win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Posted (10 months 3 weeks 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 5696 times:
Hello and welcome to the second part of my Poland and Italy trip report. This part will cover sectors WAW-MXP-WAW-LHR all flights operated by LOT. The first part can be found here: A Trip To Poland With LOT, June 2012 (by win1290 Jun 25 2012 in Trip Reports).
Here are the details of the Warsaw-Milan flight
Date: 16 June 2012
Airline: LOT
Flight: LO317
Route: WAW-MXP
Aircraft: Embraer 170
Registration: SP-LDI
Class: Economy
The flight is scheduled to depart Warsaw at 7:50 am and arrive Milan Malpensa Airport at 10:00 am. I arrived at Warsaw Airport – Terminal A at around 6:15 am.
I went inside the terminal and straight to LOT check-in area. I went to an empty *G counter and asked to check in for a flight to Milan, and I got my boarding pass within minutes. I asked the check-in agent if the flight was full, and was told that it wasn’t full and the seat next to me will be blocked. The security screening was quite quick, done after a few minutes.
After security, I made my way to LOT Business Class lounge.
The lounge was very quiet, there were around 3-4 people when I entered. This lounge is not very big, so during busy times, it gets very crowded. But otherwise, I think the lounge is quite good, with comfortable seating and nice refreshments.
Lounge seating area
HON Circle designated zone
Lounge refreshments
After the lounge visit, off I went to the boarding gate. The terminal is very clean and bright.
When the boarding call was made, I got my boarding pass checked and proceeded to the bus.
Our plane to Milan
I was the last person to board the aircraft. A few minutes after everyone was seated, there was another mini-van carrying around 10 passengers. Then the aircraft door was closed and the cabin crew made a welcome announcement and performed a manual safety demonstration. There were 2 people in Business class and in Economy Class, the load was around 70%.
Took off at more or less 7:50am, as scheduled.
After the seat belt sign was turned off, the crew made an announcement about Miles and More programme and LOT’s new destination: Beijing. Then the curtain dividing Business Class and Economy Class was closed and breakfast and drinks were distributed. During food service, there were a few words of welcome from the pilot.
Leg room, quite comfortable
Safety card
Descending to MXP
Landed at 9:55 am, 5 minutes ahead of schedule
Disembarking the plane
Went straight to Baggage claim, belt number 3.
After around 8 minutes, the first bags arrive on the belt, and the first two were mine. I took the bag and went to get an express train to Milano Central station.
After a week of a very enjoyable holiday in Italy with my brother and mother, it is time to go home to Bangkok. My mum and brother will take a direct flight from Milan to Bangkok with Thai Airways. I will go from Milan to Warsaw and to London with LOT, and the next day will take a Thai Airways flight from London to Bangkok (this sector, I will do a separate trip report).
Here are the details of the flight
Date: 22 June 2012
Airline: LOT
Flight: LO318
Route: MXP-WAW
Aircraft: Embraer 170
Registration: SP-LDD
Class: Economy
I arrived the airport by train and went to Terminal 1 Departure
Check-in Area, for LOT its row 3
LOT has 3 check-in counters, 2 for Economy class and 1 for Business/*G. I went to use an empty *G counter. I asked to check-in to Warsaw and connecting from Warsaw to London. I was told that it is not possible to check my bag all the way to London or print the boarding pass on WAW-LHR sector as I have two separate reservations. I thought its quite strange given that I called LOT before the journey and asked about this, and they said at the airport, they can check my bags to the final destination even though I have two reservations, as both flights are operated by LOT. Also on the previous flights, my bags were sent from LHR to KRK (via WAW) and I have LHR-WAW and WAW-KRK on separate bookings. But the MXP check-in agent still insisted that there is ‘no way’ that she could force the system to check my bag to London or print the boarding pass from WAW to LHR, so I had to collect my bag and go to check-in again at Warsaw. Anyway, I got my boarding pass with security check fast-track invitation and I was invited to use Lufthansa lounge. The security screening took a few minutes.
Some pictures post security
Lufthansa lounge. At the entrance, I was greeted by a friendly lounge personnel.
I found this lounge ok overall. However the only negative thing is that there is not toilet facility inside the lounge.
Off to the boarding gate
Boarding call was made by seat row number and Business class and *A Status passengers could board at any time.
The flight was around 70% full in Economy Class, I was lucky to have the seat next to me empty. After aircraft door was closed, the crew performed a manual safety demonstration and prepared the cabin for take off.
Took off at exactly 10:50am the scheduled time.
After the seat belt sign was switched off, the crew made a standard welcome announcement. Shortly after, breakfast was served: tuna sandwich.
The cabin
Descending to Warsaw
Touched down at 12:30pm which was 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled time.
Leaving the plane
Went to baggage claim area and after around 5 minutes my bag came out.
