Turkish Airlines Business Class - A review of the newest *A member! (with pics)

[jacob_m]

Some of my previous trip reports:
ARN-SIN and back in three day on LH/SK/TG in C + Shangri-La Singapore + lots of pics!
European Business class can be pretty nice!! LH/TP/LX/LO/VO/OS in C with 100+ pics!
The trip of trips!! FRWSTAR2 around the world! 57 days, 34 flights, and a few trains…

Introduction

Summertime and holiday time again and as usual I decided to dedicate a few days for some air travels and point earnings, in fact I needed a few last points to re-qualify for gold.
I had a visit to London planned and decided to combine it with a separate leisure trip, preferably to a new destination or with a new airline. London is also quite good as origin as there are usually lots of good tickets available ex-LON in terms of conditions and routing.
After looking around on the internet and considering the options the choice fell on the newest Star Alliance member which joined just three months ago in April 2008 – Turkish Airlines.

I had a look at the destinations they fly to, tickets available on short notice and generally what could be done in a relatively short time and finally the booking was made on the Expedia website. I managed to get a business class ticket with several segments and it was surprisingly affordable, more like the price of a medium-priced economy class ticket.

A few days later it was time for departure and I have to say I was pretty excited, I very rarely get to try any new airlines nowadays as there are around 3-4 airlines I mainly fly.
Also I really had no idea what to expect of Turkish Airlines, I haven’t seen any trip reports or lounge reviews on Flyertalk as far as I can remember and the other air travel sites didn’t reveal much about the airline either.
As a comment I can say already now that flying Turkish Airlines was a thoroughly positive experience, if you think of TK as a third world airline, forget it! Everything from ground services and lounges to meals and inflight service was superb and exceeded most experiences I have had so far this year.

With not much written on Flyertalk about Turkish Airlines I hope this report should be interesting to read for anybody considering TK. Both domestic and international business class flights will be covered as well as ground services, lounges and inflight service, of course with plenty of pics.

Departure time and check-in at Stockholm Arlanda airport

I had a separate ticket Stockholm-London on SAS and then another ticket with Turkish Airlines onwards from London with three hours between flights at Heathrow.
I checked in online on the SAS and the Turkish Airlines websites to secure good seats and hoped the check-in agent at Arlanda would be nice enough to interline my luggage (I had a bag to check) so I wouldn’t have to pick it up in London.

I arrived at the airport around 9.15 am, two hours before departure.
Most morning flights had already departed so the departure hall was quite empty, there were two SAS/*A business class desks and one Star Gold check-in desk open in the priority area with nobody in line for any of them so I approached the Star Gold desk where a young and friendly girl greeted me.
After confirming I was flying to London I showed her my Turkish Airlines booking confirmation and asked nicely if she could interline my luggage. SAS, like many other airlines, has become a lot stricter about interlining and the SAS webpage even clearly states that passengers with two tickets have to pick up and recheck their luggage. However the girl made no fuss about it and after a lot of typing the baggage tag was printed where it said ADB at the top, which is the code for Izmir, the city where I’m off to now.
I suppose having a gold card and a decent connection time at LHR made the trick and the girl also noticed I had a business class ticket on TK. Of course I still had to pick up a boarding pass and register my checked bag at the transfer desk at Heathrow.

I used the fast track security, exchanged some money and headed for the SAS lounge in terminal 5.

Pics
Beautiful summer day at Arlanda airport

SAS Scandinavian lounge, Stockholm/Arlanda

The lounge was relatively empty this morning with only a few people inside.
I quite like this lounge, it has this homely feeling to it with comfortable sofas, a large bookcase (with books you can borrow and read) and a real fireplace. It feels more like being in your living room at home than at a large international airport with 20 million passengers a year.

Still only breakfast served when I arrived with bread, cold cuts, marmalade and toast, they also had cookies, crisps and Swedish pastries available. Quite allright!
The usual drink selection was there with soft drinks and a nice coffee machine. They have beer and wine for self-service already in the morning but they don’t bring out the spirits until lunchtime (which is actually a pretty good selection of premium spirits).
I had some breakfast in the lounge, a large cup of coffee and browsed through some newspapers.

The entrance to the SAS lounges
Inside the rather empty SAS Scandinavian lounge
Nice interior with a bookcase
Breakfast buffet
Drinks in the lounge
Cookies, pastries and snacks

Scoring an operational upgrade!!

They have four computers in the lounge with free internet access which I used to check my e-mails and also the status of my flight.
SAS offers online check-in for most international flights and actually even after you have checked-in you can still view the seat map for the flight in real time, basically until check-in cut-off time (30 mins before departure in Stockholm). It’s a good way to get an idea if the flight is packed of if you'll get a free middle seat, I find it quite handy.
Expertflyer had shown the flight was almost zeroed-out and when I checked in online I picked 04F, the first row of economy class. It is quite uncommon that regular economy stretches all the way to row 4 unless there is a very big demand for economy class tickets.

When I logged onto the SAS website in the lounge 40 minutes before departure I got the nice surprise I had secretly hoped for, the online check-in page did no longer say I was in 04F, it said I was in 01F!! Fantastic, what a start of the trip!!
SAS has three classes intra-Europe: Regular Economy class (no frills), Economy extra (economy but with light/cold meal and drinks) and Business class.
Seat 01F thus meant I had scored a double upgrade from regular economy class to business class.

