Review of Air Baltic flight Tallinn → Zurich in Economy

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ABOUT AIRLINE, AIRCRAFT AND ROUTE

Airline history and info: Air Baltic is a Latvian airline that was founded in 1995. It operates as the national airline of Latvia and has its main hub at Riga International Airport (RIX). The airline's primary focus is on connecting the Baltic region with various destinations in Europe, Scandinavia, and the CIS countries.

Air Baltic has undergone significant transformation in recent years to become one of the leading airlines in the Baltic region. It has modernized its fleet and positioned itself as a customer-centric, innovative, and environmentally friendly airline. In 2016, Air Baltic became the launch customer for the Airbus A220-300 (formerly Bombardier CS300) aircraft, placing an order for a large number of these state-of-the-art aircraft.

The Airbus A220-300 is a fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft that offers passengers a comfortable travel experience. Air Baltic's A220-300 fleet features a single-class cabin configuration with spacious seats and a modern interior design. The airline has been praised for its commitment to sustainability and reducing its environmental impact through the use of more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Air Baltic has received several awards and recognition for its services and performance. In 2019, it was named the World's Most Punctual Airline by the aviation analytics company Cirium, reflecting its dedication to on-time performance. The airline has also been recognized for its customer service, winning multiple awards in categories such as best airline staff in Eastern Europe and best low-cost airline in Europe.

In addition to its passenger services, Air Baltic operates a cargo division called Air Baltic Cargo, providing freight transportation services to various destinations. The airline has expanded its route network over the years, offering connections to major cities in Europe, including popular tourist destinations and business hubs.

Air Baltic has played a crucial role in improving air connectivity within the Baltic region and strengthening ties between the Baltic countries and the rest of Europe. It has been an important catalyst for tourism, business travel, and economic development in the region.

Overall, Air Baltic is recognized as a dynamic and customer-focused airline that strives to provide efficient, comfortable, and sustainable air travel options for passengers. With its modern fleet, commitment to punctuality, and dedication to innovation, Air Baltic continues to enhance its reputation as a leading airline in the Baltic region.

 Aircraft info:  
Registration: YL-ABN
 Aircraft: Airbus A220-300 - Type Code: BCS3
 Serial Number (MSN): 55215 - Age (APR 2023): Brand new - Mode S: 502D5F
 Airline: Air Baltic (Latvian Flag Livery) - Code: BT / BTI
 Operator: Air Baltic - Code: BT / FBTI
 Country Of Registration: Latvia
 Delivery Date to the Air Baltic: 14/04/2023
 First flight with Air Baltic: 17/04/2023
 Previous owners: No Previous owners, and now Air Baltic. 

 Route Info:   
Air Baltic operates flights between Tallinn (TLL), the capital city of Estonia, and Zurich (ZRH), the largest city in Switzerland. The airline offers this route to connect passengers from Estonia to the major Swiss financial and cultural hub.

The flight between Tallinn and Zurich is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes in duration, covering a distance of approximately 1,540 kilometers. Air Baltic typically operates this route using their fleet of Airbus A220-300 aircraft, which provides a comfortable travel experience for passengers.

Air Baltic's A220-300 aircraft feature a two-class cabin configuration with 145 seats. The aircraft is known for its spacious and modern interior design, providing a comfortable journey for passengers. Air Baltic has received praise for its focus on customer service and maintaining high standards of punctuality.

Zurich, being a prominent global financial center, attracts a significant number of business travelers. Additionally, the city offers a rich cultural heritage and picturesque landscapes, making it a popular destination for tourists as well. Air Baltic's flights on the TLL-ZRH route provide convenient travel options for both business and leisure travelers.

It is worth noting that flight schedules and frequencies are subject to change, and it is advisable to check with Air Baltic or the relevant airline for the most up-to-date information regarding the TLL-ZRH route.   

ARRIVING TO THE AIRPORT, NAVIGATING AT THE AIRPORT

Hello Flight-Report Community and welcome to this flight from Tallinn to Zurich!

So welcome. After leaving my home at about 5 am on the morning my home, the earliest departure time ever for me. My dad had ordered a taxi to our home so short 10-minute drive. I arrived at Tallinn Airport at 5:13 am for my 6:45 flight to Zurich (ZRH).  
View to the main door.  

One thing that I love about Tallinn Airport is that it is small and you don't need do walk long distances. 

The first check-in area was more packed than that one. As I did online check-in the day before my flight I did not need to worry to wait in the que for check-in. Some pictures from online check-in. 

