My girlfriend and I booked a trip to Istanbul through Turkish airline. It was a direct flight from JFK to Istanbul and we flew first class. First of all, there is no car service to JFK but that's okay, because we checked in less than an hour prior to departure, probably 40 mins prior but it was no problem. One thing we learned is that you really shouldn’t be checking in early, because you will be waiting at the lounge really. There was a red carpet check in and we know we belong there so we went straight ahead and the airline staff checked us in right there and we were at the security next thing you know. The whole process took between 5-10 mins.
There was no wait at the security because the line is only for first class
so we still have about 30 mins to explore the shops, despite our late check in.
After we checked in the flight, we were shopping at the duty free and spent so much time there that we lost track of time, and they were paging us for quite some time already, we were literally the last ones on the plane but the crews were still smiling and they put our carry on to the empty first class seats next to us.
You gotta love the plane because we were in first class and the seat was huge!! You could fit 2 people in there even in sleeping position, you could also dine on the same table across from each other as well and they serve both of your food on the same table which makes a meal more like a date. They brought roses on the table too, that was quite special.
The cabin has some extra privacy as well. Each of the first class suite was closed by a pair of door. Even though the door doesn't go all the way up like a room, it gives you enough privacy to do whatever you want to do.
The cabin crews were friendly and nice, they had a lot of smiles. There were so much food and they keep asking us to eat more, and they brought a whole tray of appetizers (which belong to us) and champagne, a box of caviar, some French chocolate, and a whole cart of dessert and not a word is exaggerating. We were so full after the appetizers and my girlfriend didn’t make it to main course.
They gave us these dark blue PJ that has “First Class” embroidered on the shirt pocket and it comes with pants and eye mask and these lavender pocket with the black slippers. The utility bag for female was a Bvlgari with its perfume as well. The man one is a Turkish airline bag.
The seat comes with massage function that gives a lot of good comfort and everything makes the flight so enjoyable and I really love those Bose’s earphone, it got really quiet and the sound was quite good.
When we arrived to the Istanbul airport, there were staff waiting for us (3-4 staff totally for 2 of us), and they took our luggage immediately and barred the business class and coach class from stepping out of the plane before us, that was really some first class service.
The crew insisted us to take on their golf cart ride so we sat there and they asked if we arranged transportation to the hotel and if we got a visa, and we answered no for both. They got one of their staff to take care of our visa and passport to wait in line for us and got the visa for us while we were waiting on the cart, I feel bad that they are doing that for us. They also called some people and arranged an airport pickup to send us to our hotel as well. We got so much attention and looks at the airport to a point that I am starting to feel bad.
When we went to the immigration, there suddenly a new line opened and that was particularly for us, so there were 0 line and 0 waiting to cross the immigration, and we were back on to the cart again as the crew were waiting for us 10 steps away from the custom. The immigration was shut off again after we passed.
They called us a limo and we were waiting for only a few minutes and the staff was complaining already and harassed the driver to come pick us up faster. We saw a few oldish looking Mercedes passed by and thought they were ours but good that they were not, because we got picked up by the latest model from y2009 that only that particular car service has it and that was it! The driver told us that it was her first day that they have that car as well and we are in it. The Mercedes was spotless and new and the driver went on crazy speed and we went straight to the hotel without any waste of time. I have to admit that was the best limo I was ever on in my life.
The whole flight and service was completely remarkable and if I were to fly first class again, I would definitely fly with Turkish air (see my other thread on Cathay pacific first class and the IST to JFK thread).