A Taste of Turkey
Once again it was time for a family vacation with the other half of the family. As the destination was Turkey, we decided to go direct and try out Turkish Airlines.
The trip priorities were a mix of both leisure and educational tourism, so we planned for 6 days in the South of Turkey around the area of Antalya, and then for 3 days in Istanbul.
1.
Turkish Airlines A330-300 Economy Class JNB-IST
2.
Antalya and the Limak Atlantis Hotel
3.
Day tour to Side
4.
Turkish Airlines A321 Economy Class AYT-IST
5.
Experiencing Istanbul - 1
6.
Experiencing Istanbul - 2
7.
Turkish Airlines A330-300 Economy Class IST-JNB
Turkish Airlines A330-300 Economy Class JNB-IST
I was hyped to fly Turkish Airlines. It's one of the few airlines we haven't tried yet, and we've never flown in an A330-300 either. SAA has the A330-200's and they're pretty nice to fly in. Off we went to OR Tambo International where check-in took a few minutes. We'd reserved our tickets a few weeks prior to the trip, and were glad to have three rows of window seats behind each other. The 2-4-2 configuration is very convenient and precludes the unwanted third neighbour.
Our plane
Topkapi had landed while we were drinking coffee after its stop in Cape Town to fetch some passengers.
Colourful tails greeting one another
After boarding I was very glad to see that we were seated in almost my favourite place on a plane i.e. on the wing. I love watching the motion of the wings as they perform their assigned duties. Boarding was essentially uncomplicated and the staff seemed friendly.
The seat is comfortable as economy seats go, but I thought the seat pitch was horrific. I flew EK Y last year and I'm sure it was substantially more unless I'm losing the plot. The recline is excellent, with not only the seatback moving backwards, but the seat its self also has forward recline, making the seat slide when you recline.
The entertainment system was good with a wide variety of movies. Its not in the same league as Emirates, but its more than sufficient. The touch screen is very easy to navigate and is large and clear. There is also a connection for your IPad if you want to run your Ipad through the seat screen. The earphones were standard economy.
We taxied well on time and took off powerfully on 03L for our 09h10m trip to Istanbul. Take off was smooth with clear skies, and after a sharp left and later right turn we headed north to Turkey. The entire trip was essentially devoid of turbulence and very pleasant from that point of view.
Unfortunately we had a hellish family next to us. The useless father did nothing except read a book while the mother played games on her entertainment system all while their three kids aged 1,2 and 3 terrorized the plane. They were jumping on their seats and screaming and even jumped over the seats and landed on some poor woman's head. It was funny to watch although she was livid. They were also not allowed to watch TV due to their conservative religious backgrounds
The one toddler then stunk the plane out by relieving himself in his diaper while the mother did nothing. Even the flight attendants' eyes were out on stalks but they said they could do nothing.
Eventually we told her to please see to her child, so she grudgingly took him to the bathroom. Luckily all five of them burnt out after a few hours and fell asleep for the rest of the flight, but what a shocking experience.
The menu seemed quite varied and although we waited for almost 2 hours before the first drinks run, they did hourly runs for the rest of the flight after that. (Apologies for the poor quality)
Snacks and red wine
The penne was delicious!
After a while I settled back and tried to get some sleep with moderate success. Breakfast in the morning was standard economy and tasty, but I was in no mood to take pictures! We entered a holding pattern and landed just after 5am at what was perhaps the softest landing I have ever had in a jetliner... simply superb.
With two hours to spare before our 1h30m flight to Antalya, we sat down for some coffee to resuscitate us. Some views of Istanbul domestic terminal...
I understood how they felt.
Boarding was timely, and the six of us sat in the absolute last row of the Turkish Airlines 737-800. Annihilated by long-haul economy, we all slept for the duration of the flight until we arrived in Antalya.