AirBaltic, the HYBRID REGIONAL AIRLINE: Tallinn to Riga on Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 flight review

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  • Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
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    Social media:
    / flyspeedbird1
    Further information:
    This video reviews airBaltic's flight from Tallinn, Estonian (TLL) to Riga, Latvia (RIX) in July 2018.
    Video includes footage of terminal building, in-flight experience.
    The Baltic countries has seen the number of visitors increase considerably in recent years. Tallinn and Riga are two great weekend destinations and remain competitively priced.
    With several flights and day, visitors can easily combine both capital cities during an extended weekend.
    It was my second visit to Tallinn and the airport is just excellent. Discover my previous flight from Tallinn and business lounge visit:
    • The SHORTEST FLIGHT be...
    airBaltic is a state-owned Latvian low-cost carrier and the country's flag carrier. This was my first flight with them and the overall experience was overall very good.
    It was also my first flight on a Bombardier Q400, registration: YL-BBV (I did enjoy the excellent legroom for a turboprop). I would have been happy to pre-order a meal for a longer flight. airBaltic can offer very attractive fares but do consider
    the overall cost you may have to pay if you wish to choose a seat or add a checked bag.
    airBaltic has managed to carved itself a valuable position as an efficient, innovative and competitive regional airline. Its hybrid approach ensures that it can compete against the LCCs whlist offering
    a level of service appreciated by business users.
    Strengths: expanding network, easy connections in Riga and fleet renewal focussed on the fantastic Airbus 220-300
    Caution: review carefully the overall cost of your flight once all the extras have been taken into account
    Travel tip: sign up for the airBaltic newsletter so yo ucan be informed when their sale is on. Ideal time to grab some really cheap fares on domestic destinations (and between the Baltic states)
    AirBaltic souvenirs:
    souvenirs.airba...
    Tram transfer from Tallinn Airport
    www.tallinn.ee...
    Tram line no. 4 stop is located on the city side of the passenger terminal of the airport.
    On Mondays through Saturdays, the first tram arrives at the airport at 5.25 AM and at 5.45 on Sundays. The last tram from the airport leaves at 0.45 AM,
    allowing also the passengers arriving on the late evening flights to reach the city centre with public transport.
    The journey to the city centre takes approximately 15-17 minutes.
    For a single trip you can buy the ticket from the driver (€2) or buy a QR-ticket on the Internet (€1).
    In addition, there are hourly tickets and day tickets, for which you need the Tallinn Ühiskaart Transport Card.
    You can buy the transport card and load money to it at the R-kiosk in the open area of the airport.
    Bus transfer to and from Riga airport
    www.riga-airpor...
    Timetables:
    www.rigassatik...
    Check-in and boarding: ****
    Seat comfort: ****
    Cabin cleanliness: ***
    Staff: ****
    Food and drinks: n/a
    In-flight entertainment: n/a
    Value for money: **** (if you manage to stick to the low cost option, value is excellent)
    Recommend: yes
    Thanks for watching. You are welcome to Like, Share or subscribe to this channel
    Music:
    RUclips music library and
    Road Trip, Joakim Karud
    Road Trip by Joakim Karud / joakimkarud
    Music promoted by Audio Library • Video

Комментарии • 41

  • @Speedbird1FLY
    @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад +1

    Great first experience with airBaltic. My snapshot:
    Strengths: expanding network, easy connections in Riga and fleet renewal focussed on the fantastic Airbus 220-300
    Caution: review carefully the overall cost of your flight once all the extras have been taken into account to decide if airbaltic has the best prices offer
    What's your take on this airline?

  • @travelmentaryTV
    @travelmentaryTV 6 лет назад

    Well done not only with the editing, but actually some lovely destinations you chose here. Air Baltic is expanding quickly and with their growing fleet of A220s they’re offering quite interesting routes. Wanted to try them myself, but, well, I’m after the miles, so it’s good I get to enjoy your flight experience here!

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад +1

      Thanks you :-) Tallinn and Riga are two great destinations and easily combined. I did the journey back to Tallinn on a coach (a fine experience tbh). I flew to Tallinn with BA so I got the miles too ;). I'd like to go to Vilnius as well as Minsk. Next trips include Primera Air, Latam, Air Nostrum (and BA of course!) I look forward to your next video... I started editing my next one

    • @travelmentaryTV
      @travelmentaryTV 6 лет назад

      Wow, that sounds exciting, looking forward to watching all those videos! Right now I‘m working on the mountain of unedited stuff, which will be release over the coming weeks and months :-). I also have some new trips planned, so maybe you‘ll see me in Minsk :D.

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      I also have a bit of a backlog for materials waiting to be edited oopsEnjoy your trips

  • @Luke_Starkenburg
    @Luke_Starkenburg 6 лет назад

    This is a great video!! I love the tram shots at the beginning! The shots of the props slowing down and stopping are always interesting, and they took a while to stop. Most airlines use 1 engine taxi to save fuel so when it arrives at the gate, only one engine (or prop) is still turning. The gym is an interesting feature, but I hope there is a place to shower as I don’t want to be crammed in a small place with lots of people still sweaty from a workout!! Lol!

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Luke Starkenburg well no place for a shower of the little Dash 8 ☺️😁 Tallinn airport is really good and if it was possible to shower inthe terminal, the treadmills would have a fab view for a run. The tram makes transfers so easy (and cheap), the tram connection to the airport is quite recent. I did enjoy the views of the props, makes the aircraft come to life. Thank you so much for such a nice feedback 👍👍👍👍

    • @Luke_Starkenburg
      @Luke_Starkenburg 6 лет назад

      Speedbird1 FLY you’re welcome! It’s good you only had hand luggage so you didn’t incur any additional (and substantial) fees!

