Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines?

I love amatures talking about the aviation field.. haha..
I am pilot/mechanic in the U.S. again I love these conversations and complaints people make.. haha... Let's get some things straight. Polish airlines are one of the best in the world, if not the best. Look at statistics how many accidents they had conducting flights with comparison to many other U.S. major carriers. Yes the planes are old but are being replaced by the fabulous b787, my dream machine to fly in a few years :). I'm not a representative of any airline and can't say of how each airline regulates or operates certain things. Member Krakowianka cleared many things.. I do agree about the customer service problems they have and flight attendants something about that should be done. I've been flying as a passenger about 30 flights. The meals used to be horrible but recently they changed this and my last 8 flights meals were alsom as passenger, same thing with the flight attendates I believe the flight attendates had retraining and I see they do there job correctly. I rate the food 5 star+ polish culture background in some food they give. Yes I also enjoy the polsih beverages (Zywiec, tatra moca etc. mostly beer) Unfortantly can't try that when I'm piloting) :( because of regulations and mostly of course for passenger safety). Someone said "do they have mechanics?", no the planes are maintained and fixed by themselves.. Wow amazing what people can say or write?

Some things I would like to add about peoples comments:

sthatu:
I rate LOT, Flying back to Manchester our Pilot did a cracking,no fuss, mid air jink that saved us from a very near miss.

Me:
Did you see a plane in your sight approximately 1/2 mile away or closer? I very highly doubt, but could have happened because of crowdness in the sky.. Congrats to the pilot to act accordingly and expedite to the GPWS command (system on board to prevent mid-air collisions). yay..

tornado2007
To be honest as long as the plane gets me from a to b with a little comfort i don't really care who's airline it is. I'm sure the Polish airlines are not bad and are as good as the rest

Me: I totally agree.

Osiedle_Ruda [Guest]
You obviously haven't flown Alitalia have you? lol. :)
No, seriously... every time I fly LOT to Poland I always hear some fool complaining about the service (usually in Polish, btw) and I've lost count of the number of times I've heard such whingers describe them as the "worst airline in the world". Well, I would choose them to fly to Poland every time.

Having flown with BA recently (who EVERYONE seems to rate highly), I couldn't see much difference really... other than that the flight attendants were too strict, there were no Polish papers, and the catering, though OK, wasn't as good as LOT's is (give me proper kielbasa and Polish bread any time) But credit where credit is due... I'd give them 10/10 for professionalism, though. But why does LOT have so many haters? I don't get it. They have a great safety record as well, so I really can't see the problem </confused>.

Me: I totally agree, the polish kielbasa and bread too, absolutly great but unfortantly they can't because of regulations from the CAA and FAA, which I know there side also, just can't say publically on a forum.

miranda
LOT is going downhill and might be out of the picture sooner than later.

Me:
Ya right, this would explain why there leasing around 30 b787.. lol

TereskaUSA
This is why I will not choose LOT again. I just returned from a roundtrip -Los Angeles to Warsaw via Chicago. The LOT telephone booking agent did not allow enough time for our connection in Chicago. It made our trip much more stressful. There was no reason for that type of "mistake". They should know better.

Also, the small planes are much less comfortable. The flight was noisy and more bumpy than when we crossed the Atlantic on larger jets.
I would fly LOT inside Europe - but not across the Atlantic again.

Me:You are contradicting yourself, please read what you wrote again... Yes the (smaller planes) are bumpier because they have turboprop engines (typically for short flight because of efficiency) instead of long distant planes which typically have turbofan and give you a smoother flight. (concorde pulsejet)

In polish: PO POLSKU
Rozumie pani ze miejsze samoloty maja silniki turboprop bardziej glosniejsze i wiecej turbulencji sa najlepsze na krotkie loty z powodu na ale spalanie paliwa. Wieksze samoloty sa bardzo lagodne w locie poniewaz maja silniki turbofan ktore okazuja sie lepsze na dlugie trasy z pododu spalania paliwa.

To sum up. Nothing wrong with LOT umoung these arougant complaints. Sometimes passengers should start looking up answers instead of complaining. If you want a 5-star flight, then fly in a buissness jet. My point exactly you can't afford it which is typical, but you have to start dealing that your flight won't be perfect ever.

I love LOT/Eurolot. This is why it's better to be that pilot instead of a passenger. Not to deal with common passenger problems. LOL

P.S. Love flying

JulietEcho
Flying about 200,000 miles a year I'll take a freedom to answer your comments... I fly LOT every year in both buisness and economy class.

