Wanderingfool
25 Apr 2017
Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [380]
Reasons I hate Lot:
- on time percentage very poor.
- compared to most other star alliance airlines they award significantly less Miles for business class travel. The same segment on Austrian or Lufthansa provides at least 50% more miles.
- they regularly fail to credit frequent flier miles if you are for example having them credit a star alliance partner airline that is not one of the miles and more airlines (Lufthansa group)
- they often do not board on time. For example, if boarding is supposed to be at 7:20, they often (but not always) board at 7:30. So what? Well- again, if you are a business traveler, you are probably waiting in the lounge. You time your walk to the gate to get there a few minutes before boarding and use the priority boarding line. They wait until the very last minute to change the boarding time, so you leave earlier than you need. Again, small thing - but they do it about 75% of the time. However, they don't do it all the time - if they did it all the time frequent travelers would know they just need to add 10 minutes. This is irrespective of aircraft delays.
- their flight status system is inaccurate. Often delays are not reflected. Sometimes it shows delayed but the flight is on time. This is not difficult.
- when you complain, they do not care.
On the positive side - their staff on the planes, at the gates, and at checkin, are usually very nice.
It probably sounds like I'm complaining about some pretty minor things- but- I travel all the time- and when you travel all the time these things make a difference. They are an airline of last resort for me.
Reasons I hate Lot:
- on time percentage very poor.
- compared to most other star alliance airlines they award significantly less Miles for business class travel. The same segment on Austrian or Lufthansa provides at least 50% more miles.
- they regularly fail to credit frequent flier miles if you are for example having them credit a star alliance partner airline that is not one of the miles and more airlines (Lufthansa group)
- they often do not board on time. For example, if boarding is supposed to be at 7:20, they often (but not always) board at 7:30. So what? Well- again, if you are a business traveler, you are probably waiting in the lounge. You time your walk to the gate to get there a few minutes before boarding and use the priority boarding line. They wait until the very last minute to change the boarding time, so you leave earlier than you need. Again, small thing - but they do it about 75% of the time. However, they don't do it all the time - if they did it all the time frequent travelers would know they just need to add 10 minutes. This is irrespective of aircraft delays.
- their flight status system is inaccurate. Often delays are not reflected. Sometimes it shows delayed but the flight is on time. This is not difficult.
- when you complain, they do not care.
On the positive side - their staff on the planes, at the gates, and at checkin, are usually very nice.
It probably sounds like I'm complaining about some pretty minor things- but- I travel all the time- and when you travel all the time these things make a difference. They are an airline of last resort for me.