Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles - STO-IST-JNB: what to expect?

Planning a first flight on TK from STO to JNB? What should an LH SEN expect in terms of service, comfort and priviledges in flight and on the ground? Any tips?

STO-IST is a comfortable enough single-aisle plane but no personal IFE on board. As a Star Gold in coach, I would still recommend checking in online about 24-hours in advance in order to get the best seats closer to the front or the exit rows and you will have both your boarding passes. Lounge access at ARN is a given and so is lounge access at IST. At ARN, they usually board by calling business class and Star Alliance elites first but the boarding can be a mess anyway. The on-board meal is included and is usually decent enough to be considered edible. The seats are as comfortable as coach seats go for shorter-haul type flights. Right now you will also be required to fill out a health landing form for every flight arriving into IST -- it's annoying but it's required. [About the form, it can be quite amusing to see how that is handled by some passengers and some FAs, especially when language is an issue for some passengers on ARN-IST.]

At IST, you may have to go to the transfer desk and can use the business class line there although the regular line at the transfer desk may be shorter. Security screening is done by the departure gate, so lines are usually not bad at all.

For IST-JNB and other long haul destinations, personal IFE AVOD is increasingly the norm and maybe on this route it is now even standard. Seats are comfortable in so far as coach seats go. Meals are ok too.

On both flights, the language proficiency of the FAs can be a bit up in the air for some of them and service a little cold, but it's usually efficient and they do meet requests.

You will get the Star Gold benefits on the ground and in so far as relates to service in-flight, but extraordinary attention in the air is not usual and on the ground it's about the same as all the major Star Alliance airlines that provide what they are required to provide to Star Golds.

TK today is a much better airline than it was several years ago and IST is a pretty decent airport for transfers.

I'm flying Business Class on Turkish from Chicago to Cape Town via Isatanbul. How id Business Class on Turkish? Any recommendations on where to sit on the flights?

i would just follow standard rules ie far away from the galley and the toilet - i would not take middle seats too

check seatguru com - you ll be flying 330 or 340

i think you made a good choice - TK is better than LH

attentive flight attendants - pretty good food - not much conversation unless you speak TR

i think you made a good choice - TK is better than LH



Excuse me, TK better than LH?! Are you serious. TK is utter crap. If it is not too late for OP to rebook please do it. If it is too late to rebook, then...sorry :D

dear namibiaSEN - a bit of respect would be in order over here

the fact that LH is much worse than TK is my personal opinion

LH (again in my personal opinion) is a factory and TK is still somehow treating you like a person and re nice to you (eg LH food sucks big time most of the time including long haul flights in C or F class - how about a sausage in F class???)

after having been SEN for 6 years i decided to fly TK and wheneevre i fly them in F or C i m really with fine with their service,

eg whenever I am at IST airport I happen to meet the same F ground staff who always give me a big smile and we have a small chat - whenever I fly business they always make these small extras to make feel like in F
eg buggy drop off etc

i try to speak some TR and they are really responsive acting genuinely and not the way the LH machines treat you when you speak to them in fluent german

i think i listed enough of examples - but if anyone wants more drop me a line



Excuse me, TK better than LH?! Are you serious. TK is utter crap. If it is not too late for OP to rebook please do it. If it is too late to rebook, then...sorry :D