Trip Reports - IST-LHR on Turkish Airlines

Had a great flight on Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to London Heathrow.

Plane was a widebody airbus with 2x2x2 seating in business class. Turkish has changed to two class of service coach or business.

Seats were like US domestic First Class seats...wide but no huge recline or footrest.

The middle armrest though was a pull out so you could make a "couch" if you wanted. I remember those days!

Check-in was smooth at IST but lots of security checks. A lounge was available and was nice with lots of magazines and snacks.
Free internet access was also available.

Breakfast Meal service on board was offered with a choice of vegetable omlette or crepes filled with creamed mushrooms & chicken sausage.

Fruit, cold meat & cheese platter & hot breakfast rolls also served.

Inflight entertainment was offered on the TV screens using the old fashioined ear phones (the air tubes) it felt like 1970!

At LHR...FAST TRACK arrival lane was offered and easy connection to American Airlines flight to JFK.

All in all a nice flight for me on a new airline!

nice!

------------------
Get my trip reports mailed to you! http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/liontales

Thanks!

Another interesting report about a new airline!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Thanks,
Carfield

Not a very new airline, Carfield.
But an expanding one with a very young fleet. Waiting new Boeings to do more.

Currently Turkish Airlines (TK) is a state airline. But in late 2000, about 49% of the shares will be privatized. BA, SR and LH, all want to buy TK. TK is very strong in Middle East and Turki Republics.

I think you must have flown out of the brand new terminal at Ataturk. I flew out of the old one and it was a mess. People strewn everywhere, no distinct lines, etc, etc, etc.

Istanbul is a great city, but I wasn't fond of the hotel. I stayed at the Renaissance Polat Resort. It was about 5 minutes from Ataturk airport but 30 minutes from the city center! Otherwise it was a beautiful hotel with great restaurants and recreational facilities.

That is a real problem. Both Polat Renaissance Hotel and Crown Plaza are perfect hotels but they are really of out of city center.

We (travel agents) are trying to use those hotels as airport hotels and conference hotels. But they are not suitable if you are in Istanbul for touristic reasons or business trips. As BostonBoy wrote Renaissance is really out of city. Hilton, Hyatt Regency, Inter.Continental and Conrad are in city center. Kempinski is by the Bosphorus and The Four Seasons is in the old city center: 1 minutes walk from Blue Mosque / Topkapi Palace.

About the new terminal: The new one is perfect. The old one was old, black, ugly and disorganized. This one is all white marble, green glass, serene and very well organized.

Duty Free Area and Food Court are also well organized. A bazaar where you have your last souvenirs, duty free shops which are the cheapest of all europe, Turkish Delight Shops, Burger King, Chinese Restaurant and elegent "Divan Pub" and many others. I really love this terminal.

"Lots of security checks"? well, I know only two: one is the in the enterence for the safety of the airport and one before the gates for safe flights. I do not think this is a lot.

aysegul:

I'm glad that the new terminal finally brought Ataturk up to the status of a world-class airport terminal. I was sad to see such a beautiful city have such a trashy terminal!

I'll keep your hotel advice in mind for my next trip to Istanbul. I'd stay in a hotel in the City Center, because the Polat Renaissance was in the middle of nowhere so you really couldn't just go for a walk around. You were more or less confined to the hotel if you didn't taxi into the city.