yurtripper

I struggle to believe that's exactly what transpired in this instance, especially as equipment change was about the 3rd or 4th excuse the LO rep came up with when questioned - and given the exact same thing happened on the return leg a few days later (I'd verified my seat selection at around T-72 for the return trip).

AlicorporateUK

iLied

AlicorporateUK

I could probably write a book with all the BS I (and indeed the other passengers) got over the years while waiting for the chronically delayed late evening domestic flights. The thing I used to find most annoying was the boarding time changing every 15/20 minutes, hinting at a further delay, with no announcements nor apologies (the usual group of gate agents happily chatting in the meantime). Nowadays, I tend to wait in the lounge until I see Boarding on the screen, even though a few weeks ago, while heading to gate 45 (i.e. down the very bottom of the Schengen side) for the last Szczecin flight, I heard my name (last call) a couple of times and got even 'told off' once at the gate...

G

iLied

AlicorporateUK

Late arrival of incoming aircraft seems to be the most common excuse when in fact, judging from the waves of panicking passengers coming (running) from other gates, late arrival of most LOT flights into Warsaw and avoidance of missed connections would seem more appropriate

G

iLied

N1003U

Is it my imagination, or have the dual Schengen/Non-Schengen gates in WAW been extended further down the terminal (now well past the Polonez lounge)?

AlicorporateUK

Yes, I think it's up to gate 24(N), easily spotted as they have the glass separator.

G

Fabo.sk

Ah, indeed. I thought something was different compared to last time.

Not for me. This time round, judging by the speed some of the incoming pax put on leaving the aircraft, it was they that was being waited for.
Last time, mechanics were fiddling with something or other in the cockpit.

Third time's the charm?

BlueNordicSky

I just had my first LOT experience, not sure if it's a normal one but I'm inclined to make that first time also the last time. Not all of it was their fault, but...

MUC-WAW on a LH ticket, operated by LOT. It's part of a mileage run day, and the next connection WAW-ZRH is 3.5 hours after landing. No problem, right?

The first clouds of worry start when I land in MUC. There's a lot of snow pouring, but it's okay, I have time. Settle down into the cozy SEN lounge and check the monitor... whoops. LOT flight 50 minutes late. Well, it's okay, I have time. As time ticks by and I check the screen, I notice that each time it's almost boarding time, a new time is posted 10-15 minutes later. Once the delay is at 90 minutes it seems to stay steady, so I decide it's time to leave the lounge at about the time it's finally supposed to board. Arriving at the gate, I see the departure time staying steady... and steady... holding steady even as we are still sitting there, and it's almost departure time. Finally, a few minutes before scheduled departure, I see a group of panicky-looking people running out from the boarding ramp into the airport. Ah, the plane only arrived now. Thanks for keeping us up to date. After waiting however long it takes for a E195 to usually get cleaned up, we finally board the plane. Quite late, but it's okay, fortunately I booked plenty of spare time for the connection.

After taking my seat in J, I notice to my dismay that it apparently is "bring your kid to the plane" day in J. I'm surrounded from front and back by families with screaming toddlers. Well, no choice but to endure it, we're about to leave and the flight isn't too long. Boarding completes, and doors are closed. After a few moments, the captain makes his welcome announcement in Polish. At the end, his voice switches to a hesitant one, and a bunch of loud jeers and groans erupts from the Polish passengers. Uh oh, this can't be good. The captain then repeats the welcome in English, and at the end notes that "we are ready to go, but because of heavy delays in Warsaw, as well as delays here in Munich due to snow, we have to wait for our turn for de-icing. I estimate pushback in about... 1-1.5 hours". I... still have time, right? This better not be more than the 1.5 hours, because that will be quite a tight connection in Warsaw then. Nothing to do but wait in the comfort of the E195 J seat, surrounded by screaming toddlers while enjoying soft drinks served by the cabin crew.

