ua_to_ord

LO 001, WAW-ORD, 767-300, C class seat 1D, 12:05-15:10 (scheduled)

Join me aboard LO 001, plying the skies between WAW and ORD on the 26th of March, 2007. I review LO’s new business class product aboard its 767-300 aircraft, reporting that its hard and soft product are both commendable.

Travel to the airport

I had arrived in Warsaw just the afternoon before. In the middle of an ambitious travel week, I had visited Istanbul, then traveled to London, and was now in Warsaw. The next three days would see me pop into Chicago for a night, briefly visit Boston, and then return to London.

I departed for Warsaw’s Fryderyk Chopin International Airport approximately two and a half hours before my 12:05 departure time. My uncle had generously agreed to drive me to the airport after an all-too-brief overnight visit, and our VW Golf aggressively battled the late morning traffic on the autostrada. Less than a kilometer from the airport, I spotted a billboard for LO’s new TATL C product, causing my sense of anticipation to spike. I was genuinely looking forward to this experience, in no small measure because my earliest memories of flight include childhood transatlantic trips aboard LO to visit family in Poland.

In no time at all, the Golf was idling at the curb before the entrance to WAW Terminal One. The airport is presently undergoing an expansion, which will see the addition of an expansive and modern second terminal. Terminal Two is already being utilized for arrivals, but the departure hall is still receiving its finishing touches. The Golf’s LED radio display read approximately 10:45.

At the airport

At the curb of the diminutive Terminal One, I bid my uncle farewell, and we exchanged wishes of do zobaczenia. I entered the terminal building and quickly found the LO Business / Star Gold check-in area in one of the hall’s corners. To my surprise, there were only two counters, each with an agent, but luckily no one was using either. I approached the nearer agent, who began to process my check-in. I inquired about my flight’s load, and upon receiving an answer of 9 of 18, I asked whether I could be reseated so as to have an empty seat next to me. The agent did not respond helpfully, saying that such courtesies are reserved for “Gold card holders,” apparently missing my *G status in the record. I decided to let the matter pass, as I could tell that this agent was not particularly competent, electing to pursue the matter again in the lounge. Unexpectedly, the agent then asked to weigh my carry-on luggage to ensure it met the 10kg limit. I complied. My upright turned out to be 3kg over the 10kg limit, and the agent had the tactlessness to suggest, quite seriously, that I repack some items into a second, smaller bag that I was also carrying on. I declined his suggestion, saying that such a minor transgression could surely slide. Luckily, this would be the least accommodating LO employee that I was to encounter on this journey.

I proceeded to the nearby priority line for passport control, and shortly I was airside. There was no security screening to enter this airside area, as screening is reserved for the gate area. Once airside, I very quickly stumbled upon one of the terminal’s two lounges, Preludium. This lounge, located at the center of the terminal and open to seemingly all premium and elite passengers using the airport, as well to Priority Pass members, was uncomfortably overcrowded. I waited for nearly two minutes just to reach the reception agent, and I immediately asked whether there was a second lounge that I could try. The response was favourable, and I soon ventured off towards gate 12 in search of the Fantasia lounge. It was not a long walk, and I soon found this second lounge, located at one end of the terminal building and accessibly only to *G (and perhaps to LO TATL C or all LO C passengers). The contrast was like night and day. There were only three users in Fantasia, and an atmosphere of utter calm prevailed.

I presented my boarding pass to the attendant and was promptly invited to make myself comfortable. I inquired about changing my seat but received a response that it would only be possible at the gate, as the computer system accessible to the agent did not permit seat changes. No big deal. I proceeded to make myself at home, finding some English press and mixing myself an orange and grapefruit juice drink from the well-stocked bar. Realizing I still had plenty of time until the 11:20 boarding time, I made use of the computer in the lounge’s corner, firing off some emails. Soon 11:20 drew near, and I gathered by baggage and began to make my exit.

‘Sir, please feel free to remain in the lounge for awhile longer,’ offered the attendant in beautiful Polish just as I was about to reach the doorway. ‘Boarding is delayed somewhat, and we will escort you to the gate when it is time.’ Nice! I’d never been escorted to the gate before (perhaps as I’ve not yet achieved ultra elite status, e.g. UA GS, or flown three-class F), and I now had a new experience to look forward to. I took out some work and lost myself in its pages for about a half hour, sipping intermittently on sparkling water.

In seemingly no time at all, an agent arrived, requesting that I come with her to the aircraft. It was 11:50. I thanked her for coming, said good bye to the helpful lounge agent, and my escort and I were promptly on our way to gate 5, where the Boeing 767-300, operating today as LO 001, was waiting. There was absolutely no security line and I breezed through.

