jarinzfin
Jun 27, 06, 2:57 am
Hi,
I thought I'd post a short report on our recent Estonian domestic flight from Tallinn to Kuressaare on Avies airline!
We had to buy the tickets through an Estonian travel agent, which was no problem. My friend called them from Finland and banked the money, return flight was very reasonable at around 27 euros.
We took the hovercraft over to Tallinn, picked up the tickets with no hassles and showed up at the airport at the designated time.
Tallinn airport is very small and there is only one domestic gate downstairs, which, to our shock, was closed when we got there. Checking the monitors we saw that our flight was departing about 2.5 hours later than scheduled!
The gate finally opened for another flight and there was a very friendly guy at check-in who told us that the airline had changed the schedule with very short notice. I then politely asked if we could get some vouchers or something for the delay and he guided us to the airline office upstairs.
So off we went to find this ice-cold Russian b*/&c at the counter who was adamant that the schedule was changed days earlier and that the travel agent had been informed... funny they didn't mention anything 2 hours before when we picked the tickets. She wasn't even trying to be helpfull so off we went back to check-in to leave our bags and head into town. The helpfull guy at check-in was willing to take our bags but then he called someone and said sorry I can't check your bags yet but there are lockers at the airport. I was a bit miffed by this time as our nice little adventure was not beginning the way we planned... :(
Off we went to put our bags into the lockers (not free, of course). TLL is basically in the middle of town so we walked 5 minutes to the closest mall and had a few drinks waiting for our new check-in time.
So 2.5 hours later we are back at the check-in and this time the flight is really leaving. We have to first put our checked baggage through security and then take them back to check-in. Check-in was quick and we got a recyclable plastic chip instead of a boarding pass. Then we walked through the same security ourselves and waited in a small lounge with about 6 other pax on the same flight. A small van drove us to the plane, which was a small Jetstream. We chose our seats and off we took... the flight time was only 30 minutes (scheduled 45 mins) and we had great views over Estonia, the Finnish gulf and the Baltic Sea. To our surprise, the FA served snacks and drinks!! We got some chocolate biscuits and a bag of breadsticks plus coffee or juice :)
We had a smooth landing at the tiny airport of Kuressaare on the island of Saaremaa, where we spent 2 nights exploring the sights.
The return flight left on time. The hotel staff said they very frequently change their schedules so we did check it in the morning.
Flight time was again 30 minutes and we got some chocolates and rather horrific ketchup-flavored chips.
Some links
Kuressaare airport http://www.eeke.ee/
Avies airline http://www.avies.ee
Saaremaa island http://www.saaremaa.ee/eng/
I thought I'd post a short report on our recent Estonian domestic flight from Tallinn to Kuressaare on Avies airline!
We had to buy the tickets through an Estonian travel agent, which was no problem. My friend called them from Finland and banked the money, return flight was very reasonable at around 27 euros.
We took the hovercraft over to Tallinn, picked up the tickets with no hassles and showed up at the airport at the designated time.
Tallinn airport is very small and there is only one domestic gate downstairs, which, to our shock, was closed when we got there. Checking the monitors we saw that our flight was departing about 2.5 hours later than scheduled!
The gate finally opened for another flight and there was a very friendly guy at check-in who told us that the airline had changed the schedule with very short notice. I then politely asked if we could get some vouchers or something for the delay and he guided us to the airline office upstairs.
So off we went to find this ice-cold Russian b*/&c at the counter who was adamant that the schedule was changed days earlier and that the travel agent had been informed... funny they didn't mention anything 2 hours before when we picked the tickets. She wasn't even trying to be helpfull so off we went back to check-in to leave our bags and head into town. The helpfull guy at check-in was willing to take our bags but then he called someone and said sorry I can't check your bags yet but there are lockers at the airport. I was a bit miffed by this time as our nice little adventure was not beginning the way we planned... :(
Off we went to put our bags into the lockers (not free, of course). TLL is basically in the middle of town so we walked 5 minutes to the closest mall and had a few drinks waiting for our new check-in time.
So 2.5 hours later we are back at the check-in and this time the flight is really leaving. We have to first put our checked baggage through security and then take them back to check-in. Check-in was quick and we got a recyclable plastic chip instead of a boarding pass. Then we walked through the same security ourselves and waited in a small lounge with about 6 other pax on the same flight. A small van drove us to the plane, which was a small Jetstream. We chose our seats and off we took... the flight time was only 30 minutes (scheduled 45 mins) and we had great views over Estonia, the Finnish gulf and the Baltic Sea. To our surprise, the FA served snacks and drinks!! We got some chocolate biscuits and a bag of breadsticks plus coffee or juice :)
We had a smooth landing at the tiny airport of Kuressaare on the island of Saaremaa, where we spent 2 nights exploring the sights.
The return flight left on time. The hotel staff said they very frequently change their schedules so we did check it in the morning.
Flight time was again 30 minutes and we got some chocolates and rather horrific ketchup-flavored chips.
Some links
Kuressaare airport http://www.eeke.ee/
Avies airline http://www.avies.ee
Saaremaa island http://www.saaremaa.ee/eng/