Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]


Not that short notice - all flights early- mid Oct, booking about a week ago. As I say, LOT (which would have been my first choice due to Star Alliance miles) were in every case much, much dearer. In the end I went with Ryanair to the UK and KLM for the Holland stuff - in the KLM case, it was less than half the price on the dates and times we need to fly.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

You're lucky to find that. On the dates I need to travel, BA in club class were cheaper than LOT in cattle class. LOT in business class to Heathrow was about the same price as a cheaper airline to New York in steerage.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

Only cheaper if you use the super Wednesday thing which sells out quickly. I was checking prices a few days ago and to Heathrow they were around double what BA charged. Some tickets I bought to Schipol on KLM were half the price of LOT and at least you get a drink too.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]


I know what you mean and the annoying thing is that they ought to be excellent. I always feel they take a pride in what they do, but something is obviously going wrong.

Their flights are full, they charge a lot - they must be making money. They've been quite good with me about giving upgrades, including on their route to Newark and sometimes on the Istanbul route, but what I can't figure is why they're twice the price of KLM, much dearer than BA, have full planes but now charge for refreshments and meals as if they were easyjet.

I wonder if they're trying to get their balance sheet ready for selling.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

Exactly that. And they only give those sticks of prince polo because they bought a job lot and it isn't worth putting them on the menu!

It isn't as if they're cheap. I just booked some flights and had a choice between LOT and KLM. LOT was twice the price and they still charge for a drink!

I've heard of low cost no frills airlines, but lot have become a high cost no frills one.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [382]

Now they've stopped serving food and drinks in economy class on certain flights - not just short haul. They have a Ryan Air style menu with a price list. The guy serving said they started rolling that out a couple of months ago.

It wouldn't be so bad if they were as cheap as a no-frills airline.

USA, Canada / Why indian origin woman as Miss America and never Polish origin? [40]


It's very true - I thought of posting that one as well.


Did the Pol-Ams?

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]

Lucky indeed.

It's a bit of a watershed though, when you've been speaking with someone for a while and they hadn't realised you aren't Polish. Especially if they're sober...

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]

They do in PL sometimes, however that's getting less and less with the years (and of course ones foreign accent also gets less and less).

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]

Yes. In real life and via film/TV. We are much more used to hearing people with foreign accents speaking our language than Poles tend to be.

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]


One of those things about English - wonderfully flexible and both vague and precise at the same time.

And you made a mistake (natives do too) which is no shame at all for a non-native. Nobody expects a foreigner to write or speak in the same way as a native. And certainly nobody expects them to sound the same. I do find that people learning Polish get held back because they're determined not to make any grammatical mistakes. This inhibits fluency.

People from English speaking countries though are far more used to (and in general far more tolerant of) people speaking their language with a foreign accent and imprecise grammar than some people from Poland.

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]


Flying a plain what?

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]


Makes no difference - I've had half a dozen bank accounts over the years there without one. You do however need certain other things.

The charges for making withdrawals via an oveseas bank card are not high, especially if you get a big chunk out every week or so, and this might be a good way to do it as long as you don't want to to bring a particularly large sum.

You don't say which country you're from, however a hop on Ryanair home and bringing in person could be best if it's a larger amount. Bear in mind that you're supposed to tel them at customs if it's over a certain amount, however I doubt many people bother.

USA, Canada / Why indian origin woman as Miss America and never Polish origin? [40]


If anything, determined by Julia Wotsit who runs it on the grounds of marketing and finding a woman who isn't too trashy or likely to go off the rails thereby bringing bad publicity. Our world does not have 'highest priests'. The show's biggest audience by the way is India.


That would be nice - some Thai Kathoeys are beautiful.

Law / Is it safe and legal to use torrents / downloads in Poland? [29]


That's about right.


So is this.

Be careful, but millions do it. If you're worried, go through TOR.