Having cleared security, I was quite surprised and disappointed to see a full gate area, complete with an enormous line towards the gate reader. Why wouldn’t the escort bring me to the gate either before boarding had commenced or once general boarding had finished? I excused myself as I cut through the crowds and finally made it to a gate agent, to whom I articulated my request for a look at the seat map. The agent was very helpful, showing me his computer screen, which displayed the real-time seat map. I elected to select seat 1C, a bulkhead middle aisle, as 1D was empty. The agent typed away and very shortly presented me with a new boarding pass. Inexplicably, the BP was for seat 1D, but since I was indifferent between 1C and 1D, I did not raise the matter. Much to my inner delight, the gate agent then welcomed me to the front of the boarding line. I excused myself to the men in front of whom I was stepping, thanked the agent graciously, and was soon walking swiftly down the jet bridge.

On board

Nearing the aircraft door, I was eagerly anticipating my first experience in LO’s new business class. The new product is installed on all 767-300 aircraft and features new Weber angled lie-flat seats, personal video / audio players, and improved catering. The new seats feature orange and blue upholstery, a somewhat bewildering choice.

Stepping aboard the aircraft, I was greeted by two smiling members of the cabin crew. I was at 1D in no time, and upon stowing my carry-on baggage, I took my seat. My first impression is etched into my memory quite clearly – this seat is well padded and comfortable, noticeably more comfortable, in fact, than the UA C seat that I frequent as of late. I noted that the leg room in my bulkhead seat was more than adequate, and I proceeded to examine my amenity kit, discovering it to be well-stocked, including all the usual comfort items, but also a comb.

One of the crew soon came around with pre-departure drinks, and I was given a choice of water, orange juice or white wine. I chose the juice, and it was served in relatively large glass, not one of the diminutive wine glasses often used by airlines (or a plastic cup, a la UA’s modus operandi). Boarding wrapped up soon enough, and my seat provided a fine vantage point to witness the unique door-closing procedure employed aboard this aircraft. Door 1L is stored in the recess between the top of the cabin and the fuselage while the doorway is open, and I glimpsed the door being lowered electronically. Push-back was inexplicably delayed a further few minutes, and our 767 was finally airborne two minutes after 13:00.

Within a reasonable period from wheels-up, the crew came through the cabin to distribute menus. Impressively, the menu and wine list were printed on glossy paper and attractively ensconced within a durable, dark “wallet,” similar in size and feel to the cheque-holder at a typical restaurant. I reviewed the offerings for today’s flight:

WINE LIST

Champagne

Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Particulaire, Champagne Brut, France

Aperitif

Osborne White Port, Portugal

Osborne Ruby Port, Portugal

White Wines

Castillo de Molina Chardonnay, 2005, Chile

Chateau Valoussiere Coteaux du Languedoc, 2005, France

Sant’Antimo, Pinot Grigio, 2005, Italy

Red Wines

Lindemans Reserve Shiraz, 2004, South Australia

Chateau Haut Lalande, 2002, France

Talus Cabaret Sauvignon, 2002, California

Selection of spirits and beers

MENU

Dinner

Appetizers

Smoked salmon decorated with lemon and black olive

and

Pickled bell pepper, cucumber and black olive salad

and

Mixture of lettuce with juicy pineapple and grapefruit

Fresh rolls, bread, butter, olive oil

Hot entrée

Tender chicken stuffed with herbed butter and cheese served with cream sauce and green peas on rice

or

Pork chop served with gravy, potatoes, broccoli and carrot

or

Spaghetti with pork in tomato sauce topped with cheese Neapolitan style

Cheese plate with crackers

Dessert

Chocolate cake with caramel-cognac cream decorated with caramel flakes

or

Delicacy salad of juicy fruits

Are you on a diet? Don’t feel guilty. Go for it and order both of our delicious desserts. Your cabin attendant will be pleased to serve them both to you

Coffee, choice of tea, cognac, liqueur, port

Supper

Light salad of cherry tomato and mozzarella cheese with olive oil

and

Chicken shashlik served with grilled bell pepper

Fresh bread, butter

Dinner

I began with a glass of champagne, which was wonderfully light and dry. Shortly thereafter, the crew distributed personal video / audio players, along with LO’s idea of noise-canceling headphones. The player itself was superb – it came loaded with nearly a dozen movies, about a half dozen music videos, and hundreds of hours of music, the latter organized by artist, song title, or genre. Navigation through the player was fairly intuitive, although there were annoying lags as the hard drive was accessed whenever a new song started. The headphones were very basic, however, and the noise-canceling feature was practically indiscernible. I’ll definitely bring along my Bose set for any future flights in LO C.