1) customer service is terrible
THAT IS a PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
2) in flight service is a joke. God forbid you ask for a glass of water, the attendants look at you like you are crazy.
- LIE.
3) Calling them for info is a joke, if they don't like what you are saying they just hang up on you
- THAT IS WHAT I WOULD DO IF YOU PRESENT YOUR ATTITUDE.
4) The plances are 100 years old.
- PLANES ARE NO OLDER THAN UNITED, AMERICAN OR BA...

5) On yesterdays flight (WAW-ORD) the engine blew out, they had to dump fuel to lighten the plane to land in Iceland. I mean do they have mechanics that check planes beore they take-off? They kept everyone on the plane for 4 hours. Stayed ovrenight in some cheap hotel. Don't post a press release that people will be coming in the next day. People are still in Iceland waiting in the airport to get out...gee that is so much fun

ANOTHER LIE! BEING A PILOT, IT HAPPENS THAT MY BUDDY WAS A CAPITAN ON THAT FLIGHT. ALL IN ALL, THE ENGINE HAD A FAULTY PROBE AND THEY HAD TO SHUT IT DOWN AND LAND USING ONE ENGINE. IT TURNED OUT THAT IT WAS ONLY A PROBE IN FACT. INCIDENTS DESCRIBED ABOVE HAPPEN DAILY FOR EVERY AIRLINE. NOBODY SAT IN THE AIRPLANE FOR 4 HOURS, OTHER THAN MECHANICS...

6) Simply they are just rude.
I fly business class reason being I like to sleep in the bed/chair, the chair was BROKEN. Hello, why did I pay this money then? Certainly not for the food. They just DON'T CARE. Fly another European airline, same price and MUCH better service.

[/quote]
- OR MAYBE YOU ARE RUDE. WHAT YOU JUST WROTE I FIND VERY TRUE WITH BRITISH AIRLINES. BA IS RUDE, UNPROFESSIONAL AND FLY 100 YEAR OLD PLANES. THEIR COACH CLASS SERVICE ON: US TO BRITAIN ROUTE SUCKS MAJOR ASS. YOU'LL BE LUCKY TO GET A MICROWAVED SHOE IN TOMATO SAUCE FOR A DINNER. SEATS I THEIR 100 YER OLD 767 FALL APART AND THEY SMELL LIKE AN USED SOCK. ALWAYS LATE AND IF THEY EXTEND YOUR TRIP FOR ANOTHER 2 DAYS BECAUSE THEIR CAPTAIN DIDN'T FEEL LIKE TAKING OFF WITH A FOG. YOU'LL END UP TRAVELING USING BUSES LIKE I DID VIA HALF OF

Me:
Looks like your a aviation hater, very typical for people loaded with money.. It includes all of you buissnees men/woman, actors/actresses, dancers. You don't fly for passion but for money. Dude why aren't you flying inside a buissnes jet? Looks like your literally loaded with money. Just so you know you people aren't seen good in the aviation industry, pilots and mechanics complain about people like this.

I want to add to my previous post. Everything is done for your safety. If engine blow out another words turn off the pilot must first establish best glide then land the plane in that case land the aircraft in the nearby airport in greenland. It turns out by the mechanics the probe another words an electrical wire defect (may been broken or was causing a short circuit) in this case it would cause to give incorrect information to the pilot and turn off the engine. This is what mechanics are for, to fix the plan, we can't forecast technical problems. You probably be better of having landed to make sure the plane is ok to fly the flying on one engine that could also blow out ending tragically. Captains/pilots don't create unnecessary delays. The crew couldn't take off due to low visibility (fog). The pilot in command or F/O or capt. was wise to wait to visibility is better. We have regulations we must follow. Depending whether we fly VFR or IFR (visual flight rules or Instrument flight Rules) there many rules under each concerning visibility. We have at least minimum expectations for whether surrounding our airplane. Remember this is for your safety. How would you know if there is another plane next to you in the deep fog if your the pilot?