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Yes it was so convenient and the more I travel, the less I pack. Limit was hard to judge: I don't have a scale for 8kg (about 17.5 lbs)
      airBaltic can offer very cheap fares / sale deals. Ideal to discover some of their domestic destinations or hop between the Baltic states

  • @BlakeEdgington
    @BlakeEdgington 6 лет назад

    Really enjoyable trip report. I do love a bit of prop action

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Thanks Blake. Actually the Q400 offered a comfy ride (and I did enjoy the great legroom). I saw you've been busy posting new videos, I need to catch up with watching your latest releases. You do a great job!

    • @BlakeEdgington
      @BlakeEdgington 6 лет назад +1

      Much appreciated. Working on a special episode right now for next week. I have a soft spot for the Q400 from back when I was crew at Flybe. I will be reviewing it soon!

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      I look forward to it.
      I recently flew with Flybe - my first time with the airline (it was on an Embraer)

  • @przychodzkipl
    @przychodzkipl 5 лет назад

    Amazing tripreport. Liked and subscribed.

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  5 лет назад +1

      Thank you. I really appreciate your support and great feedback

  • @Flighttime787
    @Flighttime787 6 лет назад

    Fantastic video! The Terminal in Tallinn was probably the coolest thing I've seen in Europe since a while.. So innovative and great for the passengers. We will fly Air Baltic too in winter. RIX-TLL on A220 and TLL-VNO on Q400..! Really looking forward now :)

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад +1

      Thanks :-) For a small airport, Tallinn does a fantastic job - they create something quite different and with a really good passenger experience.
      I am glad to hear you'll get to try both aircraft types. I look forward to your reports. I enjoyed Tallinn and Rigo so much, I def want to go to Vilnius.

    • @Flighttime787
      @Flighttime787 6 лет назад

      @@Speedbird1FLY Let's hope we'll actually fly both aircraft.. Appears that air baltic has a lot aircraft changes.. Let's see! We'll be in Tallinn and Riga two nights each.. Celebrating new years eve in Tallinn. In Vilnius we will have one night only until we'll head over to Kiev and Lviv but I hope it will be enough anyway

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Sounds like a great plan. Here's an article about Riga you may find useful:www.lonelyplanet.com/latvia/riga/travel-tips-and-articles/exploring-historic-riga-on-a-budget/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2755543I've been to Kiev - fantastic place. I'd love to go again (and combine it Lviv and Odessa). How will you travel to Lviv and then Kiev? Cheers

  • @lorenzo_contini_7
    @lorenzo_contini_7 6 лет назад

    Great video as always!

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад +1

      Thank you so much for watching and giving such great feedback.

  • @Suursaadik
    @Suursaadik 6 лет назад

    Nice video!
    :-)

  • @Luke_Starkenburg
    @Luke_Starkenburg 6 лет назад

    I love the view out your window of the prop and airBaltic! Too bad you didn’t catch the landing gear coming down at the end of the video. You are doing a better job keeping your text on the screen for longer. In earlier videos there wasn’t enough time to read it all and had to pause and rewind the video to read everything.

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Luke Starkenburg the angle to shoot the landing gear was a bit awkward. Glad I caught the landing gear touching down. Thanks for your useful feedback about the captions, that s a really good point 🙏😎👀👀

  • @PlaneSpotterYT
    @PlaneSpotterYT 6 лет назад

    Great!

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Thanks. Glad you enjoyed this new video :-)

  • @Luke_Starkenburg
    @Luke_Starkenburg 6 лет назад

    Did they really have food available to buy on a 40 minute flight? Was there a drink service, and was water and soda free or to buy?

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Luke Starkenburg yes although I didn't see any pax buying anything. I didnt try the selection available... choosing the most obscure item on the inflight menu 👨‍🍳 just imagine... a soufflé or a slow roasted shoulder of lamb please 🙅‍♂️🙋‍♂️and please add a couple of pancakes 🙀 nobody sat in the 2 business class seats.
      on a recent BA flight to Manchester (equally short) I did have the time to enjoy a drink and couple of finger sandwiches 😋😋 no

    • @Luke_Starkenburg
      @Luke_Starkenburg 6 лет назад

      Speedbird1 FLY I wonder if they even heat up any food so it’s ready if someone orders it.

  • @Swarmah
    @Swarmah 4 года назад

    Im a latvian, i never fly airBaltic, i chose norwegian, with 5 to 10 times cheaper prices, free wifi onboard, free drink onboard, and only 20 eur for the large bag.
    Also, i dont fly this close destinations, cos from my city, a car to tallin takes 2 hours, a car to riga 1 hour. :D

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  4 года назад

      Hey Reinis, thanks for your feedback. Glad to hear you enjoy Norwegian's services. This trip was an opportunity for me to try Air Baltic on this short hop (quicker than the coach service that I took on the way back). take care and thanks for watching

  • @FUARYER
    @FUARYER 6 лет назад

    The company has been awarded by OAG for being the most punctual airline in the world in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 IN THE WORLD! Not Europe

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Hi,Thanks for your useful feedback MatissOAG also published for the period from June '17 - May '18. Top 3 airlines are based in APAC and airBaltic comes fithwww.oag.com/on-time-performance-star-ratings-2018I did have a look at the 2017 report and indeed airBaltic comes on top for mainline airlines but I couldn't find them in the 2016 report.Still a very good performance but as you can see from the points above a more nuanced picture

  • @AnjumInayat
    @AnjumInayat 6 лет назад

    nice use of camera

    • @Speedbird1FLY
      @Speedbird1FLY  6 лет назад

      Thanks. I am really glad you enjoyed this video

  • @sno112
    @sno112 6 лет назад

    Wow a hot guy in there

    • @sno112
      @sno112 6 лет назад +1

      11:47 airport employee sooooooo hot