Perhaps thirty minutes into the flight, the appetizers appeared. They were served all at once and on a tray, and the rolls with butter and olive oil accompanied them. I enjoyed all three appetizers, although the pickled bell pepper seemed relatively uninspired.

I am a fairly slow eater, but despite my lethargy, I still had to wait some time for the main course to make an appearance. I had ordered the pork chop, but the crew instead presented the chicken dish before me. This error was quickly and pleasantly rectified, and I soon began making progress into the flavorful and generous portion of pork chop. To accompany the pork, I chose the Californian Cabaret Sauvignon, which was delightfully full-bodied and had a delicious after-taste – in a word, excellent. My first choice, the French Chateau Haut Lalande, was not available.

The cheese plate came next, again with some delay, and at its centerpiece was, unfortunately, a piece of tasteless and non-descript cheese. The mozzarella and blue cheeses, at the periphery of the plate, were fresh and tasty, however. The crackers were strictly average and served within their original plastic packaging.

I polished off the cheese plate quickly, and the wait for dessert was quite lengthy, perhaps five minutes or more. I was eagerly anticipating the chocolate cake and fruit salad, but the offering was disappointing. The cake was tiny, dry and beat-up, looking more like a tired, economy-class dessert. It tasted as poorly as it looked. The “delicacy salad of juicy fruits” was the meal’s nadir, though. It featured perhaps two spoonfuls of fruit cocktail, the kind sold in supermarkets for 50 cents a can. It was certainly edible, and not half bad to be honest, but it was no way to end a fine meal. LO’s fine selection of port was, thankfully, one saving grace of the dessert. I sampled both the Osborne White Port and the Ruby Port, and both were very pleasant on the palate and bursting with sweet fruit. My only previous experience with port has been aboard United, whose port has a more corrupted, less flavorful taste.

The meal finished with a cup of coffee, which was of an ideal medium-hot temperature and of a good taste. But it is hard to fail with coffee.

All in, LO fed me well, and the appetizers and main course were excellent. The wine list was also broad (at least compared with United) and featured solid champagne, wine and aperitifs. LO would do well to improve its cheese and dessert offerings, particularly as passengers tend to remember these last elements of a meal.

In flight

Delightfully satiated, I settled in with some reading (a study about the effect of land reform legislation in India on rural poverty). I had noted that LO’s seat includes a 120v power plug (U.S. style), which I used when I took out my laptop to do some other work. As 1C was unoccupied, I used its power plug to charge my cell phone.

The flight proceeded uneventfully. There were minimal announcements, and the pilots were less conservative than their brethren at United in utilizing the seat belt sign; the light bumpiness that we occasionally encountered did not illicit immediate illumination of the fasten seatbelts sign. I made use of the audio player for most of the flight, listening to artists such classical pianist Zimerman playing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto #1, jazzman Herb Alpert performing The Lonely Bull and Spanish Flea, and even experimenting with artists such as Massive Attack and their songs Teardrop and Angel. I was very impressed with the fine selection of on demand audio content that LO provides. Unfortunately, reliance on personal media players in lieu of an in-seat solution eliminates the possibility of providing an airshow service. I had no way of knowing our real-time position or other flight details, such as groundspeed, time to destination, etc.

Even though LO 001 was a daytime flight and I was not particularly tired, I resolved to try the angled lie-flat product. Extending the seat electronically, I settled in for some rest. To my pleasant surprise, I was comfortable both on my back and on my side, something I cannot say about UA’s C seat. I did not feel like I was sliding down the angled seat. Unfortunately, supper service commenced minutes after I settled in for slumber and prevented me from getting any sleep.

Supper and landing

All in, supper was consistently good, unlike the vacillations in quality experienced during dinner. The tomato and mozzarella salad was at once light and flavorful, the ideal combination for a second meal on a medium-length long haul such as WAW-ORD. The chicken shashlik, essentially a cut of grilled chicken, was also quite tasty and not overbearingly filling. There was no cheese, fruit or dessert with which to erode the meal’s quality.

The cabin crew began preparations for landing rather early. Our media players were collected some 30 minutes before touchdown, and other landing preparations (e.g. returning seats to an upright position, etc.) were also conducted early. I did not particularly mind, as I was busy reading, but if I were lounging I might have been annoyed. Approach was from the east, and landing was on runway 27L. Seconds from touchdown, the pilot in command seemed to flare for an extended period of time, and once we hit the runway, it was only with the right mains. We danced over the runway a bit, finally touching down again hard. Breaking was quite unrefined, first gently, then hard, and then noticeably hard as we veered onto a turnoff. In my hundreds of segments, this landing stands out as among the worst. Perhaps long haul LO pilots are in need of more landing practice?

