Flying from Berlin to Tallin

There are nightmare reviews of every airline. I have managed to avoid RyanAir, which has some policies that seem particularly unfriendly, but I wouldn't put EasyJet in that category. I've flown EasyJet twice with no problems--which I realize means absolutely zilch.

Personally, I'd choose EasyJet over Air Baltic even if both flights were non-stop jets simply because EasyJet is more of a known quantity to me. In this case, I'd eliminate Air Baltic immediately.

There's no issues with either. What exactly are you concerned about?

I flew airBaltic last summer (from Amsterdam to Vilnius). It was fine. It was no different from any other airline. I also flew around Eastern Europe on "prop" planes and experienced no issues at all. I've flown on EasyJet before and would do so again without any worries.

Nightmare reviews? Well, a lot of people don't understand how "low cost airlines" (LCC) work and ignore their rules - I'd venture those folks are the source of most "nightmare reviews". (For that matter, which airlines don't have "nightmare reviews" posted online these days? Good luck finding some.) Both of these airlines are LCCs to various degrees.

EasyJet is well know and is very low cost. It's a huge operation used by thousands of passengers every day. airBaltic is less well known here, but is a pretty big regional player across eastern Europe (you can fly on airBaltic from Iceland to Kazakhstan!). airBaltic isn't quite the super-low-cost carrier that EasyJet is, in fact they provide more/better service than most US airlines (eg they'll give you a free soft drink and little pack of nuts/chips on their flights, you would have to pay extra for that on EasyJet).

You just need to know about all their rules on bag limits, how/when to check-in, etc. (but that's true for any airline you might fly nowadays). If you blithely ignore the rules, then you'll be one of those people posting a "nightmare" review afterwards.

Bottom line: Both airlines are fine. I would fly either one without any concerns whatsoever.

I've not flown AirBaltic so I cannot comment on them. I've flown prop planes on several occasions, primarily Flybe, an apparent low cost airline in the UK and once from Charlotte NC to Hilton Head with, if I recall rightly, United. That was, by far, the worst aircraft I've ever flown on. I don't know how old it was but the seats were barely holding together and the ceiling was leaking water. The Flybe planes were fine so don't rule out flying prop.

The two flights I've flown with Easyjet were not perfect but they were not terrible.

Easyjet is fine as long as you are clear on the rules. Most importantly, make sure that you know the size limits for hand luggage, and that you are aware that you have to check in online and either print out your own boarding pass or have it saved on a mobile device.

I've flown on propeller planes a couple of times and with large, modern turbo-props there's no difference to jets. You're not going to be in some little unpressurised bush plane between two cities that size.

I just booked a ticket from Vilnius to Budapest on Air Baltic--they are based in Riga so it stops there, no direct options that I could find anywhere on the internet. Despite vowing to travel carry-on, the weight limit of 17 lbs total for suitcase and personal item on their Basic Economy made me choose their Economy Premium ticket which allows me to check my suitcase--for a 2 week trip I know my suitcase will be about 22 lbs. If direct is possible, I'd do that if I were you. I hope you love Tallinn--I'm making my second visit there during this trip and it's just such a gorgeous place.

Thank you all for your responses. I have flown in prop planes before, and the experiences were varied. One thing they all had in common was that they were extremely noisy. I realize that reviews skew negative, which is why I asked you all for your opinions, thinking that this travel board is frequented by people with more realistic expectations and experience with the European low cost airlines. We have used Vueling several times and have been very pleased with the airline, where others have trashed them. I appreciate everyone's point of view and experience.

Having flown the Q400 many times I found the first 2 rows and the last 2 rows to be the quietest. ( Yes, the back 2 rows are quiet)

I would take a Q400 for that distance to get a non-stop flight.

I've also flown on both easyJet and airBaltic. I had good experiences on both, but, as the others mentioned, I just made sure that I knew their rules for things like cabin baggage allowances and check-in time. Both airlines will strictly enforce luggage dimension and weight limits on cabin baggage. If you play by the rules, you will have no problem with either airline.

I flew an Air Baltic Q400 (prop) from Tallinn to Riga this summer, and it was fine -- kind of fun, actually, as I hadn't been on a prop in a while. I personally would choose a non-stop flight on a Q400 over connecting flights on jets. If it makes you feel better about Air Baltic, they have a codeshare agreement with KLM (meaning KLM will sell airBaltic flights with a KLM flight number [e.g, KLM flight 3023 operated by airBaltic]).