We have been sitting at the gate for nearly 2.5 hours when a cockpit announcement finally lets us know we should be seated since we are about to leave. By this point I have been frantically checking FlightStats on my phone to check the status of the plane incoming to Warsaw that I assume will be the one to fly to Zurich. It's delayed by an unknown amount and hasn't left Zurich yet. There is still hope. After we finally are pushed back, there's still the long queue to the de-icing spot. And finally, on hearing the magic words "cabin crew prepare for departure", the connecting plane has left Zurich 30 minutes before, and we finally take off approximately 4.5 hours late. Nothing to do in the air but hope for the best, and be ready to go to the transfer desk with a contingency plan. I could really use a drink or ten by this point. This flight I won't know how many refills LOT personnel would be willing to oblige because, using the famous words from every flyer's favorite movie Airplane!, "looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking" (yes, it's January, it's my detox month).

Finally it's time to prepare for landing, and the cabin crew announces a few flights by "please hurry up to the connecting gate". No Zurich. Well, that was to be expected. As soon as we're on land I pull out my phone and check the status - the flight to Zurich is delayed by 1.5 hours and isn't boarding yet! I can still make it! Well, maybe if my wishes of "please let it be a gate arrival, please let it be a gate arrival" come true. By some miracle, we indeed pull up to a gate. I position myself to the front, ready to sprint for it, with the gate number in mind. To help plan the route I ask the cabin crew what gate number we are arriving at and get an answer of "we don't know". Figures. As soon as the door opens and the way is cleared, it's speed time. Apparently my speedy exit surprises the gate agent because she hadn't opened the exit yet. Asking about my connecting gate, she helpfully informs me it's far at the very other end (we landed at one end). Off we go, through the entire terminal. And what do you know, when I finally reach the gate, the plane is just about to start boarding. I like excitement in life, but not THIS kind. After a nightmare scenario, fortunately, it all ended up okay. Well, except missing my connection in Zurich due to the next flight being late, but that's another story.

All of this could have happened on other airlines, but I did feel LOT wasn't exactly helping either. After all this I'm not itching to fly LOT again. Then again maybe I just got really unlucky?

cas_de

Sounds like you were travelling last weekend. Frankly spoken, weather related delays such as the one you're talking about happen independent of the airline. I have experienced similar behavior across a number of airlines, where they didn't update the boarding / departure time or a flight (e.g. still showing on time while the inbound flight has not yet left the departure airport), so I wouldn't go out and blame LOT for that. If you travel stuff like this tends to happen unfortunately, and regarding the kid situation, I don't feel this is specific to LOT, too.

I just did a MR MUC-WAW-TLL-WAW-MUC 1 1/2 weeks ago and all four legs with LOT were rather pleasant.

BlueNordicSky

The main issue I have with LOT in this case is the complete lack of information, and generally a complete feeling of apathy from the staff. I did ask them to also check my flight while in the air, but it seems like they forgot. And when about to exit the airplane, I told the crew I could still possibly make it. Their only reaction was "oh, really?" I'm not one to try to ever pull any DYKWIA, but it would have been to get at least a little bit of status recognition here, in situations like this I feel a LH/LX crew would at least made an effort to keep me informed of the connection status.

Fabo.sk

Well, OS strung me up for ~ two hours before cancelling my flight the last time round. If they cancelled it outright within the hour, I could have caught a connection via MUC and be home by 8pm instead of 2pm, this way round, I ended up getting home at 2am.
These things happen in winter.

On the way back spent about an hour in the deice line and then on holding pad while some computer gizmo was being restarted. That was with LH in MUC, luckily it was also the last leg and last flight of the day, so not much of a loss.
Come to think of it, the last time I caught this LH flight, I almost missed it, cause I sat in the plane in WAW for better part of the hour due to some storms over MUC (and then went out to the aircraft, back to the terminal, deboarded the bus, and boarded again due to a wheel change or something. Also about an hour lost)
Again, these things happen, not just in winter.

Pretty much the only thing I'd be angry about is having to wait in the plane. Sometimes I get it, but sometimes when you know there's a two hour wait for deice, maybe letting your pax make other arrangements would not be a bad idea. (hey MUC-ZRH, and ask for original routing credit, win-win mileage run eh?)

BlueNordicSky

This was what I kept thinking when the delays kept piling up. I would have been happy to hop out and change flights to MUC-ZRH and ask for the original mileage. Seems like nobody at LOT was interested at all in trying to accommodate the pax in their situations. I'm sure LOT is a fine airline when things go according to plan, but it's in irrops situations that you see the true worth of an airline. And on this front, I was very disappointed with the (lack of) handling of things from their part.