Man, the Star Alliance transatlantic growth at LAX continues! Earlier this year SAS launched flights between Los Angeles and Stockholm, next April Austrian will launch flights between Los Angeles and Vienna, and now another airline is joining the club.
Via ETN, LOT Polish plans to launch flights between Warsaw and Los Angeles as of early April 2017. This will be the very first direct flight between California and Central-Eastern Europe. At just over 6,000 miles each way, this will be quite a haul.
LOT Polish has an all-Boeing 787 longhaul fleet — thank goodness, because their old 767s were beat up. At the moment they have six of these, though they have two more on order, so I imagine those additional planes will be used for this new route, since their current planes are pretty well utilized already.
LOT Polish 787 at Warsaw Airport
I reviewed LOT’s 787 business class a couple of years back between New York to Warsaw, and had a nice flight. Their 787s have 18 fully flat business class seats, spread across three rows in a 2-2-2 configuration.
LOT Polish 787 business class seat
This is a similar business class product to what you’ll find on Hainan, Xiamen, etc. While I don’t love this configuration if traveling alone, I tend to think it’s quite nice if traveling with a companion, since you can sit next to one another and also sleep in comfort.
Service on LOT is generally pretty decent, and the food is fine as well.
LOT Polish business class dining
Historically LOT Polish is great about releasing business class award availability, which is probably what I’m most excited about. LOT offers connections to several points in Eastern Europe that aren’t otherwise all that conveniently accessible from Los Angeles with one stop, so that’s great.
This will be an excellent use of Avianca LifeMiles, and even of Air Canada Aeroplan miles, given that Aeroplan’s carrier imposed surcharges on LOT are low.
I’ll post again once the route is bookable, assuming there’s a decent amount of business class award space on the flight (which I imagine there will be).
Warsaw, Poland
Anyone excited about LOT’s new flight between Warsaw and Los Angeles?
(Tip of the hat to Grzegorz)
Fantastic news! I ve already booked my wife with my daughter for the April 07 from LAX to WAW.... cant wait !
BTW, i had the pleasure to work for LOT in Fra Germany, it was awesome time and we did great job for all connecting flights with polish fames hospitality starting already in Germany.
I look forward to flying with the new DreamLiner over Atlantic.
Do zobaczenie w Polsce.
Great news. Although I live in Seattle, I may take advantage of this new route from LA to Warsaw. I flew LOT airline several times, and I always experienced great service, good food and at the end of flight after landing....passengers clapped to thank pilots and a crew for a flight. Old school Europe :-)
I wonder if its calculate to fly to Australia and New Zealand via Los Angeles. Should be more or less same distance than other way round.
Wow, the LAX to Warsaw nonstop flights are going to be massively popular with Polish Airlines LOT!!!!
LOT's Boeing 787 Drealiners are great planes for this route. I can't wait to fly!
Great news! I tried to book a flight but from Southern California to Warsaw and back but ended up giving up due to long layovers - the most ridiculous one had 19 hour layover in Germany. I hope I can finally fly to Poland this summer.
Elaine, what were the fuel surcharges on the award ticket? I've tried a search but get an error message, perhaps due to 1,200 miles in my account.
I am very glad that they finally open some flights to west coast! California is very popular place for business. I would like to add that this state is very important for movie and music production also there are many well-known universities there. Czeslaw Milosz who was awarded literature Nobel prize was a lecturer of Polish literature on one of them! SAS and Austrian (members of Star Alliance) start operating flight from LAX at the...
I am very glad that they finally open some flights to west coast! California is very popular place for business. I would like to add that this state is very important for movie and music production also there are many well-known universities there. Czeslaw Milosz who was awarded literature Nobel prize was a lecturer of Polish literature on one of them! SAS and Austrian (members of Star Alliance) start operating flight from LAX at the same time and I think it is a good thing because it will be easier to find the best possible connection. I wish they fly to LAX every day.
Bummer. I just burned my Miles and More miles. The best redemption was out of Chicago, but I fly out of LAX.
Czech Republic is probably one of Europe's most boring countries with its sub-par culture and history. Besides the strict city centre of Prague, it's a total waste of time and effort. The Prague itself lacks authenticity and seems so artificial that you can't do away with feeling that the only aim is to get as much money out of a tourist's pocket as possible.
Fantastic news as I fly LAX-WAW two-three times a year. Warsaw is changing fast into a "touristy" city with excellent restaurants and standard city attractions. Which I am not happy about since I would prefer to keep it a secret. So kudos to @Jack who haven't discovered the marvels of meringue in Telimena Cafe, the tranquility of city beaches on Vistula banks or the excellent new museums for discerning visitors that focus on history rather...
Fantastic news as I fly LAX-WAW two-three times a year. Warsaw is changing fast into a "touristy" city with excellent restaurants and standard city attractions. Which I am not happy about since I would prefer to keep it a secret. So kudos to @Jack who haven't discovered the marvels of meringue in Telimena Cafe, the tranquility of city beaches on Vistula banks or the excellent new museums for discerning visitors that focus on history rather than entertainment. More seriously, Warsaw is fascinating but you need to know what to look for.
How is traffic at LAX as far as passenger experience goes? Is the airport operating at or near capacity yet?
@Jack How is Prague better than Kraków, Gdańsk, Sopot or Wrocław?
@Jack
You're in luck ... LOT flies WAW-PRG. FWIW I agree that Warsaw isn't very fun, but you should try Krakow. It reminds me - and everyone else I've ever talked to that's been - of Prague.
Lucky,
Aeroplan does impose YQ on LOT flights (usually around CDN$100) but it's significantly lower than the traditional heavy-hitters (e.g., AC, LH, OS) for which YQ is CDN$400 - $800+ for round-trips (lower Y, higher J).
M
@ Marvin -- Whoops, you're right, fixing post, thanks.
They also announced a new route to Newark, so they'll now be serving both EWR and JFK. However the route will be served by an leased 767 fresh out of a retrofit with a 1-2-1 set up in C (LOT 787 will take over as soon it's delivered during summer of 2017). Award availability in business class should be great here as well.
Releasing*
And they're are starting service to Newark as of April 28th
No thank you, thier business class is poor even it was refurbished to new interior of the aircraft and new menu. Btw that plate doesn't look nice. Poland is boring. Go to Prague much better
They are officially realising it to public tomorrow.
LOTs been adding a lot of lanes this year. Their launching flights to Seoul next week and their returning to Newark as well. Always enjoy their service and although I fly standby so I don't know the exact prices, I've heard their very reasonable. Cheers from Poland!
Woo goo... great news! Specially since LOT has reasonable paid fares as well.