LOT Polish Launching Washington Dulles Flights

LOT has an impressive operation. Their management sees opportunity in underserved markets, and aren't afraid of taking advantage of them. They must not have gone to whatever Business School AA's management went to.

Interesting timing. Is IAD out of slots at the usual times for European flights?

Also in other IAD news, it looks like TK is operating 2x daily flights to IST, at least in the summer.

@ Jim -- I don't think it has anything to do with slot availability at Washington Dulles, but likely has to do with scheduling/aircraft availability for LOT Polish.

Swiss unfortunately does not fly IAD (only codeshare with UA), so one *A still to go.

Odd timing with the arrival into IAD as it will not allow for really any onward connections.

I've never really understood these sort of 3x or 4x per week routes. Doesn't that severely limit the market? Not sure I'd want to book with them if I had to travel on a Thursday or another day they're not operating.

My only experience with Lot was not especially positive. My flight was canceled 2 days ahead of my trip but getting rebooked was a nightmare at first until I finally found an agent at the airport willing to accommodate me on a partner. Their operation at WAW seemed to be overstretched quite a bit.

Swiss flies to ZRH - as noted on the IAD wiki, resumes 3/29/2019

@Lucky. LOT had cancelled the ORD-BUD route about 2 months ago. It only operates the JFK-BUD flights now.

My mother in law will probably be filled with joy at this news... lol

@raksiam "Their operation at WAW seemed to be overstretched quite a bit."

Part of it is airport itself, this is why they are looking at building a major hub outside of Warsaw that would be more flexible without city specific constraints.

Similar to Jim’s comment, there are many European airlines with very late departure times from IAD. I wonder why. Is IAD a big business class destination for airlines? Maybe they want to capture those who prefer to fly after a full day at the office.

@CF Frost - United has a huge bank of flights in the 10-10:30pm range so seems timed perfectly for that, tons of connections available.

Albert is correct. 10-11pm is a busy time for UA, almost as busy as 5-6pm.

@Matt - Someone more in the know will probably be able to confirm in more detail, but I believe it is because of gate constraints (not "landing slots", they can handle plenty of that) during the peak hours of say 5-7.

Lufthansa, Air France, BA, Virgin, KLM, Lingus all have departures in that time frame (I might be missing a few, plus everything else out of terminal B that isn't transatlantic), just clogs up the gate situation there.

@Jim LOT’s N. American flights ( Toronto incl) all depart Warsaw between 4 and 5 pm, making them perfectly connected (1, max 2 hrs connection times) with tens of European flights. Same with return flight, landing in Warsaw at 1:25pm, then almost whole Europe connected with 3pm flights. The other “wave” of US-flights ( LAX, MIA, 2nd JFK and 2nd ORD rotations depart Warsaw around midday, so most likely additional flights to IAD, when added, will depart that time. Impressive how LOT is growing! Apparently BOS is next on their list, as soon as more 787-9s arrive.

This certainly opens up options for travel to eastern europe and direct service into the DC area is always a welcomed addition. Having said this, stats show that DCA and BWI are vastly preferred for domestic travel so IAD has always had limited ability to function as a hub. I'm sure those traveling on business don't care, but flying the direct flights out of IAD always requires a substantial premium. For personal travel the convenience of direct international flights has to be balanced with the cost and the relative inconvenience of IAD itself. I imagine thrice a week is about all the market needs.

Re the scheduled times: This is typical for LO‘s operations to North America. Most, if not all, operate quite late in the day. I don‘t know whether this has an operational or a marketing rationale.

What rather surprises me is the seasonal Rzeszow to Newark operation. Yes, the City of Rzeszow has quite a few multinational corporates, but as far as I know, only Pratt&Whitney is headquartered in the NY area ... and if it was for that reason, it would be all year.

The DC area is a very wealthy area and has robust demand for purchased J Class travel. There's a reason that many airlines fly there with premium-heavy layouts to / from Dulles.

@Andy - the Rzeszow - New York flight is summer seasonal to cater to Polish/New York VFR traffic. Nothing to do with corporate demand (or lack thereof).

@Whoever wants to know about slots

IAD isn't a slot controlled airport, so slots in the European sense aren't an issue.

It is hard to score competitively priced J Or premium economy ticket on LOT. Most of the time r/t originating in US runs close to $4000. The J layout is mediocre and I often chose LH A380 with MUC connection over nonstop LOT to Warsaw. I hope with increased capacity txt prices will go down to be more competitive with LH.

Great to see LOT restoring full-service carrier service in Budapest especially after collapse of Malev. Poland and Hungary are indeed brothers to be

I almost pulled the trigger on a LOT award seat in J because it seemed like a good deal, but every Pole I know here in Chicago told me I was crazy, that it was the worst airline...they all prefer Lufthansa.

For those flying in the back of the plane, LOT has the narrowest economy seats of any 787 operator, coming in at 16.1in.

Count me out!

@ORDGuy Poles in Chicago can hardly afford flying Business anywhere so they can hardly be accurate source of any info regarding that And keep in mind that every single Pole in the world will choose even the worst product but foreign over the best, but Polish. Polish mentality. So if u wanna succeed in Poland with your company, name it in foreign language - I can give you HUNDREDS of examples

Dulles continues an impressive addition of flights and new airlines. Already we are seeing fares drop to Europe with this competition and should be soon on par with JFK for attractive premium fares on intl. fights. This is great news for us in DC.

TAP, Iberia, Swiss and now LOT are going to make 2020 a fun one out of IAD. Now we just need to see flights to Brazil and better fares without having to go via Miami.

I agree with Stuart. In the last few years, flight options to Europe from IAD have dramatically increased. Good for us in the DC area.

@MikeS "Poles in Chicago can hardly afford flying Business anywhere so they can hardly be accurate source of any info regarding that"

Uhh.. speak for yourself.