So that flight was booked via the Lufthansa app but that flight was on Swiss callsign but operated by Air Baltic. One Sunrise picture with a view to rwy when I was waiting in the security line and that was a little bit long but not too long. 

After moving on a little bit of line I had a good view of today's aircraft that will that us to Zurich on Golden Hour when the sun was rising. 

After I cleared security I went to the Duty-free because you need do go through the Duty-free if you want to get into the gate areas and I decided to buy some water from duty-free. 

After I piked up 3-4 bottles of water I needed to pay for them so I did that and after that, I checked my flight gate on the departing flight board and yes Zürich LX1317 is our flight on the board. 

After I checked my flight status and gate it was time to go to our gate 4. And I needed to take photo of table that is made of bagage, that is my fav thing at TLL. 

Then it was time do go to gate 4 but still, I had some time to kill, some pictures taken when walking. 

I like the fish tank at TLL. When you are board when waiting for boarding and don't have something to do then you can go and talk with fishes but some people may be thinking that you are weird. 

And our gate 4 is branded as Luminor, Luminor is like some thing to do with banking. 

I wonder how they have gotten food steps up on that thing :)

And there he is beautiful BT BCS3 YL-ABN wearing the Beautiful Lativa Flag Colors and on the next gate, there is an LH A320 D-AINK. 

After that it was time to do a little bit of plane spotting and next to our gate there is LOT E195 SP-LNI almost ready for push-back

Finnair ATR 72-500 boarding and after boarding is heading to Helsinki (HEL)

After that, it was time to check out the gate 6 BT map, and I flew out from gate 6 when I was heading to Keflavik via Riga. And I'm happy that they finally updated the BT destination map. 

When our flight waited for boarding then LH A320 had pushback and departed before us. 

boarding

After waiting for about 30 minutes boarding tarted to our flight L1317.  

I was in group 3. Enjoy photo of Jetway to our plane. 

Small hello to cockpit :)

And most important thing, fusalage shoot. 

After grabbing a fuselage shoot it was time to step on board this beautiful BCS3 and when I stepped on board I had a warm welcome from the crew and senior crew, first I passed the business class and I made a promise that my next BT flight is going to be in business but this one is not in the business because it is "Swiss" flight. A business class typical layout is a 2-1 congregation and economy is a 3-2 layout. I had seat 20F and there is a picture from our seat row.

I like how they have changed the headrest material to Swiss branding. And our plane is going to be full about 99%. 

View from my window and you can see another BT BCS3 next to us. 

Small welcome from IFE screen :)

I don't like one thing about these IFE screens, so when ever some one speaks to PA then it is showing on IFE screens.

TAXI, TAKE OFF, CLIMPING

After that Captain made it to the PA and said the flight time is going to be around 2h and 50min. 2 minutes later captain made a new announcement and it said, sorry for the delay we will depart shortly at that time I was wondering what delay and after checking it on FR24 it was 3 min delay. We started pushback and then the safety video was played, first, if they played it in German language, and after that in English, I don't see the point to be a safety video in two languages but enjoy these pictures from the safety video. 

After the safety video was shown we taxied to RWY 08, fun fact, I had never been on a plane that would take off from RWY 26. No pictures made during the taxi. Short taxi and then it was time for take-off from RWY 08, enjoy some pictures made during take off. 

Last views to my home airport

Last view of my home. 

Enter text here…

Cabin turing the climping. 

Our Scheduled Departure time was 06:45 but we departed at 06:48
Enjoy the video of take off: 

CATERING, IN-FLIGHT ENTEIRMENT, CRUSISING AND CABIN

After the seatbelt sign was turned off it was my time to take photos from the landscapes of Estonia.

I like how BCS3 has IFE screens but it is only showing flight info and a moving map. 

It was time to check out, how clean the tray table and I already to know how small it is. 

It is clean and now it is time to see what the seat pocket contains and that is quite surprising what it is containing. 

It contains Air Baltic Airbus A220-300 Safety card, Swiss inflight shopping magazine, Swiss saveurs (Menu), and two airsickness bags, one with Swiss branding and another one fully white. 

And the seat contains a small hook where you can put your clothes and reading lamp, AC crew calling button and IFE screen, and seat pocket, I like the design of the seat pocket.

We flew over the Island called Saaremaa and I was hoping to enjoy some beautiful views of the Saaremaa Islands but the clouds ruined my plan, there is a photo of these evil clouds that ruined my plane. 

After 10 minutes into the flight crew came and handed out some water bottles. 

My water bottle compared to a Swiss water bottle, I like Swiss water more because my water bottle adds water that plastic taste that I don't like so I like Swiss water more.

Beautiful photo view to clouds. 

