August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It will most likely not be ready by 2030. But that doesn’t stop us. What to expect from the Baltics? Is it affected by overtourism?
After having run the lungs out of our body to try to make our connection in Munich we unfortunately arrived at the gate for our Lufthansa flight to Tallinn right after it closed. We were sent to the Lufthansa Service Centre across the hall, where a very professional and friendly agent swiftly rebooked us on the late Air Baltic service from Munich to Tallinn.
Unfortunately this meant an unexpected 4 hours layover in Munich and a very late arrival into Tallinn.
On the bright side we now had a chance to visit the Lufthansa Business Lounges both in the main terminal and the satellite terminal. We also received a €20 voucher to spend on food and beverage in the airport as a compensation. In the end we didn’t use it as we had plenty to drink and eat in the lounge.
By the time boarding was to begin we were very much happy to be departing.
Flight BT824
From Munich (MUC) 19:25 (19:42) to Tallinn (TLL) 22:45 (22:55)
Flight Time 2 hours 13 minutes
Airbus A220-300 YL-ABX
Delivered to Air Baltic in February 2025
Luckily the Air Baltic flight was operated by a rather new A220-300, even outfitted with free Starlink Wi-Fi.
The seats where similar to the ones used by Swiss in their A220’s, just in grey rather than brown. We didn’t discover any power plugs nor USB plugs, seating throughout the plane is in a 2-3 configuration. In Business Class there was only 1 person on the 2 side, while on the 3 side the middle seat remained empty. Air Baltic also has a proper divider in between business and economy
After boarding completed we were handed out a paper menu with food and drinks served on today’s flight.
The safety video was screened on the tiny screens in the overhead console.
After take-off the service was initiated by a hot towel, something you never see on intra-European flights and gives that slight touch of extra luxury. Especially as it was nicely scented.
After this we received our choice of drinks. I had a rhubarb gin tonic cocktail and a full bottle of water.
This was followed by the rather heavy and big meal tray. It contained a salad for a starter, the main was chicken with a cheese sauce and a cake fir dessert. We could also pick our choice of bread from the bread basket. On the tray was also a proper porcelain cup for coffee or tea later. All dishes where porcelain and cutlery metal with air Baltic engravings. The only downside was that all dishes where still covered by cling wrap and aluminium foil that you had to get off yourself.
After the meal we were served coffee or tea. The tea was served with a hot cup of water, separate tea bag and a glass saucer to put the used teabag in when finished.
Throughout the flight the flight attendants where very attentive and made sure we never ran out of drinks or if we wanted any more.
We were very positively surprised by Air Baltic, it is generally considered a low-cost airline but our experience felt anything but low-cost. We received a proper hot meal, better than the cold pasta salad we would have received on our originally planned Lufthansa flight. The complimentary Starlink Wi-Fi was superfast and a nice way to spend the flight. And the crew was fantastic as nothing was too much for them
After arrival in Tallinn we also noticed each gate was sponsored by a different brand, as such there was also a bright green Air Baltic gate, which we thought was funny
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected…
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected…
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected…