intuition

Part 2, CIP lounge Istanbul and leg 2 IST-CAN TK72, B777-300 TC-JJJ
Coming into IST we had to circle around for a really long time. I didn't clock it but my estimate is 40 minutes. I usually travel via HEL and I don't think I ever had to circle there even 1 lap. So this was a new and boring experience for me. I am not sure if it is a temporary situation or if IST is generally an overcrowded airport, but I don't care much for waiting in the air. It is a waste of time and fuel, not to mention bad for the environment.

Once landed, there was also a shortage of gates, and we had to taxi completely across the airport to gate 101, which is in the domestic terminal. This terminal is of course not equipped for international arrivals, so we had to de-board to the ground and got bus transport back to gate 207 (circa) where we were let in into arrival floor. Getting to departure floor was easy, only showing BP and without any security screening.

The airlines I usually travel with do print lounge invitations, and on the occasional lack of such invitation I can always show my FQTVcard to get access. Since I'm not familiar with *A practices and now without a invitation to lounge, I was curious what would happen at entry at CIP lounge. It turned out to be very easy, because there were barcode readers and automated entry gates, and entry was gained by flashing the boarding pass to one of the three gate/readers. Very convenient!

The new CIP lounge have been extensively reported on here on FT, and I can only say that I found it as nice as the reports say. I also think it is a clever design, where an large and dull area (as in any airport) is converted to smaller open rooms by the arch construction. This construction also creates the feeling of a ceiling, and thus isolating the area from the naked steel roof construction of the terminal building. Very well done.
For a first time visitor it takes some time to get the hang of the place, since there are many different food and drink stations and rooms with different attitude and ambiance. After a few drinks and food in the area close to the entrance which is quite busy, I moved along to the piano section and enjoyed a more relaxed time.

Boarding for TK72 started 1 hour ahead of take off time, and I decided to not wait until the last minute to board, but to quite early get to the gate. IST has security screening at the gates (instead of having it at the transit point). I find this solution a little more inconvenient (more crowded and difficult to board late) but it worked well and I was soon boarding. All boarding took place through middle door, ie TK does not use separate boarding channel for J customers.
There was a very low occupancy in the J cabin and I think this is due to the launch of comfort class (premium econ). I guess a lot of TK customers who otherwise would prefer J is now choosing comfort class, as it is priced around 30% lower than J (this was the price difference I found when booking my ticket. I am sure it will differ over time). Good for me to get a half empty cabin, but I wonder if TK is making money on the arrangement. The trick with premium econ is to lure some econ passengers one notch up, not the other way around.

Anyway, the few passengers were scattered around the cabin and seated in row 1 I felt almost alone. The cabin layout felt modern and airy. It is a 2-3-2 seat cabin, with very large pitch. Even though the pitch, middle seat did not look all that inviting, and as a matter of fact no passenger was seated in any of the 3 middle seats! Every one had chosen either window or aisle in the outer sections.

FA offered the standard choice of juice, champagne and water but no one offered to take my jacket. Many FA passed by and noticed my jacket, but as it seems, there is a very strict work description for each person in the TK staff and they will only do the tasks that are assigned to them. This is what I reckon, because it was first when a FA I had not seen before entered the cabin my jacket was taken care of.

Take off was delayed substantially as we had to wait in line for several other flights to take off. After take off the FAs got busy in the galley. Then the full menu was presented and I browsed this for a while. It looked nice, and was also tagged with my name. What I failed to realize was that I was supposed to choose my breakfast at this time, by marking check boxes on the separate breakfast menu. The flying chef went through the cabin taking orders for dinner and also to collect the breakfast menus and I had to ask for a pen and then swiftly make some choices.
Pre dinner drinks were now offered, and very soon after the drinks were served, dinner service started. I felt the timing was off. Not on the dinner but it would have been much better if the drinks had been served directly after take off.
Dinner was served on china and with proper utensils. I think the benefits of a "flying chef" was clear at this point; Dinner service felt more personal, with good and individual timing of presenting and clearing plates, and the presentation of food was very well done at all stages.
I was enjoying the dinner service in my own pace and when I finished my main course a large selection of deserts came out on a cart (the first thing to be presented on a cart, and this was the only way to do it due to the large selection of deserts offered). "You are our special customer tonight" said the chef, and when I looked around the cabin I realized that almost all the other passengers had already turned in. We had a nice little chat, and I got pampered with a lot of different deserts. A selection of spirits were also offered, but I declined this and coffee and decided to go to sleep.

After the cabin completely settled down, water bottles were dispensed to each seat, and they were much needed as I found the cabin air to be warmer and more dry than on other trips. The new J class seats are nice and folds to a completely flat 180° position, using the "ottoman" footrest as an extension of the bed. Lengthwise very good, but I found the bed to be a little narrow. On some other products I flown, the armrest can be folded down to bed level giving a little extra wideness of the bed, but the armrest here is fixed. Anyway, I had no trouble sleeping, and soon it was morning and time for breakfast.

My jacket was still in the cupboard after landing, and I had to ask for it at de-boarding. Most travellers on this route travel without coats because of the hot weather so I can understand the mistake, but still think the routine could be better. We landed about half an hour late, which also surprised me a little bit, since the flying time was shorter that scheduled. I guess the delay out of IST was larger than what I first estimated.


To summarize leg 2:
TK have a great lounge at IST, with high capacity and great selection of food, drinks and entertainments, but still with the atmosphere of a smaller lounge. Even if I heard great things about it, I was still pleasantly surprised. Though, IST as a hub has a major drawback in the lacking flight capacity, as both incoming and outgoing flights seemed to be regularly delayed.
The concept of flying chef clearly has its benefits and meal service was up to par with my quite high expectations. The J cabin and service was also good, with some minor remarks.