Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW

Passage to Eastern Europe: Trip Introduction
Flight Review: LOT Polish Airlines 797-9 Business Class, ORD-WAW
Lodging Review: Hampton by Hilton Krakow
Our Time in Krakow, Poland
Flixbus from Krakow to Budapest
Lodging Review: Corinthia Budapest Hotel
Our Time in Budapest, Hungary
Our Time in Kalocsa, Hungary
Our Time in Osijek and Vukovar, Croatia
Our Time in Belgrade, Serbia
Our Time in Golubac, Serbia
Our Time in Vidin, Bulgaria
Our Time in Ruse, Bulgaria
Our Time in Bucharest, Romania
Lodging Review: JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Flight Review: SWISS Airlines 777-300 ZRH-ORD

Our flight to Warsaw didn’t have the most auspicious beginning but it wasn’t the airline’s fault. Due to the government shutdown, many air traffic control folks had called in “sick” so that caused delays which stacked up over the course of the day. Our flight on LOT was due to depart at 9:40 PM but the inbound flight didn’t even arrive until about 8:50 PM. Looking back on it now, the ground and flight crews did what they could to get us on board as quickly as possible, but it still took just over two hours before we could depart.

We checked in at the LOT counter in O’Hare’s Terminal 5 about 7 PM. There was not much in the way of lines, even for my friend who was flying in economy. I found it interesting that the desk agent initially spoke to me in Polish. I suspect many Americans aren’t even aware of LOT but I had no issues on my prior trip with them and was glad to fly them again. link

Of course arriving 2.5 hours ahead of time gave us lots of time in the concourse. I was glad to see that the construction was (mostly) completed since my last visit a couple of years ago. There were certainly a lot more restaurant choices. While I was eligible for the lounge that LOT shares with other airlines, my friend was not and a pass would have been about $60 so that was a hard pass. We’ve both given up our credit cards that offered Priority Pass access so we just found a quiet area to hang out in while we waited. We migrated over to our gate shortly before the aircraft arrived and, all things considered, we were able to board reasonably quickly at about 10:10 PM.

LOT Polish 787-9

LO 4 ORD-WAW
Boeing 787-9
Departs: 2140 (actual 2246)
Arrives: 1350+1 (actual 1430)
Seat: 3C (Business Class)

We boarded via door 2L and I turned left into the business class cabin. LOT’s 787-9 has 24 business class seats and each one was occupied. Since the cabin layout is 2-2-2 I’d selected seat 3C, an aisle seat in the center section. Waiting in the seat was a duvet, a mattress pad and an amenity kit.

The seats were the same as on my prior trip on LOT, with lots of space but not a lot of privacy. But since my main interest was the lay-flat seat, I was OK with that. The large ottoman and the storage space underneath are perfect for storing shoes and anything else that will easily slide in there.

In the nook beside the large storage space were a pair of LOT-branded slippers. I had brought some from a prior flight so I held on to these for use down the road some time.

Tucked in between the seat and the center console was a bottle of water and the Inflight Entertainment controller.

As it was easier to do while we were on the ground, I went ahead and attached the mattress pad to my seat and used the duvet for lumbar support until it was time to sleep.

The IFE screen is not huge but I knew I wasn’t going to be watching much on it, so it was fine. Headsets were provided in the nooks next to the screen.

The amenity kit was a simple zippered corduroy bag with an eye mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, lavender oil…

And some cream and lip balm containers that were so small I didn’t even realize they were there at first.

Pre-departure beverages of water or apple juice were offered along with a mushroom amuse. I had the water while my seatmate had the apple juice. I don’t know what was on the mushroom, but it was good!

We finally pushed back from the gate just over an hour late but at that point I think everyone on the plane was just happy to be on our way.

I dozed through the hot towel service but awakened in time for the mixed nuts with raisins and my beverage of choice, water.

Yes, I’d eaten most of the nuts and raisins before I got my water.

The menu was as follows:

For my first course I went with the shrimp, scallops and pickled vegetables. I took the photo before I selected a piece of pretzel bread.

I waffled back and forth between selecting the cod or the steak as my main but eventually went with the steak. It won’t win any awards but it was tender enough to cut with a regular dinner knife, though it had a lot more pepper than I’d have added.

I was so tired I didn’t even think about dessert though the apple crumble cake and the chocolate cheesecake both caught my eye. I managed about 5 hours of sleep and felt so much better.

Breakfast was served all on a single tray. What might look like an empty bowl at the top of the photo is actually plain Greek yogurt and the small ramekin of granola was a nice addition to it. I’m not a fan of Greek yogurt even though I know it’s supposedly healthier; it’s just too thick for my liking. That didn’t keep me from eating it, however! The quiche was pretty good though of course hollandaise sauce makes a lot of things taste good. I’m not a huge fan of cheese at breakfast (though melted in an omelet or on an egg & cheese biscuit is ok by me) but I ate the slice of hard boiled egg and all of the fruit. That was plenty enough breakfast for me.

We did make up a little bit of time in the air, but were still about 40 minutes late arriving. What was already a fairly tight connection in Warsaw was now impossible but fortunately we were automatically re-accommodated on the next flight to Krakow. Our scheduled flight was on a regional jet but the later flight was on a 787 MAX 8. I found it funny that my friend, whose ticket was in economy, was assigned an exit row seat but I was not. Fortunately the flight was not full and once the door closed I was allowed to move to the exit row with her and we had it to ourselves.

We landed in rainy Krakow about 5:30 PM, exhausted, but were able to grab an Uber fairly quickly and head to our hotel.

In the end

While not flashy, LOT is a solid way to get across the Atlantic in business class. As it seems many Americans don’t know about this airline there’s often award space available, and even if you’re paying cash it’s often cheaper than other carriers.