Then Inflight meal service started, it was more snack service than meal service. I decided to have a Chocolate vegan (I'm not a vegan) cookie, something called mini Flütes, and hot chocolate. 

Mini Flütes and Hot Chocolate were tasty and there is a picture of a cookie. 

And now cookie, cookie was tasty and I love that text "Biscuits made Slowly and by hand in our little Swiss Bakery in the foothills of the Alps." I decided to keep that text. 

They did not sell any hot/cold bigger food on board and if you wanted to pre-order the food you needed to pay addison 79 euros that come with Lounge access, prty boarding, and pre-portable food. There is a foto of one of the menu pages. 

After the meal service was ended crew came and collected the trash and after that, it is time for the Loo review. 

This review is going to be rear Loo on the right side because it was an available Loo a little fact, the right side loo has that baby board but the left side does not have that baby board on the Loo. Loo looks clean and there is everything that you need, headroom for me is okay depends that I'm quite long a 181 centimeter person. It has everything that you need, toilet paper, tap and sink paper, soap, and extra. But I never figure out how to get the sink/tap working so I just use my hand paper that the crew handed out with meal service. 

Cabin view from the rear side of the plane and cabin view turning cruising. 

After arriving back to my seat it was joke time, joke time is like that with my family, one person is telling a joke, and then others laugh or don't laugh and my joke was quite long so I will not write it down. After joke time it was playing time, I had taken with me a card game, and we played it. Picture of a card pack. 

Don't mind the ship pack, it was both when I had a class trip to Finland by ship and I was sad because I wanted to fly. 

So when we are playing the cards with family I use the opportunity to talk about why I had chosen that trip to Nuremberg. The first idea where to fly is Nuremberg (where I'm flying) via ZRH and back to Tallinn via FRA because of Herpa factory open doors day. The second idea was to fly to Girona with Ryanair (The airline that I have wanted to fly) because of Princess Girona Awards 2023. The third idea was to fly to Egilsstadir for just no reason and the fourth idea was to fly to Kärdla with SprintAir Saab 340A and don't worry I may be going to KDL in August. 

After I finished the game it was time to look into duty-free magazine but unfortunately, there was no Duty-Free on that flight :(

I would like to have an original piece of Swiss A340 and a Swiss Boeing 777-300ER 1/400 model.  

And now it is time for a legroom check. 

Legroom is good but it can be better and I forgot to mention seats were comfy. 

Now we are entering Poland's airspace so enjoy these pictures from Poland's airspace/land. 

But 3-5 minutes later we are over Germany and then the crew came and handed out these free Swiss chocolates. 

It was very delicious. 

Little bit things again that the seat pocket contains.

Enjoy these cabin/wing views over Germany

To escape from bornes I decided to play a tablet game, don't remember the name. 

And at this point, we had 39 minutes until arriving at the Zurich. 

Captain said into the PA that we have started the descent to Zurich. 

View to the Stuttgart Airport 

DESCENDING, LANDING, TAXING

And now it is time to start descending to the ZRH seatbelt signs were turned on and a descending safety video/announcement was shown.

I like how BT shows the departing flight info on flight displays and gates. 

Descending pictures

Quiz time. Name is that Tornado or Smoke on Backgorund, I did that quiz with my family and name the right thing :)

Enjoy some pictures from Touch down and taxing. 

After Arriving at the gate I saw LH A319 taxing and I saw Austrian Flag and Swisterlands flags and e parked next to Austrian Airlines A320 which was wearing a retro livery. 

LH A319

Austrian Airlines A320 with Retro Livery

Our Scheduled arrival time was 09:36 and our arrival was 09:24 so little bit ahead of schedule. 

DE-BOARDING

Then it was time to start deboarding from an aircraft, the saddest part of that flight. 
Cabin turning deboarding.  

Warm good bye from Air Baltic 

When deboarding cabin crew said goodbye and I grabbed the last fuselage shoot from our aircraft. 

TRANSFER AT Zurich and NAVIGATING

So our new gate is A57 and it is time to head there but before I need do navigate to the gate. 

And then I found the Duty-free shop and I needed do go and look if they have Airplane models but sadly no but I got a keyring. 

After that, I found one small restaurant and I was thinking about who not to go with Fanta.

I bought the Fanta, it is Swisterlands's own Fanta, it had the Switzerland flag on it but it was not as tasty as the original one. After buying a Fanta I decided to do some plane spotting. You can find these pictures from Bonus.

And after 5 minutes of plane spotting it was time to go to the gate and the flight report will continue on the next part from Zurich - Nuremberg Flight. 

Our route from fr24