Shortly afterwards the monitors indicated it was time to proceed to the gate which was a gate in the new F-pier, the standard gates for UK-flights.
No announcements were made at the gate but when it was my time to board the machine made that lovely beep and I was given a new boarding pass with my new seat number 01F on it, nothing was ever said, it was handled very discreetly.

Stockholm/Arlanda-London/Heathrow, flight SK 531 operated by SAS
Departure: 11:10
Arrival: 12:50
Aircraft: MD-80
Class: Business Class
Seat: 01F (Seat change from 04F)

The flight was indeed packed and boarding took a bit of time.
When all passengers were finally onboard the captain made an announcement telling us we had to wait on the ground for nearly half an hour due to air traffic restrictions. Apparently the Danish military had an exercise in northern Jutland which meant only a limited number of aircrafts could pass at the time for safety reasons.
I have flown this route so many times by now that I know the standard and most direct routing passes northern Denmark/Jutland, so it was probably hard to avoid the restriction.
While waiting on the ground the weather outside the plane was the best possible, sunny and not a cloud to be seen, but the cabin became almost unbearably hot. In business class the FAs offered orange juice and water while waiting, I don’t know if they got anything at the back.
Eventually we were allowed to push back and with little traffic at Arlanda at this time of the day we took off just 25 minutes late from runway 01L.

Pics
Lining up for departure on runway 01L
Shortly after take-off, a beautiful Swedish summer day

Meal service

Once in the air the inflight service started with a hot towel followed by a drink service. Since I was sitting on the first row I was the first one to order and I asked for a gin and tonic.
The FA said “sure” and then asked my seat mate what he wanted to drink followed by the passengers on the other side of the aisle. I was pretty sure she had to fetch a bottle of gin from the galley or ask her colleague to assist with the drink, but I waited and waited…
After she had served all eight passengers in business class and even the few passengers in economy extra (one row) and was on her way back to the galley I stopped her and asked what happened to my drink.
Well at least she was honest and told me she forgot about it, but how someone can forget a drink order during the regular drink round with only eight passengers to look after is beyond me.

Eventually I got my gin and tonic (and an apology) but three minutes later the other flight attendant was back at my seat with the meal tray, I had hardly even tasted my drink yet and had not had time to open my packaged snacks.
After she had handed over the tray she realised herself that the situation was a bit awkward and actually offered to take it back and keep it heated in the oven for a few more minutes. Although a nice suggestion I thought it would probably cause more problems and confusion for them than benefit for me so I decided to keep the tray. I also asked for a bottle of Nicolas Feuillate champagne, the standard brand on SAS, quite a good one.

The meal was salmon with potatoes and dill in white sauce, not extraordinary but still quite tasty. The meal service has actually improved on SAS recently from the “cold meal with a hot item”-concept which was used until last year to “a hot meal”, which is very positive!
Breads were offered and I was also asked if I wanted anything more to drink, I asked for some water. “sure” she said and disappeared back in the galley, but no glass of water was delivered to my seat, the second time they forgot my drink order!

After I had finished the meal Belgian chocolates were handed out as dessert (separate from the tray in a small bowl, nice move!) and coffee and tea were also offered.
When the FA came to my seat to offer coffee she suddenly remembered I had asked for a glass of water earlier and brought it to me a few seconds later. I had planned to drink the water as a compliment to the champagne (with the main meal), not as a compliment to the coffee. Oh well…
Spirits were also offered but I declined.

I spent the rest of the flight reading a book until it was time for descent to Heathrow.
Surprisingly no holding at all in north-eastern London, we were directed to final approach straight away and despite the ATC restrictions we landed just five minutes late on runway 27R and made a quick taxi to terminal 3.

Pics
Lunch in business class
Drinks, champagne and chocolates

Conclusion

To summarise I was obviously very happy to score an upgrade, and even a double upgrade. I got a hot meal, champagne, unlimited drinks, chocolates, a free middle seat and I was the first passenger off the plane, things I had actually not paid for. A nice and appreciated reward to a loyal gold card holder. Thank you very much SAS!
But the experience, from the eyes of a paying C-class passenger, was not fine and not really worth the money. They forgot my drink order twice, even though they only had eight business class passengers to look after. Although the two FAs serving C-class were friendly the service was not overly attentive, it was not personalised and everything was done by the book, no more, no less.
The meal service also felt quite rushed, standard (actual) flight time Stockholm-London is about 2 hours and 15 minutes and there just isn’t any need to rush through the meal service.
Oh well, at least I got (unexpectedly) another business class flight and airline to review in this report….

Transfer at London Heathrow

I was the first passenger to leave the plane and followed the black and yellow signs marked “flight connections”. I was quite happy my suitcase had been checked through so I did not have to reclaim and recheck it again.
There were quite a lot of people in the flight connections centre in terminal 3 where they check boarding passes (or travel documents if you don’t have a BP yet) and then you have to pass through a security control, but fortunately we were processed very efficiently.

Straight after the security control there is a large concourse where all airlines operating at terminal 3 have transfer desks where you can get a boarding pass or sort out baggage issues, rebookings etc.
Turkish Airlines is handled by SAS at Heathrow so I joined that line which was incredibly slow. There were two SAS agents working and both were occupied with difficult customers, the woman in front of me mentioned they had already waited for 15 minutes without the line moving.
As a nice coincidence there was a passenger in front of me who was also flying Turkish Airlines and he asked the staff at the counter if he was in the right line. It turned out he was but they used a different computer for TK (probably to get the right boarding passes printed) so they called for a third agent who could operate that computer and we got to pass the entire line and got served straight away.

