Yes, there is an option to change it during OLCI.

Flew out of WAW on Saturday, although I was flying TATL, I decided to use the Schengen area under renovation lounge - which although unfinished offers a quiet area in the Gold/Sen section. Quiet and uncrowded. As I checked in I was advised that I was flying non-Schengen and ... at which point I clearly stated that I preferred this lounge and would depart in adequate time to go through passport control. I did not try the mains, except for the vegetables - and I was glad I did that as I ended up not partaking of the onboard menu. Apologies, but can't report on that.

I left 45 minutes prior to scheduled boarding and as I looked out the passport control area, I saw that three plane crews were entering, which was surprising. Automated passport control went quickly, despite the fact that the movable camera did not move, and only got my forehead, apparently, either the system read that or the fingerprint sufficed. I had 40 minutes to go, so I went to the non-Schengen Mazurek lounge, which was just as I remembered it - overcrowded, almost no empty chairs, food disappearing off the counters.

Boarding took place with a 5 minute delay, and since LOT decided to load two Dreamliner sized aircraft at the same time from two adjacent gates, you can imagine the chaos. Access to the HON/SEN/GOLD/Business entry was placed in such a way that one would need to fight through most of Economy Class to get there. In short I would say that I am surprised that people heading to JFK didn't end up on the CHI flight.

Flight was delayed by an hour. In light of that, I wonder if they could not have scheduled boarding for these flights with a 20 minute window between the two groups keeps racing through my mind.

In short, out of 4 flights, my JFK WAW flight was 3 hours late on departure, my WAW CDG flight (not a connection) was 2 hours late on a 2:20 travel time, and the return was an hour late on departure.

Crew in Business Class was mostly young and totally not prepared to deal with that Class of service. I woun't say unwilling, but in over their heads.

There was one PAX who clearly travelled frequently and he was clear in his disappointment. The stewardess who 'lucked out' with me told me how fortunate I was to have the seat I did, I did not try to explain that I knew the aircraft layout and selected that seat with premeditation.

Does anyone know if it's still possible to order SFML Seafood meal on LOT?

Nope.

I was looking for LO tickets for Japan next year, but now I'm not sure it's worth it.

I honestly don't know what to say.. you may luck out and have an experienced and willing crew. But .... I recall when I first qualified as a SEN ... based on my earlier flight ZRH to SIN, and my next flight was HKG to ZRH. I was not even aware that I had qualified and the steward on the SWISS flight came and greeted me and congratulated me on achieving SEN (I had no idea). It made that flight special. Don't expect any greeting at all on LOT. But perhaps booking the outbound on a different carrier from the inbound, to try and compare.

Remember, that in the find print, LO will only rebook you on LO flights in case of cancellation.

I have to say that either you are unlucky with LO, or I am extremely lucky.
All my long haul flights on board LO were very enjoyable, both the product and crew were good.
Seats despite not having much privacy are surprisingly comfortable, and I can sleep much better compared to other M&M member business class. And in my opinion, food is tasty on board LO too.
Now, back to the topic, while greeting at the entrance is pretty much non-existent anywhere (unless you show your boarding pass and crew have time to read your name/status), I am usually approached by Cabin Crew either when I sit down or after take off.
Not that it is really necessary (for me) but I feel like have to add my comment and to show the view from my perspective. On the last flight, ex WAW Purser went through all passengers briefly to make sure they are all right and comfortable and don�t need anything else.

I would say that in 75% of the Intra-European flights the on board crew has been good and the service timely.

With respect to the TATL - it is as I have described. No individual greeting from the purser to Business Class passengers, no greeting to the SEN/Gold. If the rest of the service was on par, then I would not even mention it. No update to the departures monitor to advise that passengers shouldn't expect boarding at the scheduled time.

