LOT Polish Airlines has added Silicon Valley to its growing North-American network, confirming on 13 November that ticket sales have opened for a nonstop Warsaw Chopin–San Francisco (SFO) service. The first Boeing 787 Dreamliner will take off on 6 May 2026, and the carrier plans four round-trips a week (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday), with an 11-hour-35-minute block time westbound.
For Poland’s corporate sector the announcement is more than a prestige route. California is home to almost 200 Polish-owned or Polish-founded companies, many clustered around the tech corridor from San Francisco to San Jose. Direct lift removes a four-to-six-hour connection penalty that has traditionally pushed travellers onto German and Scandinavian hubs. According to LOT’s commercial director, Michał Fijoł, the airline expects at least 35 % of seats to be sold as premium-revenue tickets—business class, premium economy and high-fare economy—driven by the IT and life-science sectors.
![LOT Polish Airlines opens Warsaw–San Francisco route, expanding trans-atlantic business links]()
The route also strengthens Warsaw’s positioning as a Central-European gateway. Under the Schengen area’s internal-transfer rules, passengers from Vilnius, Prague and even Kyiv (via LOT’s buses from Lviv) will be able to clear U.S. security in Warsaw, avoiding more congested hubs. Industry analysts note that LOT’s network planners have effectively pre-empted traffic that would later move to the planned Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) mega-hub, scheduled to open in 2032.
From a mobility-programme perspective, the new service helps multinational employers based in Poland to meet EU Posted-Worker and A1 rotation limits by making short-cycle assignments to the West Coast viable without overnight connections. Travel-managers should update their advance-purchase policies: introductory return fares start at PLN 1 679 (€380) in economy and PLN 6 617 (€1 820) in business, but are capacity-controlled.
LOT says it will seek U.S. Department of Transportation antitrust immunity to coordinate schedules with Star Alliance partner United Airlines, which will give travellers onward code-share access to 43 West-Coast and Pacific-Northwest destinations. The Polish carrier will also request Category B cargo rights, opening new opportunities for high-value pharma exports from the Łódź life-science cluster.
For Poland’s corporate sector the announcement is more than a prestige route. California is home to almost 200 Polish-owned or Polish-founded companies, many clustered around the tech corridor from San Francisco to San Jose. Direct lift removes a four-to-six-hour connection penalty that has traditionally pushed travellers onto German and Scandinavian hubs. According to LOT’s commercial director, Michał Fijoł, the airline expects at least 35 % of seats to be sold as premium-revenue tickets—business class, premium economy and high-fare economy—driven by the IT and life-science sectors.
The route also strengthens Warsaw’s positioning as a Central-European gateway. Under the Schengen area’s internal-transfer rules, passengers from Vilnius, Prague and even Kyiv (via LOT’s buses from Lviv) will be able to clear U.S. security in Warsaw, avoiding more congested hubs. Industry analysts note that LOT’s network planners have effectively pre-empted traffic that would later move to the planned Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) mega-hub, scheduled to open in 2032.
From a mobility-programme perspective, the new service helps multinational employers based in Poland to meet EU Posted-Worker and A1 rotation limits by making short-cycle assignments to the West Coast viable without overnight connections. Travel-managers should update their advance-purchase policies: introductory return fares start at PLN 1 679 (€380) in economy and PLN 6 617 (€1 820) in business, but are capacity-controlled.
LOT says it will seek U.S. Department of Transportation antitrust immunity to coordinate schedules with Star Alliance partner United Airlines, which will give travellers onward code-share access to 43 West-Coast and Pacific-Northwest destinations. The Polish carrier will also request Category B cargo rights, opening new opportunities for high-value pharma exports from the Łódź life-science cluster.
