Transit in Istanbul
Transit time again, but fortunately one of the easiest and quickest transit experiences during this trip.
After stepping off the plane from Seoul I followed the signs marked flight connections which led me to an area next to the immigration area. Since I already had a boarding pass for my connecting flight I showed it to a mildly interested officer and then took an escalator up to the departure level and entered the transit hall between two duty free shops.
That’s about it! Security takes place at the gate for all passengers.
Busy morning at the airport and I could see very long queues at passport control for passengers starting their journey in Istanbul, for a change it was actually nice to be a transit passengers at an airport
After spending my remaining Turkish lira on some booze and some Turkish delight in one of the duty free shops I headed for the lounge for a few cups of coffee.
Pics
The very colourful transit hall
A rather nice café in the transit hall
Turkish Airlines lounge, Istanbul
The lounge was rather crowded this morning with many departures between 7 am and 9 am but I found an empty seat without too much problem.
The selection of food was quite extensive as usual but actually quite similar to my previous visit except that there were no hot food and desserts but instead a better selection of yoghurts.
I wasn’t very hungry after having eaten breakfast on the plane and just had some yoghurt and a few cups of coffee.
I realised that this was about to become a marathon series of flights and that so far 32 hours had passed since I checked in at Sydney airport, and I was still not at my final destination.
I was really starting to feel a bit groggy and jet-lagged and not even three cups of coffee helped this time.
Finally here are a few morning photos of the lounge and the breakfast selection.
Very nice natural light in the lounge in the morning and the weather outside was the best possible.
There is also a photo of the rather interesting computer room in the lounge.
Pics
The entrance to the Turkish Airlines lounge
First sight inside the lounge
Morning ambience in the lounge
Lots of seating
The bar and dining area
Self-service buffet: Yoghurt
Self-service buffet: Sandwiches
Self-serivce buffet: Bread and pastries
Self-service buffet: Cheese and vegetables
The internet computer room with an interesting interior
Boarding
The vast majority of the flights between Stockholm and Istanbul (about 2-3 daily departure during the summer) are operated by Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircrafts, which makes perfect sense considering the demand.
However when the booking was made I got the option to pre-book a seat, which I naturally took advantage of, and I was able to select seat 02K for the flight.
During all my years of flying I have never ever been on a narrowbody aircraft where the window seat on the right side has had the letter K. There had to be another type of aircraft operating this flight…
Indeed that was exactly the case, for some very unknown reason this flight was going to be operated by an Airbus A330, and on the day of the departure there was actually even more surprisingly an Airbus A340 waiting at the gate, an even larger aircraft.
I don’t know why they did this, but I certainly did not mind to spend a few more hours in longhaul business class.
As always in Istanbul security control took place at the gate. Our gate area was shared with a British Airways flight to London LHR and the lines were long and slow with only two x-ray machines in use for two flights leaving roughly at the same time.
Although there were a fair number of passengers waiting for the Stockholm flight including an Israeli sports team of 30 I found it hard to believe the A340 would be full.
Boarding started at 8.25 am, 25 minutes before scheduled departure time. The only announcement made was a general boarding call, no priority boarding and no use of sections for economy class.
The Airbus A340 that would take us to Stockholm this morning was called Ankara, just like the Turkish capital, and it was nicely painted in the Star Alliance colours, probably to show TK is rather serious about the Star Alliance membership.
Pics
The departure board, busy morning!
The TK A340 in Star Alliance livery seen from the gate
View from the gate area, beautiful morning with lots of TK metal and an A330 or A340 just about to land
Onboard the A340 again
The aircraft had the same longhaul configuration and interior as the incoming flight with large spacious and comfortable business class seats with ample legroom, without a doubt this was going to be another comfortable flight.
Interestingly only two seats were taken in business class (out of 34 seats in total) and funnily we had both selected seats right behind each other. A rather young man was sitting in 01K when I came onboard (never figured out his nationality) and I had reserved seat 02K.
