LOT Polish Airlines

ZRH-WAW I was the only one in Business very attentive crew with a friendly attitude making sure I was ok. Food okay wine also - not perfect but okay. Lots of refills. Clean and comfortable E170. It was an M&M award ticket so cannot comment on value for money. The only problem was with arrival to Warsaw where the plane parked in the middle apron instead of the gate.

Copenhagen - Hanoi via Warsaw and back. Nice Embraer on way to Warsaw no food. Delayed because of snow so quick transit in Warsaw. Very old B767 from Warsaw to Hanoi with only an overhead screen that plays movies on tape - not good at all. Food below average need to pay for beer/wine. No service between meals have to get up to get drinks. Noisy drunken passengers keeping us awake first half of the trip even though it was way past midnight. Quieter flight on the way home but manual boarding passes in Hanoi and needed to queue in Warsaw to get transit passes. Again snow delayed us over one hour but this time we were packed into an old 737 and told we had to wait for de-icing but the plane didn't move in 45 minutes didn't queue up for de-icing without telling us anything or serving any drinks. I would only fly this far again with LOT if they are more than £120 cheaper than alternative choices.

LHR–WAW–LHR B737-500 outbound and B737-400 inbound. These aircraft had been delivered to LOT in 1993/94 and I suspect the interiors are as they were when the aircraft left the factory. The seats had a dated and tired look about them - cushion of my seaton the inbound flight had collapsed into the seat-frame so that it was as if I was sitting in a bucket. Catering both ways comprised a quality filled roll with hot and cold drinks. The cabin service was efficient and professional but without much apparent joy on the part of cabin crew.

GDN-WAW-MXP return E170/175. Clean airplanes sandwich and drinks on way to MXP juice and refeshment on domestic flight. Staff friendly. Due to fog in GDN we couldn't land and had to fly back to Warsaw LOT organised a hotel food and transport and rebooked us for the nearest flight.

CPH-WAW-HAN. ATR 170 first leg and Boeing 767-300 on second. Tickets at very reasonable price. Fastest connection CPH-HAN. Precise arrivals and departures. Airline not up to 4 star but provides good value for the money. Inaugural flight celebrations in airport in Hanoi and onboard for the new route. Customers provided with champagne souveners flowers. Food good though not perfect. Seats not flat no personal TV screen on biz-class. TV sets are portable and must be set up by staff on the serving trays which then become unavailable for other uses eg. meals laptop etc.

KRK-WAW on E175. KRK is a small local airport with not much facilities but check-in was OK. The flight is 45 mins but they manage to hand out drinks. Seats were good however given the age of the plane it looked a bit worn-out. Staff friendly.

Round trip ORD-WAW-KBP. I found B767 to be surprisingly spartan (no adjustable air vents over the seats in economy for example). The return trip was a disaster. KBP-WAW flight was delayed by 4 hours which meant I missed my connecting flight. I was put up in the Mariott adjacent to WAW which was nice but making the arrangements was a pain and should have been done for me when I got off the plane. I had to stand in 3 different lines for the better part of an hour to get the arrangements taken care of. The next morning I was put on a flight to Newark because the ORD flight was full and that flight was also delayed by 4 hours. When I became aware of the delay I talked to someone at the desk to ask if there were any open seats on the ORD flight that was boarding at that time. I was told that there were in fact some business class seats but upgrading would have required going to the ticket desk at the front of the airport. Nobody at the gate seemed to be authorized to do such a thing. In a situation where there are a dozen or more passengers like me who missed their flight to ORD the day before there's no excuse for any business class seats to be empty on the next flight to ORD. By the time I got to Newark there were no remaining flights out that night so I was handed another hotel voucher and got on an uneventful flight on American Airlines the next morning and arrived home 36 hours behind schedule. To the credit of LOT in Newark they had my voucher and rebooking ready but could do nothing more than just apologize. Why couldn't the people at WAW be this organized? It's LOT's main hub after all. I understand delays happen and missed connections happen but I think when you're handing someone their second straight hotel voucher perhaps you owe them more than just a ticket to get them the rest of the way home.

Heathrow-Warsaw B737-500 Economy. Newspapers handed out and adequate refreshments. The plane was old but clean and well maintained and flight left promptly. The legroom was good and the seats although a bit narrow were fine for the fare paid.

Lviv-Warsaw-Budapest. Check in agent efficient but check in area at Lviv airport was very cramped. Flight to Warsaw (B737-500) was pleasant with a tasty snack and wine served legroom generous. At Warsaw passengers were bussed to the terminal and then again to the E170 for the second leg to Budapest. Comfortable seat on-time pleasant service and tasty snack with wine. Apart from the tedious bussing at Warsaw this was a good product at a very reasonable price.

As a weekly Business traveler from LHR to Warsaw LOT has been my choice for nearly 2 years mainly because of the convenient scheduling even though on average a business return costs approximately £100 more than with BA. Until recently all was going well with the occasional delayed flight which is normal. In the last few months all this has changed. LOT now have a policy of cramming their flights to capacity - as most passengers fly economy the result has been the compacting of business class to 2 or 3 rows with all seats occupied 6 across. The last 3 weeks I have been sandwiched into already small seats with no space to work or even sit comfortably. On one occasion upon entering the plane I was confronted by a 140kg woman in the middle seat with a crying baby on her lap. Her body occupied fully a third of my seat & I didn't fancy 2.5 hours under her bulges & a crying baby for company. When I pointed this out to the stewardess I was met with a shrug and told "flight is full". I asked how was I supposed to even sit here discretely so as not to offend the passenger concerned & was met with total indifference. Last night was the last straw same situation yet again with same uncaring attitude of the flight crew. I took my bag and left the plane. I went to the customer service desk where there were 5 staff 1 of which was working with a queue of customers 1 on the land line phone presumably to a customer 2 women on mobiles who I can only assume were on private calls due to their demeanor - the 5th woman resting with her head in her hands & elbows on the counter all with closed signs. I asked for the station chief and was directed upstairs to his office . On complaining of the situation again I was met with total indifference. No apology or attempt to placate me was made shrugs and said flight was full. Apart from the fact that a business ticket is purchased for just that reason to work the absolute apathy & uncaring attitude of the staff mean that I will never use this airline again & bodes very badly for their future as a competitive service provider to business users. I wonder if enough business fliers like me who spend in excess of 120000zl a year were to leave them would they even notice or care. I don't think so. This is definitely a leftover from the days of the Politburo and hopefully it will soon meet the same fate.