Date: 05/08/07
Flight: BT602 BRU-RIX
Gate: B28
Departure: 09:10
Arrival: 12:35
Seat: 12D
Reg: YL-BBH
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1236976/L/
We arrived at the airport by train, quite early around 6:30. Check in was at the end of row 2 at the SAS-counters, which weren't open yet. As we supposed they would open soon we waited there, and I immediatly noticed the rather nice Jet Airways ticket desk right next to us, and as I saw people putting flowers on the check-indesks opposite to us, I remembered it was the day of the first Jet Airways flight to Brussels. When all was done, there was a little photosession with a couple of 9W f/a's, and I must say they look stunning in their yellow capes. (I noticed that the pictures that were taken there are already posted on this site
).At about 7:10 our check-in finally opened and within a matter of minutes we got seats 12DEF and were on our way through passport control. As we didn't have breakfeast yet, and service on Air Baltic is all buy on board, we decided to have something to eat at the Leffe Plaza in the B-terminal. And while eating I again got to enjoy 9W as I could see their 777 land and taxi past. After we finished our breakfeast we headed to the security check, were we past very quickly. Although I must say that I was surprised to see how many people still don't know the new liquid rules. But I do wonna give a compliment to Brussels Airport for the big screens that feature a simple movie on how to pass the security, obeying the rules. I think that does speed up things, because although the line wasn't short, we were through in a matter of minutes.
When I arrived at the gate, again, it was not possible to escape from 9W as their 777 was right next door. Their space for the inaugural ceremony even took up a big part of gate B28. But it was very nice again to see their f/a's and we were able to follow the ceremony from next door.
At 8:30 our 737 arrived, and it looked like a little dwarf next to his neighbour. Turnaround was very quick and boarding started at 8:50. A female f/a was greeting passengers at the door, where there was a stand with complimentary news papers (unfortunatly all latvian and russian). At the overwing exit a male f/a was assisting passengers and another male f/a was at the back of the plane. Boarding was completed rather quick (I guess load factor was around 60-70%, with almost every middle seat being free).
Push back was a little after 9:10 and as we pushed back the fire trucks were arriving to give our big neighbour a water salute. Also taxi was rather quick, and without stopping, we turned on the runway and immediatly throttled up and we were in the air within a couple of seconds. The flight passed very quickly and was very smooth. On the inside the cabin was clean, but showing its age. The seats were quite comfortable blue leather seats, but seat pitch was rather tight, especially when the guy in front of me decided to recline his seat to have more space to read the newspaper. Immediatly after take of, the f/a passed out the menu and did a round with the service cart. I didn't buy anything, but sales were rather high, which is normal, considering that prices are very reasonable. After the service, the f/a's disappeared untill landing. We touched down on time at Riga airport, where all jet bridges were occupied, so we parked at a stand and had to walk to the terminal. All planes at the terminal were air baltic, except for a KLM fokker and the most interesting, an Uzbekistan 767.
Riga has a small airport so we were at the bagage hall within five minutes, and five minutes later we had our bags and could head out to greet our hosts.
During our stay we saw every corner of Riga, and on an aviation note, our hosts showed us some of the old deserted soviet parts of the city, including the old airport that was built by the soviets, but is now deserted and only used by parachute clubs. I have a couple of (not so good) pics of that that I can post if anyone is interested.
Date: 08/08/07
Flight: BT601 RIX-BRU
Gate: A02
Departure: 07:00
Arrival: 08:30
Seat: 20D
Reg: SE-DJF
Our hosts brought us to the airport around 6:00, because they said RIX is a small airport, and so early in the morning there's never anybody, you can practically walk through it in two minutes. I had tried the web check in that Air Baltic started this month for all flights out of Riga, but that didn't work because of technical reasons as their website said. So we still had to check in at the airport, but when we entered it at 6:05, there were three counters assigned to all flights in the morning, except the ones to Berlin and Vienna. For the other counters there was a line till almost outside the building, i guess about 30 metres long, that practically didn't move. We joined the line at the back, but as it was obvious that we would never make it to the front in time we headed to the counters, and were allowed to cut the line. After that check-in went very smooth. I asked if there was an exit row available, because we planned on sleeping during the flight. Unfortunatly I was told that these were all taken, and we got assigned seats 28A and C. I found this a bit strange as the 737 on the inbound leg didn't have that many rows, but didn't really think about it, as we had to rush through security.
We passed through the airport very quickly, security check wasn't as strict as in Brussels. At Riga, the A gates is a little complex of 4 bus gates on ground level. Boarding started a couple of minutes after we arrived, so we got up and boarded the waiting bus, but once on the bus we had to wait for another 15 minutes for passengers who were still at check in. Out of the bus I could spot an Aeroflot Tupolev 154 getting boarded and taking of. Once all passengers were on board of the bus, we drove to a hangar a bit away from te terminal, and in front of that hangar, this beauty was waiting for us:
(a MD-83 from fly excellent)
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1226454/L/
One of the f/a came down to tell that boarding could be done through both the front and the rear stairs. Everyone headed to the front door, but being a bit of an aviation enthousiast, I off course headed under the wing and used the stairs in the tail, nothing better than boarding in between the engines. As we reached the cabin, It was a nice surprise to discover that the aircraft was in a sort of all bussines class configuration, with four seats abreast and quite a lot of legg room.
Here you can see the seats:
http://www.flyexcellent.com/Pic/Foto%20 ... cabin2.JPG
Our seat 28A and C were the very last row on the aircraft and didn't have a window, but a very friendly f/a came down to say to just grab another seat as those ones next to the engines were far too noisy. So as the emergency exit rows (that had two meters of leg room) were allready taken, we settled in in row 20.
The cabin looked very spacious and very new and also the seats were very comfortable (at least for someone like us who booked a low cost economy ticket). The cabin crew was very jolly on this flight, joking all the time, but in a professional way, and consisted of 2 male and 2 female Fly Excellent f/a's and one Air Baltic f/a.
Take off was around 7:19 and very powerfull. Again immediatly after take off, menus were distributed and a round was made with the service cart, and again almost everyone bought something. This time I did purchase something, I bought an orange juice which costed me 1,5€. Unlike on the outbound leg, the crew stayed very present in the cabin, walking around to collect garbage etc. Service was very good as there were 5 f/a's for about 60 or 70 persons.
Again the flight was very smooth, and we landed at brussels at 8:15, were weather wasn't very good. We parked again at gate B28 next to the 9W 777. In the arrival zone of the B-pier it was very calm, and within a couple of minutes we were at the baggage delivery, where our bag was the third to come of the plane.
Everything considered, this were to very nice flights. Allthough airbaltic uses a lowcostmodel (a bit like SN), service on both flights was good and very friendly. As I booked these tickets in the middle of july, they weren't that cheap. Flights costed around 200€ per person, so not that low cost, but still reasonable, and they are the only direct flight to the baltic states. So next time I head there, I'll probably take them again.
Is there anyone who knows why we got the MD-83? A lack of planes or a technical failure? And does anyone know what plane will be flying BT601 on sunday the 12th? I ask it because my sister is returning home on that flight.
So I hope you enjoyed my first attempt to writing a trip report.
Next week thursday the 14th I'll be flying to corfu with Thomas Cook. But my travel documents also say XL-France. Is there anybody who knows what plane will operate that flight?
greetings
