Taking the family to Turkey and Cyprus (UA/TK J)
Jul 1, 2013, 11:06 pm
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
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Taking the family to Turkey and Cyprus (UA/TK J)
Forgive me, for I am rather a newbie at this whole "frequent flyer" thing, and by my post count, you'll surely see that I'm mostly a lurker here.
About a year and a half ago, my parents called me up and said that they were going to celebrate their 40th anniversary visiting some friends who own a villa in North Cyprus, and that my sister and my girlfriend and I should come along. What fun!
Six months later, we sat down to turn an idea into a concrete plan. Having learned much by frequenting these forums, we used our United miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards points to come up with half a million miles for five Star Alliance business-class awards to Europe.
Since we were all starting from different points in the US, we took a combination of different flights; what follows are reports from the flights I was on.
Notably, I'm enough of a newbie that these were the first international premium-cabin flights I'd ever taken, so expect me to be impressed at things that seasoned FTers would find a total disappointment.
About a year and a half ago, my parents called me up and said that they were going to celebrate their 40th anniversary visiting some friends who own a villa in North Cyprus, and that my sister and my girlfriend and I should come along. What fun!
Six months later, we sat down to turn an idea into a concrete plan. Having learned much by frequenting these forums, we used our United miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards points to come up with half a million miles for five Star Alliance business-class awards to Europe.
Since we were all starting from different points in the US, we took a combination of different flights; what follows are reports from the flights I was on.
Notably, I'm enough of a newbie that these were the first international premium-cabin flights I'd ever taken, so expect me to be impressed at things that seasoned FTers would find a total disappointment.
Last edited by puls; May 4, 2014 at 11:46 pm
Jul 1, 2013, 11:11 pm
#2
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
United 954, San Francisco (SFO) to London Heathrow (LHR)
June 2nd–3rd, 2013
Boeing 747-400 N117UA
Seats 17J/K (Rear-facing BusinessFirst)
We arrived at SFO two hours before departure, and found the queue for BusinessFirst check-in at the International Terminal to be almost one person long. It took almost an entire minute to get ourselves checked in. After security, which took almost three whole minutes, we had over an hour before boarding.
The United Club was, well, the United Club. Jammed full of people with at most a few empty seats. Trash everywhere.
Based on much advice, we had booked the two rear-facing seats at the aft end of the upper deck. SeatGuru warns that people sitting there "might find the proximity of the galley bothersome", but it wasn't too bad. Boarding was the usual 400-person scrum, but the agents were handling it well. We got situated rather quickly.
The IFE on the old-United "IPTE" 747s and 777s is still the best I've seen. Better than a screen, though, about 40 minutes in and shortly before the meal, we got an awesome view of Lake Tahoe.
The meal commenced with whole (or are they split?) cashews and a glass of cheap-but-totally-fine Albarińo.
The appetizer was two colossal shrimp with cocktail sauce and would would turn out to be the last good salad I'd have for two weeks, dressed to order from the cart.
The main dish was a steak, perhaps the best reheated piece of meat I've ever had, cooked to a perfect medium rare.
The ice cream sundae and cheese plate with a glass of Jim Beam rounded out the whole thing nicely.
Afterwards, I settled into a movie ("Jack Reacher") and some hours of lie-flat sleep. They say that taller people should sit downstairs on this configuration of 747; as a data point, at an even six feet, I found the bed length upstairs to be borderline but doable.
The mid-flight snacks were directly across the aisle from my seat, but nobody was particularly disruptive and I slept through the whole thing.
Breakfast was a single tray, with scrambled eggs, something resembling sausage, something resembling broccoli, yogurt, fruit, and a cinnamon roll. Good but not great.
We landed and taxied to one of the early-built gates at the new Heathrow Terminal 2 for Star Alliance. Today, these gates are an extension arm of Terminal 1, and they're quite a long walk from the rest of the terminal.
June 2nd–3rd, 2013
Boeing 747-400 N117UA
Seats 17J/K (Rear-facing BusinessFirst)
We arrived at SFO two hours before departure, and found the queue for BusinessFirst check-in at the International Terminal to be almost one person long. It took almost an entire minute to get ourselves checked in. After security, which took almost three whole minutes, we had over an hour before boarding.
The United Club was, well, the United Club. Jammed full of people with at most a few empty seats. Trash everywhere.
Based on much advice, we had booked the two rear-facing seats at the aft end of the upper deck. SeatGuru warns that people sitting there "might find the proximity of the galley bothersome", but it wasn't too bad. Boarding was the usual 400-person scrum, but the agents were handling it well. We got situated rather quickly.
The IFE on the old-United "IPTE" 747s and 777s is still the best I've seen. Better than a screen, though, about 40 minutes in and shortly before the meal, we got an awesome view of Lake Tahoe.
The meal commenced with whole (or are they split?) cashews and a glass of cheap-but-totally-fine Albarińo.
The appetizer was two colossal shrimp with cocktail sauce and would would turn out to be the last good salad I'd have for two weeks, dressed to order from the cart.
The main dish was a steak, perhaps the best reheated piece of meat I've ever had, cooked to a perfect medium rare.
The ice cream sundae and cheese plate with a glass of Jim Beam rounded out the whole thing nicely.
Afterwards, I settled into a movie ("Jack Reacher") and some hours of lie-flat sleep. They say that taller people should sit downstairs on this configuration of 747; as a data point, at an even six feet, I found the bed length upstairs to be borderline but doable.
The mid-flight snacks were directly across the aisle from my seat, but nobody was particularly disruptive and I slept through the whole thing.
