yurtripper

Sadly, the steep decline of LOT may not be unrelated to the current PiS government. I will just say that running an airline is one of the most difficult things to pull off (you need several PhDs just to understand the issues underlying flight scheduling optimisation and slot management) and so if you pack it with incompetents, who are given the job merely because they belong to the right political party, then there are certain consequences. Seems like LOT avoided this fate while PiS were busy stuffing the likes of Orlen and PKO with their cronies and dismantling the constitution, but after taking over the 'commanding heights' of the economy (in true Leninist style) it was only a matter of time before they moved on to the national flag carrier and made that ideologically pure also. That's PiS for you - just like the communists who inspired them to reestablish the nomenklatura system, they always prefer ideology over reality, and whenever the two are in conflict they reject the latter, but somehow ideology alone isn't so great at keeping planes in the sky.

/rant mode off

Lack

I can't even... :-)

Fabo.sk

this is getting uncomfortably closed to Bad Omni region... not that I disagree..

@yurtripper: hit me up on PM if you need help getting your tickets. I'm sure I can figure out something better than waiting behind 40 people in the queue.

franxit

.....

oliver2002

Back in 2012 when we visited LOT HQ for the dreamburner Do you got a clear sense that LOT was a dead man walking with the high fuel prices, the severe delay on the 767 replacement and no decision made on replacement of the 734s. A manager talking to us said that all management could think about was 'dressing the bride' for LH or IAG to take over at one point. Recently all that was off the table with low fuel prices & leasing rates and the government willing to look the other way. Now it is hurting them that no other measures were taken some years ago. Of course once fuel and leasing costs will go up (which seems very likely) the management will be in 'all hands on deck' mode trying to fight that fire.

yurtripper

Well it is the Kafeteria thread so I hope that some latitude can be given for the occasional rant here... and not entirely off topic

Thanks, I managed to get it booked this morning. When I tried calling the number in the queue was only 13 (about as good as it gets) so I decided to hold and then gave the agent the details. Stupid system anyway but I have to get on with my life now. After the mini segment run in September I'll need 10 more segments to bank FTL for 2018. Any nice ideas feel welcome to post here!

BlueThroughCrimp

Hi LOT regulars

I've got a trip from Vilnius to Stockholm via Warsaw, booked as a through ticket, and have a 10 hour layover in Warsaw.
I'd like to leave the airport, and head in to the city centre, but also leave my hold luggage hopefully checked through from Vilnius to Stockholm
UK passport, so no visa issues.

Possible?

mario_s

Yes, possible.

BlueThroughCrimp

Fabo.sk

Hi guys,

does anyone has any experience carrying sports equipment on LOT Economy Saver?

I am thinking of taking a golf bag on my upcoming trip, but I am not sure if I will do so. Nor am I sure about taking baggage at all.

So while I understand that if I took a classic fare, I'd have an allowance of 2 pieces + golf bag (1+1+sport for *G), and that if I took a saver fare, I'd have 1 piece (0+1) - I am thinking - can I buy an Eco Saver fare and then if I buy extra bag, will it mean I can take the golf bag as my "status extra"? Or will that mean that I can strictly take 2 regular bags?
That way, I could only decide shortly before my flight, depending on weather etc.

iLied

GBM.flights

I've had success replicating some ITA itineraries (not tried LOT) by segments with Expedia and Orbitz.
Just try to build it as segments KRK-WAW (day1), WAW-WRO (day 2) and the same for the return.
Use Revolut to avoid foreign currency fees if you don't have a USD account.

hugolover

Very quite in Polonez Elite today, breakfast was good, plenty of kalamata olives. New coffee machine too.

Swinging chairs gone in the main lounge, but will come back. Pax fell off.

hugolover

I had the pleasure to fly on SP-EQG yesterday. That's the one that crashed, yes, it was a crash, I don't care what PR office says for the general public an aircraft landing without forward LG and scuttling down the runway is a crash.

Anyway, as AVHerald shows as recently as 20th August, this Dash is a very sick bird. We were all ready to go when our Purser Beata can't get the door closed, she is pulling at it with her high heels on and it's just not happening. She summoned our Insta Captain, Aleksandra Bednorz (No breach of FT policy when she gives media interviews as sole LOT female captain) and she is trying to no avail too. Ola heads back to the flight deck to call an Engineer from her iPhone 5S and he arrives within 5 mins (!).

Now I don't speak good Polish but our LS Technics "Leading Solutions" wasn't in the best of moods. He deploys his toolbox and what I suspect was a hammer because I heard a lot of banging and then the sound of metal on the floor. By this point several LO flight crew are having a good look and a laugh with Captain Ola. I was getting nervous at this point as I had separate tix. If it were BA Maureen, she would have marched to the flight desk and told Nigel she wasn't flying on this heap of junk. Anyway, Beata tries the door again and it is almost closing. A bit more clunking and our engineer passes Captain Ola two metal poles that she stores on the flight deck. The technical guide is perused "Dash Q400 with Pratt & Whitney (Rzeszow issue) engines". Again, no Polish on my part but Captain Ola probably explains to Purser Beata she is checking if its on the MEL. Alas, it seems not.

Doors closed and off we go!

So, three incidents since she has come out of service that I know of, two with LG and now one with the door not closing. When we got to WAW there was a lot of fuss over those removed metal bars and according to FR24 this bird hasn't flown since yesterday. I noticed the plastic was cracked at the bottom of the window frame on 1A, never noticed that before.

TPJ

Wow... still not operating today...