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For years, I have really wanted to see the Baltics: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. I’d heard of their old world beauty juxtaposed with some serious Soviet influence both in culture and architecture and had planned iterations of this trip on many occasions only to never actually pull the trigger. My buddy Dave and I were on a tighter schedule and while I had initially hoped to hit all three of the Baltics, the trip morphed into nixing Lithuania ( hoping to hit in the future ), and subbing in Poland, which neither of us had been to ever. Why did we do this?
One…Poland had so much to see, and I was eager to get a taste and plan a return trip, and two, Aeroplan.
Aeroplan offers a stopover on award bookings for just 5k points. In the quest to land award space that would lock up all three Baltics, most of the space lead us either through CDG or AMS with FlyingBlue, LHR via British Airways, OR… LOT through Warsaw. Most of the connections were abismal, and I figured it be better to land in Warsaw, check it out, bake in a few nights, and then continue onward. So…that’s what we did.
In the end our trip looked like ORD-WAW-RIG with a couple of nights in Warsaw at the city’s grande dame, The Hotel Bristol, A luxury collection property. If you can believe it, I booked two nights for roughly 55k Marriott points total. Unreal. Our trip took the shape of a couple nights in Warsaw, Riga, and Tallinn. Well, well, well worth visiting.
But, this review is about LOT, and honestly…it leaves a LOT to be desired.
Flight Details
- When – 2024
- Where – ORD To WAW to RIG
- Rate – 75k Aeroplan miles + 100 CAD
Booking
I used Aeroplan’s booking engine to find the space, and was able to book a multi-city booking, achieving the stopover within Aeroplan’s site.
In total, we each spent 75k Aeroplan Miles and 100 CAD which is about $75. Absolute steal imo.
You can earn Aeroplan Miles via Amex, Bilt, Cap1, or Chase
The Lounge –
The lounge at ORD, which is now open, is the LOT Business Class lounge. It’s actually quite nice; however, we took this flight before it was open. This is in line with the direction the airline is taking with seats as well. It’s fresh, offers showers, a buffet, and a handsome bar. I visited it in early 2025 and it’s hands down the best lounge in the International terminal at ORD ( Terminal 5 )
New business class coming 2026 onward which features all aisle access, a Ricaro seat, and is light years better than what they’re currently flying.
The Cabin
LOT features a 2-2-2 cabin and the only passengers assured aisle access are those in the middle. Privacy is nil, and the seats aren’t comfortable in the least. It’s a small cabin, and I was seated the the last row, in the middle. As you can see, the footwell is more of an ottoman, similar to Turkish’s old 777s, and it’s just old.
If you were on the window, you’d be crawling over someone to use the bathroom or stretch your legs.
Dave and I ended up sitting across the aisle from one another and I had a stranger next to me. You can see the seat in bed mode here.
The seating controls remind me of United’s old seats on the 757
Storage under the ottoman held my backpack which was a plus – most times you have to put your backpack in the overhead. The slot on the right is for your shoes.
The IFE Is ancient and I didn’t even use it
Looking for power? Storage? This is what you have outside of the cubby under the Ottoman>
The Amenity Kit
Standard amenities: toothbrush, lotion, etc and I kind of liked the more cloth like aesthetic. I collect amenity kits and this one stands out being nearly all cream.
The Food
Let’s be honest.. the Polish aren’t know for their amazing food, and the airline didn’t make any moves to change my opinion.
I had a look at Dave’s main and I skipped it, had a bit of cheese. Everything is served on a cart, and the crew were very polite.
Woke up, got the breakfast, and wasn’t overwhelmed. I tried a coupel bites and that was it.
Overall
Of all the airlines flying to Europe from the States, I would put this near the bottom of the heap. Business class is supposed to be comfortable, and have some semblance of privacy. Nearly every other carrier offers all aisle access ( the old British Airways Club World doesn’t and neither does most of Lufthansa’s business class sans the Allegris roll out ). Would I opt ot fly this again? Not if I could help it.
If I were visiting this part of the world again, how would I potentially amend the trip? I’d look heavily at FinnAir, transferring from BA. They release more seats to their own loyalists, and their new business class, which regularly operates out of ORD and JFK, is very nice. You you then ferry or take a quick flight to Tallinn, and do the trip I did in reverse with a much better business class.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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