hdogan

Even though I don't like the attitude, the "legacy crew=surly and Commie" kinda brings me back to my childhood (I grew up in what used to be Yugoslavia). I'm sure I wouldn't want to experience it on every flight I take though.

tem123

Takes me back to the delights of flying in the region in the 70s and 80s, in Ilyushins, Antonovs and Tupolevs. At least there was plenty to drink on LOT, CSA and Malev. I managed to avoid Aeroflot and Interflug, and took advantage wherever possible of western airlines' traffic rights such as BUD-PRG on KL and WAW-SVO on SR.

TPJ

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.

ronjames

delete

hugolover

YQ temporarily dropped on domestic.

TPJ

Considering that on Nov 20 LO will have 58 departures from WAW (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32804608-post222.html), I wondered how many departures there were in 1980’s. I finally realized I have an old LO timetable, so this is the October 1986 situation:



Long haul:

JFK on IL-62

YMX on IL-62 (this was Mirabel airport located in the middle of nowhere and pretending to be in Montreal)


Short haul:

COMECON:

SOF / SXF (now pretending to be Berlin Brandenburg Airport with SXF rebranded as BER T5) / SVO / BUD / PRG

Other destinations:

LHR / FCO nonstop / FCO via KRK / ARN / CPH / FRA / CDG / CGN / HAM via GDN / VIE / BRU / MXP / IST – 2 flights

Domestic:

GDN (6 flights) / WRO (6 flights) / SZZ (3 flights) / KRK (4 flights) / RZE (3 flights) / OSZ (Koszalin – airport is now closed – 2 flights) / OSP (Slupsk – airport is now closed – 2 flights) / KTW (1 flight) / IEG (1 flights) / POZ (1 flights)


Other airlines:

PA (B737 to FRA) / SR (DC9 to ZRH – flight was originating in MOW) / KL (DC9 to AMS – flight was originating in MOW) / SU (TU5 LED-WAW-BUD and vv.) / OK (TU3 to PRG) / IA (B737 to SDA via IST – SDA was Saddam International, now BGW) / LH (B727 to FRA) / OS (DC9 to VIE) / BA (B737 to LHR) / RO (IL8 to OTP) / LZ (TU3 to SOF) / JU (DC9 to BEG)



In total:

LO international – 21

LO domestic – 29

Other airlines – 13

GRAND TOTAL – 63 departures

tem123

Brings back memories, including the shed of a domestic terminal

jason8612

In KRK regards, they still had that shed for domestic flights up until maybe 5(?) years ago.

nufnuf77

YOU Seem like an expert on LOT these days. have you moved over to WAW?

hugolover

Very interesting post TPJ, including on the flights thread.

hugolover

Not at all, I am a total LEGACY pax. The Poles know a lot more. I merely cast my All Seeing Eye over Basia's ops. I'm Entry level, BA Bronze of Basia's operations. Not even worthy to declare myself as Prem!

Russia came off the BAN list today. Basia should be flying back to SVO at some point.

hugolover

Has anyone noticed this has just turned into a massive cash grab?

Sell you a flight for €500 to the US, the destinations LOT is least likely to resume, MIA, LAX and SFO (which wasn’t even launched), keep your money for 6-7 months and probably cancel.

We know what you’re upto Basia!

Oh in the interests of balance and mentioning Ze Germans, I can’t let Helga off the hook with her massive Voucher campaign that had the same purpose for an even longer travel period and sales period. Still, I expected better from our Basia. Everyone knows when Helga says you’re premium she is cheating on you with a million other pax by saying that to them as well!

hugolover

Basia has completely suspended Sky Bar for “safety” reasons. It’s no longer possible to purchase anything onboard. Rather odd when C/P is back to normal.

I suggest, from recent observation, the sales were so little that it wasn’t worth the cost of running the service.

It strikes me as one arm not coordinating with the other given the lounges are bereft of food and drink and IMO the quality of the service is high, for example Kraken rum, Helga First Class Gin and it was cheap, that is €5 Kraken with Cola.

On an SH European flight you’re getting apple/spinach bun, Grzeski, peanuts and a bottle of water. Perhaps the most extensive free onboard service in EU SH today?

Regarding the lounge, a legal tweak means they may be able to run F&B again once Do&Co re-registers its legal purpose along the lines of something else. This could be why GDN, KTW and WRO are able to run the service.

It’s actually forbidden to eat and drink in Polonez but most staff don’t seem to care. Plus, there’s only 2/3 staff on shift now.

The Spa is open and works normally, never been easier to get an appt.

hugolover

Basia has started to charge different amounts for ASR. I can see even on KRK-WAW. In GBP, the front part £15.40, exit and front row, £22.90 and back £11. Its not quite perfect, Front Row on Domestic is £11, exit £22.90.

Standard is free for all seats.

ISTFlyer

hugolover , do you know if the new changes also apply for non-M&M*G members or just for non-status passengers?
When the LH Group started to charge for paid seating a couple of years ago, only LH SEN, LH HON's were exempted and partner *G pax were still asked to pay for seat selection.