Star Alliance member LOT Polish has an interesting long haul route network, in that they only fly to a handful of destinations in North America, but do so from multiple gateways in Central/Eastern Europe. They current operate the following North America routes using their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft:
Continue reading: LOT Polish Launching Flights To Miami
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Those are the published business class fares from Europe to the US? Wow - so cheap! They are much more expensive if you are coming from the US
Also, maybe the lower fares are not loaded ex-Prague yet? The flight from Warsaw to Prague leaves at noon and so those schedules you have in your screenshot above, where the flights leaving Prague all leave after noon, indicate an overnight connection in Warsaw. I've checked on LOT's own website (and on Kayak too) and they have two flights leaving Prague to Warsaw in the morning that connect very well to the noon nonstop to Miami, giving elapsed travel times that are comparable to the other options you present. Maybe you searched wrong? Fares, though, as you point out, are way higher on LOT now. Maybe they just havent fully optimized their revenue management forecasting yet to ensure their fares are competitive. Their timings certainly are. I'd give it a few days until I rush to judgment, as sometimes, especially in new markets for an airline, it can take a few days for their rev man systems to synch up.
Ahh I was hoping for Warsaw-Washington Dulles. It's a big Star Alliance hub too. LOT has some great European connections from Warsaw.
Is Rzeszow-Newark really more demand than Warsaw-Washington?
Hmmm I wonder if LOT would work out better in ONEWORLD. Flying to MIA and JFK AA would help out a lot with connections while ORD would still give them a partner. Since LOT isn't part of the United joint venture this could probably give LOT better profits.
Warsaw is my frequent destination in Europe and I have flown LOT for 30 years. The advantage on non stop is offset by their higher pricing than Lufthansa for bizness class and premium economy originating in US. From your screenshots they seem to be charging over $10,000 for MIA. It is not competitive at all.
With introduction of 787 hard product is way better comparing to old 767 they used to operate over Atlantic but new bizness class 787 layout is 2-2-2, cramped hard seats and quite chaotic service. I have had some horrific weather cancellations by LOT where they just abandoned their biz class customers overnighting in EWR on the sidewalk with no assistance. No thank you. I would rather take Lufthansa with connecting flight.
Many airlines have had high hopes for the Miami market only to be disappointed and either reduce or cancel service altogether. We’ve seen it from WOW Air which operated for less than a year, Aeroflot is giving up on the route, Emirates, VS, have also reduced their flights to South Florida. It’s a highly seasonal market and the business travelers everyone thinks come from or to Miami simply doesn’t exist. It’s 90% tourism.
@Rafa: Thanks for the info. re: LOT's lack of customer service. Will be sure to avoid them. I'd rather pay a bit more for LH, OS and have them at least help when there's a problem with the flight. Sad to say, but how come I'm not surprised. The only European carriers IMHO which have a good ground customer service are Alitalia, LH, OS, LX (but can be a hit or miss with the Swiss), Virgin Atlantic, Aegean, Aeroflot, Brussels, KLM, Air France, Finnair, Iberia. Save for Aeroflot, none of the other East European carriers are included.
Jerry where did you hear that Aeroflot was giving up on Miami? I still see flights listed even in June 2019. So far Aeroflot is still flying to Miami 4 days a week as always.
Austrians footprint in Eastern Europe is fairly limited. If you're flying from a major Central European airport to the US, you may as well choose AF, BA or LH, but LOT offers flight to very regional airports with no other convenient one-stop flights to the US.
There is a maintenance facility at Rzeszow.
So it presumably 'planes being sent from Newark for maintenance.
LOT has only 15 long-haul 'planes, all 787s.
Do they need one week's maintenance in every fifteen?
If not, is the flight from and to Newark sometimes Lufthansa (or Swiss/Austrian) metal going for maintenance?
Not sure about Central Europe, but LOT is very active in eastern Europe (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus..) + Baltic states (Lithuania , Estonia, Latvia )
Adding Miami at competitive fares may very well attract enough connecting passengers.