23.10.20 BSL-AYT SunEco (Y) XQ 111

My first venture into the skies since Coronavirus practically shut down the airline industry was this flight from Basel to Antalya, booked at the last minute. I had never before envisaged flying with SunExpress, a Turkish holiday airline connected to Lufthansa (their German unit was shut down during Corona), but they offered a reasonably priced and convenient nonstop service to Turkey's south coast. I was impressed how easy the booking process and online check-in was. The airport experience was totally civilized with boarding by row numbers, although Basel Euroairport has always been civilized. A Boeing 737-800 carried us in about 3 hours to Antalya with seating assigned in an odd way, resulting in a totally full row then an empty row, with rather uncomfortable but acceptable Recaro seats. The inflight experience was pleasant enough, although little children wandering around made it somehow trying, so I retired to the back of the plane. SunExpress offers a Buy on Board (BoB) service with a decent choice of hot and cold items on the trolley, as well as a premium service for the first row in what was otherwise an economy only cabin. I went for the option of pre-ordering a meal of chicken with ratatouille with a grain accompaniment a bit like Ebly. the meal tray included a number of packaged snacks and sweets, about 4 items, and a free drink (I had Turkish lemonade), all for the sum of €9.99. You would think cabin crews would be doing all they could to welcome back passengers, but not this lot. Really, this experience was good, but I stand where I have stood during the whole Coronavirus crisis: if all the airlines get wiped out by this crisis then at least we could restart with something more adapted to the 21st century, and not still based on 1950s ideas and technology, as well as being more suited to the environmental needs of our times. 7.5*
7S8 Tail number TC-SOG


27.10.20 AYT-BSL SunEco (O) XQ 110

Getting up at 02h45 in order to get from Side to Antalya airport on time made for a challenging day's travel. All went well, no problems at passport control or with Corona, the flight left on time and arrived early at Basel. The plane was almost completely full with no social distancing, however, and there were a lot of infants once again. They were mostly very good or went to sleep and the parents were excellent. The omelette with spinach and sausage that I pre-ordered was very palatable, although I had so little appetite due to my excesses in the all-inclusive Horus Luxury Paradise Resort. I tried to sleep most of the way to Basel, but the seats were so uncomfortable I quickly got back pain. They were the same Recaro rubbish as fitted on most of Lufthansa's fleet. The cabin crew were more amenable this time and were attentive and pleasant with all passengers. As soon as we hit the tarmac at Basel airport the usual idiots leaped up to open the overhead bins. People mostly ignored the organised deplaning by row number, which was supposed to safeguard Corona social distancing rules. 7*
7S8 Tail number TC-SEP