Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines?

Instead of making silly statements about LOT pilots being worse, why don't you prove it?



If you were a genuine Pole, you'd know the difference between the army and the Straz Graniczna.

I flew a few times on Lot between Warsaw and Moscow, and I always liked it. Flight attendants were kind and service was much better than many other airlines I've flown. I have no complaints about them. It's interesting that there are many good opinions here about them, but some had a bad experience. It's difficult to draw a conclusion among this huge difference.

Maybe those who have a negative impression towards Lot simply have a tendency to get a bad luck? ;)

They are so easy to spot, aren't they? :D


Most of the haters seem to be American, not European. I wonder if there's worse service (and/or worse aircraft) on long-haul flights? The only problems I've had on my numerous LOT flights have been ATC-related issues - delayed arrival due to holding patterns around Heathrow, which is nothing to do with LOT, and typical for LHR.

I've got six flights booked between now and Christmas, and four are with LOT. I shall be reporting back again soon :)

On my last flight WAW-BWI LOT made it on time to Frankfurt but then Condor Airlines (German) delayed their flight for almost 2 hours (literally 1h 55 min) causing me to miss the Greyhound bus to my destination and therefore forcing me to pay $200 for a taxi ride.Now their customer service in not responding to my emails.Don't fly with Condor Airlines folks!


Pierdolisz.I am from a small (50k pop) town and in grammar school we had Russian and English then in high school Russian and German (French was available too).That was in "communist" Poland.As for being able to easily communicate in Russian,again pierdolisz.I can make myself sound kind of Russian but it doesn't mean I can "easily communicate".I know,i tried.

You were lucky. On my last flight, a Lufthansa Lot code share they flew Frankfurt Warsaw, circled round Warsaw for 2 hours due to fog then went back to Germany to refuel. A shame they couldn't land at Modlin or even Lodz instead.

What do you mean I was lucky?I had to spend 5 hours at the bus station in Baltimore (which btw looks worse than PKS station in Sieradz) and $200 for a taxi just because they f u c k e d up.I emailed their customer service asking for reimburstment and have never received any answer.Don't fly with Condor Airlines folks!


I don't have words to praise Lufthansa enough.Got a handsome compensation from them due to canceled flight.Unlike Condor Lufthansa takes good care of its customers.

Btw, all my flights with LOT/EUROLOT were alright.

See, I keep my promises ;) lol

Well, in the five years since I started this thread, there has been some change - some for the better, some for the worse. They are still my preferred carrier to PL, but I think I'll give BA another try next time, at least on part of the route.

Why? Because cost-cutting is increasingly evident.

While I don't mind not getting a meal on short-haul flights, there needs to be consistency. Only dry snacks were offered on the LHR-WAW flight, but baguettes were available on the return portion. In expectation of the dry snack again, I have bought a sandwich at the airport. Now, I don't eat a lot, so a ciabatta + a large baguette is a little too much for me! If they must make these cuts, then at least tell us exactly what we're going to get beforehand, not vague promises of a "meal" onboard.

WAW-KRK-WAW flights were fine, other than weather-related delays and a faulty seat on the ATR-72 on one leg - lack of meals isn't a problem, but lack of maintenance on an an already far-from perfect aircraft is.

A cramped "LOT Charters" 737 was used on the WAW-LHR portion... yet again. One of the reasons I only fly full-service airlines is to avoid the pitfalls of charters/low-cost airlines - I do not expect this kind of service downgrade on what is clearly one of LOT's most important routes.

Though it's not all downhill. The flight attendants seem better than ever - they've clearly been on some sort of customer service course during the past few years. Either that, or they moved the worst ones to other routes lol, but as I keep recognising faces, that's not necessarily the case. And both international flights were on time - for a change!!

They can't shut up about their new "Dreamlinera" though - the announcements make them sound almost like Ryanair now haha :) Nothing like blowing your own trumpet, eh... haha :)

What i don't like is they don't use the air bridges at okęncie but instead pack you onto a bus. For business travelers this would be annoying when prob the competing carrier shells out to use the air bridge.

Frankfurt does the same with some flights. Washington DC also. And probably many more.

It's usually done to save money or if they need a very quick turnaround.

pgtx : usually it is only donw with low cost carriers or if the air bridges are used, in warsaw we have ridiculous ; air bridges not being used and all the lot planes on remote stands.

I give LOT top marks for intra-Europe flights; their Embraer 175 and 195 aircraft make travel quite stressfree. They aren't really an option for longhaul, however, as other carriers charge less, use modern aircraft and have modern in-flight service and entertainment. Why would I pay double to fly with LOT to JFK on a 767 with 1980s fittings compared to half the price with other European carriers who have superior products.....Sorry, but LOT longhaul is not even on the radar for a lot of people. Maybe the 787 will change things.

seems the 787 is their last attempt at profibility, should be cutting edge passenger experience, def superiour to 10 abreast seating in emirates 777!

