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) Continue reading →