At least our seat selections made it easy for the flight attendant to perform the meal service.
A deadheading crewmember (a captain I think) finally joined us in business class and settled in seat 04K.
It felt very strange to be in a large and nearly deserted business class cabin with 31 spacious business class seats completely empty, the conversations were nearly echoing in the cabin (OK they weren‘t, but nearly...).
I believe there was a good load in economy though, but probably not 100%.
Pre-departure drinks were offered, and of course I would not decline a last glass of bubbles during this trip (the other options were not surprisingly OJ and water, just for the records).
My jacket was also taken and newspapers offered in the cabin.
Pics
The business class cabin on the A340
A glass of bubbly, the last one of this trip
An almost deserted business class cabin
Facts about the Airbus A340
Premium baggage handling in action
In my trip reports I sometimes include small interesting events that took place during the trips.
In Istanbul I got to enjoy what baggage sorting and baggage loading can look like.
As most of you probably know Airbus A340s use containers for the luggage, but for some reason the luggage had only been loaded on carts and for some other reason the baggage handlers were going to do the final loading into containers at the apron stand (poor guys, it was not exactly cold outdoors).
Quite quickly I could spot my suitcase on one of the carts, it’s a rather odd suitcase in a rather unusual blue colour that is always easy to recognise wherever I go (nice it had made it this far by the way).
Just for fun I decided to see what they would do with it, it had a Star Alliance priority tag that I remembered the check-in agent in Sydney attached properly and rather visibly.
I was quite positively surprised when I saw the baggage guy reaching for my bag and actually noticing the tag, he said something to his colleague, and then they put it aside.
The bag ended up standing on the apron until every other bag had been loaded on the plane, then one of the guys came back for my suitcase which was loaded separately (I believe in one of the holds instead of in a container).
I guess my bag was the only one with a priority tag onboard. Nice work Turkish Airlines!
Pics
Baggage handlers loading luggage in containers
That‘s my blue suitcase being taken aside to be loaded last
Istanbul-Stockholm/Arlanda, flight TK 1793 operated by Turkish Airlines
Departure: 08:50
Arrival: 11:20
Aircraft: Airbus A340-300
Class: Business Class
Seat: 02K
Due to heavy morning traffic pushback got slightly delayed and we were finally given permission to leave the gate at 9.10 am.
The captain informed us the flight time to Stockholm was expected to be 2 hours and 55 minutes and that we would fly at an altitude of 34,000 feet.
There were four aircrafts in front of us at the runway and I could notice four aircrafts behind us when it was finally our turn to line up. Istanbul Atatürk has really become a busy airport nowadays.
We finally took off at 9.30 am from runway 36R. As on previous flights the cockpit camera was turned on during taxi, take-off and climb, which is always nice.
I enjoyed some nice views of Istanbul and the Bosphorus during the climb before we set course for Bulgaria and the Black Sea.
Pics
Pushback with lots of TK metal at the international terminal
Waiting at the runway with four aircrafts behind
Take-off roll, cockpit view
Istanbul and the Bosphorus
The menu
Very nicely Turkish Airlines hands out a menu in business class even on shorter intra-European flights describing the food (usually 2 choices for breakfast and 3 choices of main course for lunch/dinner) as well as soft drinks and alcoholic drinks available onboard.
Unfortunately the wines on offer are not mentioned in the menu. Small bottles are used on intra-European flights however there is usually a fairly good selection onboard, but you need to ask the crew about that.