I was quickly issued a boarding pass to Istanbul but was unfortunately not given one for my third flight that day. I was also invited to use the business class lounge, unfortunately no surprises there, no new lounge to visit this time. Since the ground services are handled by SAS they obviously used the SAS lounge.

Pics
SAS (and Turkish Airlines) transfer desk in terminal 3

Singapore Airlines Silverkris lounge, London/Heathrow

With still over two hours to spare and a Star Alliance gold card in my wallet I headed to the Singapore Airlines lounge instead which is open the whole day from early morning until 10 pm, even though there are only three daily SQ flights and none of them depart in the afternoon.
I was the only guest in the Silverkris/business lounge where the staff had a brief break before the passengers for the two evening flights to Singapore started to arrive.

The SQ lounge at Heathrow is overall still one of my favourite Star gold lounges in the world.
The food and drinks selection is really good, especially the selection of sandwiches is most impressive, and they do have free champagne available, even in the business class lounge.
In the evenings they also have hot food like rice and chicken tikka.
Free internet, nice apron view, plenty of magazines, TVs and really nice and helpful staff are also some of the benefits.

I had a sandwich from the buffet and went to the bar counter to order a glass of champagne.
The young girl at the bar prepared my drink and then looked at me strangely and eventually asked “Haven’t I seen you here before?”
I told her I had been in the lounge several times and she replied “Yes, you are here all the time!”. Yikes! Well she said everything with a smile...
Indeed I have been to the SQ lounge several times this spring, and I do recognise the staff at the reception and in the lounge, I think I have spoken to most of them, but the fact that they recognise me out of all the passengers who use the lounge is quite impressive.
I don’t know if I’m a very memorable person or something…

Pics
Inside the very empty Singapore Airlines lounge
Very good selection of sandwiches
Soft drinks
The bar counter
Afternoon snack: Champagne, sandwich, yoghurt and a cup of coffee
Do people really view “adult material” in airline lounges?

SAS/Air Canada “London lounge”, London/Heathrow

After the visit to the Singapore Airlines lounge I made the short walk over to the combined SAS and Air Canada lounge simply called "The London Lounge”, the one also used by Turkish Airlines.
It’s always a good idea to finish in the “right” lounge in case they make any important announcements, and there is a service desk in the lounge which could come handy in that case.

Nice and spacious lounge with two floors, the ground floor mostly used for business purposes with work stations for example and the first floor mostly used for leisure/relaxation purposes.
There are also two self-service buffet areas, one on each floor, but with basically the same selection of drinks and food.
The food is limited to vegetables, bread, cheese and some cold cuts, nothing really substantial. There are instant noodles available as well and also a very good selection of cookies.
Drinks selection is OK but quite basic, and also it never changes. I have been to that lounge for several years and they still have the same Merlot red wine on offer as they had on my first visit.

Anyway, I made myself a drink, brought some snacks and had a seat in the cinema room which is my favourite place in the lounge where you can watch TV on a large screen.
Two years ago I watched a game of the world football championship in that room which was a very nice experience.

The time passed all too quickly and soon the monitors indicated it was time to go to gate 29 for my flight to Istanbul.
My first ever flight with Turkish Airlines and even Turkish Airlines business class was about to begin, I was quite excited…

Pics
The entrance to the London lounge
The self-service buffet on the ground floor
Food offerings in the self-service buffet
The self-service buffet on the first floor
Some of the drinks available
The business centre with free internet
Inside the cinema room, my favourite place in the lounge

[g-day]

G-day jacob_m,
Enjoyed the TR so far but really looking forward to the TK experience.

Ray

[jacob_m]

When checking in online the day before departure I realised there had unfortunately been an aircraft change for my flight to Istanbul.
My flight was supposed to be operated by an Airbus A330 with the longhaul configuration, which would mean lie-flat in business class, AVOD and so on. My booking confirmation said A330 and all internet booking sites also indicated an Airbus A330 was operating, but on the day on the departure there was an Airbus A321 waiting at Heathrow.
Too bad! Well sure I got to experience exactly the same inflight service, but it’s a shame I didn’t get to try the longhaul seat.

A chaotic boarding process

I arrived at a packed gate 29 half an hour before departure, seemed like the flight was fully-booked this evening and many passengers also had a massive amount of hand luggage taking up most of the waiting lounge. Absolutely unbelievable how much stuff some passengers were going to bring onboard!!

Finally it was time for boarding which was done by sections from the back to make the boarding of a full A321 as smooth and efficient as possible.
As soon as the first gate agent appeared at the door basically the entire room stood up and rushed towards the door like small children, a moment later the first boarding announcement was made in the lounge.
You could really hear the gate agent taking a deep breath before he, as politely as possible, not asked but demanded the passengers not allowed to board to remain seated. He mentioned the phrase “please remain seated” at least ten times during the boarding process, still they needed two bouncers at the door to check boarding passes and stop people who tried to board anyway.
I was quite amazed how much effort some people made to get onboard early, but with all the hand luggage and shopping bags I saw in the gate lounge sufficient overhead storage in the cabin would be a problem.
Business class passengers were not mentioned in the announcements but were basically allowed to board at their leisure (but the gate staff preferred to have us waiting at the gate until the end as we were sitting in the front and would occupy the aisle).