Breakfast was a single tray, with scrambled eggs, something resembling sausage, something resembling broccoli, yogurt, fruit, and a cinnamon roll. Good but not great.
We landed and taxied to one of the early-built gates at the new Heathrow Terminal 2 for Star Alliance. Today, these gates are an extension arm of Terminal 1, and they're quite a long walk from the rest of the terminal.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:12 pm
#3
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
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SAS/Air Canada "London Lounge" at Heathrow
I was too jetlagged to document very much of the experience at Heathrow, but after being released into Terminal 3, we made rounds of the immense duty-free mall and got free samples of several different scotches before retiring to the "London Lounge", the primary Star Alliance lounge in that terminal. There's also a Singapore Silver Kris Lounge, but we weren't really in exploring mode.
While the furniture is as Ikea as can possibly be, the lounge is moderately spacious, and we took some time to recharge ourselves and our iPads. Food on offer included weak espresso, assorted fresh fruit and breakfast offerings, and things that one wouldn't want at 9 am on a Monday: beers from most of the countries that the participating airlines in the lounge call home. Also Luxury Cake Slices.
I was too jetlagged to document very much of the experience at Heathrow, but after being released into Terminal 3, we made rounds of the immense duty-free mall and got free samples of several different scotches before retiring to the "London Lounge", the primary Star Alliance lounge in that terminal. There's also a Singapore Silver Kris Lounge, but we weren't really in exploring mode.
While the furniture is as Ikea as can possibly be, the lounge is moderately spacious, and we took some time to recharge ourselves and our iPads. Food on offer included weak espresso, assorted fresh fruit and breakfast offerings, and things that one wouldn't want at 9 am on a Monday: beers from most of the countries that the participating airlines in the lounge call home. Also Luxury Cake Slices.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:15 pm
#4
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
Turkish 1980, London Heathrow (LHR) to Istanbul Atatürk (IST)
June 3rd, 2013
Airbus 321 TC-JMI "Milas"
Seats 4A/B (Business)
Turkish Airlines has an awfully confusing fleet if you're looking to find the best seat. SeatGuru is no help, either, since they're missing most of the seat maps. Maybe half of Turkish Airlines' planes have "real" business class while the rest have European-style "fake" business class with the middle seat blocked out.
Making matters worse, the airline frequently changes gauge from day to day. The previous day's version of our flight was on an A330, while this day's was an A321. Frustrating, to say the least. From reports, the service is equally variable.
The A321s evidently have the real thing, but even then there are variables: TC-JMI was built rather recently, but has a horribly tired, dated seat.
Pre-departure beverages were fresh and delicious: I had herbed lemonade. After takeoff, I decided to pull out the IFE screen from the armrest and check the map. But my efforts were in vain, as the brightness on the map screen was so low that my own reflection in the screen is brighter than the map itself.
Lunch service started with an amuse-bouche of Turkish delight on a toothpick. Cute.
Advertised on the menu as four courses, the presentation was a bit confusing: the three cold courses came out on a tray initially. The appetizer included shrimp and chicken and vegetables and would have made a very nice main course by itself. Gorgeous and delicious at the same time.
The main dish, a beef kebab, was heated and served after I finished the appetizer. It was a traditionally Turkish presentation and dish, one I'd see many times over the next week. Also delicious.
Salads and cheeses and desserts were also very good, especially the dessert, which was not unlike a chocolate-flavored version of tiramisů.
My first Turkish coffee of at least a dozen on the trip finished off the meal.
Arrival in Istanbul was rather straightforward, complicated only by the need to exchange a US $20 bill for an entry visa before visiting passport control. We met my parents at baggage claim and found our driver to our hotel.
June 3rd, 2013
Airbus 321 TC-JMI "Milas"
Seats 4A/B (Business)
Turkish Airlines has an awfully confusing fleet if you're looking to find the best seat. SeatGuru is no help, either, since they're missing most of the seat maps. Maybe half of Turkish Airlines' planes have "real" business class while the rest have European-style "fake" business class with the middle seat blocked out.
Making matters worse, the airline frequently changes gauge from day to day. The previous day's version of our flight was on an A330, while this day's was an A321. Frustrating, to say the least. From reports, the service is equally variable.
The A321s evidently have the real thing, but even then there are variables: TC-JMI was built rather recently, but has a horribly tired, dated seat.
Pre-departure beverages were fresh and delicious: I had herbed lemonade. After takeoff, I decided to pull out the IFE screen from the armrest and check the map. But my efforts were in vain, as the brightness on the map screen was so low that my own reflection in the screen is brighter than the map itself.
Lunch service started with an amuse-bouche of Turkish delight on a toothpick. Cute.
Advertised on the menu as four courses, the presentation was a bit confusing: the three cold courses came out on a tray initially. The appetizer included shrimp and chicken and vegetables and would have made a very nice main course by itself. Gorgeous and delicious at the same time.
The main dish, a beef kebab, was heated and served after I finished the appetizer. It was a traditionally Turkish presentation and dish, one I'd see many times over the next week. Also delicious.
Salads and cheeses and desserts were also very good, especially the dessert, which was not unlike a chocolate-flavored version of tiramisů.
My first Turkish coffee of at least a dozen on the trip finished off the meal.
Arrival in Istanbul was rather straightforward, complicated only by the need to exchange a US $20 bill for an entry visa before visiting passport control. We met my parents at baggage claim and found our driver to our hotel.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:17 pm
#5
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
A week in Istanbul
Of course, it was just our luck that on a trip planned literally a year in advance, we'd arrive just as major protests were breaking out. All of my friends were telling me to "be careful" and "stay safe" and "don't get tear gassed" and "watch out for all of the violent riots".