As I can't yet paste in or include links, I can only suggest that you look at LO 027 ex JFK for the past three weeks on Flight Aware or similar. I departed on November 21 with that extraordinary delay. But if you look at the 13 dates listed, on only one day did the plane depart prior to 11:00PM (10:59 to be precise), on 8 days the flight departed after 11:30PM, i.e. a full hour later than scheduled, and one of those flights shows 12:33AM.. JFK is not that busy after 10:00PM .. so no explanation there. The other four days it left circa 45 minutes late.

If you consider that to be good service, then we have extremely differing viewpoints.

Is there any airline that offers SFML nowadays?

I really understand you and know how you might feel when flights are delayed. But we talk about service on board. That was your main complaint, so I said how it looked like from my point of view.
That�s all.

By all means, LO is not perfect, but �credit where credit due�

Delays have nothing to do with how you are treated or/and welcomed on board. This is completely separate topic.
How delays are being handled is another story. And I presume that besides (maybe) Warsaw, not much LO can do.

Mentioned about the zoo at the gate, I�m sure you�ve seen how not interested (in what is going on and who is boarding) staff is at FRA airport when flying LH.
Groups? Forget it. But it is not exclusive to FRA when an airport is not implementing or doesn�t care about certain procedures prepared by the airline.

Try JNB with LH or better with LX.
Madness is what�s going on at the gate, and it is me saying it in a very polite way.

I don�t blame the airline, though; just move on and continue with my journey.

Nothing personal, but if you don�t like a certain airline, then why do you still fly with them?
I personally truly hate one airline. It is a convenient airline for one of my destinations. And I�ve been on board a few times, but it is always the same (bad) story, so I just don�t fly with them anymore.
I choose other, going basically around with more stopovers, but at least I can avoid my least favourite airline successfully.

Talk to the supervisor at the airport, the purser on board, and the helpline, and share your concerns like I do.
Maybe it helps; who knows?
I can only have hope and wish that you will have a better experience in the future.

I know for sure Thai Airways does.
I had it on LOT Y last year in April.

WOW! Thai still does that - amazing! TK axed that like 5 years ago. That looked delicious - Y meal?

I think the cutlery is now wooden which I really dislike.

Perhaps I should have started out my original post with the information that once every 3-4 years I decide to test the waters with LOT on their TATL flights. This was the year and the flight, and my opinion was not changed. Therefore, my next post on LOT TATL will occur in 2028 or 2029. Or perhaps I won't bother.

I am surprised that you don't see a problem with the fact that on the outbound TATL that the boarding time was not amended, despite that fact that the on-board crew had not yet arrived. I personally found it offensive that the gate crew chose to blame the 'cleaning crew' for being late. There is no way that aircraft could have been boarded at 21:55 with no flight crew present. As for speaking to a supervisor at the gate, and asking why the announcement was not changed, I was offered a wheelchair. What the Hades does a wheelchair have to do with the issue?

Perhaps I posted with the thought that LOT would have someone reading these posts and considering what was written. Calling the call center and speaking to someone there is a total waste as their answer would be 'we don't control A or B or C'.

With respect to flying LOT intra-Europe or within PL, that is an question of practicality, in terms of flight departure times and cities served. Sometimes I have flown Austrian to Vienna or AF to CDG or another French city, or LH to to a German city, sometime LOT.

As for the issue of the gates at departure - I avoid FRA as much as possible (I did connect there on an eastbound flight this year, but that was the first time in 7 or more years and some 40 European flights) so yes, I tend to avoid it.

However, the issue in WAW is that there is an interrelationship in ownership between LOT, the ownership of the airport and the various services companies that handle baggage, fuel the planes, etc. This also includes the gate services. LOT is not a prisoner of the airport, rather it is part of the politics claiming that the CPK is necessary. (I agree that it is necessary as a freight destination, but not for passenger traffic. I'll remind everyone that Okęcie is 25% larger than LGA, yet handled circa 25% less passenger traffic than LGA in 2023 [despite significant increases in passenger traffic], and both are subject to hours of operation restrictions.)

The same happened to me in NRT. Boarding time 21:30 and the crew was still shopping in the last open gift shop. Of course, the delay was due to late aircraft prep.