Pics
A Turkish Airlines A321 seen from the Singapore Airlines lounge at Heathrow
Boarding to Istanbul at gate 29

London/Heathrow-Istanbul, flight TK 1992 operated by Turkish Airlines
Departure: 16:30
Arrival: 22:25
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Class: Business Class
Seat: 04F

Once onboard I found my seat 04F. There were four rows of business class onboard, the aircraft usually has a 3-3 configuration but in business class the middle seats are replaced by a table and the seats have been widened a bit. With a full business class cabin it thus meant we were 16 passengers onboard. Also the legroom is much better in business than at the back so although this was not a widebody aircraft, personal space wasn’t that much of a problem.
A blanket, a pillow and headphones were already available at the seat.

When all passengers had boarded newspapers, magazines and pre-departure drinks were offered in the business class cabin including champagne, water and orange juice.
I realised there were quite a few flight attendants onboard, more than I’m used to on an Airbus A321, and there were as many as three FAs serving the four rows of business class cabin at times.

A safety demo video was shown on the screens before we finally pushed back, almost 30 minutes after scheduled departure time. With another connecting flight in Istanbul I did feel a bit concerned about the delay, but fortunately we were given priority at the runway and took off just a few minutes later at 5.10 pm from runway 27R.

Pics
The business class cabin onboard
The business class seat on the Airbus A321
Waiting for take-off at runway 27R

Meal service

After the seat belt signs had been switched off the inflight service started.
Hot towels were handed out and afterwards one of the flight attendants came to take drink orders which were elegantly delivered on a tray from the galley. I asked for a glass of champagne, they serve the Heidsieck Monopole onboard (I never saw the bottle but asked about it), Turkish hazelnuts were also served with the drinks.
Next the menus were handed out (yes they do offer proper menus onboard) and I was very impressed by what I saw. A three courses meal would be served with three choices of main course and it all sounded very delicious.

Here is what was on offer on the flight to Istanbul:

Menu London-Istanbul

Chicken Caesar’s salad / Caesar’s dressing

Traditional yoghurt cucumber salad

****

Chicken “kebab”, sautéed vegetables, pan-fried potatoes

Or

Stuffed vine leaves, zucchini and eggplant
Very traditional Turkish dish stuffed with minced beef
Home made yoghurt

Or

Penne with parmesan cheese
Black olive, tomato sauce

****

Selection of cheese

“Tulumba” with clotted cream

Ovenfresh bread selection

Coffee or tea

Beverages

Champagne

Blended Whisky, Bourbon Whisky, Gin, Vodka, Raki

Selected Turkish and international wines

Beers

Liqueur and cognacs

Orange, tomato, sourcherry juices

Ice Tea lemon, Mineral water

Tea, Coffee

White tablecloths were laid on the tables and then the meal trays were handed out with the appetizer on it. The appetizer was a caesar’s salad which was served with a yoghurt cucumber salad, both were delicious. Warm breads were also offered.
The appetizer plates were collected and next it was time for the main course.
The main course was served from a cart by one of the FAs and the second FA actually delivered more meals directly from the oven to the cart depending on demand.
There were three choices on offer and they seemed to have far more meals than there were passengers in business class, all passengers got their first choice as far as I could see and there were still six or seven meals on the cart when the FA returned to the galley after having served all passengers. I had the chicken kebab to eat which was very tasty and was also offered more to drink.
I wanted some red wine with the meal so I asked the FA which red wines they had, her answer was a rather interesting "what would you like?", with a big smile. They only have small bottles of wine onbord but on the other hand they seemed to have several ones to choose between including both local Turkish and international wines.

On the tray there was also a bowl with three types of cheeses and a traditional Turkish dessert callled tulumba which was some kind of crispy pastry, actually not bad!
The meal trays were collected and afterwards they offered coffee, tea and liqueurs, again very elegantly from a nicely decorated cart with full size bottles of spirits on display (and quite good brands as well).
I had a cup of coffee and a glass of whisky. They had two types of whisky on offer and the blended one which I had was the nice Chivas Regal.
Overall the whole meal service was very good and the food was really tasty, prepared by Do&Co.

When the meal service was over we were already cruising over the Swiss Alps. Most passengers had some rest or watched the movie on the main screen which was “Flawless” if I remember correctly.
Duty free items were sold in the cabin, more drinks were offered, and all too soon we started our descent.

Pics
Menu, cocktail snacks and a glass of champagne
Appetizer
Main course
Lovely TK flight attendants serving drinks
Coffee and a glass of Chivas Regal whisky

Arrival and transfer at Istanbul Atatürk airport

A video was shown on the main screen about arriving and transferring at Istanbul Atatürk airport. One of my main questions was if I had to reclaim and recheck my luggage in Istanbul since I was connecting to a domestic flight, it varies a bit from country to country, at the Turkish Airlines transfer counter at Heathrow they didn’t have a clue.
The video didn’t give that information so I asked one of the flight attendants who was very helpful and could answer my question straight away. Apparently the luggage is transferred automatically if the final domestic airport has customs facilities. She told me Izmir is one of those airports so I would not have to bother about the luggage in Istanbul. Great!!

Shortly before landing hot towels were offered in business class and we finally touched down in Istanbul at 10.30 pm on runway 6. The final approach was quite spectacular offering a great view of the Sea of Marmara and the huge number of vessels anchored outside Istanbul.

Passport control was very quick and with no checked luggage to take care of I followed the signs for the domestic terminal.

Pics
Just landed at Istanbul Atatürk airport
The international arrivals hall, following the signs for the domestic terminal

Turkish Airlines Domestic CIP lounge, Istanbul - A great experience!

Turkish Airlines offers a really great service for domestic business class passenger through their CIP lounge.
Halfway to the domestic lounge the first signs for the CIP lounge appeared, after a quick elevator ride I was standing outside the entrance to the CIP lounge which is basically located on the ground floor of one of the international piers.

