Part 3: Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) to Istanbul (IST) on Turkish Airlines in economy class
Flight TK1348 – Airbus A320 - Seat 7F – 120 EUR for CLJ-IST-MSQ
STD 9.20pm - STA 10.55pm (flight time 1h35m)
Cluj-Napoca's airport is very small and despite the warehouse-like building being fairly modern it is a distinctively bare-bones facility. It therefore doesn't come as a surprise that the airport is dominated by low-cost Wizzair and some summer charter airlines bringing Romanian holidaymakers to the Med in the summer months. That said, in the last years a few other legacy carriers (Turkish, LOT) have began service to CLJ besides TAROM and Lufthansa who have been there for much longer.
At the time I arrived, the check-in staff and the Turkish Airlines station manager were just setting up the check-in boots. The manager told that today's flight would be fully booked. Business class was entirely full from the start – which meant that some in Y would face being bumped from the flight.
I was second in line at the priority check-in desk and within minutes was checked in by a friendly agent, who also handed out a lounge invitation courtesy of my *G status. Security and passport control took about 25 minutes to clear (no priority lanes at CLJ) as I made my way to the upper floor where the only airport lounge is located (there is also a very tiny lounge in the domestic part of the airport).
I was happy I arrived a bit early as the lounge got really packed later on with literally every single seat in the small lounge being taken. Despite having lived in Cluj for a year, it was actually my first time in a CLJ lounge (back in those days I almost solely flew low-cost having just graduated from university and not being as much into the whole frequent flyer scenes as I am now). The lounge is quite poor in every single aspect. It's just a few chairs and sofas thrown on a red carpet in a single, small L-shaped room. There are some OK views over the check-in desks. In one corner, a small buffet (cookies and nuts only) was set out next to a few fridges with some drinks and some bottles of booze. The only bit of décor in the lounge to give it a bit of charm was a model Turkish Airlines aeroplane put on top one of the fridges. This really is a depressing lounge!
I took a few cookies and a bitter lemon as I watched the lounge fill to its capacity. As the lounge became so full and there was zero privacy, I ended up in a nice chat with some American and Asian tourists who just completed a tour of Romania and were on their way back home flying in J on Turkish. I take a nice, private and secluded lounge at any day above a crowded mess of a lounge – but at times I do like this bit of airport small talk and meeting different people from different backgrounds and nationalities (it is one of the reasons why I always liked the pool table in the old Turkish Airlines lounge at IST so much).
As the lounge was so depressive I poured myself a glass of the (cheap and not very good) wine on offer in the lounge. It was still better than hanging out in the public spaces of the airport, which really is not much fun at all (I really don't recommend coming to CLJ too early). After clearing passport control you are led into the obligatory duty free shop, after which there is just one small departure hall in which all bus gates are located. At a busy departure hour, that means that also every single seat in there (and there aren't many to begin with!) will be taken. There is just one small cafe selling drinks and snacks, and really nothing more.
The only thing which is actually nice of CLJ as an airport are the large glass windows and the view of the runway. I could see my Turkish aeroplane landing at with a slight delay.
We were bussed to the aeroplane in two buses – which were neatly parked one at each side of the doors, with the gate agents sending the front row passengers to the left bus and the back row passengers to the right-side bus. Priority boarding was nicely enforced, although this only gives you a spot on the bus first, making it fairly useless (at least for me as there is 0 point for me being in my 30s to sit down when there are also the elderly who can use a seat much more). Both buses only drove off to the aeroplane parked on the apron when they were full and boarding was completed. Two unlucky passengers - Turkish male students by their looks - were still standing arguing with the gate agent, being seemingly bumped from the flight as it was overbooked.
I was the last one off the bus, which I did not mind at all having only a small rucksack which would fit under my seat. At least it allowed me plenty of time to snap some pictures of the plane.
The flight itself was non-eventful. The A320 had quite a decent amount of leg room (me being 6.07 feet tall) which made for a fairly comfortable ride. A simple meal tray was served when we reached cruising altitude.On very short hops like this Turkish does not serve a hot meal but still gives a nicely filled meal box, which in this case contained a so-so mozzarella and tomato salad, a tuna fish sandwich (didn't eat it as I'm not a fan of processed, cold tuna) and a nice little cake. I washed it away with a Turkish red wine.
We did not manage to undo the delay in the air and landed in IST 30 minutes behind scheduled arrival time. To make matters worse, it was followed by what must have been the longest airport taxi ride ever to the gate, taking more than 45 minutes. At this point, I got quite a bit annoyed. I knew already beforehand that I would be in for a short night of sleep having to wake up early for a work conference call. This delay and long taxiing was eaten away even more time from some much-needed slip. To my sheer horror, we had a bus gate as well. I therefore *may* even have sneakily jumped aboard the special business class passengers' bus which was still waiting with doors opened when I disembarked the aeroplane as one of the first economy passengers, pretending to be the stupid and clueless tourist. Luckily this worked as the doors closed right behind me, saving me at least another 15 or so minutes. Luckily, queues at passport control were non-existent and I was quickly stamped into Turkey. Having no checked baggage, I then made my way to the Turkish Airlines hotel desk for my complimentary layover hotel.
Next up: Turkish Airlines free transit hotel and the new airport & its lounges