downinit

Sounds like a good contingency plan. Four hours in one lounge sounds painful, but if I can spread it around, it may be a bit better.

What I would really like to find are some potato pancakes. Is there anywhere in the Schengen or non-Schengen zone where I could find some?

AlicorporateUK

Normally available in both lounges but not at that time of the day I’m afraid. I was in the non-Schengen lounge the other day and mini-pancakes were amongst the hot options until (roughly) 11AM.

G

andywaw

Are you sure they were potato pancakes?

AlicorporateUK

Now, that's a good point – I didn't try them so not sure but, thinking about it, they certainly didn't look like "placki ziemniaczane".

G

downinit

Regarding potato pancakes, I discovered that they are available in both the Schengen and N/S areas. FarszBAR in the Schengen side has a very good selection, but they close at 19:00, which means I arrived in time to watch them clean up and did not get an opportunity to try them during my two hour visit to the Schengen side of WAW. On the N/S side, Misa Bar Mleczny offered them alongside a few other Polish dishes. By the time I discovered this place on my first layover, I had already visited all three LOT lounges and the flight was about to board. Fortunately, I was able to finally get some at 08:00 a few days later on my second layover.

I was able to visit all three LOT lounges and and Bolero lounge on my two layovers. The Elite lounge has easier access to alcohol (not sure if the "bar" in the Schengen business lounge was self-serve or not, but no one got a drink during the 30 minutes I was sitting next to it), but the food was identical in all three LOT lounges. During my N/S visit, Bolera had slightly better options for warm food & alcohol, but LOT had better cold food options. Both were quite quiet and comfortable.

Apostol70

Flying BUD - WAW - PEK and have a long layover. Never having been to WAW before, appreciate any ideas about spending layover on the Schengen or non-Schengen side. Guessing there are more options on the Schengen side? Thanks!

TPJ

If weather is cooperating, why not to take the 175 bus and go to the Old Town? WAW Airport is very close to the downtown area. If you do not fancy public transportation (there are also trains available) you can take a cab or Uber (I think there were some fairly recent changes and only more expensive Uber Business cars have access to the airport). Otherwise your options are limited to the usual airport activities: shopping and lounges. You may visit both but F&B are the same. If you fancy plane spotting, the N/S lounge is on the apron level, so you will have a good view on apron/taxiways & one of the runways.

Stephan54

Flight from Stuttgart to Wroclaw with checked luggage on one PNR. Both flights on LOT.
Connecting time is 35 minutes.
Sold this way by LOT, but I wonder if 35 minutes transfer is feasible?
Thanks.

cbellero

Assuming everything is running on time, for you it will be no issue - you are staying within Schengen and Warsaw airport is not that big. Your bag will be more challenged, but LOT sells it that way, so they will make sure your bag makes it.

TPJ

LO operational performance has been fairly impressive lately. I would rather worry about ver.di strikes rather than the 35 minute connection in WAW. Naturally you can check applications like Flightradar24 to verify STR flights performance. And even if you miss the flight you will be reboked onto another WRO flight. If the next flight is full ask to be put on standby - you have very good chances to be cleared at the gate. My experience is that they are very flexible - they can protect you on the next available flight and put you on stand by for the full one.

hugolover

Shouldn’t be an issue. The issues with WAW are short connections coming from non-Schengen and connecting to Schengen when the pax doesn’t have an EU passport. That has a big failure rate especially for the early morning arrivals as there is limited scope to delay the first days ex-WAW connections.

SFOPhD

From what I read in the thread, presuming no ATC delays, a 1 hour domestic to US connection is enough time even with a bus gate and the passport check? Are short domestic hops prone to delays such that I should book a 4 hour connection instead to be safe?

hugolover

No issue and it's so unlikely you're the only pax.
Don't forget to visit the "interview" desk once you're in the non-Schengen area. You can't miss it.

milepig

The one issue we had was when arriving from ORD and transiting to [forgotten]. ORD flights are notoriously late, it's just a mess at boarding. We arrived very late as *Gold, and someone was at the gate waiting for us, they said "come with me" and we went down a different path, through some doors, and wound up out in the terminal, right across from our gate. I have no idea if this happens frequently, but helped us make our very close connection.

blue2002

Sounds a bit weird (but, no, I am not doubting you). Let me explain the weirdness... If you were in transit to another non-Schengen destination, then the non-Schengen wing is just not that big to warrant a non-standard path (about 12 gates altogether). If you were transiting to a Schengen destination, then I hope the agent didn't help you circumvent Schengen controls, cause... that could cause you some headaches on exit from Schengen.