After passing through security control (which you almost always have to do when entering airport terminals in Turkey) I was standing in the check-in lobby.
This was a beautiful lobby with neon lights, marble, red carpets and four check-in desks dedicated to business class passengers and gold card holders on domestic flights.
If you have luggage to check you can of course have it taken care of here, but I only needed a boarding pass and to have my luggage registered in the reservation which was quickly done of by a very friendly woman.

After the formalities were completed only a few steps were needed to enter the lounge, a vast lounge with a nice modern interior, very comfortable seating, and panorama windows overlooking the apron.
There were plenty of armchairs and sofas, I think as many as eight widescreen TVs, four computers with free internet, and a good amount of reading material.
The food and drinks selection was certainly not bad either. To eat they had several types of bread, Turkish breads, scones, pastries, vegetables, packaged sandwiches, fresh fruit, many types of desserts and even some hot food (but when I arrived at 11 pm only hot soup was available).
A really decent selection for a domestic business class lounge! The drinks selection was also quite OK, the only drawback being that it’s a dry lounge.

The next really nice feature of the lounge is that they offer a bus transfer service from the lounge directly to the aircraft, so no need to pass the main terminal and wait with the others at the gate.
You can relax in the lounge and when the bus for your flight has arrived at the lounge they make an announcement and you only have to walk a few steps to have a seat in the bus (which is obviously not very crowded).
Unfortunately most “boarding announcements” were only made in Turkish, but it wasn’t too hard to hear the destination being called. When they knew there were non-Turkish passengers on the flight English announcements were made and they also made an effort to look for missing passengers in the lounge so nobody would miss the flight.
If a passenger had arrived very late at the lounge they also brought the checked luggage on the bus to make sure it would make the flight.

Around 11.30 pm, 25 minutes before scheduled departure, the Izmir flight was called and I collected my belongings, handed over my boarding pass to a TK agent standing by the single exit, and boarded the bus. There were five more people in the lounge flying to Izmir this late evening who also boarded the bus.
We were then taken across the tarmac to the aircraft parked at a remote stand opposite the international terminal, with only our small bus arriving there was of course no wait to get onboard.

In conclusion the domestic experience in Istanbul was just fantastic.
A separate check-in lobby, a very nice lounge with plenty of food and drinks, lots of staff available for any questions or problems, and a private transfer directly from the lounge to the aircraft. A completely relaxed and hassle-free experience! How much better can it get?
Having been to the Lufthansa FCT in Frankfurt, in terms of service I think this was almost an equally good experience, obviously just not quite as luxurious and with transfer to the aircraft in a minibus instead.

Pics
The very nice check-in lobby in the domestic lounge
Inside the domestic lounge
Comfortable seating in the lounge
The restaurant part of the lounge
Plenty of soft drinks, coffee and tea
Plenty of food as well (including hot food)
Many types of bread and pastries to eat
Sandwiches, fresh fruits and desserts
A decent evening snack in the lounge
The departure board with several late domestic flights from Istanbul around midnight

Istanbul-Izmir, flight TK 354 operated by Turkish Airlines
Departure: 23:55
Arrival: 01:00
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Class: Business Class
Seat: 02F

The flight to Izmir was operated by a Boeing 737-800 with a roughly 60% load. Three rows were used for business class and it turned out I was the only business class passenger onboard and had the whole cabin to myself!!
Just like on the previous flight the middle seat was replaced by a table and there was a pillow and a blanket waiting at the seat when I came onboard.
Shortly afterwards a friendly flight attendant came to greet me and offered a pre-departure drink and a refreshing towel, I had a glass of orange juice to drink.

We pushed back a few minutes late at 00.05 and were number 4 for departure at runway 36R. Several Turkish Airlines domestic flights were departing at midnight for the larger Turkish cities including Antalya, Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum and Adana, I suppose mostly to bring international transfer passengers to their final destinations in Turkey.

Pics
Boarding the Turkish Airlines B738 at a remote stand
The business class seat
Several TK domestic flights preparing for departure at midnight
A glass of orange juice and a refreshing towel before departure
Waiting for departure at runway 36R
Inflight map

Meal service

After the seat belt sign had been switched off the curtains were closed between economy and business and the inflight service started.
My booking confirmation said a “snack” would be served on this flight in business class and I expected that to be something like a sandwich, especially considering departure at midnight and a flight time of only around 50 minutes.
But again Turkish Airlines exceeded my expectations! What I got was not a sandwich but a full cold meal prepared by Do&Co. Something even more remarkable was that I was given a small menu!

This is what was offered on the flight to Izmir:

Menu Istanbul-Izmir

Eggplant salad, herbed white cheese

Smoked salmon, grilled courgette, crème fraiche

Panna cotta

Ovenfresh bread selection

Coffee and tea

The meal was simply superb and the FA also offered a basket with five types of bread, which had been heated just for me!! I had some red wine to drink with the meal.
The panna cotta as dessert was also really nice, I have never had panna cotta on a flight before as far as I can remember, so this was a very refreshing change.
I was offered more to drink and more bread but declined tea or coffee as it was very late.
When the table was being cleared I took the opportunity to give my compliments to the FA for such a good and tasty meal on such a short flight and the nice girl really seemed to appreciate hearing that.

Pics
Inflight meal in business class to Izmir

Arrival in Izmir

The short flight was quickly coming to an end and after flying over the bay of Izmir we made a sharp left turn and landed just after 1 am on runway 34R at Izmir Adnan Menderes international airport.
We parked at the domestic terminal and being the only passenger in business class I was the first passenger off the plane.