People start seeing flying, that your on board a multimillion dollar aircraft that is flying in the sky about 600 MPH at a altitude of 40,000ft. Who cares it the play button for music on the chair dosen't work. It's like saying I need a mp3 player when I drive a ferrari, porsche or lamborghini. That's the way I look at it everytime I flew as a passenger. It was great everytime I remember which was about 30 times I flew LOT airlines internationally. As a pilot, it's a diffrent story, it's better than you can you can imagine, can tell u this from expierience. Don't get me wrong I'm not a airline pilot yet.. LOL

Are you serious? You can't be comparing the 30 year old LOT planes to Ferarris! I compare them more to the PKS. Dirty seats, service with a little attitude and broken seats. Except the PKS is a short ride and sitting in the broken seat shouldnt be sooo bad. But if I pay over $1000 for a ticket, I expect at least the chair to function, and if its supposed to play music to entertain me, than make sure it works.

quote=dj_zabkaPL]
Look at statistics how many accidents they had conducting flights with comparison to many other U.S. major carriers[/quote]
Lets compare apples to apples. How many flights a day does AA or United have, and how many does LOT.

I can see your passion for flying :) But as much as I love to travel, I dont love to sit on LOT for 9-10 hours :).[

People you are crazy. LOT does not have 30year planes. LOT's average fleet life is 7.5 years; they just got rid of their two oldest planes B767-200ER that wore bought in 1989. I LOVE TO FLY LOT

I flew LOT from ORD to WAW and had no problems, service was great, and they even gave my husband and I middle row seats with an empty seat in the middle. We were traveling with our two small dogs and the flight attendent let us take them out of their pins in the middle of the flight. I thought that was great. The only downside was the food was kind of gross, there were little bones in my chicken, but other than that we had a smooth flight. I would fly with them again in a heartbeat.

LOT buys used planes, so tag some years onto that number.

Lifespan of a plane is measured by the # times of pressurization cycles. So since long flights experience less of these, the planes usually fly 20+ yrs.

I personally like LOT... but then again I could just be crazy.

Ya I agree, didn't like to sit in that chair for that long either.. I flew a Cessna 172 as a pilot straight for 5 hours on a hot summer day with my window open and my arm out the window, it was great, I could have flow for another 5 hours and I wasn't tired at all. My brother was in the back seat for the first hour and was so freaked out from me practicing those takeoffs and landings he was ready to throw up, so I had to land and the get him out, then continued to fly for another 4 hours. ....So I see your point being a passenger... lol

The old stories are past from generation to generation that LOT is simply a bad airline and that's what the company's reputation is now on. I believe they should just change the name LOT to something else and just say they've have new management, once they get these new 8's in. Anyway that's how they do it in the states. BTW love the new cockpit in the 787 just fabulous...

Krakowianka good $hit... You know more than average people know about planes nice. You work somewhere in this industry? I think I know where your from.. lol

Cessna 172 is so slow but it is so nice to have the window open. On the other site I fly T-34B Mentor with Lima Lima Flight Team my plane is N400LL I love it! Any ways LOT is the best airline out there. Their average fleet age is 7.5 years they have combination of new and older planes but not old planes, these planes are certified by FAA they are insured. LOT has one of the best safety records out there that speaks for it self, the last time and I hope to god that was the last time that LOT plane crashed was in 1987 and it was mechanical error and pilot error. I think Krakowianka hates the fact she is Polish and is angry at her life. And any ways if you hate flying LOT then fly and support other nations and their airlines like Lufthansa (craphansa) Air France (air chance) ect. Oh and so what that LOT had couple emergency landings I rather be safe and late and then a live then die because of some idiot deciding to fly. Emergency landings happen every day in the world you kids!!

Lotnik767 I totally agree what you wrote above. Now were talking serious talk. :) I on the other hand love to fly my (rented) Cessna 172SP, best machine to learn to fly and practice landings. If you master this on a Cessna, you can pretty much land anything. I used to fly a piper cherokee was pilot in command for 1.2 hours in my logbook. Great plane, very smooth ride but won't give the best training for landings. It's very easy to land.

You fly one of theses?

Nice plane but how do you manage to pay for fuel to fly in one of these? When I see my receipt for gas after I fill up of $120 for 2 hours I freak out everytime I fly. LOL. Your plane looks really fun to fly though. Mowisz po polsku Lotnik767? You speak polish lotnik767? Mam na imie Arek Jakubowski. Jestes zarejstrowany na nasza-klasa.pl? Zagladnij na nasza klase.. Moze cie zobacze za pare lat w chmurkach w b767, widze ze to twoj samolot. hehe. LOL

Getting back to the original question..............
If you fly LOT return Glasgow to Warsaw will cost you about 3800 pln! (£1000)
BA is slightly cheaper £400
Wizzair is £150-200

As you yanks say - "do the math"!

