[Anonymous]

[FivestarFred]

Trip was AMS-WAW-PEK on 4&5 May (with overnight stopover in Warsaw). Very competitive business class fare and practically free economy fare. Flight from AMS to WAW on E75 jet was 90mins long and small business cabin with meal service and adjacent seat blocked off.

Check-in: Mini lounge with seating within the terminal at Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport for business class and Star Alliance gold and Hon Circle passengers. 4 agents available and no queues. My bag was checked through to my connecting flight to Hong Kong on Air China. Separate security channel at one end of the terminal.

Lounge- LOT lounge after security with separate Elite section inside for Star Alliance gold and Hon Circle members. Non-status biz pax stayed in main section. Nice lounge with showers but poor food selection…just a few slices of cold meats plus soup and some cakes and snacks. No Tarmac views. Tried the third party lounge beyond passport control which also admits LOT pax. Same F&B but with tarmac views.

Boarding- separate jetway for business class. A welcome drink of Nicolas Feuillatte champagne, water or juice, salmon amuse bouche and amenity kit offered. Bottle of water and headphones at seat along with blanket and pillow. Newspapers and magazines offered. Menu distributed after doors closed.

Pushed back ten mins late at 16:40 and took off twenty minutes after. Flying time 7hrs 55mins getting us into Beijing 25mins late at 06:55.

Cabin-16/18 biz seats taken. Premium eco (seats similar to BA 767 prem eco) and eco cabins on this aircraft. Economy class offered opportunity to upgrade inflight to premium economy for US$250. Economy cabin only a third full so lots of pax with whole rows to themselves.

Seat- comfortable enough in lounge mode, better if extra pillows available. In bed mode a bit on the short side for my 1.9m frame. Couldn’t lie flat on my back. Put down extra blanket for added cushioning. In fact it was more comfortable with the seatback slightly up. I managed a couple of hours sleep but given the mid afternoon departure I wasn’t tired enough as is always the case flying eastward. There’s a USB and plug socket at each seat.

Entertainment
31 English language old and fairly new movies plus Polish, Chinese, Russian and kids channels. TV, audio and games options but pretty limited.

Cabin crew- very friendly and warm. Three crew in biz cabin with a fourth from the other cabins helping out during meals. Service really good and great small touches. As an example I asked for a top up of hot water for my tea and the lady made a point of going to get a silver tray to collect my cup and then returned it likewise. However, they never addressed passengers by name…just sir or madam…or mostly nothing at all.

Meals- Dinner served after take off and breakfast before landing. Pre-dinner drink and nuts served after take-off. Hot towels before each meal.

3 white wines: French, Italian and Polish
3 Reds: two Italian, one Spanish
1 Rosé
Port, Mead, other spirits, beer and soft drinks

Three options each for starter and main course. Starters and dessert presented beautifully with trolley cart wheeled out and served at your seat. Main course less so and also pretty small portions.

Economy class food & drink available for purchase! No wonder fare so cheap. Didn’t think any airline had food for purchase on long haul flights…even US airlines! 🙂

This was an overnight flight but the lights came on 2hrs before landing and a substantial breakfast served.

Summary: very friendly crew and great service. Hard product slightly lacking but price makes up for it.

Aside…upon disembarking and going up the escalator we were trapped in a holding area for about 5mins before getting into the terminal as someone forgot to open the doors! When a man finally turned up he was given quite an earful by some passengers. Pretty easy transit process. Was going to make use of the free transit visa and stay overnight but decided against it.

[AMcWhirter]

FivestarFred –

Thank you for the detailed and interesting flight check. It’s not a route that’s been covered here before and, indeed, we have very few long-haul flight checks with Polish airline LOT.

But I find it surprising that LOT would charge for standard catering in economy class on a flight to Beijing.

I ask, because, Asian airlines have high standards and so no Western carrier (other than no-frills carriers like Norwegian) would dare charge for standard food.

So I wonder if you might have been mistaken by what LOT calls “My Premium Menu ?”

It’s something which British Airways is now offering too. Basically passengers pay an extra fee for upmarket airline food. So the standard meals should still be provided at no extra cost.

http://www.lot.com/gb/en/my-premium-menu

[FivestarFred]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your reply. I did wonder at the paid menu fir economy class. The on board announcement by the pursuer went something along the lines of “…for economy class we have prepared a selection of meals against payment…” And this was the same announcement as on the short flight from Amsterdam. There was no mention of a premium pack and I really should have asked. Apologies if that is misleading and it does seem odd that they’d charge.

I don’t think they have any competition on the WAW-PEK nonstop route but still…

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Fred

Yes there are only 10 My Premium Economy meals loaded per flight. So standard economy catering would have to be available free of charge.

But when it comes to flying economy class within Europe a growing number of carriers either charge for food, offer few if any snacks or offer nothing at all.

[KMoczulski]

Hi FivestarFred,

Thanks for choosing LOT and for sharing your trip report. I’m really glad you enjoyed your flight.

As per Economy – we offer free meals. On PEK route we offer dinner and breakfast. We only have paid alcohol and snacks between services.

Best regards
Krzysztof Moczulski
Product Development Director @LOT.

[Author]

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