Sometimes travelers get the romantic notion that it would be somehow desireable to fly the national airline of the country that they are visiting. Maybe that's OK if you take Air France to Paris or Thai Airways to Bangkok. But it is not OK if you are thinking of taking LOT to Warsaw or Krakow or other points Polish.

To its credit, LOT flies mostly Boeing jets, generally more spacious than their Airbus counterparts. However, LOT manages to cram the maximum number of seats per plane that is possible. That means that even if you are in business class (with the same pitch, or inches between seats, as in economy), your trip is going to be largely an exercise in learning to live in a seated fetal position.

But for most people, getting there relatively on-time is all that matters--comfort is a definate second. If you fall into that group, then this is certainly not the airline for you. Even on flights from their Warsaw hub where they keep the largest number of planes, crews, spare parts, etc., you can never be assured of leaving even within a couple of hours of the departure time.

These factors combined with a bureaucratic efficiency comparable only to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Washington, DC and you have set up a perfectly dreadful day.