Nearly a half dozen LO agents, along with hints of the 75-degree weather outside, met us in the jetway at terminal 5. Having a naturally fast pace, I was the first LO 001 passenger to passport control, but there was unfortunately a 10 minute-long line. Once I finally emerged into the beautiful, sun-kissed afternoon, I was grinning broadly at my luck of arriving into Chicago on its most beautiful day so far this year.

lucky9876coins

Excellent report, ua_to_ord!^ Very nicely written, and love all the details. LO seems to have a very solid product with their new C class product, one I would defintiely like to try even more after reading this report.

1P

Thanks very much for this excellent report.

I agree that the Feuillatte champagne is a winner. However, the other wines don't seem to be much of an improvement on UA's int'l C transatlantic offerings. All the flights I have taken this year in UA C have had at least 5 and sometimes 6 wines available (on one occasion even 7 - a rogue bottle had appeared, which I commandeered before the rear C cabin could get to it. ) and the quality is getting better on average, provided you know what to ask for.

HIDDY

Great report,well laid out and very informative,nice to get a report about LOT.

Thanks for the read. ^

Vaclav

This is so well written that - remembering what I read on FT about Lot - the report seems to be better than the actual airline.

I wonder how Lot would compare to OK on a similar route (e.g. PRG-JFK). They both compete in Central Europe, even though Lot has more suitable planes for the medium to long-haul flights (B767-300 vs. A310-300) and are part of a better alliance (Star vs. Skyteam).

rankourabu

Dziekuje for the report
Glad to see that LOT has greatly improved.
I also love the Fantasia lounge in WAW, its also accessible to Priority Pass

I was once flying KRK-WAW-IST, and had a tight connection in WAW, to my surprise there was a LOT agent waiting on arrival to escort me to my flight to IST through some shortcut.

ua_to_ord

Thank you!

You are right that the FT consensus about LO is, at best, mixed. Contributing to the divergence between my experience and the FT consensus is, I believe, an upward bias in hospitality exhibited by the cabin crew and ground staff towards Polish speakers. That is quite unfortunate, and it certainly is not so aboard other airlines from non-English speaking countries (e.g. LH, LX, OS), where service tends to be uniformly superb.

Vaclav

Indeed, that is unfortunatea and uncalled for but 'fact of life' for a while. I assume that you speak Polish like I speak Czech. Some FTer posted similar observation about service on OK: When he switched to Czech, the quality of service dropped immediately. When in Prague, it is not unusual to get prompter service in a restaurant when speaking English. They seem to be bouncing from one wall to another, first Russian, now English (or rather American) but that is another story.

ua_to_ord

Correct.

I perceived the opposite effect, though. I believe that conversing in Polish results in more pleasant service aboard LO. I propose that the mechanism governing this observation is that cabin crew can relate more personally to the passenger when he is speaking their mother tongue; thus, they will be more attentive.

jacob_m

Many thanks for the report!! ^

I agree LOT really isn't that bad as some people here seem to believe.
Quite the contrary, after several flights with LO I have found the FAs to be very friendly and polite (as the Poles in general) and the inflight service quite decent.
They probably won't win any awards for their service, but on the whole I have always been a satisfied customer and won't hesitate to fly with them again.

BTW I noticed the date of your flight, and funnily I actually flew out of WAW the very same day arriving at the airport around 1 pm, I probably must have seen your plane taking-off!
The Fantasia lounge was pretty empty indeed as you can see on this photo!

ua_to_ord

That is indeed the lounge I visited. And I happened to be sitting right at the end of the couch that's in the middle of your photo, meaning that if only you'd visited the lounge an hour earlier, I'd have been in your picture!

Seat 2A

Well written and nicely detailed - trip reports like this are a real pleasure to read. The only downside to the entire report was envisioning that orange and blue upholstery in the forward cabin. Even though I love my Denver Broncos, orange and blue belong on the playing field, not in an airplane cabin.

I look forward to any future reports you may care to write. ^ ^

TrayflowInUK

Doesn't Aeroflot have orange and blue themes in their cabins?

LGACIC

Wish I had flown lot in 2007 instead of 2005! The old seats were as bad as advertised.

cstead

Wonderful report. When I saw that LO was updating its cabin, I wanted to try it out. I'm making a September/October WAW run for a few days, and I can't wait.