Once I got my bag, I went up to the departure area to check-in to London
Details of the flight
Date: 22 June 2012
Airline: LOT
Flight: LO279
Route: WAW-LHR
Aircraft: Boeing 737-400
Class: Economy
Check-in was complete in a few minutes. There was a queue at the security check, it took around 15 minutes.
Then I went to the non-schengen zone, and the passport check took a few minutes. I headed to the lounge.
Nice seats
Refreshments offered in this lounge are more or less the same as offered in the LOT Business Class lounge in Schengen area.
View from the lounge
To the boarding gate
Flight information display showed that my flight was going to be delayed by 30 minutes. When boarding called was made, everyone rushed to board.
Business Class with the middle seat blocked. On this flight, the first 5 rows are Business Class. This flight was quite full, I didn’t see an empty seat in Economy class, and saw 2 empty seats in Business Class.
win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (10 months 3 weeks 4 days 14 hours ago) and read 5671 times:
Took off at around 3:50pm, 40 minutes behind schedule
After seat belt sign got switched off, the crew made a welcome announcement and soon drinks and ham sandwich were served.
Leg room
Then crew came over again offering a second round of drinks.
Descending to LHR
Landed at 5:05pm, 15 minutes behind schedule
My seat
Some photos taken along the way to immigration.
Immigration was quite quick, it was done in around 5 minutes and when I got to the baggage claim area, my bag was already on the belt.
Overall, I had good flights with LOT. With an exception of the last flight (WAW-LHR), the flights were very punctual. Lounges in Warsaw are comfortable. Cabin crew are very efficient. Food on-board were tasty, but perhaps LOT should have more variety of food as seen on LH.
This would conclude the trip report. Thank you for reading and as ever, all comments, suggestions or questions are very welcomed.
win1290 From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (10 months 3 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 4287 times:
Quoting jwhite9185 (Reply 2): Good conclusion to your trip Win. Makes a change for T1 immigration to be empty!
Thanks James. In my experience, I haven't had to wait for passport check longer than 10 minutes queuing at 'all other passports' lane at T1 (T3 is a lot worse in my opinion). On this particular trip, I also noticed that immigration staff were a lot more efficient, and nearly all desks were staffed, which was great.
I missed out on the LH lounge in MXP on my one and only visit there (flying MXP-LHR on the now defunct LH Italia) after getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport - it doesn't look like I've missed out on anything special!
Forget A vs B - Give me E or BAe any day of the week!
Are these the new LOT colours? They look quite nice.
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter): After a week of a very enjoyable holiday in Italy with my brother and mother, it is time to go home to Bangkok. My mum and brother will take a direct flight from Milan to Bangkok with Thai Airways. I will go from Milan to Warsaw and to London with LOT, and the next day will take a Thai Airways flight from London to Bangkok (this sector, I will do a separate trip report).
I think I have lost count of how many BKK-LHR-BKK flights you have? Or were those flights all from the same trip...And of course they were on the A340-600s.....Nice...Looking forward to this one, and hoping for the same level of crisp and sharp photos.
dcaviation From United States of America, joined Aug 2011, 165 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (10 months 3 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3506 times:
Nice TR. I would like to point out (not to be a dick) when you write "we took off 40 minutes behind the schedule.." The departure time start when they close the door, not when wheels are off the ground.
Basically its called block time which is the time from closed doors to open doors at the destination. That's how airlines calculate the time (not air time).
I really enjoyed your report about your LO flights - an airline I've always wanted to try but never found the opportunity.
Hi Eurohub and many thanks for reading and the kind words.
Quoting Eurohub (Reply 4): I missed out on the LH lounge in MXP on my one and only visit there (flying MXP-LHR on the now defunct LH Italia) after getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport - it doesn't look like I've missed out on anything special!
There is nothing particularly special about this lounge in my opinion. Having said that, it was certainly a good place to wait for an hour or so before the flight.
Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 5): Interesting signage....I can't explain the reason behind it though lol
Hehe, nor can I, but perhaps something to do with investments and football
Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 5): Are these the new LOT colours? They look quite nice.
I agree they look nice, but I am not sure if these are new colours.
Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 5): I think I have lost count of how many BKK-LHR-BKK flights you have? Or were those flights all from the same trip...And of course they were on the A340-600s.....Nice...Looking forward to this one, and hoping for the same level of crisp and sharp photos.
Haha, I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel regularly between BKK and LHR as a Thai student studying in the UK. But sadly my student time is coming to an end, and I don't have any booked flight on this route with TG . Nonetheless, my report on the LHR-BKK sector can be found here: Thai Airways: The A346 And The Upgrade! LHR-BKK (by win1290 Jul 5 2012 in Trip Reports), and its indeed on the A340-600
Quoting dcaviation (Reply 6): Nice TR. I would like to point out (not to be a dick) when you write "we took off 40 minutes behind the schedule.." The departure time start when they close the door, not when wheels are off the ground.
