The LOT Kafeteria
 

All,

Help is now at hand for any LOT's related query and may this also be a lively thread where to discuss anything which would otherwise not find a great deal of relevance/traffic through a 'free-standing' thread or indeed within the existing threads, which often result in off-topic material and that's a shame given the useful piece of information they contain (see the recent posts from our [MENTION=185918]hugolover[/MENTION] concerning the recently launched RZE-EWR service). The idea, in short, is to have a thread along the lines of The Eurobonus Forum Kafé in the SAS sub-forum.

Needless to say, credit to [MENTION=185918]hugolover[/MENTION] & [MENTION=840999]yurtripper[/MENTION] for the initial suggestion.

Zapraszamy!

G

Anyone noticed how the Ważne s kym podrożujes seems to be only used in Polish and there's no English alternative? It makes me wonder whether it's an attempt to avoid people noticing they've stolen Hilton's slogan.

They use it in English as well in LOT Kaleidoscope magazine.
However, the English slogan when read aloud brings about some negative associations with bad Polish curse word (or is it just me?) :p
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d50c28c893.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d55a31be1a.jpg

At least they changed the English version so it doesn't sound exactly like Hilton :) Funnily enough, few hours after I posted it I've had a flight where they used the catchphrase at the end of the landing announcement also in English. On previous two flights I had with them it was only in Polish.

“It doesn’t matter who you fly with, LOT Polish Airlines”.

“Nie ważne z kim lecisz, Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT“

😝

Spoiler alert = its just you , however i do understand the feeling cause once you step into the world of languages who dont belong to same family then you start having fun that no one else can understand , so you look like a dumb toddler

The bribe from the region is 4.3 milions euros advertising deal for three years (on top of the official 800 euros per flight).

Hugolover has recommended advance order meals on LOT previously.

On my last trip, I gave two of them a chance. Polish meal, which came recommended, and seasonal meal, which I was interested in.

The ordering process was very easy on the LOT website. Select what you like, pay 14 odd euros, that's it. Pleasant experience.

First up, PLML - Polish meal on flight AMS-WAW.

I am not sure if the differences in service came down to the delay an partial on-ground service I described earlier, but on this flight, the meal was served after the drozdzowka service finished and "BoB" was available.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3eff8a436d.jpg


Tablecloth with cutlery in it as usual, butter, two kinds of bread.
Going by what LOT describes, which fits what I received - starter was a bun with pork pate, caramelized onion chutney and mushrooms, main was a potato salat with hering, roastbeef and egg, and desert was a Krakow cheesecake with a strawberry.
All very good, served on real crockery.

Here's a closer picture of the main:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9eaf72f472.jpg

(I think the ad for investment in Kujawsko-Pomorskie is how the Voivodeship is supplementing the WAW-BZG connection)



On the way back to AMS, I got a SAML - Seasonal meal.

Served immediately with start of service, before the drozdzowka cart started down the aisle. A lot more awkward time if you ask me. I wanted to buy a drink to go with it, took ages. If it was a hot meal, it would have gotten cold in the meantime... but it wasn't, so. Not unacceptable, just suboptimal.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...072a6f6746.jpg


I've received steamed baby brocolli on some kind of vegetable puree (carrot and parsnip, I think), the main was a buckwheat kinda risotto with root vegetables and mushrooms. Don't remember the detail of the dessert, it was some kinda cream or mousse on top of a cracker, encased in I guess white chocolate based dome?
Again, I would be satisfied if served in Euro C (hopefully without the lids though).

Once again, a bit more detail of the main:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e2b84e208f.jpg



Overall, I prefer the PLML to SAML, on strength of the main. There's not much in it though, I did like the SAML starter better, and desserts are a wash. All things considered, I would order PLML over SAML, but I would not order PLML on the return again, prefering the SAML for the variation.

One thing this whole experience has told me, is... I wanted to bid for upgrade on the next flight, to see how the life up front is... but, why would I? Is the soft service better enough? By sheer chance I had a peek at the C bar, and I can spend a lot of BoB money before I come to that price, and for better drink.
Only disadvantage of staying in the back, it seems, is that I have to wait for the crew to get through the regular service and show up with the Skybar cart. Which might easily end up being an hour.

I've reuploaded the pictures, they should be showing now.

A few months ago I gave the prepaid meals a try (FT post Here)

On both occasions I ordered them, my meals arrived before the Y service started but it looks like its delivery can vary between crews.

My main issue with it was that the empty trays were only collected just before the flight was about to start its descent. So my tray table was full of dirty/used plates for a long time.

Still consider it much better value for money compared to the C meal options offered by LO.

I agree they’re better than the C meals but they’re coming up to year four and they didn’t change, but they did add 1zl to the price. Only if you’re a huge drinker is no C going to be an issue and there’s just four gin on a C bar so you’ll end up with the Number 1 gin eventually.

With the price of upgrades going crazy, despite zero pax in C on my flights I see no reason to pay for C. I really wonder what’s going on with their pricing, it makes little sense. If the route is 1hr20 you only get about 30 mins of service as well.

And the napkins… 🤬 they went from having the best in Europe to those crappy thin rubbish things that you need 10 of to mop up the tiniest of spills. They’re cheap and nasty, like the Gibsons.

It's not that I want to drink a lot, it's more that I don't like to wait for my drink.

but, not enough to pay whatever 70-100 extra per sector.

In C, you just tell them what you want. “I’d like a gin, tanker wine, and a vodka”… “When I’ve finished this, bring me another one please” a cultural difference that I know doesn’t suit Yanks and many Brits.

This is a much better approach than getting off and thinking the crew were crap.

Did you ask them to serve your drink together with your meal?

Yes. The answer was "Please wait until the free service is finished".