LOT policy, same day airport standby for earlier flight

Old May 27, 2019, 9:06 pm
  #1  
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LOT policy, same day airport standby for earlier flight

Apologize if there is a wiki or thread on this somewhere. Poked around and couldn't locate relevant info either here or on the LOT website.

In any case, my mother in law and her sister are traveling on LO Tuesday evening GDN-WAW-MXP all on one ticket. The WAW connection is only 30min which is legal, but the bare minimum. It is the last flight to MXP for the day, so even a slight delay would force an overnight in WAW.

Does LOT have any policy regarding standing by for earlier flights? Else does anyone have any anecdotal experience regarding how accommodating the LO agents are at the airport? Trying to determine if I should advise them to head to the airport earlier in an attempt to take an earlier GDN-WAW.
andresmdn is offline  
Old May 28, 2019, 12:03 am
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Unless they purchased a fare which allows changes (which I doubt, otherwise you wouldn’t be asking the question in the first instance), chances [to be moved to an earlier flight] are virtually next-to-nil I’m afraid. The Warsaw ‘shuttle’ services are normally very busy and mostly operated by smaller aircraft. That said, a limited delay arriving into Warsaw airport wouldn’t compromise the connection, I often see doors closing literally 2/3 minutes before the actual time of departure in order to await connecting passengers and it is not a rare occurrence at WAW to delay flights for that particular reason (if you follow the Kafeteria’s thread, you will have probably noticed several posts about the airline’s operational issues in terms of on-time performance, especially during peak months). I would say (and sorry for going slightly off-topic) that with the Malpensa service operating on time and the Gdańsk flight arriving say 15 minutes late, your relatives would still be able to make it.

I hope this helps and that indeed everything goes smoothly according to plan.

G
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AlicorporateUK is offline  
Old May 28, 2019, 3:46 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by AlicorporateUK
Unless they purchased a fare which allows changes (which I doubt, otherwise you wouldnt be asking the question in the first instance), chances [to be moved to an earlier flight] are virtually next-to-nil Im afraid.
Thanks for the info. Saved them from going to the airport early just to be told no. Seem to remember reading elsewhere that same day changes aren't much of a thing with EU carriers. Maybe the gate agent will be kind enough to switch them to seats in the first few rows, I'll have them ask.

And that's good to know about LOT holding the gate open for connecting passengers. I'm used to AA here in the states, and boy they will shut that gate down right at T-10min on the nose. Even if it's the last flight of the day, and there are some close connecting passengers.
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Old May 28, 2019, 3:53 am
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While its definitely worth asking about changing seats, the aircraft will most likely park at a remote stand once in Warsaw so Im afraid it will not make any difference whatsoever. Chances of getting a gate may improve slightly if the flight in question is operated by Embraer.

G
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Old May 29, 2019, 10:11 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by andresmdn
Thanks for the info. Saved them from going to the airport early just to be told no. Seem to remember reading elsewhere that same day changes aren't much of a thing with EU carriers. Maybe the gate agent will be kind enough to switch them to seats in the first few rows, I'll have them ask.

And that's good to know about LOT holding the gate open for connecting passengers. I'm used to AA here in the states, and boy they will shut that gate down right at T-10min on the nose. Even if it's the last flight of the day, and there are some close connecting passengers.
As messy as LOT's ground services can be, I've had very good luck with them taking care of me at WAW, Granted, I was in J, but we had a delayed flight out of ORD which made am an already tight connection to MUC seem impossible. We had a gate arrival, not remote, and there were two people waiting for us with our names on a board. They whisked us away down an special corridor, past a special immigration desk where there was one person standing there who waved us through. We popped out a door right across from our gate, we boarded, and they closed the door behind us. Even our luggage made the connection. That's what I call first class service from an airline not usually known for it. Kudos.
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milepig is offline  
Old May 29, 2019, 2:19 pm
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I’m assuming it all went according to plan then? I landed shortly after the Gdańsk flight (slightly delayed) and noticed that the Malpensa flight reported a delayed boarding time (I’ve just double checked and it eventually left ~40 minutes’ late).

G
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