Basically its called block time which is the time from closed doors to open doors at the destination. That's how airlines calculate the time (not air time).
Thanks dcaviation for commenting, and Thanks for the information, I will bear that in mind.
adamspotter From Netherlands, joined Feb 2011, 784 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (10 months 2 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 2547 times:
Hi Win,
Another nice report, great conclusion. Those sandwiches you get on LOT look quite tasty and big. Lounges at WAW look good too, not that impressed by the LH lounge @ MXP
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 11, posted (10 months 2 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 2536 times:
Looks like you had some nice flights with LO Win
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter): I went to an empty *G counter and asked to check in for a flight to Milan, and I got my boarding pass within minutes. I asked the check-in agent if the flight was full, and was told that it wasn’t full and the seat next to me will be blocked. The security screening was quite quick, done after a few minutes.
Nice and efficient
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter): I was told that it is not possible to check my bag all the way to London or print the boarding pass on WAW-LHR sector as I have two separate reservations. I thought its quite strange given that I called LOT before the journey and asked about this, and they said at the airport, they can check my bags to the final destination even though I have two reservations, as both flights are operated by LOT.
That's odd. It's not normally a problem with flights on the same airline, even if it is two separate reservations
lukeyboy95 From Papua New Guinea, joined Apr 2008, 951 posts, RR: 35 Reply 13, posted (10 months 1 week 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 2329 times:
Hi Win,
I just wanted to quickly breeze in and say this was an excellent and very informative report. Many thanks.
We don't really hear too much (apart from bad news) about LOT, but from what I saw they seemed to offer a good service.... I'd say even excellent on account of the Ejets.
I thought the offerings in WAW looked a little understated, in particular the check-in desks which don't suggest it is LOTs homebase.
Knightsofmalta From Malta, joined Nov 2005, 1418 posts, RR: 17 Reply 14, posted (10 months 1 week 6 days 16 hours ago) and read 2274 times:
Hi Win
thanks for the lovely report and all the detail you put into it. I've only ever travelled on Lot once so far, but I must say I somehow like them as an airlines.
I liked the pictures you took in the lounges. They look rather nice!
Quoting adamspotter (Reply 10): Another nice report, great conclusion. Those sandwiches you get on LOT look quite tasty and big. Lounges at WAW look good too, not that impressed by the LH lounge @ MXP
Thanks! The sandwiches were quite tasty. The lounges at WAW were quite nice but the only let down is that they arenot big enough to accommodate their guests at peak times. While the LH lounge at Milan is not outstandingly spacial, it's certainly good for a short wait for a flight.
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 11): Looks like you had some nice flights with LO Win
Hi Gabriel! Thanks for reading and commenting. I did indeed have some good flights with them .
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 11):
Quoting win1290 (Thread starter):
I went to an empty *G counter and asked to check in for a flight to Milan, and I got my boarding pass within minutes. I asked the check-in agent if the flight was full, and was told that it wasn’t full and the seat next to me will be blocked. The security screening was quite quick, done after a few minutes.
Nice and efficient
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 11): That's odd. It's not normally a problem with flights on the same airline, even if it is two separate reservations
I agree, shouldn't be a problem. Last year I made two reservations: TG BKK-LHR, SN LHR-BRU, and I managed to checked my baggage all the way from BKK to BRU.
Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 13): I just wanted to quickly breeze in and say this was an excellent and very informative report. Many thanks.
Thanks for the nice words Luke. I am glad you liked it.
Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 13): We don't really hear too much (apart from bad news) about LOT, but from what I saw they seemed to offer a good service.... I'd say even excellent on account of the Ejets.
It was my first trip with LOT and also first flight on the Ejets and I enjoyed both.
Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 13): I thought the offerings in WAW looked a little understated, in particular the check-in desks which don't suggest it is LOTs homebase.
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 14): thanks for the lovely report and all the detail you put into it. I've only ever travelled on Lot once so far, but I must say I somehow like them as an airlines.
You are very Welcome, I am glad you liked it. This was the first trip with LOT for me and I liked them as well
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 14): I liked the pictures you took in the lounges. They look rather nice!
Thank you very much. The lounge was indeed quite good. I personally prefer the non-schengen one, with some nicer seats and more space.
Sponsor Message: 
From Thailand, joined Jan 2012, 249 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined May 2007, 722 posts, 
From Canada, joined Sep 2005, 849 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Aug 2011, 165 posts, 
. Nonetheless, my report on the LHR-BKK sector can be found here: 
From Netherlands, joined Dec 2011, 660 posts, 
From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6191 posts, 
From Papua New Guinea, joined Apr 2008, 951 posts, 
From Malta, joined Nov 2005, 1418 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