The truth to be told is that one rather centralized area of non-violent protests does not equal a dangerous situation for tourists of any sort. The operative advice (consistent with what the State Department told us) is to go about one's visit, and if you see a protest forming, go the opposite direction.
In any case, we did all the touristy stuff that one should do whilst in Istanbul and had a wonderful time. The Turkish people were incredibly nice to us at every turn.
Since you've seen the pictures of the major tourist attractions here on FlyerTalk a thousand times—they're just amazing, but my photos won't be as good as the others you've seen—I'll leave you with these three photos of feral cats walking down the streets and curling up in store windows. Because this is the Internet. So we need cat photos.
Of course, it was just our luck that on a trip planned literally a year in advance, we'd arrive just as major protests were breaking out. All of my friends were telling me to "be careful" and "stay safe" and "don't get tear gassed" and "watch out for all of the violent riots".
The truth to be told is that one rather centralized area of non-violent protests does not equal a dangerous situation for tourists of any sort. The operative advice (consistent with what the State Department told us) is to go about one's visit, and if you see a protest forming, go the opposite direction.
In any case, we did all the touristy stuff that one should do whilst in Istanbul and had a wonderful time. The Turkish people were incredibly nice to us at every turn.
Since you've seen the pictures of the major tourist attractions here on FlyerTalk a thousand times—they're just amazing, but my photos won't be as good as the others you've seen—I'll leave you with these three photos of feral cats walking down the streets and curling up in store windows. Because this is the Internet. So we need cat photos.
Last edited by puls; May 5, 2014 at 1:28 am
Jul 1, 2013, 11:22 pm
#6
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
Turkish 968, Istanbul Atatürk (IST) to Ercan/Lefkoşa (ECN)
June 8th, 2013
Airbus 320 TC-JPE "Gümüşhane"
Seats 7D/F and 20D/E/F (combination of Euro-Business and Economy)
As far as I know, there's no such thing as five award seats in a short-haul business class cabin with as few as twelve seats, so I was happy enough to snag two seats up front and three in back for the single flight on the trip that all five of us would take together.
After a spirited drive along Kennedy Caddesi from our hotel to the airport during which a significant part of the van fell off and was replaced by the driver using only his fists, we went through a preliminary screening inside the front door and waited about half an hour to check in using the economy passengers queue.
Had we been smart, we'd have used the automated kiosk and then the online bag drop line, but we were not smart. We went through passport control—another ten-minute wait—and the second security checkpoint and we were in the gate area. Our boarding passes and the monitors pointed us to gate 211, where what we thought was our plane pulled in an hour before departure.
Half an hour later, with no announcement whatsoever, the gate agents disappeared and the screens in the gate area went blank. Another ten minutes later, I ventured a look at the monitors to find we'd been moved to a bus gate, 301. Feeling like we'd dodged a bullet, we went downstairs to the less-awesome part of the airport where we eventually rode a bus to the real plane.
Euro-Business class has the middle seat converted to a table and perhaps a bit more leg-room but is otherwise the same seat.
This A320 was configured for seven rows of business class with the divider all the way back to immediately in front of the exit rows. I felt like it was my turn to have a middle seat with no legroom so I deftly swapped boarding passes with the elder puls and sat down in 20E.
Lunch service on the flight was in the form of a "Piknik" box full of more truly wonderful Turkish Do&Co food. A turkey and cheese sandwich, a cup of the same eggplant salad we'd seen on the last flight, and a cup of chocolate mousse were all things I would have happily paid to eat, which is better than I can say for any food I've actually paid to eat on other airlines in recent years.
After landing, we had a leisurely stroll across the tarmac at Ercan Havalimanı to passport control, where there were four lines for Turkish citizens and two lines each for TRNC citizens, students, military personnel, and other nationalities.
This was the first sign greeting us past passport control:
June 8th, 2013
Airbus 320 TC-JPE "Gümüşhane"
Seats 7D/F and 20D/E/F (combination of Euro-Business and Economy)
As far as I know, there's no such thing as five award seats in a short-haul business class cabin with as few as twelve seats, so I was happy enough to snag two seats up front and three in back for the single flight on the trip that all five of us would take together.
After a spirited drive along Kennedy Caddesi from our hotel to the airport during which a significant part of the van fell off and was replaced by the driver using only his fists, we went through a preliminary screening inside the front door and waited about half an hour to check in using the economy passengers queue.
Had we been smart, we'd have used the automated kiosk and then the online bag drop line, but we were not smart. We went through passport control—another ten-minute wait—and the second security checkpoint and we were in the gate area. Our boarding passes and the monitors pointed us to gate 211, where what we thought was our plane pulled in an hour before departure.
Half an hour later, with no announcement whatsoever, the gate agents disappeared and the screens in the gate area went blank. Another ten minutes later, I ventured a look at the monitors to find we'd been moved to a bus gate, 301. Feeling like we'd dodged a bullet, we went downstairs to the less-awesome part of the airport where we eventually rode a bus to the real plane.
Euro-Business class has the middle seat converted to a table and perhaps a bit more leg-room but is otherwise the same seat.
This A320 was configured for seven rows of business class with the divider all the way back to immediately in front of the exit rows. I felt like it was my turn to have a middle seat with no legroom so I deftly swapped boarding passes with the elder puls and sat down in 20E.
