On 22 May this year, a flight operated by Latvian airline airBaltic from Riga to Milan was delayed by a strike of Italian despatchers. While airBaltic was trying to ensure that passengers were comfortable and received a meal, a member of staff from the Consumer Protection Centre (PTAC), who had registered for the flight as a private individual, used her professional status to call PTAC’s Riga office and launch an immediate investigation of airBaltic.

airBaltic cooperated fully with the PTAC staff members who were sent to carry out the investigation. The airline also helped them complete the necessary formalities to gain access to the airport’s high-security area. No breaches of consumer rights were identified during the investigation.

“It is completely unacceptable that tax-payers’ money and the administrative resources of the institution are being used for activities which appear to be a settling of personal scores. This is a worrying tendency, if taxpayers’ money is to be used to defend the personal interests of PTAC employees, rather than consumers’ interests. Moreover, the PTAC investigation concentrated solely on airBaltic, and the centre refused to carry out similar investigations of the other airlines which operate from Riga airport,” airBaltic president Bertolt Flick commented.
 
In 2006 alone, PTAC carried out more than 50 investigations of airBaltic. Only on one occasion did an investigation reveal a fault which led to a warning. The airline has already taken PTAC’s director Baiba Vitolina to court for slander.

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