G

haha.. LOL
Respect to Krakowianka

Lotnik767 is there a way I can reach u? Email? You can write it, spell it in pilots alphabet, u know what I mean zulu..

LOT ..... outrageously expensive for nothing

from Krakow to the UK....
the only 2 airlines i use are BA and easyjet...the prices are affordable sometimes even a bargain............never have i found a flight on LOT at what is a reasonable price............

forget ryan air,.....if you have no luggage ok...if you do your ****** their weight limits are so low you get charged through the roof for packing any clothes in your suitcase

Still bemoaning the loss of Easyjet from the Gdansk airport.

Having said that, I visited Girona airport this summer and I've realised that Gdansk airport isn't too badly organised. However, afrightning number of flights get cancelled at this time of year because of the weather (fog).

M friend flew home two weeks ago. We arrived at 5 am for her 7 am flight.
This was delayed until 10 am and then cancelled altogether.
By the time she had got to the desk to book another flight (fighting with eveyone else). She could only get a flight 4 days later NIGHTMARE.

Se was refunded her flight by Wizz Air. But that obviously didn't cover the 3 days of work she missed.

So travelling by air to and from Poland can be tricky.
As for going by coach only the most hardcore travellers or the least well off have to endure this sickening 24 hr not stop drive through Europe.

Depending where your takingoff from and landing at is the key. Depending if it's a one way flight or stops in between etc. Many things come in play.. So you can't say it's expensive for nothing. I love the one flight from jfk to rzeszow.

Not the least bit! I love life and am a proud pole.

Just because I dont love and adore LOT like you do, and because I'm smarter to point out topics where you were incorrect, does not mean I'm angry at life. I dont love posters who post wrong info, like you with your LOT has new planes. If you love it so much, perhaps you work there and should take all the criticism and improve.

dj_zabkaPL I did work in the industry during college. I knew my airline sold their worn out, used up, in poor shape aircrafts to LOT.

Any ways don't fly LOT if you don't want too!!

dj_zabkaPL you could email me at Lima-Uniform-Kilo-Alpha-Sierra-Zulu24@Yankee-Alpha-Hotel-Oscar-Oscar.C harlie-Oscar-Mike

Tak mowie po Polsku ale nie jestem na moja klasa bo mieszkam w USA. Jak mialem 10 lat to wyjechalem do USA tak naprawde to jest moja klasa ale ja sie nie zapisalem bo nie mam czasu narazie.

The plane you showed the link too is similar, but the one we fly on is Yellow I will try to post some pictures later. To fuel up it's not too bad if you fly once a month and at air show the sponsor pays for gas. Yes it's extremely fun to fly it! After all it was a Navy's trainer in 1950's but the plane is heavy and fun!! I started flying On Cessna 172!!

dj_zabkaPL this is the plane

airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/209511.html

Horrible service. I am Asian-American and I was the only one interrogated out of my group of friends going there and back. Security didn't care about people cutting in line or customer service one bit. Staff are rude and ignorant. They changed our flight without consulting with us first. I would give them a negative if possible. Will never fly with them again.

i agree, LOT is rediculously expensive, never had the pleasure to fly with them and most likely never will if they decide to keep the prices so high. BA are the best out there, and i flew with wizzair a fair amount of times, no complaints and cheap too, but the flight times are crap. other airlines i used probably only once so no point comparing them as i might've just been lucky or unlucky.

Virgin flyers would disagree.


Because they do not have enough muscle to get the better slots

I flew Lot a couple of times once from Warsaw to Gdansk, i saw the plane and thought id rather not board that, but hell im not driving 10 hours either.

i was obviously talking about uk-pl flights, unless virgin atlantic fly that route too?? lol

What aLOT of talk about nothing...

I have flown with

BA
SAS
KLM
Lufthansa
Aeroflot
Swiss Air
Air France
Easy Jet
Ryan Air
Sterling
Finnair
Air China
Estonia Air
Bel Avia (Belarus)
Alitalia
Saudi Arabian Airlines

Then the more exotic and less well know outside Russia

Pulkovo
Tartastan Airlines
Komi Interavia
Archangelsk Airlines
Siberian Airlines
UT Air
Volga-Dnieper Airlines
Severstal Airlines
Transaero (Flight never took off!)

I have been on some very old planes (Tupolvo 134 has "escape-rope" written on the emergency exit!!!, it must be a long one :)

LOT is fine, based on what I have seen they are a European Airline.