Lunch service on the flight was in the form of a "Piknik" box full of more truly wonderful Turkish Do&Co food. A turkey and cheese sandwich, a cup of the same eggplant salad we'd seen on the last flight, and a cup of chocolate mousse were all things I would have happily paid to eat, which is better than I can say for any food I've actually paid to eat on other airlines in recent years.
After landing, we had a leisurely stroll across the tarmac at Ercan Havalimanı to passport control, where there were four lines for Turkish citizens and two lines each for TRNC citizens, students, military personnel, and other nationalities.
This was the first sign greeting us past passport control:
Jul 1, 2013, 11:23 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
A week in Cyprus, mostly in the Turkish North
The Cyprus dispute is another truly fascinating situation. The northern third or so of the island is, depending on whom you ask, either the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus or an area illegally occupied by the Turkish military.
But it's been this way for almost 40 years, and most of the population today can't even remember it any other way. Thanks to the dispute situation, though, there's no foreign investment anywhere in the North, so everything you see is either a small local business or an arm of the Turkish government. The major (only?) industry is tourism.
We were staying in a rental villa in the tiny hamlet of Karaman/Karmi in the hills southwest of Girne/Kyrenia:
First order of business after our arrival was to check out those amazing Mediterranean beaches:
Here's a picture of my feet standing in the sea to give you an idea of how clear the water is:
On the way back, we drove along the ridge of the Beşparmaklar/Pentadactylos mountains and got great views of the interior of the island.
The next day, we went into Girne/Kyrenia, parked the car, and walked down to the old harbor.
Later on, we went to a dinner and a concert at the ruins of the Bellapais Abbey, one of most stunning sights I can remember.
The following day, our destination was the ruins of St. Hilarion Castle, which we realized was accessible by a significant uphill hiking trail from Karaman. So hike uphill we did.
The castle itself is an amazing place to visit, with unbeatable views.
On our final day in Cyprus, we drove into Lefkoşa/Nicosia. Walking across the border on Ledra Street was quite the study in contrast. You start in the North, where everything is in Turkish and all of the businesses are locally-owned, and eventually you come to the border crossing.
A minute or so later, you're at the other side of the buffer zone and you're suddenly back in the EU, and the first thing you see is a Starbucks and a McDonalds.
You're just a few steps from where you just were, but everybody is speaking a different language, everybody's name sounds different, and all of the signage is different. But somehow, everything feels the same. The Turkish Coffee is just called Cypriot Coffee now.
We finished our final day in Cyprus by finishing this bottle of rakı. It's delicious.
The Cyprus dispute is another truly fascinating situation. The northern third or so of the island is, depending on whom you ask, either the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus or an area illegally occupied by the Turkish military.
But it's been this way for almost 40 years, and most of the population today can't even remember it any other way. Thanks to the dispute situation, though, there's no foreign investment anywhere in the North, so everything you see is either a small local business or an arm of the Turkish government. The major (only?) industry is tourism.
We were staying in a rental villa in the tiny hamlet of Karaman/Karmi in the hills southwest of Girne/Kyrenia:
First order of business after our arrival was to check out those amazing Mediterranean beaches:
Here's a picture of my feet standing in the sea to give you an idea of how clear the water is:
On the way back, we drove along the ridge of the Beşparmaklar/Pentadactylos mountains and got great views of the interior of the island.
The next day, we went into Girne/Kyrenia, parked the car, and walked down to the old harbor.
Later on, we went to a dinner and a concert at the ruins of the Bellapais Abbey, one of most stunning sights I can remember.
The following day, our destination was the ruins of St. Hilarion Castle, which we realized was accessible by a significant uphill hiking trail from Karaman. So hike uphill we did.
The castle itself is an amazing place to visit, with unbeatable views.
On our final day in Cyprus, we drove into Lefkoşa/Nicosia. Walking across the border on Ledra Street was quite the study in contrast. You start in the North, where everything is in Turkish and all of the businesses are locally-owned, and eventually you come to the border crossing.
A minute or so later, you're at the other side of the buffer zone and you're suddenly back in the EU, and the first thing you see is a Starbucks and a McDonalds.
You're just a few steps from where you just were, but everybody is speaking a different language, everybody's name sounds different, and all of the signage is different. But somehow, everything feels the same. The Turkish Coffee is just called Cypriot Coffee now.
We finished our final day in Cyprus by finishing this bottle of rakı. It's delicious.
Last edited by puls; May 5, 2014 at 12:41 pm
Jul 1, 2013, 11:29 pm
#8
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
Turkish 961, Ercan/Lefkoşa (ECN) to Istanbul Atatürk (IST)
June 14th, 2013
Airbus 321 TC-JSE "Kızılırmak"
Seats 3E/F (Business)
Ercan Airport is a really interesting place. Formerly a shuttered military base, the Turkish government built a civilian airport after occupying Northern Cyprus many years ago and it's remained to this day the only commercial airport in all of North Cyprus.
One might expect such a small airport to be kind of dumpy and sad, but while it is indeed quite small, it's also pretty nice in that recently-renovated-but-maybe-with-every-expense-spared kind of way. It plays host to perhaps one or two planes per hour.
Check-in for our flight was an absolute zoo. Noticing that three agents were working two lines, I asked the agent without a line if there was a business class line, and she said she was it. Great! We checked in and made our way through passport control and security in short order.
The gate area is an open waiting room with four doors out to the tarmac on the lower level and a shopping area comprising a duty-free shop and a sizable coffee shop on the upper level.
The coffee shop has lots of comfy seating and copious European-style power outlets while the waiting area seats are made of powder-coated steel. I don't know why anybody would wait downstairs.
