snic

Credit where credit is due. Our JFK-WAW flight (Air Belgium plane, we had LOT business class award tickets using United miles) was diverted to KEF due to a passenger's heart attack. The doctor who happened to be on board said we landed not a moment too soon, as the passenger's condition was dire and even a few more minutes delay to receiving medical attention would likely have been fatal. After the passenger was taken off the plane by paramedics, the plane was refueled and continued uneventfully on to WAW, and we arrived a few hours ours late.

We missed our connection to Asia, and the next LOT flight was a few days later. As soon as we landed, I got an email from LOT with an updated itinerary departing the next day, with business class seats on different airlines. This got us to our destination about 24 hours late. Google flights research showed that was just about the best they could do. We were told to retrieve our bags and go to the transfer desk (which turned out to be after border control). Our bags didn't come out with the bags destined for WAW, but there was no line at the baggage counter and the agent had our bags delivered to the oversize luggage counter. There was also no line to speak of at the transfer desk in the main check-in area. The agent gave us a voucher for the Renaissance hotel across the street, including dinner that evening. We were able to drop off our checked bags at the Lufthansa check-in counter and receive our boarding passes for the next day. The hotel was very nice, the dinner and breakfast buffets were generous, and we made the most of the unplanned stopover by taking the streetcar into the old city and having a good look around.

In all, we're happy the sick passenger got the medical attention he needed, and with LOT's problem-free handling of the situation. No ridiculous lines, no long waits on hold, no disappointing grungy hotel. I see a lot of complaints about LOT, but based on this experience I'd fly them again in a heartbeat.

aster

Great to hear that they acted on this automatically and very quickly too, so upon landing you had all your new flight reservations and details. Certainly takes the stress out of these situations.

Nice unplanned stopover too, though I hope you didn't miss the first night of an expensive hotel stay in Asia unless that somehow gets covered by insurance.

chris63

Thanks for posting & great that things worked out for all, as well as possible, under the circumstances.

All my interactions with LOT have been good, WAW is a nice airport

snic

We did miss the first night of a hotel stay, but it wasn't that expensive, and it's probably not worth hassling with insurance over it. I figure we got a free night at a really nice hotel in Warsaw instead, so I'll call it even.

cfischer

award ticket on 016 ticket stock - usually a recipe for disaster when irops occur, definitely with LH group in general. Sounds like LOT did everything exactly right and by the books - glad to read this story here

snic

I was worried about that, too - in my experience, even paid United tickets on LH partners get messed up when there are irrops. But indeed, LOT handled everything correctly. I'm not sure if connecting passengers in Y who missed their flights were handled as seemlessly, but there were a few people from the J cabin we recognized at the hotel buffet, and there was generally a good mood and sense of camaraderie - so it seemed people weren't too upset. (I'm guessing Y passengers who had to stay overnight were sent to the other airport hotel, I think it's a Crowne Plaza or something.)