Check in time for U.S. flights from WAW airport

I was told recently that when taking a flight from WAW to the U.S., the check in time is three to four hours. Has anyone taken a flight lately, directly from Warsaw to the U.S., and experienced such a long check in? If so, what takes so long? I'm a U.S. citizen and headed to the States next week...was planning to be at the airport two hours in advance, but sure don't want to miss my flight! Thanks in advance for any help.

Every check in at WAW airport takes about 4 hours of pushing , shoving, arguing and generally people being terribly rude! The queiung up to go through the scan and into the waiting area takes about another 4 hours and the customs guys are the biggest bunch of unpleasant trolls one has ever met! Have a nice flight!

I just flew out of WAW about 3 weeks ago and I will say that if you are not connecting to a flight within Europe (e.g. Lufthansa, etc) then it did seem like a horrid, confusing mess with no clear distinction of how long it would take to check in and even for that matter where the line really began or ended.

Luckily I was flying on a codeshare with LOT on Lufthansa so I got the organized line and it only took me 20 minutes to check in.

FYI - my flight was at 6:30 AM - if that makes any difference.

New terminal opens March 30th

lol That's great! I'm flying out of WAW to the US on the 30th.
I should probably allow 8 hrs to check in.

I fly to US quite often and never took that long to check in. Just because sometimes the airline ground service is making a mess with check-in doesn't mean that you have to be there that much earlier. I try to be at the airport two hours before departure (whether I'm having stops in Europe or not). Sometimes it's less as, if you go to Warsaw from Lodz, the traffic jam usually starts in Janki, and the longest part of the journey takes from Janki to Okecie. (btw, if anyone has a confirmed route round the traffic jams, I'd be happy to use it ;)

It's good to know that you don't have to wait in line to check in (with most air carriers).
You may try electronic check-in, I did it last time I was travelling with Air France (they did have a chaos at the chec-in desks) and it took me some 7 minutes (just because it was my first time ;)

Btw.. you really don't want to be travelling by Air France..

4 hours should be against international aviation regulations or local airport laws. There is a lot of waiting around even with a 2 hour time frame so 4 hours is plainly unacceptable.

finT is full of it...I have never taken longer than an hour from walking through the front doors to passing the security scanners into the gate. Show up 2 hours early and you will have plenty of time if there are problems.

Etudia is a whole other animal and can take ages but you won't be using it to fly out of the EU on normal airlines anyway.

God damn it! I have to completely agree with Jones! I hate it when that happens!

Two hours should be enough because the check-in doesn't open earlier than that. But it won't hurt to come earlier, you'll just be waiting longer. Last year I came 2 hours earlier because I was transporting puppies with me and we were the first ones there. But then after I got tickets for the pups we waited an hour in line to get on the plane once we got pass the security. But the plane didn't leave until every one was on board, and of course the plane left later. And it was a mess because there was one line to two gates which were seperated later, but now there shouldn't be that much chaos with the new section.

Perhaps this is where the prob lies. There is one abnormal airline which flies from 'Chopin'...... Centralwings! This is what I usually fly with and believe me the situation in the Centralwings queues is the same as all the mayhem in Etiuda! Last time I flew with them the flight was delayed for over an hour because of the f@ck ups at check-in. The queue actually stretched outside the airport as they tried to get people for three different flights into one queue

On the other hand I flew with LOT a few weeks ago and there were no queues and everything ran smoothly.
Plus, why are there the huge queues to get through security after the passport control. I have stood in lines the length of the whole duty free corridor with hundreds of lost and confused looking souls wondering what the hell is going on!

Why do you not suggest traveling via AirFrance? I'm travling from WAW to CDG (Paris) with them in August.

I have never experienced anything more difficult in WAW than in a U.S. airport. The writer above who says that check in starts two hours in advance is right on. If you come earlier you will simply be waiting around for the check in line to open. I've never experienced anything more than professional behavior from immigration and security officials in the Warsaw airport. Pay attention to what line one enters. There are lines for EU and non-EU. Sometimes one can get in a wrong line if there is a post or something that makes it hard to see the line label.