Boarding commenced about ten minutes before scheduled departure. But when you're just collecting a boarding pass without even scanning it and allowing people out a door, the line moves quickly. We walked out to meet our ride.
Finally, we had a chance to see Turkish Airlines' nicer business class product. Great new leather-covered seats with reading lamps and functioning IFE screens. Power is the relatively dated EmPower port or USB; audio is multiple-jack.
Pre-departure beverages were the signature fresh juice, served in glass. Really wonderful stuff, good enough to make you willing to swear off champagne just this once.
The IFE system on this A321 was fully functional if a bit less than ergonomic being in the armrest. I spent half an hour of the flight watching a Turkish Airlines-produced documentary about baklava, which made me hungry. There's seat-to-seat calling, too!
Breakfast came out quickly and on a single tray, which is to be expected for a pretty short flight. I asked the flight attendant for a mimosa and got a glass of champagne. But I wouldn't be able to serve somebody drinks if they spoke to me in Turkish, so I suppose that's fair.
The menu was on the tray itself, and the meal was two toast sandwiches—one ham and cheese, one olive and cheese, both totally delicious—with fresh bread, a dish of fruit and a dish of cheese, cucumber, and olive. There was a lot of cheese. I like cheese. I was happy.
After a short hour and a half, we landed in Istanbul to pouring rain, the only rain we saw on the entire two-week trip. Bit of a bummer to turn left and pull in to a bus gate when it's raining, but I suppose one has to get wet once in a while. As a concession, IST has a shortcut security checkpoint for international transfer passengers if they're unlucky enough to be getting off a bus.
That is, unless they're going to the United States, in which case they have to brave the main arrival area for a secondary security screening. It took us ten minutes of getting pointed around by various agents before we found the secondary screening, consisting entirely of a uniformed gentleman asking us if we were carrying any suspicious packages. We weren't.
June 14th, 2013
Airbus 321 TC-JSE "Kızılırmak"
Seats 3E/F (Business)
Ercan Airport is a really interesting place. Formerly a shuttered military base, the Turkish government built a civilian airport after occupying Northern Cyprus many years ago and it's remained to this day the only commercial airport in all of North Cyprus.
One might expect such a small airport to be kind of dumpy and sad, but while it is indeed quite small, it's also pretty nice in that recently-renovated-but-maybe-with-every-expense-spared kind of way. It plays host to perhaps one or two planes per hour.
Check-in for our flight was an absolute zoo. Noticing that three agents were working two lines, I asked the agent without a line if there was a business class line, and she said she was it. Great! We checked in and made our way through passport control and security in short order.
The gate area is an open waiting room with four doors out to the tarmac on the lower level and a shopping area comprising a duty-free shop and a sizable coffee shop on the upper level.
The coffee shop has lots of comfy seating and copious European-style power outlets while the waiting area seats are made of powder-coated steel. I don't know why anybody would wait downstairs.
Boarding commenced about ten minutes before scheduled departure. But when you're just collecting a boarding pass without even scanning it and allowing people out a door, the line moves quickly. We walked out to meet our ride.
Finally, we had a chance to see Turkish Airlines' nicer business class product. Great new leather-covered seats with reading lamps and functioning IFE screens. Power is the relatively dated EmPower port or USB; audio is multiple-jack.
Pre-departure beverages were the signature fresh juice, served in glass. Really wonderful stuff, good enough to make you willing to swear off champagne just this once.
The IFE system on this A321 was fully functional if a bit less than ergonomic being in the armrest. I spent half an hour of the flight watching a Turkish Airlines-produced documentary about baklava, which made me hungry. There's seat-to-seat calling, too!
Breakfast came out quickly and on a single tray, which is to be expected for a pretty short flight. I asked the flight attendant for a mimosa and got a glass of champagne. But I wouldn't be able to serve somebody drinks if they spoke to me in Turkish, so I suppose that's fair.
The menu was on the tray itself, and the meal was two toast sandwiches—one ham and cheese, one olive and cheese, both totally delicious—with fresh bread, a dish of fruit and a dish of cheese, cucumber, and olive. There was a lot of cheese. I like cheese. I was happy.
After a short hour and a half, we landed in Istanbul to pouring rain, the only rain we saw on the entire two-week trip. Bit of a bummer to turn left and pull in to a bus gate when it's raining, but I suppose one has to get wet once in a while. As a concession, IST has a shortcut security checkpoint for international transfer passengers if they're unlucky enough to be getting off a bus.
That is, unless they're going to the United States, in which case they have to brave the main arrival area for a secondary security screening. It took us ten minutes of getting pointed around by various agents before we found the secondary screening, consisting entirely of a uniformed gentleman asking us if we were carrying any suspicious packages. We weren't.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:31 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
Turkish Airlines "CIP Lounge" at Atatürk
Unfortunately for us, the truly epic amount of Turkish Delight we'd planned to bring back for literally everybody we know meant that we spent the majority of our layover in the very nice duty-free shopping area at Atatürk.
But we managed to stop by the lounge for just a few minutes to send some emails and catch up.
All of the other reviewers have it right: the place is just amazing. It's immense, it's super-busy, and there's a ton of stuff there. Luggage lockers, a movie theater, a kids' play area. All kinds of delicious food, self-service bars, a tasting of assorted hot teas. Nine different television stations. Peace and quiet and, of course, free wi-fi.
But we only had ten or fifteen minutes before boarding, so I grabbed a single bottle of ayran to share. This stuff is delicious—it's pretty much yogurt and water—and super-filling.
Then it was off to the gate.