Now the fun thing came, at the end of the jetty there was a man standing asking me if I was an “international passenger”. I didn’t quite understand what he was referring to but he explained he wanted to know if I had transferred from an international flight in Istanbul, which I indeed had.
It turned out that domestic passengers, i.e. passengers starting their trip in Istanbul, should reclaim their luggage in the domestic terminal while “international passengers” (like me) had to take a bus all the way to the international terminal to reclaim the luggage there, the only reason being that “international passengers” had to pass through customs in Izmir.
So I used the stairs and boarded a bus waiting on the apron that would take me to the international terminal.

It was quite a long ride to the international terminal and once inside the modern terminal we were escorted to the passport control as special arrangements had to be made for us since we had already passed immigration in Istanbul. I showed the officer the immigration stamp in my passport and was allowed inside the baggage hall.
Quite strange to have baggage delivery in two different terminals for the same flight, but it was still so much better than having to reclaim and re-check the luggage in Istanbul.
The baggage delivery started fairly quickly but my Star Alliance priority tag didn’t make much of a difference, but in all fairness they probably had enough work anyway to separate “international luggage” from “domestic luggage” to make sure the right bags were delivered to the right terminal.

I had an airport transfer arranged to my hotel as I had no wish to deal with unreliable taxi drivers at 1.30 am. I was quite concerned though that he would be waiting at the domestic terminal since I wrote in the e-mail I was arriving from Istanbul, but he seemed to have been through this before and was indeed waiting outside customs in the international terminal with a sign with my name.
I was soon on my way to the hotel for some well-needed sleep after 16 hours of travelling. Hotel review of a very nice hotel is up next…

Pics
Passing the very modern international terminal in Izmir

[MatthewLAX]

Was there a smoking area in the lounge in IST?

(Great report, BTW!)

[chanp]

thanks for the pics and report. never seen a cinema room in a lounge after a long flight, then connecting to another one, eatin on the plane in the lounges and again on the plane, i feel fat! thanks again. keep them coming

[hoyateach]

Another top-flight report, jacob_m! I hope you got to try the A330 on the return.

[Kiwi Flyer]

Thanks for the report jacob_m

I should have known you'd be one of the first to try out TK after they joined *A

[Cheetah_SA]

Thanks for a great report!

I flew IST-ADB-IST last month in J and agree that the meals and service were of outstanding quality (for a 1 hour flight!). The domestic lounge wasn't open yet (I was rushing to connect from a delayed arrival, so wouldn't have had much chance to try it anyway) but it looks very nice.

I can say there is a cracking little lounge at ADB domestic too. Very smart and well stocked. And the really good news: the miles posted to my BD account very quickly.

[jacob_m]

Thanks for the comments! Next part coming up tonight...

Originally Posted by Cheetah_SA

I can say there is a cracking little lounge at ADB domestic too.

Indeed!

Originally Posted by MatthewLAX

Was there a smoking area in the lounge in IST?

Hmmm, I can't remember as I don't smoke myself, but I'm pretty sure there was something as the other TK lounges have smoking areas.

[N334AA]

Wonderful report with great pictures. Good to finally see a report of TK, they seem like a good addition to the Star Alliance.

[HedgeFundFlyer]

One of the more interesting TRs I've read, on an airline I've been curious about for some time. I'm more inclined to give Turkish a try now. Many thanks!

[jacob_m]

Crowne Plaza Hotel Izmir

With the flight ticket booked I obviously had to arrange accommodation in Izmir, the choice fell rather unexpectedly on the Crowne Plaza Hotel, part of the InterContinental group.
I had a look at the Tripadvisor webpage to get some ideas of where to stay and the hotel was ranked #1 in Izmir. Sure one shouldn’t rely all too much on these webpages, but the hotel had received 13 reviews and all 13 reviewers had rated the hotel 5 out of 5 and there were some smashing comments there as well.
It just sounded like a very good choice!

I had a look at the Crowne Plaza webpage and realised that the hotel was not even expensive with international standards, there were some very good deals to be had.
Eventually I booked a room with sea view on the executive floor with lots of nice extra benefits included in the rate.

The hotel is located slightly outside Izmir in a place called Balcova, but it is quite easy to get to downtown Izmir by bus or taxi.
The location was actually an advantage, it was not overly touristy which is what I prefer. Just at the doorstep to the hotel there were several Turkish restaurants and bars (in particular a nice outdoor one) and right behind the hotel there was a large shopping centre and supermarket which seemed to be very popular among the locals. You could buy almost anything in there.

The hotel has 20 floors and was newly renovated which you could notice. The 19th floor has a restaurant and the 20th floor a bar with live music some days of the week, both places would be good if you want to enjoy the view. There is also a restaurant and a bar on the ground floor next to the lobby.

Pics
Crown Plaza Hotel, right by the water front
The entrance to the hotel

The room on the executive floor

I arrived at the hotel around 2 am, a bell boy assisted with my luggage while I went inside to check-in.
The friendly receptionist confirmed I had a room booked on the executive floor and handed me an envelope with my name on it which included a personalised welcome letter and a description of the facilities available and the benefits I got staying on the executive floor.

The executive rooms are located on the top floors of the hotel and I got a room on the 15th floor, I had paid extra for a room with sea view.
The view from my room was simply magnificent; I could see the entre city of Izmir, the bay outside, all the vessels anchored and the mountains east of the city.
I could not get enough of the view, and it was certainly not bad at night either with the entire city lit-up!

