LOT Polish Airlines has made several exciting announcements over the past year or so, including plans to refresh Boeing 787 cabins, growing the fleet by around 50%, and also opening a lounge outside of Poland for the first time. I wanted to take an updated look at that last point, as that lounge should be opening in the near future (though unfortunately we still don’t have an exact opening date).
In this post:
LOT Lounge coming to Chicago O’Hare Terminal 5
LOT Polish Airlines plans to open a lounge at Chicago O’Hare Airport (ORD) in the coming weeks, and the lounge now has a dedicated webpage. The lounge will be located in Terminal 5 (just past the security checkpoint and by the food court area), which is the airport’s primary international terminal.
The lounge is expected to be 617 square meters (6,642 square feet), with seating for 165 people. As far as design goes, the lounge should be modern, with floor-to-ceiling windows. There will be a variety of seating options, a buffet, a bar, restrooms, and even shower suites.
This will be LOT’s first lounge outside of Poland. Chicago is a logical airport for such a lounge, since it’s the carrier’s largest outstation — LOT has service to both Krakow (KRK) and Warsaw (WAW) out of Chicago, with the latter route typically having two daily frequencies.
Below are some of the renderings of the LOT Polish Airlines Lounge Chicago, to give you a sense of what we can expect.
This lounge addition is really exciting
In terms of lounge options, Chicago O’Hare Terminal 5 is probably the worst international terminal in the United States. While the new Delta Sky Club is great, non-SkyTeam flyers have really bad options. The two other lounges are the Scandinavian Airlines Lounge (which is tiny and doesn’t have bathrooms) and the Swissport Lounge (which I consider to be the worst lounge in the United States).
Additional lounge options in the terminal are long overdue — not only should the LOT Lounge be nicer than the existing options, but most importantly, it will add additional capacity, reducing crowding in the other (tiny) lounges.
In line with Star Alliance lounge access policies, I imagine the LOT Lounge will also accommodate premium passengers on other Star Alliance airlines, like Austrian Airlines, EVA Air, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, and more. Historically many of these passengers have been sent to the Scandinavian Airlines Lounge, but the airline has left Star Alliance and joined SkyTeam.
While there’s an excellent United Polaris Lounge in Chicago, that’s located in Terminal 1, so it’s not practical for those who are originating their travels in Chicago.
Bottom line
LOT Polish Airlines will be opening its first lounge outside of Poland in the near future, as the airline plans to open a location at Chicago O’Hare Terminal 5. The renderings of the lounge so far look great, and most importantly, this will add much needed capacity to the terminal.
What do you make of plans for the LOT Lounge Chicago?
Chicago Airport Authority should pitch in some of the cost given how much this'll improve the attractiveness of the airport. I've specifically avoided connecting at ORD in the past because of the dire lounge situation in T5
I can’t wait to visit the LOT lounge in Chicago. They are also renovating their lounge in Warsaw, which is partially open. The food is good, and I hope the quality will be similar in Chicago. I’d like to share an interesting update about lounge access for LOT passengers in Oslo and Stockholm. LOT Polish Airlines and Lufthansa now offer lounge access in Oslo and Stockholm only to passengers traveling in business class (with access...
I can’t wait to visit the LOT lounge in Chicago. They are also renovating their lounge in Warsaw, which is partially open. The food is good, and I hope the quality will be similar in Chicago. I’d like to share an interesting update about lounge access for LOT passengers in Oslo and Stockholm. LOT Polish Airlines and Lufthansa now offer lounge access in Oslo and Stockholm only to passengers traveling in business class (with access to the SAS Business Lounge) or to those holding a Senator card (Star Alliance Gold in the Miles and More program). As a result, passengers holding Star Alliance Gold status through programs other than Miles and More (e.g., Star Alliance Gold in Turkish Miles and Smiles, Greek Miles and Bonus, or Thai’s Royal Orchid Plus) do not have access to the business lounges. I’m wondering if this is an isolated case or if it’s part of a new cost-cutting policy by LOT Polish Airlines?
Let me know if you’d like more adjustments!
There is no longer a BA lounge in ORD T5. BA operates it's departures from the AA terminal at T3 now.
Looks very nice. T5 has been a lounge-wasteland. Hopefully a sign of better things to come.
At least SAS customers can now use the Delta lounge which is actually very nice.
I think SAS customers only get access to their lounge. Not 100% sure about that.
When, is this still happening?
I was in T5 earlier in the summer. The lounge was very much still under construction. Signs and wrappers that covered a very large entry way. Signage said Q3 but that appears highly likely to slip. Obviously could not see inside but it's located really close to the existing SAS lounge.
Honestly I'm a lot more interested in what's going to become of the old DL lounge in T2. That was a beautiful if small space. Really great plane spotting by those windows.
Beginning of December.
My mother flew with Lot last week. Lot still using SAS lounge at the moment.
However, hours are limited.
When lot have flights after 8pm, you get no lounge access at all.
Any updates on opening dates?
My question is where id the Swiss lounge? The plans for T5 always included expanded lounge space, I know Swiss is expected to move to the new global terminal but we are talking about 7-10 years from now.
Swiss had an excellent small lounge in T5 before, I would assume they along with BA would want a new lounge. Will be interesting to see what happens.
LOT pictures look great.
There is no Swiss lounge at O'Hare, and no plans for Swiss to have a lounge in the future, as far as I know.
There is a Swiss lounge in ORD T5. With both biz class and first class sections. It’s too small, but it does indeed exist.
