I thought like this until I ‘experienced’ service from LO ‘young and hot’ F/A’s on two ICN-WAW flights.

Last year LOT had a ‘promotion’ in C: BUD-ICN (turnover)-WAW-KRK (stopover)-BUD itinerary for like EUR 1k - and yes - I purchased 2 tickets (sue me, Greta).

BUD-ICN: on both flights we had Polish purser and Hungarian F/A’s. Pursers for sure remembered the IL-62 days but were very nice. Hungarian F/A’s were amazing – smiling, checking on passengers (bear in mind this flight was a nightmare for crew: 11 am departure, flying over Kazakhstan and China as LO didn’t get Siberian overfly rights, arriving into ICN at 6am). I was really impressed with the whole experience (also with LOT Lounge at BUD Airport). It was clear the all F/A’s were happy to be there and liked the job.

ICN-WAW was a different story:

On the first flight (B789), out of 4 F/A’s only the IL-62 Purser was nice but she was hiding in the galley. 3 other Polish F/A’s were in the ‘young and hot’ category. Only the Korean-speaking F/A smiled, the other 2 F/A’s could compete with the KGB agents in ‘the most surely person’ competition. I had an issue with opening my tray table, the Korean-speaking F/A just smiled returned to the galley for a knife and managed to open it. Then she checked on me a few times asking if ‘her special passenger’ needs anything. But the other 2 F/A’s clearly did not want to be there.

On the second flight (B788), the IL-62 Purser was nice and active in the cabin (what somehow saved the flight), but the other 2 ‘young and hot’ F/A’s were even worse – I have not seen even a single smile, even a single eye contact. The Korean-speaking F/A was so unpleasant, that Korean passengers were a bit shocked. Apparently, she skipped the cultural training, while learning Korean. At one stage 2 male Premium Economy F/A’s started helping in C-cabin - it was like day and night – smiles, offers for refill, eye contact, small talk.

I understand these ‘young and hot’ are not LOT employees – they are on sort of the minimum wage B2B contracts. But Hungarian F/A’s are also on the B2B contracts – yet they manage to smile and be nice.