And after all of this....

Most frustrating flight was with Austrian Airlines, we were delayed by bad weather and treated appallingly! Most terrifying flight was Easy Jet, Dublin to Bristol in strong wind and rain.

In the end its a LOTtery!

Cheers

Encouraged by their success in destroying Freddie Laker's airline, BA then went for Virgin as their next victim. In 1994, BA did its damndest to destroy LOT by not letting them land at UK airports. LOT responded in a similar vein and BA suddenly went all 'gentlemanly' again. BOYCOTT BA!

LOT has good prices now if you want to fly USA-Poland and back

But not if you fly in Europe.

It is much cheaper to fly from US to Berlin and to take a train from Berlin to Warsaw.
That is what I am doing this year and I am saving about between 600 and 700 dollars.

It is much cheaper to fly airlines other than LOT to Berlin.........

haha.. i like the 'LOT' bit in the lottery ;)

But I agree with you.. too much about nothing really.

Btw my mum recently flew with LOT... when she she finally got to warsaw her first words on the phone to me were "the polish pilot is the best!".. it made me laugh :)

If you're flying between Poland & North America, LOT is without a doubt the WORST airline you could possibly fly. In fact, I consider it the worst airline for transatlantic travel altogether. Avoid it at all costs! I rarely post on internet forums, but I have to get this off my chest.

Just this past weekend: Toronto - Warsaw, delayed 10 hours; JFK - Warsaw, delayed almost 24 hours!!! These are not isolated incidents, but have become the norm over recent years. Delays like this have happened to me and everyone else I know that regularly travels between North America and Poland. Even worse, when you look online or call LOT before leaving for the airport, they tell you the flight will be on time, but when you show up at the airport, you find out that the flight won't depart for another 6..12+ hours!

It used to not be like this. About 10 years ago, the flights were generally on time, the food and service was ok. Gradually, the food started going to hell as did the customer service (on and off the flight). The inside of the planes also started falling apart (broken seats, televisions, etc). I could deal with all of this if LOT got me to my destination on time and at a competitive price. However, not only is LOT the most expensive option from North America, it is consistently off schedule. This is likely due to their decrepit fleet of 767s, of which they don't have many, so when one breaks down, you're stranded for God knows how long. Don't be fooled by the fact that LOT is the only carrier that flies direct to Poland, you'll be much better off with a changeover on another airline (Finnair and Lufthansa are two options I recommend if flying from NY). The service will be better (you might even get through to someone on the phone if you call!), the planes newer, and you'll get there much sooner than the theoretically "non-stop" flight by LOT. Perhaps when LOT gets its new fleet of planes, this will improve, but at this point I'm much too disgusted to ever give them another chance. Do you really want to waste a full day of your vacation stranded because your flight is delayed 24hrs? What if you're flying on business or have a family emergency?...then you're really SOL...

To be fair, I've flown LOT a few times within Europe and have never had any real issues. I find that there's little difference in quality between carriers on these short routes. But if flying to / from North America, do yourself a favor and avoid LOT!

I flew LOT from Heathrow to Warsaw recently; first time I'd flown with them for about a year. Some credit-crunch cuts were obvious, the flight was late as usual, but the FAs were good.

Unfortunately I ended up next to someone who was scared of flying for three hours, but you can't really blame the airline for that, lol. :)

They are still OK but I'd probably fly with BA whenever possible, because the service is far better, the fares are better value, and the flights are a bit more convenient; that 0650 flight is a pain to get to on time, even from here (south-west London).

My mother and I flew to Warsaw from Chicago in June 09. The staff at check in was rude. It seemed they did not want to be there. Hated their jobs perhaps. The flight attendant on the 767 was a real piece of work. She raised her voice to my mother. Lucky I was a seat away from the attendant or I might have slapped to B----.

Generally speaking, it seems Poland doesn't understand customer service, whether it be the rails system, hotel staff, etc. Until that happens, they will be a 2nd world country, sadly.

heeheehee... nice to see that one of my old threads still hasn't been binned yet... lol :) : )

Well, I'll be flying most of the way with BA next week (MAN-LHR-WAW) but it will be interesting to see if they are still using those ancient, wobbly turboprops on the internal flight to GDN - wasn't fun last time. I remember the terrified passenger next to me asking "do these small old planes always wobble like this".

"Er, yeah".

"Well, if I'd known that, I wouldn't have flown!"

lol!