Swiss had its own T5 lounge, small one and with a dedicated room for first class. It was closed in 2020. Swiss F/C pax are currently sent to SK or Swissport lounges
The lounge looks impressive in terms of decor and furnishing but I'm not sure the value of an airline like LOT having it's own lounges in outposts given their product isn't particularly distinct nor have much of a national flavor/character. It's a fairly generic airline and product. Lounges like this make sense for airlines with strong product, quality and national character, sometimes some of these or all of these - think British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore...
The lounge looks impressive in terms of decor and furnishing but I'm not sure the value of an airline like LOT having it's own lounges in outposts given their product isn't particularly distinct nor have much of a national flavor/character. It's a fairly generic airline and product. Lounges like this make sense for airlines with strong product, quality and national character, sometimes some of these or all of these - think British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways but not for airlines like LOT. It feels a waste of money to me and adds little value for the money spent by them form a business point of view especially as I doubt they will be able or willing to maintain any kind of standards or quality.
This should be an easy money maker for them, with the fees from other Star Alliance airlines that will likely use the lounge.
There is also a BA Galleries lounge which has no windows in T5… The T5 expansion has for the most part been built and significantly increased the size of the terminal so there is plenty of space for new lounges. Makes sense since LOT will likely not join in the new global terminal with United even when it’s finished.
I was actually wondering why they’d build a new lounge with the new global terminal going in (although that’s a ways away). Why is LOT not joining United there? I thought the expectation was the star/oneworld partners would be adjacent to the United/American hubs.
There isn’t enough room in the new terminal and only Lufthansa group (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian), ANA, New Zealand, Copa and Air Canada will be able to fit. (Source airliners.net and flyertalk). Most of the new terminal/satelites is upgrading gates and there isn’t as much of a net gain as one would think.
Got it thanks for the info. Do you know the expected oneworld carriers by any chance? It’d be nice to have BA join….
BA had already moved to T3 with AA a few months ago ago already, joining IB, JL, and EI, so naturally it will move to the global terminal as well
BA lounge in T5 is closed. They now operate out of T3 for departures and use the AA lounges.
I too am curious where this lounge will be installed in T5. Looks beautiful, too beautiful imho for the T5 space/layout as is.
The entrance is across from Frontera (it's blocked off currently) it's on the far east east area of the newly built headhouse. LO will have access to board from the lounge like Delta has. This area will also house the AF/KL lounge.
Why in the HECK isn't their a Star Alliance lounge in ORD T5 - considering their is AI, NZ, NH (some at times), OS, BR and of course LO
I get that NOT all of them can get into T1 - but it seems pretty poor to make ONE carrier where this is an outstation push for the lounge
grammar police - sorry "there" not "their"
And LOT will be paid handsomely by the other airlines for their use of it!
@ Gregg - I suspect that's a big reason why this is happening...
Never understood why United doesn't put it's Star Alliance partner in their terminal.
Not all departures can utilized the airside bus.
Because there isn’t enough room at terminal 1. United already does the ground work for Lufthansa, ANA, and Air Canada in T1. They just simply can’t fit all of their internationals and then 4 other carriers in their terminal, it’s not feasible
I doubt they would bother with anybody who's not a joint venture given limited capacity, and the LH and NH arrangments were made before Swiss even joined the group. I mean they could probably fit NZ there too if they wanted to.
LX is a TATL JV partner, just one daily departure, sure they can fit them at T1, like AA recently did with BA at T3
LOT did have a lounge in Budapest but I believe it has closed.
Agree T5 is a mess in its current state. I typically fly Delta so the Sky Club is a god send. When I fly other international airlines out of T5 (Qatar as an example) I will go through security in the other terminals to use the Polaris or AA Flagship lounges before taking the airside bus to T5. Great tarmac views too!
That is what I do as well. However, this isn't convenient when you have luggage to check in, which I normally do when I travel long haul.
We are typically carry on only but our last Qatar flight out of ORD we checked in at T5, took the tram to T3 to go through TSA. Took maybe an extra 5 minutes. We also arrived 2.5 hours early just so we could go to the other terminal. Understandably not everyone will have that much time.
I would prioritize Pre-Check over a lounge to get me to book with LOT.
United (and the United Polaris lounge) is in Terminal 1, not Terminal 2.
Most United and several Star Alliance international flights take off from terminal 2, so those passengers can already use the lounges located there.
That is not correct. United, Lufthansa, and ANA depart from terminal 1 at ORD. United and Air Canada in terminal 2. All others depart from terminal 5.
If SAS is moving to Skyteam, it'd make sense if this lounge were to take the place of the existing SAS lounge and then SAS passengers start using the Delta Skyclub. Unless they plan on having this lounge in a newly constructed portion of the terminal...
Polaris is in Terminal 1 Concourse C
Why though? I wouldn't have thought the quality of outstation lounges would be a top priority for LOT.
Chicago has the largest Polish population of any city outside of Poland.
Opening a lounge at ORD makes perfect sense. In fact, one wonders why it took LOT so long.
You know which place has more Poles than Chicago? Warsaw. LOT should focus on improving their lounge offering there, CPK is still a long way away. Not to mention other focus cities, e.g. KRK and GDN, where they only offer third party lounges (and the one at KRK is truly abysmal).
Very true about Chicago.
I am more mystifed by the email sent me yesterday that they are starting flights to Riyadh.
The announcement focussed on tourism to Saudi Arabia, which seems even more of a big ask from Poland than from Western European countries.
Perhaps they saw lots of Poles connecting in ?FRA for business.
Are the Saudis doling out large subsidies to persude airlines to open routes to Riyadh?