The room itself was very nice, but perhaps not spectacular, but it had all the facilities you would expect of a good top-end hotel including a comfortable bed, work desk, high-speed internet, bathrobe and slippers, mini bar and coffee-making facilities.
Some extra features I got staying in an executive room included a CD/DVD-player in the room, free daily newspaper, turndown service and a really nice fruit basket upon arrival.

Pics
The absolutely amazing view from my room overlooking the city of Izmir and the bay
The mountains east of Izmir seen from my room
The view at night
The bed in my room
The nice fruit basket included in the room rate

The club lounge

Easily the best part of the stay was access to the club lounge on the 13th floor which was open from early morning to late evening and offered the same great sea view as I got from my room (actually I had a slightly better view).

The lounge was very stylish with comfortable armchairs and couches, a TV, international newspapers and magazines and according to my welcome letter they even had Playstation II and DVD-films.

The restaurant part of the club lounge offered free food and drinks throughout the day.
Breakfast buffet 7-11 am; fruit, cookies and dessert buffet 11 am-7 pm and dinner buffet from 7 pm. Free drinks were available from 5 pm.
The dinner buffet was really impressive, there was so much food available including cold cuts, vegetables, sauces and some Turkish specialities. They also had hot food available such as stuffed sea bass with spinach, beef stew, grilled chicken kebab, rice and spaghetti.
Afterwards there was an impressive dessert buffet which included some Turkish delights.
They also had wine and beer available as well as a decent selection of premium spirits for self-service.
The food was superb, the drinks not bad either and the service was great, nothing was too much trouble and they were constantly looking for ways to serve you.
There were not that many people staying on the executive floors during my stay so the service was very personalised, especially in the club lounge.

Opposite the club lounge there was a business centre with internet computers, work stations and free use of printer, photocopy, fax and local phone calls.

Pics
The reception desk and the business centre
The entrance to the club lounge
Very nice modern interior with comfortable sofas, armchairs and a TV
The restaurant part
Great view also from the club lounge
The very extensive dinner buffet
Impressive selection of desserts and a good selection of premium spirits

Swimming pools and spa facilities

There was an outdoor pool in the hotel with a poolside bar serving drinks, snacks and hot food during the day.
The hotel has also specialised in health and fitness. In the basement they have a large indoor pool, sauna, jacuzzi, solarium and a very well-equipped gym. They also offer several spa treatments like massage, skin care, and thermal water and in the spa centre they also had a small café with healthy snacks and drinks.

Pics
The outdoor pool
The indoor pool
The indoor spa centre

Overall I really enjoyed the stay with the great facilities and service, it was definitely very good value for money, a real gem in Izmir.
Staying in an executive room is also highly recommended, especially if you can get a room with sea view. Access to the very nice club lounge is also well worth the premium.
I would not hesitate to stay there again!

[jacob_m]

Check-in at Izmir airport

I checked out of the hotel at 1 pm and took a taxi to the airport, the ride from Izmir to the airport took around 30 minutes so I arrived at the airport in good time before departure, my flight was leaving at 3 pm.
Since the taxi driver spoke virtually no English the bell boy at the hotel was nice enough to explain I wanted to go to the domestic terminal (which I actually later learnt is called “iç hatlar terminali”).

At the entrance to the domestic terminal there was a security control, standard at most Turkish airports. My luggage was screened and I had to pass through a metal detector before entering the terminal.

The Turkish Airlines check-in area was quite empty, there were two business class/Star gold check-in desks with nice red carpets in front, one of the desks was open.
A friendly young woman assisted me with the check-in process, my suitcase was through-checked and was tagged with the standard Star Alliance priority tag and a Turkish Airlines transfer tag indicating I had an international transfer in Istanbul.
I also received both boarding passes and an invitation to the Turkish Airlines domestic lounge.

I had a look around the domestic terminal and took a few photos. A medium-sized terminal with quite a few shops and cafes in the public area and a nice view of the apron, there was even a Starbucks there.
Otherwise it was not a particularly exciting building and I decided to head for the lounge instead.

Pics
Turkish Airlines business class check-in (notice the flowers on the check-in counter!)
The departure monitors
Shops and cafes in the public area of the domestic terminal

Turkish Airlines domestic CIP lounge, Izmir - Another great TK lounge!

There are two “piers” in the domestic terminal with three gates in each pier and a security control at the entrance to the piers.
The security control for the Turkish Airlines pier was closed and the security people there were just relaxing, but I really wanted to spend some time in the lounge which was located in that pier (after security), well I did not have much else to do anyway.
Apparently the standard procedure is to open the security control one hour before departure, but after I had showed them my lounge invitation they understood what it was about and were kind enough to let me pass quickly before closing again.

I had no idea what to expect of a domestic lounge at one of the smaller Turkish airports, but (by now as usual) Turkish Airlines did not disappoint.
The entrance was very elegant with Turkish Airlines written in silver letters on the wall and inside there was a large reception desk with two people working.
I handed over my lounge invitation to the woman at the reception and was allowed to enter.

The lounge was really stylish! Modern, spacious and spotlessly clean with a good view of the apron (well parts of it). There were two widescreen TVs in the main lounge and three internet computers in a separate room and also quite a lot of reading material.
But the biggest surprise was the selection of food, it was immense!!
They had plenty of packaged sandwiches, bread, fresh fruit, muffins, vegetables, pastries, hot soup, miniature desserts, hot snacks, cookies and probably something else I have forgotten.
One of the best selections of food I have ever seen in a lounge that was not a first class lounge. Most impressive!
Plenty of soft drinks as well, juices, and sodas, a good selection of tea and an advanced coffee machine. Unfortunately, just like the domestic lounge in Istanbul, there was no alcohol.

