dangerous in the event of an emergency.

✅ Trip Verified | I enjoy traveling via Riga Airport due to direct flight to EMA. However it is becoming frustrating sometimes dealing with some staff at gates, as some are very arrogant, rude and have no manners in dealing with travellers. I decided to write after experiencing the same attitude and rudeness several times. I was flying to EMA flight number FR1665, and waiting in the waiting area showing in the photo, and one of the employee was forcing an old man and his wife who had priority boarding to move backwards. When they asked if they can sit and wait, and they pointed they wanted to sit in the area where I was sat, the employee said no, and asked me to get up and leave. When I told him I had a back problem and I already had priority boarding and will sit till he decided where the priority passengers line is. He refused and spoke in a very rude manner and said that that seating cannot be used during boarding. I have never experienced such attitude and such service at any international airport I have been to. Pushing people and make them stand and wait in un-organised manner, and blocking access is a risky and dangerous in event of emergency. As I understand, that your aim is to get more people to use Riga Airport as an International travel hub, but such behavior will put people off from traveling via Riga.

✅ Trip Verified | Avoid at all costs! I travel round the world and fly to various countries at least 4-5 times per month and Riga airport is the worst airport I've ever been to! The people working at this facility are the most unprofessional and rude I've encountered. The worker at the checks was the worst customer service I've met at airports. He took my 1 litre size transperent cosmetics bag, without asking my permission threw everything out, repacked it in a small plastic bag and when he couldn't squeeze one small bottle with last few drops of face cleanser, he told me I should throw away this bottle. I refused and he took the bottle and emptied these last drops into a garbage bin again without asking my permission. I'm absolutely flabbergasted with the airport practices. If I have to fly, I would never come back to Riga again just to avoid this terrible airport. Riga itself is nice but airport personnel destroy the impression of the country.

✅ Verified Review | I have been using Riga Airport for the past 12 years and in this time it has grown in both the volume and number of carriers using the airport. Over the past 18 months they have built a second terminal and improved the airside facilities. The new terminal is joined to the old one by a corridor and has displays of the planned building of the rail link into Riga, and connection to the European Rail network which will link the Baltic to Germany via Poland. The Security screening areas are currently undergoing a refurbishment and enlargement programme so there are queue's at peak times, however with a little thought these can be minor. The Security staff are polite, professional and helpful. They smile and say please and thank you. The Border control staff again are polite and helpful. The check in and gate staff seem to of been given Customer Service Training and beat some of the ones employed at UK airports. There is a good selection of Duty Free and Food Outlets in the terminal building both landside and airside, which serve a wide section of hot and cold food, along with a wide range of drinks. The terminals are light and airy and modern. They are also spotless. On arrival I was out of the terminal with 15 minutes and had a 5 minute wait fr my hold baggage. On departure the process took 10 minutes has my flight was a mid afternoon one.

✅ Verified Review | I have been using Riga since 2005 and have seen the airport grow, and this trip to Riga was the first since the new layout became operational with the new terminal in use. The planning has made this a painless exercise for the traveller, from check in to boarding and from arrival to clearing the control point. I arrived on a Air Baltic flight from Berlin Tegel and it was the Aircraft Captaiins last flight before retiring and we were welcomed by the traditional spraying of the Aircraft in water by the Airport Fire Service. On arrival at the stand a bus was waiting to take us to the terminal and our bags were in reclaim within minutes. Outside there was plenty of taxis waiting for the fixed price ride into the city of 15 euro. Departure could not be faulted, I was able to check my bags in to my final destination at the airport and the check in staff even reissued my boarding pass for me. The terminal was not busy and security was quiet but had every lane open. The security staff were pleasant and polite. There are plenty of coffee shops and a good range of Duty Free Shops. Boarding was quick and the painless the gate staff were smart and efficient.

✅ Verified Review | Over the past seven years of constant travelling throughout European airports, I have never come across such a poorly managed fast track security desk than at the Riga International airport. I've arrived at the airport 1.5 hours prior to my departure time. Having reached security, there was large queue and I decided to buy a fast track ticket at an additional cost. Upon my arrival at the fast track section there were seven passengers ahead of me. The section was being managed by a one member of staff. All of a sudden a large mob of passengers (of up to 50) appeared behind me and were extremely rude and hostile. The large crowd of people seemed to overwhelm the one staff member present. They demanded that they should be allowed to skip the queue as they had a business class ticket on a scheduled Aeroflot flight to Moscow. By the time I finally passed security and reached the gate of my flight, the Ryanair crew couldn’t let me board the plane as they had closed the flight albeit we had missed deadline by one minute. I am shocked at the behaviour of the staff at Riga International Airport, firstly for charging for a service they don’t seem to operate (fast track) and secondly for not having any security. The airport seems to have a laissez faire attitude to the standard rules and protocol in terms to queues and indeed Airport policy. After my complaint submission I received an email saying that I should have consulted social media. I appreciate airports can be busy places with periods fluctuating but surely it is down to the Airport to plan and foresee such circumstances as well as deal with consequences of poor customer service, and this was a occurrence that could have easily been prevented by having more staff on.

I have over the 11 years used Riga Airport, and have seen it grow in size. On Saturday we arrived on an Air Baltic flight. From the aircraft parking on the stand to exiting from main door took 20 minutes. The aircraft parked at a distant stand and the steps were at the aircraft within a few minutes has were a fleet of buses to take us to the terminal. The passport controls took minutes due to having 6 or 8 desks open and has you walk into baggage reclaim, the cases were arriving so there was no waiting. The staff encountered all smiled and were polite.