Unfortunately for us, the truly epic amount of Turkish Delight we'd planned to bring back for literally everybody we know meant that we spent the majority of our layover in the very nice duty-free shopping area at Atatürk.
But we managed to stop by the lounge for just a few minutes to send some emails and catch up.
All of the other reviewers have it right: the place is just amazing. It's immense, it's super-busy, and there's a ton of stuff there. Luggage lockers, a movie theater, a kids' play area. All kinds of delicious food, self-service bars, a tasting of assorted hot teas. Nine different television stations. Peace and quiet and, of course, free wi-fi.
But we only had ten or fifteen minutes before boarding, so I grabbed a single bottle of ayran to share. This stuff is delicious—it's pretty much yogurt and water—and super-filling.
Then it was off to the gate.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:36 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
United 905, Istanbul Atatürk (IST) to Newark Liberty (EWR)
June 14th, 2013
Boeing 767-300 N669UA
Seats 1K and 1L (BusinessFirst)
All flights to the United States are subject to additional security screening. Not to opine too heavily, but this is one of the dumbest things ever and a sad sign that the US government has flexed enough muscle to export some of its security theater overseas.
The plane was one of the old-United 763 "ghetto birds" that have all been refitted since the merger with the old-Continental BusinessFirst hard product, and it's in just tip-top shape on the inside. Say what you will about the merged airline's "changes you'll like", but if you're flying this bird, it's hard to not approve of this particular change.
The BusinessFirst IFE system is notorious for being unreliable, and being stuck with a broken system at your seat for eleven hours is nobody's idea of fun. I boarded to see a black screen in front of me, and I was initially concerned, especially when two reboots failed to fix anything. But after the safety video finished, the system returned to a fully-functional state, and my concerns were allayed.
All of the major announcements were pre-recorded and bilingual in English and Turkish, a bit of a surprise. The menus that the crew passed out were also completely bilingual in English and Turkish, and they noted that it was a completely pork-free flight. Nice to see United going to that effort for a country that sees all of one flight a day.
Meal service that might be called "lunch" in the departure timezone soon commenced, with warmed mixed nuts and wine and water. Rather than "affable", our flight attendant was what you might call "focused"; as I was in the aisle seat in row 1, he had a very good view of my wine glass, and he took it upon himself to make sure said glass remained full of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
This shrimp cocktail was quite a bit different than the one we'd had two weeks before, with smaller shrimp and a whole pile of shredded carrot underneath. Still, the presentation was nice, and it was served as a separate course from the salad.
The salad confirmed my mounting suspicion that Turkish culture doesn't include many garden salads. Never in Turkey—including this flight, which was catered from Istanbul—did I see a salad that wasn't composed of sad-looking off-colored lettuces.
For the main course, I had what they call a "shrimp casserole", and it was the worst in-flight dish of the whole trip. It certainly wasn't offensively bad or anything, just wholly uninspired.
My girlfriend's stuffed eggplant looked and tasted much better. It was like "yo dawg, I herd you like eggplant, so I put some eggplant in your eggplant", but it really was a nice dish.
The cheese plate came next, plated to order from the cart, though our flight attendant didn't really ask for any preferences. He also skipped the goat cheese, mostly because he couldn't find an elegant way of serving it with the utensils at hand.
The ice cream sundae was a bit sloppy. But obviously delicious.
And we quickly discovered that the correct way to make FreshPoo palatable is to add a substantial amount of Bailey's Irish Cream.
After that, I settled into a movie ("Crazy Stupid Love") followed by a few hours of lie-flat nap time. I don't know if it was the incredible length of the day or the comfort of the aircraft, but I found the sleep quite pleasant and refreshing.
I wish I could say the same about the in-flight entertainment. Plugging my Bose headphones, which have never failed me on dozens of other flights, into the IFE system left me with horrible audio quality. The sound was of an overly-compressed MP3 file with a low sample rate. (I doubt there's anything wrong with the headphones, either, as I'm writing this from a later A320 flight with great audio. The dual-plug adapter may be to blame.)
The second meal, served an hour and a half out from Newark, was smaller and simpler. It would have been a suitable lunch while the first would have been a suitable dinner, but the order is probably more reasonable as-is.
Served on a tray, we got half of a hot chicken-and-cheese wrap with some fruit, a plate (‽) of salsa, a small cup of mayo, and a single chocolate in a box. Tasty, but the presentation was definitely more "..." than "OMG".
We landed in Newark and pulled into B68, which would mean a long schlep to our connection at C131. The first stop was passport control, where the grumpiest CBP agent I've ever seen instructed us to step back behind the line so he could glare at us for several minutes before stamping our passports and letting us through. Immediately past him, a large patriotic poster reminded us that CBP was "protecting the American way of life". Awesome.
We reclaimed our bags so we could walk them the hundred paces to the re-check area, where we also finally got boarding passes for our final leg courtesy of a transfer desk agent. AirTrain EWR quickly whisked us over to Terminal 3.
June 14th, 2013
Boeing 767-300 N669UA
Seats 1K and 1L (BusinessFirst)
All flights to the United States are subject to additional security screening. Not to opine too heavily, but this is one of the dumbest things ever and a sad sign that the US government has flexed enough muscle to export some of its security theater overseas.
The plane was one of the old-United 763 "ghetto birds" that have all been refitted since the merger with the old-Continental BusinessFirst hard product, and it's in just tip-top shape on the inside. Say what you will about the merged airline's "changes you'll like", but if you're flying this bird, it's hard to not approve of this particular change.