I made myself a very decent afternoon snack, watched some TV, and then spent some time checking my e-mails.
Outside the lounge the security control had opened and the other passengers for the flight started to arrive in the pier, we were only about ten people in total in the lounge.

The first boarding announcement was made around 25 minutes before departure but premium passengers could wait in the lounge for a few more minutes. Around 15 minutes before departure a boarding call was made in the lounge and we headed for the gate just opposite the lounge where there was no wait at all, all other passengers had already boarded.

Pics
The entrance to the Turkish Airlines domestic CIP lounge
Inside the very nice lounge
Very comfortable sofas and armchairs
A superb selection of food and drinks
Sandwiches, muffins, cakes, miniature tarts and lots of soft drinks
Hot snacks, breads, pastries and lots of fresh fruit
More soft drinks, coffee and tea
A decent afternoon snack
View of the apron from the lounge

Izmir-Istanbul, flight TK 325 operated by Turkish Airlines
Departure: 15:00
Arrival: 16:05
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Class: Business Class
Seat: 02F

I was one of the last passengers to board the flight without any wait at all between the lounge and my seat. It is so nice to fly on an airline having these kind of arrangements for premium passengers, especially when everything really works like it did in Izmir.

The flight to Istanbul was operated by an Airbus A320, three rows were assigned for business class with the same configuration as the Boeing 737 with a table instead of the middle seat and a pillow and a blanket at the seat.
We were only two passengers in business class on this afternoon flight to Istanbul, so there was obviously no lack of space.

A pre-departure drink was offered and a refreshing towel by a smiling young flight attendant. On the tray the FA had prepared water, orange juice and something that looked like…well champagne.
I thought to myself that there is no way they offer champagne as pre-departure drink on a short domestic flight, but I decided to ask anyway, and gosh Turkish Airlines did it again!! Of course, champagne it was…
Just unbelievable!! I have never ever had champagne as pre-departure drink on any domestic flights I have taken, or any short flights for that matter, on any airline.
I enjoyed my glass of chilled Heidsieck thinking life is sometimes quite nice while the last bags were being loaded outside my window and the aircraft was being prepared for departure.

Pics
The Turkish Airlines A320 at the gate in Izmir
The business class cabin on the Airbus A320
A glass of champagne before departure
The view from my seat with the international terminal in the background

After the doors were closed a safety demonstration video was shown on all screens in Turkish and English, it’s one of the longer ones I have seen and everything was explained quite thoroughly.
We pushed back right on time and taxied to the end of runway 34L for a departure to the north. A Boeing 737 from some strange charter airline I had never heard of was waiting for departure, but then it was our turn.
The initial climb offered a spectacular view of the city of Izmir, the bay and the mountains. The surroundings are really beautiful!

Pics
Safety demonstration video
The domestic terminal seen from my seat after push back
Lining up runway 34L, best possible weather!
The city of Izmir seen from the plane

Meal service

After the seatbelt sign had been switched off the inflight service started, now I had an idea what to expect and I was not going to be disappointed on this flight either.
Just like the previous domestic flight they served a very decent meal considering the short flight time and just like on my last flight I was given a small menu.

This is what was served on the flight to Istanbul

Menu Izmir-Istanbul

Turkish style kidney beans

Dried beef, eggplant salad, herbed chicken

Tulumba with clotted cream

Ovenfresh bread selection

Coffee and tea

The meal was superb with dried beef and chicken and a Turkish dessert after the meal, very tasty! The meal was prepared by Turkish Do&Co according to the menu and not just tasted good but also looked very appetizing. If you look at the photo below you can also see the miniature pepper and salt shakers they provide on the tray, quite cute!
I asked for a glass of red wine to drink and was also given a package of Turkish hazelnuts with the drink. They only have small bottles of wine onboard but they do use proper wine glasses with the Turkish Airlines logo, it looks quite elegant!

Pics
Inflight meal in business class

Arrival in Istanbul

The flight passed very quickly, the female flight attendant serving business class offered more drinks but all too soon we started our descent to Istanbul and the cabin had to be prepared for landing.
Very nice weather in the Istanbul area offering an excellent view of the Sea of Marmara and all the vessels anchored outside Istanbul, quite a sight!
We finally touched down just before 4 pm on runway 6 at Istanbul Atatürk airport.

It was quite a long taxi to the domestic terminal. The current domestic terminal was once used as international terminal before the new one was built, which is not a very long time ago.
I used it myself in the late 90’s and it just struck me when entering the terminal this time how small and cramped the building actually is, and back then it was the main international terminal in Turkey, how did they manage?
Anyway, sitting in business class I was the first passenger off the plane and after passing the baggage hall I followed the signs for the international terminal.

Pics
Seconds before landing, lots of ships have anchored just a short distance from the airport
Passing the international terminal
The domestic terminal

Next: A review of the business class facilities in Istanbul and the Turkish Airlines lounge in the international terminal, one of the most unusual and spectacular lounges I have ever been to…

[ErthCrclr]

Thanks, jacob_m,
I have some J segments on TK coming up and I appreciate knowing what to expect. There are some pix of the CIP lounge at IST on airliners.net that show off the incredible furniture there as well. Gotta love that WOW factor.

[hairpeace]

Good report!