Air Baltic , anyone?

My one flight with them would have been in 2020, so I can only report that they promptly refunded my money when the flight was cancelled.

Thanks @CWsocial. Probably I should have looked into cancellation frequencies too. Sigh

In case it's not obvious, that was during the time in 2020 when most flights were cancelled.

I flew them last year. No problems. New planes, English speaking crews and gate agents. On time.

I bought my ticket a few hours before the flight via the app. No problems and I got a seat assignment.

I wouldn't hesitate to fly them again. In fact, I might be this spring.

Where are you connecting?

We flew them last fall as the connecting flight with Swiss Air between Zurich and Venice then Milan and Zurich. They were very strict on carryon size. One of their agents was going around the waiting area looking at bags. Our RS Ravenna carryon rolling bags were no where near their baggage size limits and had to be gate checked. The planes were older with large bins but maybe less and smaller carryons meant quicker boarding and deplaning times. There was nothing wrong with the flights and the crew was pleasant.

We flew them in 2021 just after Covid from Vilnius to Tallinn via Riga. The flights were on new planes, on time, and no issue with baggage though I’m fairly sure that I included a checked bag in my ticket.

Not sure why the disappointment- is it because your carry on is over 8 Kg or because you can’t get a seat assignment on a short flight. If the latter, do online check-in when it opens and grab a seat

Why didn't you select your seat at the time of booking? If your are flying economy you have to pay for it. Not sure why you are talking about calling them either - they have seat reservation functionality on their website- does it not work for you? https://www.airbaltic.com/en/extra-services/seat-reservation

All European airlines are strict on carryon baggage. If the airline T&Cs say 8kg and they catch you with more than 8kg, you have to pay for putting it in the hold. Same for the measurements- if it's too big, you pay extra.

https://www.airbaltic.com/en/baggage/cabin-baggage?

Cabin bag allowance clearly spelled out
If cabin baggage exceeds the allowed size or weight limits, passengers will be required to pay a €30 fee for heavy hand baggage. For comfort or security reasons, extra or oversized cabin baggage (special conditions for toys may apply; see details below) may be refused at the boarding gate or, if available, placed in the aircraft hold. In such cases, passengers will need to pay a €75 check-in baggage fee.

Are you stitching together 2 separately ticketed same day flights to get home? If so, I think the majority here would suggest you give that idea a very hard second think.

Thanks @ CWsocial the 2020 actually wasn't obvious to me lol. My leisure mind homunculus was taken over by Air Baltic worries, and I forgot about Covid.

Also thanks @Frank II - connecting in Zurich.

Thanks @Margie - that's what I'm afraid of, having to check bags. I'm not really paying bargain air prices for flight. It sounds like you handled things gracefully.

I called major US airline again (from whom I bought the tickets). They connected me to someone at Air Baltic, who said most likely flight was being managed by Swiss Air, so I guess I'll search there for directions.

@qq The partner airline (a major US carrier) is where I bought my ticket from. They said I have to contact the airline directly, that they don't assign seats for codeshare partners.

@joe32F I'm not "stitching together 2 separately ticked same day flights to get home." Maybe my US-based carrier is though! lol/col. No, this is one ticket bought from a major domestic carrier, the return leg - trying to leave a European city that's not a hub and get back home in 2 flights or less.

The flight is about an hour. If you have to share a seat with a rabbit, you will live. But sorry you are going through it.

About that 6:30 am flight your opted out of. Because the airport in Budapest is so simple and so close to the city, think of it as a 7 am flight. In other words, you could have gottnen in the taxi at 4:30+ .... still a bit nutty, but I've done it dozens of times.

If you're taking Air Baltic, then you are not flying direct to Zurich. You are connecting in Riga, Latvia. So your flight will be.....

Budapest--Riga--Zurich--Home.

Air Baltic does not fly directly from Budapest to Zurich. Only Swiss Airlines does. If it is nonstop, then you are on an Air Baltic codeshare with Swiss.

You should also know that Air Baltic, Lufthansa and Swiss all limit your carry on to 8 kg.

And, again, if you are flying the cheapest ticket possible, you may not be able to reserve a seat more than 24 hours prior to flight. (When you check in.)

You need to read the rules for your fare.

If you are not sure which airline operates your flight, although it should say something like "operated by...." give us the flight number and we can tell you.

And....if you are flying the cheapest possible ticket, you will pay
extra to bring your carry on with you. You only get a bag the size of
a personal item to take on for free.

May 7 Budapest to Frankfurt

Lufthansa Basic Economy 46.600 ft. (52.200 ft with the seat)
Rebooking Not possible
Refundability Not possible
Carry-on bags 1 x 8kg (18lb) pretty standard 55 x 40 x 23
Onboard catering Refreshment
The seat is an additional 5.600 ft. which you can buy when make your reserviation.
And you can bring a personal item not larger than 30 x 40 x 10 which is sort of on the small size
https://www.lufthansa.com/jo/en/carry-on-baggage

Lufthansa Economy Classic 63.500 ft
Rebooking HUF 28,000 per passenger plus fare difference
Refundability Not possible
Carry-on bags 1 x 8kg (18lb) pretty standard 55 x 40 x 23
Checked baggage 1× 23kg (50lb)
Seat reservation (where available) Included
Onboard catering Refreshment
And you can bring a personal item not larger than 30 x 40 x 10 which is sort of on the small size
https://www.lufthansa.com/jo/en/carry-on-baggage

I checked Swiss and Baltic, the lowest Economy class for both permits carry on and a personal item. I suspect, but didnt confirm, that they will let you buy a seat when you buy your ticket. But you will discover the answer to that when you start the booking process and before you pay.

I had an interesting but overall good experience on Air Baltic in 2019--Vilnius to Budapest, short stop in Riga where a large group of severely inebriated sports fans of some kind boarded...this was around 10 am. Much unsteady trundling up and down the aisles, shouting, a few tussling matches ensued, until the flight attendents alerted the pilot and whatever was announced in a language I didn't recognize over the loudspeakers promptly shut them down. Many sheepishly apologized as they disembarked in Budapest. I booked on their website and recall my ticket was cheap, I was able to select a seat and had a checked bag and brought a large tote bag and my purse onboard--I don't recall a fee for any of that.

I would go with the 6:30 Lufthansa flight, personally--have done that one several times.

We got back from Vilnius yesterday. The flight was on AirBaltic at 7:50 am to Amsterdam, from Amsterdam KLM to Washington DC. The specs for carryon bags for AirBaltic and KLM are the same, and yes, they are pretty strict.

Although our luggage was sized correctly, the weight was a problem. They take it very seriously indeed. Next time we will check bags.

We had economy seats both ways, and were seated together. This is an economy airline — this means that everything is extra— water and coffee are not free.

Upside? AirBaltic planes were clean and new. And they were on time.

(PS: This was the second time we traveled on AirBaltic and it was fine both trips.)

Interesting what Joe posted about charging if the bag has to be gate checked. We weren’t charged but maybe it was because we had come off a Swiss International where our carryons’ size was fine and it was the Swiss connection. Who knows but I just checked the maximum size requirements for Swiss and we were within it. There was no indication, ticket or at the gate, that we would be on an Air Baltic plane until we were bussed out to it. I have this feeling that we’re going to have to check our bags on all flights in the near future after seeing only the very small bags being allowed into the cabin on these connecting flights.