Transit at Riga
Since Latvia and Estonia were both within the Schengen region, I headed straight the passport control in the transit area. It was a very quiet afternoon and I did not spot the sole agent hiding in his booth at the EU passport holder line initially. Thankfully I got his attention soon and the security staffs were friendly as well, as I was the only passenger at this early afternoon hour.
Riga airport was undergoing some construction but I managed to find the sole business class lounge run by Prime Class.
Prime Class Lounge, Riga
It was actually a very nice lounge and the quiet upper level was a nice space to spot planes, despite being a rather slow Saturday afternoon here. The food spread was pretty impressive and there was even a large bowl of hot soup, which was Borscht, as well a warm chicken with pepper sauce dish, along with tortellini and vegetables. There was also the usual cold cut, cheese, snack, and bread plates. It was a nice lounge to relax for a few hours.
Upper level
Around 5pm local time, I began to spot many airBaltic planes coming into Riga, as it was their last bank of the day. airBaltic relies on transit passengers to fill up its planes, and given the load on both my flights in economy, it was at least working.
BT 317 RIX-TLL Lv1850 Arr1940 Dash 8-Q400 YL-BAX
The inbound flight came in early from Copenhagen, and it was parked at spot 109, which was a short walk from gate B9.
My seat assignment was changed from 2A to 1A, as I usually tried to avoid the bulkhead rows on these Dash 8-Q400s.
Galley
Once I was onboard, it was clear that I was the only passenger in business class, and every single seat was filled except the one next to me. Unlike CS300 flights, there is no pre-takeoff beverage but an Economist magazine was handed to me, along with the wine list. There was no printed menu.
Boarding was completed at 6:48pm and we pushed back at 6:54pm.
Two CS-300s
We took off from R/W36 at 6:58pm. Beautiful sunset over the Baltic region.
Flying time was only thirty-seven minutes and we cruised at 23,000ft.
The F/A immediately served me a beverage, which I chose the champagne for this last segment.
Then a cold salmon plate was offered to me, and I decline the roll service, as I was not that hungry.
Please note that there was no hot towel service, which I totally understand given the short flying time and the limitation of the galley space.
Descent soon began at 7:12pm and we landed on Tallinn Lennart Meri International Airprot’s R/W26 at 7:35pm, and parked at gate 9 five minutes later.
Plenty of Nordica’s CRJ-700/900
Tallinn airport is small but quite functional. The design was cute, and baggage delivery time was only eleven minutes.
airBaltic is an interesting airline and definitely the best one in the Baltic region. The branding is excellent and the service honestly is quite good. The meals can use some improvement and its European business class product can actually be modified quite easily on these CS-300s – just an investment of some curtains or dividers will do. For their Abu Dhabi service and future medium haul flights, airBaltic really needs to step up with at least a real recliner seat, or else its Abu Dhabi service will end up just a super low yield route for leisure travelers.
I hope you will enjoy this report! Next part will be on Nordica.
Carfield