LOT Polish Airlines has just announced its newest route to the United States, and it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
Continue reading: LOT Polish Airlines Launching Warsaw To San Francisco Flights
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
While their product is not cutting edge as you say, are they in competition with anyone else route-wise or business-wise?
Still waiting on WAW-IAD. LOT is the only European Star Alliance carrier (that does transatlantic flights) that doesn't serve Washington Dulles.
It's good to see LOT adding new routes to the US. I have flown them out of MIA 3 times over the last few years and found their product to be decent enough and reasonably priced. WAW is also a pretty easy airport for connections, though the lounge is lackluster. I do wish that they participated in TSA Pre-Check though. Any idea if they have any future plans to join?
Very nice airline, but with Russia’s invasions, Poland is too dangerous to visit
Poland is becoming a huge tech hub as India becomes less reliable. Super logical flight.
How ? This is news to me. A great many are planning massive facilities in India after the H1B issue.
Is there only connectivity on the US side? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a paid star alliance flight to Europe with a connection in Warsaw.
Also Warsaw is a huge “near shore” location for tons of corporations, I’m sure there’s some good business demand there too
LOT's network in Central Europe (actual Eastern Europe isn't that easy to reach nowadays...) and the Balkans is second to none, not only can you go to lots of Polish airports and basically all the national capitals in the region (other than Bratislava for which you'd end up at VIE), you can also reach places like KSC, OSR, SKG, CLJ which have limited long-haul connectivity, plus a few others in the Near East and Central Asia.
"...Poland is too dangerous to visit"
No, it's really not.
But since you fly private because of all the millions you have from being partner at Skadden Baker Jones Sullivan Kirkland Clifford DLA Covington and Sidley, you can always flee at a moment's notice if you get frightened.
"How ? This is news to me."
India, Philippines, and Poland are three of the largest offshore technology hubs for US offshore work.
Robert from LOT needs to not kiss San Francisco’s bottom glorifying the city; it’s a truly awful and dirty city (see poop map).
The whole reason for the flight was and is Silicon Valley connecting to high quality talent in Poland. Our staff is already planning sizable seat purchases on LOT for this flight, as soon as the timing gets a little closer.
Regarding lounges, LOT has a fairly solid elite club “sub lounge” now, but the main lounge has really reached trash quality offering compared to where it used to be (Just like all the other lounges in WAW have gone to junk). Business travelers will be in shock when they see the difference between the Polaris Lounge in SF and the “flagship lounge” in WAW. It’s an embarrassment, even after the remodel, due to the catastrophic soft product quality in comparison.
Regarding connecting flights, it will likely be available on both ends, however connecting traffic will likely be more leisure travel for now.
I wish LOT would announce flights to my field (Atlanta). Atlanta would a great destination in their network. Besides, it is the biggest city in the Southeast USA that the airline doesn’t fly into.
There is no direct competition at all, just with connections via FRA, ZRH or LHR. LOT flies daily to India ( mix of DEL and BOM) so I am sure this flight is also to grab some piece of that cake.
And with cabin refurbishment coming next year, their product will be really top notch.
Good development, and another way to get to Europe is always welcome. It would also be nice to see LOT become a preferred partner of UA in MileagePlus.
Cool!
Now we just need Austrian to start flying to SFO (from a Star Alliance perspective).
Are they getting G gates of A gates? A gates are a bit of a trek from UA gates at SFO (annoying if connecting through SFO to WAW but not bad the other way).
Yay! I am always thankful when SFO adds new routes, especially to European destinations, which we regularly lack access to...
i've worked at multiple companies now that have pulled out of india due to corporate theft and other issues. poland has better controls.
Actually, I was informed of a person who just recently flew from New York to Croatia through Warsaw. They have a huge connectivity in Europe.
Interesting development...LOT is adding up a lot of new destinations lately.
Having said that, WAW is really at capacity. I believe several airlines have seen their slot requests flatly refused.
The non-Schengen part of the terminal is small too.
Furthermore, some of their 787's are grounded due to the usual engine problems.
LOT has relied on wetleasing, and continues to do so. Privilege Style is supposed to provide JFK service. Their spare long-distance fleet capacity must be razor-thin...
Well, next year two 787-8s from Thai Airways will join LOT’s fleet and today their PR said they are actively looking for more 787s. Another wet-lease is always an option too, they have double daily Chicago, New York, Toronto ( this summer some days had 3x Toronto!) so one rotation can be easily done by wet-leased machine.
According to LOT’s strategy announced some time ago, they wanna double their longhaul fleet in next 5-6 years with Boston, Bangkok, Washington, Hanoi, Osaka on the destination list. It’s all matter of having more 787s and space at Warsaw Airport.
Chicago is their US hub - by far. 2x to WAW, 1x to BUD, 1x to KRK. Their new lounge is incredible! Only only outside Poland.
Although the hard product is a bit outdated, LOT is a wonderful experience. The service standard is almost Middle Eastern and the food is fantastic. They pour every glass of wine or champagne at your seat, and they serve the meals directly on table cloths with no trays. The crews are immaculately groomed and clearly take tremendous pride in their work. It is a world away from other European or American carriers. Really hope they have a lot of growth and success with this new route.
And the seat really isn't that bad, particularly if you are flying with a partner. It is very spacious and comfortable. Just not very private.
Oh, but you can always connect through Heathrow or Frankfurt, which are both not-at-all-stressful, world class transit experiences.
So true, Willy. When you’re a super-rich bigshot New York lawyer who operates a BBJ777 for himself, a second BBJ777 for his entourage, and a 747-8F for his luggage, getting out at a moment’s notice should be a piece of cake. The President of the United States should be so lucky!
Disagree - their hard product is absolutely THE WORST long-haul business class 2+2 there is, straight outta year 2000. Pretty cold, typical eastern-european unfriendly service too.
Only reason I have been using them, they often sell it 50% cheaper than competitors, but even in this case I am often on the fence, whether I should
Passengers travelling on longhaul LO flights in J can use the Elite lounge irrespective of status. That being said, I think the general lounge is fanastic as well - it's not like there's a ton of difference between the two. Unless you care about booze, the general lounge is actually a bit better imho.
@Throwawayname - And let's not forget Scandinavia and Baltics where LOT also has a pretty good coverage. The only blind spot is HEL where they don't fly for some reason.
NS saturation at WAW has been a problem for years; it's part of the reason why CPK is still in play.
Good luck getting a seat in Mazurek lounge on an average day. If I have an NS trip I always go to Polonez first and then time passport control to give me around 20 minutes in Mazurek. If there's a delay in boarding I'll often use my Dragonpass to get into Etiuda next door (the contract lounge), where it's usually not as hard to find a seat.
The BUD service is no longer direct, as LOT have abandoned the idea of using it as a secondary hub.
Any LO flights between ORD and BUD will route via WAW.
Also, WAW-ORD is nearly always 1x/day (LO 3); occasionally they'll run LO 1003 also.
I have heard good things about the LO lounge in ORD though.
Sadly the non-Schengen LO lounge at WAW is much worse than the Schengen one, and that's the lounge you're probably visiting.
Ugh, we don't want more connections from Europe to that hellhole country. Leave Europe alone.
Milan is very well served, and it's the only city in Italy that actually matters.