Air Baltic

Checked luggage in Riga to Amsterdam. When picked up luggage was caved in on one side and extendable handle was broken in half. Submitted claim, got on email back telling us to take to a luggage repair for evaluation, however I’m in USA and airBaltic authorized shops are in Europe. Wrote back indicating the problem and have heard nothing since nothing since. Very bad customer service, do NOT use this airline.

The real problems began on our return flight from Riga to Reykjavik
We had the Same exact hand baggage and same contents as on the outbound yet at that return gate in Riga we were literally accosted by two female attendants who demanded that we put our carry-on baggage through their size and weight scale. We had two bags that were over weight by less than 1 kg. The blonde female attendant militantly yelled, “you are overweight, you must pay 120 euros NOW!” We could have rearranged the contents in the bags if we had less pressure but she just kept repeating it and yelling the same thing over and over. The two attendants kept moving toward us crowding us and pointing us to the desk where “we must pay right now!” It was insane. They are so militant that I could not think straight. It was terribly embarrassing and intimidating.

I have had multiple bad experiences with this airline. As others have mentioned, do NOT book a flight with a short transfer in Riga. The distance between the Schengen and non-Schengen parts of the airport can be huge, and the incoming flights are frequently late. If you make the flight, your bag surely will not. Just don’t do it! The other really bad experience I’ve had is with buying tickets on their site. It’s tempting because it’s cheaper than Expedia, etc., but don’t do it!! They don’t confirm that you have the flight at all until the next day, and the website frequently crashes. If you think you don’t have a ticket and buy another one, you may not get a refund if you don’t notice it in time, or if there is any difference in the times. Customer service are robots with no discretion to deal with such situations. If you must fly this airline, use Expedia!

This airline uses nice new equipment and the staff are nicely dressed. Don’t be deceived, however – this is not a modern European airline! More like Aeroflot of the ’90’s in the way it actually works.

Perfectly reasonable airline. Very punctual and professional. ESPECIALLY once you consider that this is a medium-low cost airline. I’ve not flown better in this category… perhaps Nowegian could be a great alternative too. Inflight prices are comparable with other airlines. Beats every single US airline I’ve ever experienced and is short on comfort when compared against most premium airlines from Europe. My only genuine criticism is that the staff as professional as they are – sometimes forget that they are dealing with people, so a smile or 2 wouldn’t hurt. I do have to say though that I’d rate it noticeably lower if this was a premium airline, which it is not, though people seem to forget.

MUC-EFL, I actually booked with condor but the flight was operated by air baltic! service mediocre! staff surly, indifferent, no smiles! flight delayed by 30 minutes. Plane an old 737-700, very very old, maybe from the early 00’s. You need to buy everything onboard which is a rip off because condor service is free of charge… at least on my past flights with them it used to be! on arrival everything is a caos, but that’s not air baltic’s fault, Greece is a third world country… anyways, be aware! you get what you pay for… do not expect anything nice from them.