Pics
The business class menu
Here is the breakfast menu to Stockholm:
Quote:
Menu Istanbul-Stockholm
Fresh fruit salad
Yoghurt with honey
Beef ham and herbed chicken
Assorted cheese
***
Please choose from our selection:
Scrambled eggs
turkey ham & cheese toast
grilled tomato and green pepper
or
Crepes with scrambled eggs
herbed sautéed mushrooms / grilled green pepper
cherry Tomato / grated yellow cheese
***
Ovenfresh croissant and bread selection
Butter / Jam
Freshly brewed coffee or tea
Beverages
Champagne
Spirits:
Blended whisky, Bourbon, Whisky, Gin, Vodka, Raki
Wine:
Selected Turkish and international wines
Beers:
Carlsberg, Efes Pilsen
Juices:
Orange, Tomato, Sourcherry
Soft drinks:
Cola, Cola Light, Sprite, Ice Tea Lemon, Mineral Water
Hot drinks:
Freshly brewed coffee, Tea
|
Meal service
Shortly after the seatbelt sign had been switched off the single female flight attendant offered hot towels in business class and also took meal and drink orders for the breakfast service.
I believe there were actually one or two more flight attendants onboard who were supposed to serve business class, but three passengers could easily be managed by one flight attendant.
The young female flight attendant was quite friendly and actually addressed me by name a few times which was a nice touch.
White tablecloths were laid on the tables, on intra-Europe flights the ones they use are made by paper in contrast to longhaul flights where proper linen are used, but no big deal, most airlines won’t offer anything at all on similar routes.
A breakfast tray was then handed out with yoghurt, cold cuts, cheese, vegetables and a bowl with fresh fruit.
Fruit juices were also offered as well as a nice selection of breads. Butter and jam were available on the tray.
Next the hot breakfast was offered, a choice between crepes and scrambled eggs. Since I had crepes on the flight from Seoul I chose scrambled eggs this time which was served with a turkey ham and cheese toast, grilled tomatoes and green pepper.
Overall a very decent breakfast service which I finished off with a large cup of coffee.
Pics
Cold breakfast
Hot breakfast
A cup of well-needed coffee
Inflight entertainment system
With not much else to do during the two remaining hours and being too tired to read or watch a full movie I took the opportunity to play a bit more with the excellent inflight entertainment system and explore some parts I had not checked on previous flights.
There is a very nice kids menu for example with some Disney movies and some cartoons. The Disney movies actually included some recent ones I had not seen (and probably would have watched with a bit more time).
The games section is also rather extensive and includes around 20 games. I tried a few games of poker and did pretty well at the end.
There is also an excellent news section with updated text news divided into several sections like world and regional news, sports, business and even weather reports.
The world news section was very good and indeed very updated, a great feature enabling passengers to use the time in the air to catch up on the latest news.
A weather report was also available including all cities served by Turkish Airlines, however the temperature indications were slightly deceptive as they indicated the current temperature (or the temperature just before departure, i.e. at 7-8 am) and not the forecast.
I finally settled with a documentary about coffee, about a man going to Italy to learn how the best espressos are made. Good documentary for me, I really need to find out where that café in Rome is located.
Pics
Poker
A documentary about coffee
Kids menu
Live text news
World news
Weather report for Stockholm, I think that‘s the temperature when we departed though (8 am)
Flight map showing we are flying over Latvia
A delightful sightseeing tour of the Swedish capital
Just after leaving the Latvian coast we started our slow descent over the Baltic Sea into Stockholm.
Even though I have landed more times at Arlanda than I can possibly count most of the time I arrive in darkness in the evening. Those times I actually land in daylight I always arrive from destinations located south or southwest from the city meaning a rather different approach than the one we were going to do today from the east.
This morning the weather was absolutely superb with 27 degrees and not a single cloud in the sky and I got one of the nicest approaches I have experienced for many years.
The initial descent was done over the 30,000 islands archipelago where I could see the northern part of it and even two large ferries arriving from Finland in the far distance.
We then made a left turn and flew right over the city centre from the east.
TK has two cameras onboard accessible via the inflight entertainment system, one showing the view from the cockpit and one showing what is on the ground right below the aircraft.
I decided to check out the second option and it turned out we flew so centrally I got a photo of the sea-approach to central Stockholm followed by a really cool full-size photo of the old town, the island dating back to the 13th century which was basically the entire city back then.
