On our November-December 2022 trip to Poland we flew LOT Polish from Gdansk GDN by the Baltic Sea to Krakow KRK in the south of the country for a 10 night stay. LOT Polish round trip tickets Gdansk-Warsaw-Krakow-Warsaw-Gdansk cost 478 PLN, about $101 USD for the 338-mile itinerary each way. Our two flight day transits through Warsaw WAW provided about 2.5 hours layover time each trip.
Star Alliance Gold elite membership through Aegean Airlines Miles+Bonus program gave us access to airport lounges in Gdansk and Krakow for an hour or more before flight departures. The Warsaw transits placed us in the LOT Business Lounge Polonez at the right time for afternoon lunch on both days of our flights.Â
The main dishes for our first visit were grilled salmon, pilaf rice and pork stew. Roast duck was in a tray in the other food service area of the main Polonez Lounge. Including the Elite Lounge, there were three places with food service within Polonez Lounge that I could choose. Most of the food selections were the same in each area.
Pork stew and rice was the filling I needed. Roast duck was something I have rarely eaten and it was tasty to sample. Salmon, bread rolls and brie were over the top for my stomach, especially when washed down with a Zywiec or two. At least I included vegetables as an effort at healthy eating habits.
Zywiec and Tyskie are like the Coca-Cola and Pepsi rivalry in USA. Most restaurants and pubs serve one or the other. I realized this trip I prefer Zywiec, after many bottles and pints of both. Microbrew beers are penetrating evermore into the beer scene in Poland. Gdansk Airport Executive Lounge is the place for microbrew with a selection of Browar Amber beers.
World Cup 2022 played on a big screen in the bar area of Polonez Lounge with an actual bartender for mixed drinks. Bottled water, with or without gas, beer and cider were located in food area refrigerators. Sweets available too.
Elite Lounge within Polonez Lounge
As a Star Alliance Gold member I had access to the Elite Lounge, a door separated space within the Polonez Lounge. I checked out the food and drink there and did not see any different dishes or beer. Self-serve liquor was one difference. The space there was as packed as the main lounge area. We stayed at our table in the main lounge. The main difference between the spaces that day was the much lower noise volume in the Elite Lounge compared to the packed Polonez seating.
Not that the noise made any difference to us. We were on vacation and watching a World Cup 2022 match replay of a game we had missed the night before on the big screen of the Polonez Lounge.
Spa salon Yonelle is also located within Polonez Lounge.
I enjoyed the food selection at Polonez Lounge and we walked all the away across the Warsaw Schengen terminal mezzanine on the opposite side from our arrival and departure gates to visit on our return transit to Gdansk. My only disappointment was no beer in the Polonez or Elite Lounge that day, only cider.
I was impressed by the quality of food buffet at LOT Business Lounge Polonez at Warsaw Airport WAW in Poland. The lounge was well worth scheduling a couple hours layover for us to fit in a good mid-day meal.
James Dozer at TravelCodex wrote about both LOT Business Class lounges at Warsaw and his article is filled with many more photos in an August 2022 review. While I concur the Polonez lounge was crowded with limited available places to sit with a table and chairs, we found a vacant table on both of our visits. Our visits seemed more like a restaurant excursion and not business. Our airport lounge visits in Gdansk and Krakow were quiet spaces with a definite business vibe and more vacant space. Warsaw Airport was a buzzing hub of activity. In my experience over a few visits to Warsaw in the past six years, Warsaw always seems quite a bit more active and buzzed than other places I have visited in Poland.