The BusinessFirst IFE system is notorious for being unreliable, and being stuck with a broken system at your seat for eleven hours is nobody's idea of fun. I boarded to see a black screen in front of me, and I was initially concerned, especially when two reboots failed to fix anything. But after the safety video finished, the system returned to a fully-functional state, and my concerns were allayed.
All of the major announcements were pre-recorded and bilingual in English and Turkish, a bit of a surprise. The menus that the crew passed out were also completely bilingual in English and Turkish, and they noted that it was a completely pork-free flight. Nice to see United going to that effort for a country that sees all of one flight a day.
Meal service that might be called "lunch" in the departure timezone soon commenced, with warmed mixed nuts and wine and water. Rather than "affable", our flight attendant was what you might call "focused"; as I was in the aisle seat in row 1, he had a very good view of my wine glass, and he took it upon himself to make sure said glass remained full of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
This shrimp cocktail was quite a bit different than the one we'd had two weeks before, with smaller shrimp and a whole pile of shredded carrot underneath. Still, the presentation was nice, and it was served as a separate course from the salad.
The salad confirmed my mounting suspicion that Turkish culture doesn't include many garden salads. Never in Turkey—including this flight, which was catered from Istanbul—did I see a salad that wasn't composed of sad-looking off-colored lettuces.
For the main course, I had what they call a "shrimp casserole", and it was the worst in-flight dish of the whole trip. It certainly wasn't offensively bad or anything, just wholly uninspired.
My girlfriend's stuffed eggplant looked and tasted much better. It was like "yo dawg, I herd you like eggplant, so I put some eggplant in your eggplant", but it really was a nice dish.
The cheese plate came next, plated to order from the cart, though our flight attendant didn't really ask for any preferences. He also skipped the goat cheese, mostly because he couldn't find an elegant way of serving it with the utensils at hand.
The ice cream sundae was a bit sloppy. But obviously delicious.
And we quickly discovered that the correct way to make FreshPoo palatable is to add a substantial amount of Bailey's Irish Cream.
After that, I settled into a movie ("Crazy Stupid Love") followed by a few hours of lie-flat nap time. I don't know if it was the incredible length of the day or the comfort of the aircraft, but I found the sleep quite pleasant and refreshing.
I wish I could say the same about the in-flight entertainment. Plugging my Bose headphones, which have never failed me on dozens of other flights, into the IFE system left me with horrible audio quality. The sound was of an overly-compressed MP3 file with a low sample rate. (I doubt there's anything wrong with the headphones, either, as I'm writing this from a later A320 flight with great audio. The dual-plug adapter may be to blame.)
The second meal, served an hour and a half out from Newark, was smaller and simpler. It would have been a suitable lunch while the first would have been a suitable dinner, but the order is probably more reasonable as-is.
Served on a tray, we got half of a hot chicken-and-cheese wrap with some fruit, a plate (‽) of salsa, a small cup of mayo, and a single chocolate in a box. Tasty, but the presentation was definitely more "..." than "OMG".
We landed in Newark and pulled into B68, which would mean a long schlep to our connection at C131. The first stop was passport control, where the grumpiest CBP agent I've ever seen instructed us to step back behind the line so he could glare at us for several minutes before stamping our passports and letting us through. Immediately past him, a large patriotic poster reminded us that CBP was "protecting the American way of life". Awesome.
We reclaimed our bags so we could walk them the hundred paces to the re-check area, where we also finally got boarding passes for our final leg courtesy of a transfer desk agent. AirTrain EWR quickly whisked us over to Terminal 3.
Jul 1, 2013, 11:43 pm
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Portland
Programs: AS MVP Gold, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Starbucks Gold
Posts: 391
United 968, Newark Liberty (EWR) to San Francisco (SFO)
June 14th, 2013
Boeing 737-900ER N37468
Seats 5A and 5B (First)
Having booked into X on this segment—originally scheduled on an A319—and again following a tip I only learned here on FT (thanks everybody!) I waitlisted us for the upgrade to I. The timetable eventually changed, we were moved to a similarly-timed flight—now on a 737-900—and sure enough, the waitlist cleared around 64 hours before departure.
We'd arrived at the gate barely ten minutes before the plane was supposed to board, and we boarded soon thereafter to discover one of the brand new 737-900ERs with the Boeing Sky Interior and absolutely no IFE. I really can't fathom why they're taking delivery of planes like this, but since we were already about 21 hours into traveling on the day, the plan was mostly to sleep as it was. At least the overheads were so cavernously huge that we could stuff both of our carry-ons and four bags' worth of duty-free shopping into one with half of it to spare.
We ordered PDBs, as ever, and this time, they came in styrofoam coffee cups. Of all the flights on the trip, this one was perhaps not going to be United's finest ever. I really don't know why United can serve all of their beverages in glass in the air but has to use disposables on the ground.
I've seen my share of interesting weight and balance issues before, mostly on regional jets. Occasionally, though, you'll get a light enough load on a mainline plane like this with enough elites in E+ that you'll have a forward center of gravity. Once, I was on a plane that had to return to a different gate at SFO so they could move some bags from the front to the back cargo compartment and fix the balance.
Ten minutes after everybody was seated on this flight, the captain informed us that they had already moved all the bags all the way back and they still had balance issues. He tasked the flight attendants to find ten volunteers to move from E+ to E-, a task I wouldn't wish on anybody. They had no compensation to immediately offer, either, only asking passengers to take it up with the gate agent in San Francisco. Amazingly, ten willing souls helped us get on our way pretty quickly.
