stick with *g

ek isn't that great in y, i have noticed their catering has gone way way way downhill

tk is slightly better in y, although very long time for meals to come out on the 4 flights i recently took and the 777 has top notch entertainment.

tk has far better lounge. far far far far far better.

but tk has a pretty bad sked when transversing more than one hemisphere, africa-us cnx as long as 8-10 hours (free transit hotel but no free visa)

ek's a bit better in that regard

just understand earning implications with tk on ua... pretty decent pqm could be decent miles earning.

380 is nice (on upper deck at least) but not nice enough to ditch the benefits you earned

now if we were talking flying on cathay pacific v., say, ethiopian, then i'd advise you to ditch *g benefits unless you're really really brave and determined to earn on ua. i have done such twice and in hindsight i'm happy i did

but tk and ek are pretty much the same. tk has amazing catering.

also fyi with ist:
-you can go to the tk lounge, shower, lock up your bags, then easily be able to leave the airport. tip: use lockers, showers, kitchen, etc downstairs, don't be upstairs. exact same lounge only a bit quieter. and downstairs has the driving range toy. i have never done shower+go but reports on ft indicate it's easy to get to imm from the main hall.
-transit hotels: http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-in...rvice-requests . remember it's for 10hour min cnx on shortest possible ticketable journey.
-very good *gold recognition at airport security and imm lineups. saves you a bunch of time if caught during the peak crush of arrivals. there's even a dedicated security and immigration checkpoint that leads straight to the lounge, i dunno if that's for tk elites or business only, or the aforementioned and star golds.