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Air Baltic reliability / punctuality

Air Baltic reliability / punctuality

Old Jul 21, 2008, 10:49 pm
  #1  
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Air Baltic reliability / punctuality

I have a BT flight coming up (RIX-IST) with a fairly critical connection (on a separate ticket) in IST. How reliable / punctual is BT of late? I have read some poor reviews of BT in the past and am concerned that I might miss the connection, with disastrous consequences.

PS. If this is the wrong forum for a BT question, my apologies...
FedUp2 is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2008, 4:56 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by FedUp2
I have a BT flight coming up (RIX-IST) with a fairly critical connection (on a separate ticket) in IST. How reliable / punctual is BT of late? I have read some poor reviews of BT in the past and am concerned that I might miss the connection, with disastrous consequences.

PS. If this is the wrong forum for a BT question, my apologies...
BT flights in general are pretty much on time. I have had quite a few 45 minutes connections to and from BT but in pure Europe (Schengen) with no border checks. I wouldn't take the same with border crossing on any carrier.

How much time do you have between the flights? You might not be able to OCLI to your next flight out of IST. Another thing to keep in mind is that you have to cross border, most likely twice. If you have a checked bag to collect, that will take some more time. My experience shows that BT is able to send the bag all the way through even on separate PNRs. We all know that separate PNRs are risky.
dabee69 is offline  
Old Jul 22, 2008, 7:11 am
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As already posted above BT is no worse than any decent airline. In fact both of my flights today left before the scheduled time , but that doesn't really count for anything. As always in air travel nasty things can and occasionally do happen - some of these are due to the airline and some are completely out of their hands, thus if your connection is as critical as you describe I would recommend you to book a decent enough buffer.

Additional problems come from the fact that you are flying a somewhat obscure route which is not frequently served and in the case of something going haywire rerouting and rebooking options are limited. It is one thing to have a delay on ARN-CPH with very frequent flights, and a completely different thing to have a delay on RIX-IST.

At least get a good travel insurance that will cover missconnects on separate tickets - such things do exist.
FlyingFinn is offline  

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