I have travelled internationally A LOT, and I have only had occasion to find myself on LOT Polish Air on a to/return trip from Toronto/Warsaw/Cairo this past year (although, to be honest, even though it was booked by my agent and the e-ticket credited LOT, on both legs the Cairo connection was EgyptAir). I must confess that I found LOT to be no worse of better than any other airline in many respects: Professional and courteous attendants, clean aircraft, usual amenities, easily comprehended bilingual safety instructions, and equally easily understood bilingual flight attendants. While the food combinations were somewhat odd, they were good, and for airline offerings, fairly generous portion size, too. What did strike me strongly, on both legs of my journey, was how friendly LOT passengers were, though! I found all the passengers I encountered very eager to communicate, in English as I do not know any Polish, and extremely pleasant, making the experience a very positive one and sincerely one of my favourite travel memories. The only reason that I would not take LOT again is that it does not service my usual routes at all, and that I found Lotnisko Chopina to be extremely jarring on the nerves: loud, too small, uncomfortable and altogether unpleasant to pass layover time in. Acoustically and aesthetically it is just a nightmare, which is just sad as it appears fairly new. Thank goodness they have bilingual electronic departure notifications as anyone not speaking Polish would never be able to make out what was being said over that horrid, echoing PA announcement system! This being said, I was impressed with the airport staff and VERY IMPRESSED by the security in place: professional and courteous. Overall, a good experience and outside of the terminal-hub for the airline give LOT Polish Airlines very high marks, and my impression of Polish people and their hospitality stellar grades!

Dunno but LOt can't be worse than the US carriers - btw, none of them made the 10 best carriers list. Never flew w/ LOT but flew a lot w/ United and always kept worrying, "are they gonna lose my luggage this time or not; am I gonna make that connection or not?" (United has been my company's prefered carrirer.) Obviously lotta quesitons about LOT's top management style, that is, are they really competent in what they're doing? Why they sunk so much money in Dreamliners, which are grounded. You gotta keep those planes flying to make money! The company's beenlosing money but the top brass has been getting annual salary increases n bonuses...etc. Hm?

The Polish people are the most hospitable on this earth. Everyone could learn from them. We were on the Polish Airlines in 2009 and it was the best.

Can't believe anyone could leave such a comment.

I missed my flight (along with many others who had connecting flights) becasue of complete lack of flight attendants' critical thinking skills. I even suggested a solution to the problem that is widely practiced by other airlines but they flatly refused any kind of cooperation! More so, I flew twice with the same male attendant who clearly hates his job and had horrible attitude both times. Further, at WAW airport we run into ABSOLUTE chaos. Becasue of that slim chance to get to the next gate dissipated in seconds. I had the airport staff roll his eyes and tell me to hurry up, before I even opened my mouth to ask a question. I had never had anything like that happen to me before anywhere! Next, I had some young girl (also airport worker) trying to lecture me that if I arrived to the airport earlier I would catch my flight, without any regards that missing my flight was not my fault! As I was sitting and waiting for the next flight, I had an opportunity to listen to a young man calling the last passengers for another flight. Each time he was expressing more impatience, untill his voice was simply nagging! As it turned out those people were stuck at the customs just like me and others 4 hrs earlier, and at no fault of their own missed their next flights as well. Of 5 people at the WAW airport I had to deal with, only one showed level of professionalism that meets reasonable standards and some compassion. WAW is a small airport and yet, they can't get their act together. I am done with that craphole!

What was the problem and solution?


What was the chaos?

Solution: Ask the passengers who end their travel in WAW to stay in their seats, and allow those who have connecting flights to get out first. A lot of airlines practice that and even call the passengers in order of time between connections. Other airlines also make announcements what gates people have to go to in order to save time.

Chaos: WAW offered NOTHING. Two opposite ways to go through customs, and no directions which gates are closer from either side. I can't remember how many booths there are, but I think total around 4-6 (two sided of course) and only 3 custom officers on duty taking their time. Three very, very, long lines (plus people cutting in all the time) and only one of them open for EU citizens. Only 1 open line with one staff (another just standing there) to get back to the departures level, and hoards of people waiting. This is a small airport, low volume of traffic by default and they can't even handle that. Oh yeah, and it was 10:45 am! I have seen better service at midnight in secondary airports than here, in the middle of the day in this capital city. Some smaller airports (such is WAW) are so well organized that they have staff waiting by the sleeve exit with sign for a following flights and help them through. Airports provide staff to coordinate lines, and those who had relatively short time before their flight are walked ahead.

I, to be honest, like LOT but what annoys me the most is their lack of entertainment. When will they finally have tv screens on the back of the chairs?

I actually found LOT just fine when I flew from Toronto to Warszawa and back. Staff very friendly and helpful, food was fine and overall the flight was no worse than any other airline I've been on (American, Air Canada, West Jet, Porter, etc). My only very small complaint was the entertainment because the inflight show was a TV program that they stopped before the ending so I never found out what happened! (side note: show was about a group of priests who were dealing with a suicidal sister of a nun, a young girl rebelling against her family and a priest infiltrating a Buddhist retreat) It looked like an older show (maybe from the 80s?) but I enjoyed it so was a bit peeved when I couldn't find out what happened. Other than that...LOT was great and I will definitely book with them again when I return.

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.

They gonna sell LOT to Saudi Arabia.

They give you a chocolate :P and a glass of water ,but yeah ,there's a menu ,and it's not very expensive .
1 sandwich costs around 10 zloty (around 3 dollars ) .
wodka and whiskey are also included in the menu :P

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.

Im trying to stick with them through the bad times but they have really annoyed me - booked christmas flights to US way on advance but they made a route change and instead of arriving at 3pm it looks like now will be at 11.30pm. No upgrade nothing. Someone needs to put them out of their misery - there is lots of potential for the market

To answer the title question, perhaps because it was monopolist for a long time charging way too much.

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.

When it comes to flights to Heathrow, LOT are cheaper than both BA and KLM. And they use a far better terminal that BA or KLM.


ROFL! The rules limiting foreign ownership of airlines prevented Turkish Airlines from buying LOT but they won't prevent a sale to a Saudi company? Your logic is just a little rusty!

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.