Food / How do you like your Polish OSCYPEK? [14]

Goes well with Goji berries too ;-)

Food / How do you like your Polish OSCYPEK? [14]

Shaved thin and served with rocket (ruccola for Americans) and red onion in a salad.

Or use it instead of parmesan on pasta.

History / Are Poles happy with the current Polish borders? [134]


You need a new hobby, Crow.

Genealogy / I am looking for an African guy in Krakow, I dated [73]

Yes. And most of the text is word perfect...

Anyone who can learn English that well probably isn't stupid enough to think she can find a one night stand from another continent on a forum where frankly there is a history of racist trolling. Or is she...

Genealogy / I am looking for an African guy in Krakow, I dated [73]


The peculiar quirks in the English fairly consistent with it being written by a Pole. Has the ring of truth, but could still be a troll though.

History / Are Poles happy with the current Polish borders? [134]


I just asked two Serbs. They said they'd never thought about Polish borders and didn't much care about Serbian ones.

History / Polish and German Borders-Justice for Both Countries or not? [37]

It's far too late to change anything now. Generations have passed since the borders were moved.

I wish though that some of the towns and villages would revert to their old names - you can't wipe out centuries of history by changing a street sign and one nice things about my own country is that a village or town can have a name with German, Danish, Celtic, latin or French roots.

Genealogy / I am looking for an African guy in Krakow, I dated [73]


It does look like that, doesn't it. Probably one of the usual suspects who recently appeared under another user name pretending his girlfriend had been raped in Warsaw and posted all sorts of conflicting details.

Genealogy / I am looking for an African guy in Krakow, I dated [73]


This is one option, another is having the baby adopted, another is to keep the child. There are only three possibilities here.


It isn;t unusual for someone to sleep with a stranger and then not be able to find them. It takes two to tango, however the woman is left with the problem.

A hard problem, but one that happens the world over.

Life / Are Poles suspicious of Facebook? [50]

Some of them have the full 500.

Life / Are Poles suspicious of Facebook? [50]


Obviously one can't generalise since not all Poles are the same, but generally people are quite suspicious and also guard their privacy. But not everyone.

On facebook it's worth having the maximum privacy settings for a shed load of reasons.

Study / Student dormitories vs private rooms in Poland. What's the best option? [12]


I know it a little, since I lived very near for several years.

As far as I remember it's for post-graduates. The building isn't very new (it's a 1950s hotel) and you shouldn't expect the rooms to be shiny and new. I would think it is very well heated in winter (this is normal in Poland). The big plus about it is that it's in the best possible location in Warsaw - in a good area, close to Lazienki Park and the Prime Minister's residence, as well as being a few minutes on the bus from the centre of the city

There's a hairdresser and a (quiet) bar on the ground floor, and a few cheapish restaurants nearby.

Usually, the lady at the door thing is for undergraduate dorms, more than this kind of place where you will find doctoral candidates etc who they tend to trust more. This does however have a hotel-style reception.

Hotel Hera is a place that most students would be very pleased to get a place in.



To add - I remember some building work going on there one summer and think that some of the rooms are renovated (as in the picture) but suspect not all. the bathrooms should be OK.

Study / Student dormitories vs private rooms in Poland. What's the best option? [12]

Student dorms in PL are quite restrictive - there's often a lady in a booth by the main door and rules about who can or cannot be in your room at certain times. Also there are shared bathrooms (sometimes communal) and not enough of them and the kitchens are sometimes squalid.

A private room gives more freedom, however you could of course miss out on social life.

Travel / Poles the worst-dressed tourists in the world? [25]

I notice that Eastern European tourists tend to either dress up or down - no middle way. I've also noticed in Poland that people tend to pack way too much - no concept of travelling light.

Real Estate / Renting in Poland - tenants' rights? [51]

A gentleman's agreement with the owner might be one way forard.

Your noisy neighbours sound a horror though. Unless the flat is amazing in other ways, I think I'd want to move.