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11 August 2007
LOT Polish Airlines
Flight LO292
Embraer 170
Depart : DUBLIN, Ireland
Arrive : WARSAW, Poland
Business Class, Seat 2A

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Czesc!!

My friend OA260 bought me the best birthday present ever, a return J Class ticket with LOT from DUB to WAW for my birthday and 2 nights at the Warsaw Intercontinental.
This was my 3rd trip to Warsaw and my 2nd time flying with LOT.

This trip was of significance to me as LOT are pulling out of Dublin in a few weeks time, and they will be replaced by Centralwings on this route. Aer Lingus and Ryanair also serve Warsaw from Dublin and at one point, there were 4 carriers on this route when Norwegian flew it last year as well.

LOT E-Ticket & sleeve:


I jumped in a cab and arrived at Dublin Airport at 10:30am. I noted from the monitors that Check-In for our flight was at Area 12.
The Handling Agent is Servisair. I met up with OA260 and we proceeded to the check-in area where there were long queues as usual... what's new there. Surprisingly, there was only 1 desk open for the Warsaw flight.


The Germanwings flight to Cologne was checking in to our left and the Atlas Blue flight to Agadir was checking-in to our right. We received our boarding cards and boarding was to be through Gate C43. Given that we were in J, we went through the Fast-track security channel and were through the security check in 5 minutes flat.

We then went straight upstairs to the BMI Star Lounge, which was largely abandoned:






The cooler was well stocked and I helped myself to a few cans of Guinness whilst OA260, the sensible one had a juice.




Our flight was due to leave at 1:35pm, so at 1pm, we made our way downstairs where there was a gate change. We were now to board from Gate C41 and not Gate C43 as previously announced. We saw our aircraft, the Embraer 170 coming on stand. Reg: SP-LDE (My 2nd time on this aircraft).
These aircraft have 70 seats and LOT have 10 such machines in their fleet.






There was an Astraeus 757 parked on Pier B:


Our flight boarding:


We walked down the Jetway and onto the aircraft where we were greeted by one of the female cabin crew members.
I said "Dzien Dobry" and got a copy of the Financial Times, from the array of predominantly Polish language newspapers on the wee stand.

Cabin shot (Business seats with orange headrest-cover and Economy seating with grey head-rest cover):


There were 6 J Class seats on this aircraft, and we were the only 2 pax in this cabin.

Economy cabin:




I was seated in 2A, here is a shot from my window (the windows on the E170 are quite large!!):


Here is a view of the legroom I had in front of me, it was very spacious as row 1 had been removed:


View of seats to the right hand side of the plane (Business cabin):


Here is me sitting very happily in my seat!!!


View towards the front galley and cockpit:


The safety demonstration is carried out in Polish first and then in English. It takes a very long time as the demonstration is also performed twice! We pushed back 5 minutes behind schedule and made our way down towards runway 10. On our way down there, we saw a Singapore Airlines Mega Ark taking off followed by a Shamrock 320:





We then entered the runway at 2pm on the button:


Some views of Pier A, B and D:


and an aerial view of Pier C:


Me reading the safety card:


LOT have a very good in-flight magazine called Kaleidoscope, with Polish and English articles.


15 minutes after take-off, we were offered a choice of drink. We both opted for Champers. This arrived down along with some Polish nutes, followed by a 'large' refreshing wipe and the Menu card:


We both had the Chicken Main Course:


...and of course I had to have a Zywiec (Polish beer).... it was my birthday afterall so was tanking up on the alcohol!


Desert was a Mango cake, some coffee and this was followed by a Baileys which I actually just dumped into the coffee.




The flight passed by so fast, I went to the toilet and 30 seconds later when I was back in my seat, the lovely Stewardess arrived down to my seat with a Birthday Cake!!


I was fairly embarrassed, she wished me a happy Birthday and I could have swung for OA260. He had managed to carry the cake onto the flight and asked the Stewardess to bring it down to me when I came back from the toilet!
This was served with more champagne:


At this time, I was finding it hard to read any of my birthday cards:


OA260 and I had some cake and gave the rest to the stewardess to share with the other crew members. She was very thankful for this and we saw her bring it down to the aft galley.

...and we soon began our descent into Okecie Airport in Warsaw.
Warsaw cityscape in the background:


We touched down on time at 5:20pm to a very wet Warsaw:


EuroLOT ATR:


Wizzair A320 and LOT 767:


View of the line-up:


LOT Star Alliance 767:


Final cabin shot:


OA260 took this pic of the lovely cabin crew, she was very attentive and helpful throughout the entire flight:


Once we exited the aircraft, there was a wee bus there waiting and here are some pics of our aircraft that flew us from Dublin:




There is an announcement in Polish and English that transfer passengers will be dropped off at a door in Terminal 1, whereas all pax
for Warsaw only have to remain on the bus and should be dropped off at Terminal 2 Arrivals.

We passed through the Passport control in 10 seconds flat and were out into a smart new Terminal at Warsaw. We changed some Euro to Zloty at the Cantor there in the baggage hall and it took a wee while for the belt to swing into action.

Here are some pics of the Arrivals Hall at Terminal 2:




we then walked to Terminal 1, where we got ticket for the Bus 175 into Central Warsaw. This is the entrance for the Observation Deck:


Terminal 1 Arrivals:


A fairly empty Arrivals Hall in T1:


Exterior of Terminal 2:


And so, we boarded the bus and 20 minutes later, we disembarked on Al. Jerozolimskie, opposite Warszawa Centralna Station.
A short walk later and we arrived at the Warsaw Intercontinental Hotel.

Palace of Culture and Society, Warsaw's most famous landmark:




My room was on the 28th floor which offered some stunning views of the entire city below, such as this one, of the Zlote Teracy (Golden Terrace Shopping Mall):


The main thoroughfare, Al. Jerozolimskie:


View towards the Old Town:


We had a look around the LOT Office and had to have a pic with the huge 767


Baggage Tag:


So, this is where my part finishes and OA260's commences.
OA260 will be compiling the return leg (Warsaw-Dublin, which we flew today 13 August, flight LO291, please watch out for that!!).

All in all, the service on LOT was excellent with ample supply of food and drink and a friendly and relaxed on-board service from the crew. Definitely a pity they are leaving Dublin.

Any questions or comments are welcome!

LOT Dublin - Warszawa, to takie proste! Dziekuje, do widzenia!