Many Latvians, when abroad, still encounter the assumption that Latvia is closely connected to Russia or that Russian is spoken in everyday life here. People often admit that they are tired of explaining the opposite every time, so they no longer even try to correct these misconceptions.
This time, the focus was on the airline airBaltic after a passenger expressed outrage on social media about the boarding announcement for the flight from Milan to Riga.
On the social media platform X, Ilze wrote: “I’m boarding the @airBaltic Milan–Riga flight, and what do I hear — an invitation to board in broken Russian! It’s the 1550th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine… What the hell, @airBaltic?”
Ilze's post quickly attracted the attention of other social media users. Some commentators expressed the opinion that abroad there is still a perception of Latvia as a country where Russian is widely used in everyday life.
“Foreigners think that people in Latvia speak Russian,” wrote one commentator.
Other participants in the discussion pointed out that similar situations are observed in other places. One woman mentioned a recently opened store in Riga where products from Russia are available, and the labeling is done in Russian.
However, many noted that their experience with airBaltic was completely different. Commentators wrote that they had flown with Latvia's national airline several times in recent months and had not noticed anything like that.
There were also suggestions that the specific situation might have been related not to the airline itself but to the announcement system used by the airport.
Representatives of airBaltic also responded to the incident. The airline explained that at airports, announcements about its flights are usually made in Latvian, English, and the language of the respective country.
The company acknowledges that in this case, there may have been a deviation from established procedures, and the announcement was played using the airport's automated announcement system.
“Thank you for your message. At airports, announcements for airBaltic flights are made in Latvian, English, and also in the language of the departure country.
In this case, there may have been a deviation from our established procedures, and the announcement was played through the airport's automated announcement system. airBaltic will contact the relevant airport service company to clarify the situation and assess what happened.
We apologize for the inconvenience,” the airline stated.
“Announcements should not be made in Russian regardless of what is happening in Ukraine.”
“This is the airport, not @airBaltic.”
“In Milan, it seems there are always problems with our cotton language; they found the simplest solution.”
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