On the taxi to the runway, we were treated to a gorgeous New York sunset and a 45-minute wait in line to take off. But thankfully, United schedules in a ton of extra time for exactly that situation on flights out of Newark, and we still arrived on time.
Menus came around next, another surprise. I was expecting single-tray dinner service for this domestic flight, but instead we got a full three-course meal. It's nice to see transcon service out of EWR closer to the p.s. service from JFK, even if it's still a relatively tight recliner seat instead of the flat bed you get on the JFK service.
The first course was a small skewer (or was it a toothpick?) with a mozzarella ball, a piece of tomato, and an olive accompanying a slice of "air-chilled bresaola". The salad was more-boring-than-we'd-become-accustomed-to greens with pre-packaged croutons and ranch dressing.
My main course was chicken "osso bucco style" with mushrooms and a polenta cake. Mostly delightful, a few inedible parts here and there. Slightly messy presentation. The pace of service was leisurely enough that people in row 1 finished before people in row 5 started.
My girlfriend went with the first pork chop either of us had seen in weeks, with a mushroom bread pudding alongside.
Dessert was the standard United ice cream sundae, which I've photographed enough times to have forgotten this time.
After dinner service, we promptly slept for the rest of the flight in to San Francisco. We arrived home some 27 hours after we left and traveled 10 time zones to the west.
Waiting for us at home was something we hadn't seen in the last two weeks: good beer.
June 14th, 2013
Boeing 737-900ER N37468
Seats 5A and 5B (First)
Having booked into X on this segment—originally scheduled on an A319—and again following a tip I only learned here on FT (thanks everybody!) I waitlisted us for the upgrade to I. The timetable eventually changed, we were moved to a similarly-timed flight—now on a 737-900—and sure enough, the waitlist cleared around 64 hours before departure.
We'd arrived at the gate barely ten minutes before the plane was supposed to board, and we boarded soon thereafter to discover one of the brand new 737-900ERs with the Boeing Sky Interior and absolutely no IFE. I really can't fathom why they're taking delivery of planes like this, but since we were already about 21 hours into traveling on the day, the plan was mostly to sleep as it was. At least the overheads were so cavernously huge that we could stuff both of our carry-ons and four bags' worth of duty-free shopping into one with half of it to spare.
We ordered PDBs, as ever, and this time, they came in styrofoam coffee cups. Of all the flights on the trip, this one was perhaps not going to be United's finest ever. I really don't know why United can serve all of their beverages in glass in the air but has to use disposables on the ground.
I've seen my share of interesting weight and balance issues before, mostly on regional jets. Occasionally, though, you'll get a light enough load on a mainline plane like this with enough elites in E+ that you'll have a forward center of gravity. Once, I was on a plane that had to return to a different gate at SFO so they could move some bags from the front to the back cargo compartment and fix the balance.
Ten minutes after everybody was seated on this flight, the captain informed us that they had already moved all the bags all the way back and they still had balance issues. He tasked the flight attendants to find ten volunteers to move from E+ to E-, a task I wouldn't wish on anybody. They had no compensation to immediately offer, either, only asking passengers to take it up with the gate agent in San Francisco. Amazingly, ten willing souls helped us get on our way pretty quickly.
On the taxi to the runway, we were treated to a gorgeous New York sunset and a 45-minute wait in line to take off. But thankfully, United schedules in a ton of extra time for exactly that situation on flights out of Newark, and we still arrived on time.
Menus came around next, another surprise. I was expecting single-tray dinner service for this domestic flight, but instead we got a full three-course meal. It's nice to see transcon service out of EWR closer to the p.s. service from JFK, even if it's still a relatively tight recliner seat instead of the flat bed you get on the JFK service.
The first course was a small skewer (or was it a toothpick?) with a mozzarella ball, a piece of tomato, and an olive accompanying a slice of "air-chilled bresaola". The salad was more-boring-than-we'd-become-accustomed-to greens with pre-packaged croutons and ranch dressing.
My main course was chicken "osso bucco style" with mushrooms and a polenta cake. Mostly delightful, a few inedible parts here and there. Slightly messy presentation. The pace of service was leisurely enough that people in row 1 finished before people in row 5 started.
My girlfriend went with the first pork chop either of us had seen in weeks, with a mushroom bread pudding alongside.
Dessert was the standard United ice cream sundae, which I've photographed enough times to have forgotten this time.
After dinner service, we promptly slept for the rest of the flight in to San Francisco. We arrived home some 27 hours after we left and traveled 10 time zones to the west.
Waiting for us at home was something we hadn't seen in the last two weeks: good beer.
Jul 2, 2013, 9:36 am
#13
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
Posts: 2,976
Nice report. My son and I flew Turkish in economy from SIN to IST then IST to MUC after a few days in Istanbul. Seat pitch in the back is tight but the economy seats have that seat slides forward and the back reclines further feature so it was possible to sleep on the overnight SIN-IST flight.
Catering in economy on Turkish was some of the better economy meals we have had on any carrier. I still think about the chicken lunch on the IST-MUC flight; it was that good.
We were wondering what the front cabin was like so thanks for your report!
Catering in economy on Turkish was some of the better economy meals we have had on any carrier. I still think about the chicken lunch on the IST-MUC flight; it was that good.
We were wondering what the front cabin was like so thanks for your report!
Jul 2, 2013, 12:24 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Moreland Hills (CLE)
Programs: Over-entitled UA 1.3MM Gold, AA Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott L-T Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 5,521
Nice Report
Thanks for the report.
Was thinking about taking my family ("kids" are 19 and 18) to IST later this year.
Was thinking about taking my family ("kids" are 19 and 18) to IST later this year.