The old royal castle with its large courtyard and circle-shaped wings can easily be recognised as well as the parliament building. Never experienced anything like that before!
Finally a sharp right turn was made to set course for the airport located 40 km north of the city.
A spectacular panoramic view of the city became visible outside my window including the island where I live since a few months ago.
The best photos from the approach are available below.
Pics
Approach info for Stockholm
Beautiful panorama of the northern archipelago (which has 30,000 islands in total)
Right below us the islands of Djurgården and Skeppsholmen and an international cruiser ship about to dock
Right below us next: The Old Town dating back to the 13th century with the royal castle on the bottom right of the island and the parliament on the small island to the right
The island of Kungsholmen where I nowadays keep my pick and pack when not travelling
A fantastic panorama of the Swedish capital, really as good as it can get!
Arrival in Stockholm
We finally landed at 11.25 am at runway 01R at Arlanda airport, the newest runway which is actually not very often in use.
Despite a late departure from Istanbul it seemed like we made up some time during the flight and landed only five minutes late.
While taxiing to the terminal we also passed the jumbo hostel, the first one in the world located in an old Boeing 747-200 built in 1976 and used over the years by many airlines like Pan Am and Singapore Airlines.
The airplane was acquired by a Swedish airline called Transjet in 2002, but because of too many remarks from the authorities the airline ceased operations the same year and since nobody wanted the aircraft it ended up standing next to one of the taxiways at the airport for many years, a well-known sight for regulars at the airport.
However in 2007 a man came up with the idea to make this old aircraft into a hostel and eventually got all necessary approvals from the authorities.
In August 2008 the hostel finally opened with 25 rooms including a suite in the cockpit where most of the instruments have been left intact. There is also a lounge on the upper deck with proper business class seats.
I would very much like to stay there one night, just for the experience.
Anyway, safely parked at terminal 5 and gate 17 I was the first passenger off the airplane and immigration took about 10 seconds.
However baggage delivery was a disappointment. Despite seeing and even having photo proof of my bag being loaded separately/last somehow the baggage handlers at ARN messed it up again. My suitcase was something like number 95 on the belt after about 15 minutes wait, many economy passengers who arrived a few minutes after me in the arrivals hall actually left before I did.
Really how hard can it be to make it work also in Scandinavia? They had one single bag to keep track of! They really need to put their acts together, this was just embarrassing!
Having no travel card for the journey to the city centre I headed over to Skycity, the shopping complex located between terminal 4 and terminal 5, which has some nice panorama windows overlooking the apron.
I could clearly see the Turkish Airlines A340 in Star Alliance colours through the window, and it’s not very often I would say an aircraft looks beautiful, but this one really did!
Pics
Final approach for runway 01R
Passing over the main highway to the airport
The jumbo hostel in an old Boeing 747-200
The TK A340 at the gate
The rather worn arrivals hall in terminal 5, it should need a facelift
The TK A340 with Star Alliance colours seen from Skycity, looks very nice!
A new personal record
By now I was incredibly tired, exhausted, sweaty and jet-lagged and could not wait to spend a few hours in a proper bed.
An impressive 38 hours had passed since I checked in at Sydney airport including about 25 hours of actual flight time. This is easily the most I have ever done in one go!!
Although a fascinating experience with some very nice business class lounges, seats and meals during those 38 hours, next time I think I will include an overnight stop on the way.
Conclusion
Last conclusion of this trip and last summary of a Turkish Airlines flight.
As usual seat and inflight entertainment system were great on the TK A340.
The breakfast was one of the better ones I have had on a intra-Europe flights, a rather proper, tasty and filling meal. Although it’s hard to really make something out of a breakfast service, the breakfast dishes I have had on TK have at least differed a bit from the usual stuff
The service onboard was friendly and polite although a second drink round during the flight would have been nice.
Hands up to the ground staff in Istanbul for their priority baggage handling and hands down to the ground staff in Stockholm for completely messing that up.
Great TR
