LOT Polish Airlines

LOT Polish Airlines is Poland's flag carrier and one of the longest-established names in European aviation, flying since the 1920s and now a Star Alliance member. The operation is built around Warsaw Chopin: short European sectors feed the hub in waves, and Dreamliners carry the long-haul out of it to North America and Asia.

The fleet reads like two different airlines sharing a livery. Short-haul is an Embraer-heavy single-aisle operation, E-Jets in several sizes alongside 737-800s and MAX 8s, where business class is a curtain and a blocked seat rather than different furniture. Long-haul is the Boeing 787 in two sizes, and there the product turns real: flat beds up front and a premium economy that is a separate cabin, not a renamed row.

The E-Jets do the regional work: E170, E175 in two lengths, E190 and the newer E195-E2, which carries the longest of the two-by-two cabins. None of them has a middle seat anywhere, which quietly removes the worst outcome in economy before you pick anything. The 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 run the denser European trunk routes in a standard three-by-three, and the MAX flies in three distinct fits, including two that seat the same total with different geometry at the nose and tail.

The 787-8 and 787-9 are the flagships, both three-class. Business is a flat-bed cabin in a two-by-two-by-two arrangement, premium economy sits behind it as its own two-by-three-by-two section, and economy runs nine abreast. The 787-9 simply adds length: a bigger business cabin and a longer economy behind the same premium section.

Short-haul business is best understood as a flexible front zone. The seat is identical to economy; the fare buys the empty seat beside you on the 737s, the front rows, the catering and the first bag on the belt. On the E-Jets even that adjacent-seat trick is moot, since two-by-two seating has no middle to block (the curtain does the commuting up and down the cabin with demand). Judge it as a fare bundle and it is fine; judge it as a cabin and it will disappoint.

The 787s are the reason to route through Warsaw. Business converts to a proper flat bed, the two centre seats in each row touch the aisles directly, and the window pairs suit couples. Premium economy is a wide recliner with real pitch, and economy gets the Dreamliner's easier cabin air and larger windows, worthwhile even nine abreast.

On the single-aisles, the legroom lives at the over-wing exits and the marked rows immediately behind them, where the exit row itself usually gives up recline and the row after it banks the space. Forward rows clear the aircraft fastest; the last few share their evenings with the galley and the lavatory queue. On several E-Jet fits a handful of window seats face a blank panel rather than glass, each carrying its own seat note, so window loyalists should choose the exact seat rather than the general area.

The MAX is a small lottery: three layouts, one of which loses part of its first row to a forward galley, so confirm which of the three is rostered before paying for a front seat. On the 787s, solo travellers do best in the centre pair of business, which reaches the aisle with nobody to step over; premium economy bulkheads are unusually deep but keep the tray and screen in the armrest; and the economy bulkheads carry the bassinet mounts, which is a feature or a warning depending on your night.