go_around

Flew out of WAW yesterday, checked in about 20 minutes before the desk closed, thus 1 hour 20 mins before departure. We were travelling with a car seat which we were told had to be dropped off at the oversized baggage counter. No problem...

I arrived at the oversized baggage counter to find a large queue which I quickly discovered was not moving. Stood there for 40 minutes and still nowhere near the front. Nearby staff refused to help (“it’s passengers’ responsibility to arrive at the airport in time” - you must be kidding me). With 20 minutes until the gate closed, and yet to clear security or immigration with a young baby in tow, Mrs go_around went ballistic at the staff which secured a result.. they seemed quite shocked. All in all a very poor experience and we would definitely have missed the flight had Mrs g not insisted that they deal with it there and then. As it was we had to sprint through the terminal with a pram, push to the front of every queue, and were last on the aircraft.

To boot, a Polish immigration officer tried to hold us up by claiming that Mrs g’s UK residence card was “not valid for family travel to the UK”.
1. She is only concerned with Polish exit, not UK entry.
2. This is absolute nonsense and she had no idea what she was talking about.
But it did add a few minutes on when we could least afford it.

Not impressed at all with this experience.

SJOGuy

Arriving at an airport for an international flight 1 hour 20 minutes before departure with a baby in tow is asking for problems.

LondonElite

Seems like you arrived too late, and with oversized luggage, and are looking to blame others for that. Causing a scene rarely helps, and staff in WAW (and any other airport) are certainly concerned with your rights to travel to another country as you may not be permitted to enter and sent back. The gate agent could have refused you as well.

tmac100

If the pax were let through, then obviously their documents WERE in order.

I have seen baggage attendants at some other airports sitting on their butts doing nothing (except collecting their pay) and letting pax stand in line (for 40 minutes in this case). If they don't want to work, then they should be fired! Entitlement can go to the heads of some employees who have an abuse of their percrived "power" as a way of amusing themselves.

FWIW, in my experience, airline personnel do the check on whether the pax have appropriate docs for entry into the country of destination (aka Arrival country) because the airline is responsible for bringing the pax back (to Poland in this case) if the pax are refused entry at country of arrival/destination. BUT, that said, some folks let their "immaginary power" go to their heads. In my own country (Canada), I have experienced this too, (I ask for the superior officer when the Canada Customs officer was saying things that has no basis in law), and it gets sorted fast. This has been my personal experience, and will be my experience again tonight when I fly out of DOH bound for IST. At departure, Immugrstion should be concerned with your leaving docs, AND if you have overstayed the visa for that country.

Thank you to the OP for alerting me to have only carry-on at WAW, and nuts to entitled WAW baggage/immigration staff. Maybe I should even reconsider flying into WAW this spring. Trains work too.

Often1

What has this to do with WAW. It is fairly universal that one must arrive in time to accomplish the task at hand, not join the queue. E.g., check-in or drop bags.

This simply proces that no good deed goes unpunished. Should anyone read this who has anything to do with WAW large item check, you may be assured that OP is the last person they will ever go out of their way to help.

milepig

I don't think you'll get much sympathy here. Arrive at WAW 80 minutes before departure is foolhardy under any circumstances, much less with a baby, oversized luggage to check.and documentation that isn't 100% straightforward.

LOT's recommentation:

For flights to/from the U.S.:

• LOT Polish Airlines recommends you arrive at the airport 4 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.
• The cut-off time for checking in is 45 minutes before departure time.

For all other flights:

• LOT Polish Airlines recommends you arrive at the airport 2 hours before your flight is scheduled to depart.
• The cut-off time for checking in is 30 minutes before departure time.

tmac100

In spite of the last 2 submissions there are 2 events that are bring ignored:

1. Immigration officials "playing sport" with pax and their travel docs. See my previous comment.
2. Lazy baggage handlers who make pax wait for service while "sitting around", and also making sport with pax and their oversized baggage.

Coming 4 hours ahead of scheduled departure will do NOTHING to get "entitled" employees in some countries to do their jobs in a timely manner. "MANYANA" applies to WAW personnel as well as elsewhere. A cultural "learned" behaviour I suspect. 🙄

quirrow

As a skier who frequently travels with oversized luggage, I would like to point out to other flyers that the issue here would be the extremely long queue to check-in oversized luggage (about 40 minutes by the OP's account). I have travelled through numerous airports in Europe, North America and Asia with over-sized luggage and my experience was on the occasion where I had to deposit the odd-sized luggage myself, there are usually no queues at the airports I have flown out from. My guess is in 1 out of 5 instances, there might be 1 or 2 persons in front, but the wait has never been longer than 5-10 minutes. In many Asian airports, when flying in J, there are baggage handlers to bring the oversized luggage for you.

While I do understand that passengers with special requirements need to prepare for more time for additional check-in procedures, OP did arrive before check-in closes and with 20 extra minutes to spare. If an airport is unable to accomplish requirements for travellers, then they should increase the check-in cut-off times and the responsibility should not be on the passenger since they abide by the rules set out. It is perhaps worth noting the efficiency of airport procedures in special instances as I believe these information will help passengers to make better decisions whether to fly out from one particular airport vs. another.

:D!

I haven't found WAW to be particularly more inefficient or the staff particularly lazy/entitled compared to any other European capital airport.

I believe airlines suggest that passengers with children or oversized bags arrive earlier than usual. With no children and no oversized bags, arriving at WAW 60 mins before a flight could occasionally be considered "too early".

Romanianflyer

Seriously? So on the basis of one (!) story of one (!) passenger who had an unfortunate interaction with one (!) airport employee, some here are calling out the entire airport as a shambles better to avoid?

I do feel sympathetic for OP as it must have been a stressful situation, especially with a family in tow. However, as unfortunate as the situation is, this can happen literally anywhere in the world. Every single airport in the world has rotten apples as employees (or just someone having a bad day) and has crowds at check-in or baggage drop desks. Nothing unusual there.

For sure it is not a reason to avoid WAW. I always had pleasant experiences at the airport, both as a passenger originating at WAW and as someone who often connects through it. One of the easier andd faster airports in Europe for this, really!