I recently flew on a United Flight from the USA to Finland. Last two legs were on Air Baltic. The first leg was from Dublin to Riga and second from Riga to Tampere. I was flying with only one carry on bag and did not check in any bags inspite of having an allowance to check in all the way to my final destination. Shockingly on the last leg from Riga I was asked to pay for my carry on bag. I told them that I am coming from an international flight where this carry on bag was allowed. They would not budge. I also said that I have already a checked bag allowance that I am not even using. Still no budging. They did not even say I could check my carry on bag. Insisted on charging me for the carry on bag. The flight was already boarded and I just paid and decided to report it. After my journey I emailed customer service and they just directed me to Consumer Rights Protection Centre (www.ptac.gov.lv). Has anyone gone through the same? Any advice?
Would never fly Air Baltic again for sure but I want to ensure they don;t do this again to anyone else if that is possible.
Posted by
Freedonia
17920 posts
. I told them that I am coming from an international flight where this carry on bag was allowed.
You have to follow the baggage rules of the operating carrier. So if Air Baltic's carry on rules were more restrictive than your first carrier, you have to abide by them.
Just because they allowed the bag on the first Air Baltic flight doesn't mean it will be allowed on all flights. It's up to the gate agent.
However, if you had a checked baggage allowance, they should have honored it.
I've flown Air Baltic a few times and found them to be very good.
Posted by
Bend, OR
1634 posts
Last October we flew Swiss Air from San Francisco to Venice. We never knew Air Baltic was the carrier between Zurich and Venice until we walked out to the plane. The Swiss gate agents had us gate check our carryons but did not charge us, maybe because our ticket was booked thru Swiss with no indication that we would be on an Air Baltic plane?
Posted by
Portsmouth
5825 posts
I flew Air Baltic to Riga from London earlier this year. The flight was booked through British Airways holidays and there were two flight options, one at 07:00 on BA metal and the other at 09:00 on Air Baltic. I opted for the Air Baltic one. Despite BA allowing a generous 23kg cabin allowance I had to abide by Air Baltic's allowance which was 8kg. My status with BA's Executive Club was also not recognised by Air Baltic despite the flight booking made with BA. You simply have to abide by the rules set by the airline you're flying with.
Air Baltic was fine. A fairly new aircraft with a clean, minimalist interior and comfortable enough for the short flight to Riga. The baggage restrictions didn't bother me as I simply checked my bag as I knew that it would be on the carousel right after I transited through immigration and it was one less thing to have to lug about at the airport and onto the plane. Would I fly with them again? Sure. Would I recommend them? Yes.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
12945 posts
Were you overweight for your ticket class? If not, then it is puzzling why you were charged.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
My carry on bag is considered overweight because they charge for carry ons )not personal item) unless it was paid for. I had a ticket they already had paid for a checked bag which is more expensive typically than a carry on. My ticket clearly said I have one checked bag allowance all the way from Newark to my final destination. I can understand the gate agent making a mistake but if their customer service also replies and says that carry on bags have to be charged without giving any consideration that I could just have checked my bag instead as that was paid for. All they had to say is please check your bags and I would have. Most would have seen how blatantly unfair this was in how it was handled once you explain the facts. The air Baltic customer service unfortunately does not. I was not the only one who was complaining that day as they got in and I would expect many more in the same boat as me. The sad thing is that my company makes me avoid the basic economy fare just so checked bag charges are not extra. But then if Air Baltic behaves like this it makes me feel why everyone should not book a cheaper basic economy fare in the first place.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
7538 posts
That type of thing happens to me when I travel home from Hawaii. If one of the legs is Hawaiian, they charge me for a checked suitcase even when it is a part of a Delta ticket where I'm entitled to a checked bag. Tecnically the arrangement is not a codeshare. It bugs me, but it is what it is.