From DAR back to the UK, Part 1

I spent my month travelling around Africa for my work. 6 countries, 4 COVID tests, 7 flights, that is enough this side of Christmas. I ended my work in a hectic drive around Malawi. There are very few flight options from Malawi, so I chose a flight out to Dar es Salaam. No COVID test is needed to go into DAR so that hassle and delay was not needed in Malawi. TK have just two flights per week for DAR now, so I rushed to get done in Malawi what I needed to and over to DAR for the Wednesday flight. I had upgraded my flight with some miles where were due to be terminated at the end of the month, so the pain of current J product was at least not expensive.

If you have ever been to DAR, you will remember the airport as old, fairly grim, in fact typical for less developed parts of Africa. Well, also now typical for Africa they have built a new one since my last visit 4 years ago and it looks like it has only just opened.


DAR departure lounge.
It didn't just look good, it was efficient, the staff friendly - it could have been anywhere in the world. I am loathed to say Europe as most European airports are not this good. Real progress here. If TK had more regular flights I might have stopped in Dar for a few days to rest, but the enthusiasm to get home to my family dictated my 8 hour transit.

Check-in had been efficient, they gave me the lounge invite, so off I went to the lounge. This was soon after 2AM, the flight being at 4AM. It's never a great time to be anywhere other than bed and I did not have high expectations for the lounge. However:

DAR Lounge
And not just a smart lounge, hot & cold food was available which was all very good, beer, wine and freshly made fruit juice (a distant memory now at IST!). So a good start to my journey. There was always the knowledge that I would be boarding a 737 for a long haul 7+ hour flight. An aircraft totally unsuited for a flight of this length as far as I am concerned. Limited recline seats, no wifi etc. One the plus side, J was quarter full and the temperature was cool!

I had some high hopes with the news that TK had restored proper J catering to long haul. Another however round the corner. Soon after take off, this arrived at my table:


Oh dear, that looks familiar. And indeed the contents were too:


The dreaded cheese bun. I took a couple of bites just to confirm it was as inedible as always. It was. Incidentally, Malawian Airlines make a far more edible cheese sandwich in Y. Fortunately I had been a bit greedy in the lounge and also earlier in the Lilongwe lounge which I had blagged my way into with the M&S plastic card. I was the only one in there and they may have just been happy for someone to come and eat their food and drink their beer.

So I settled down to snooze for a few hours. You cannot sleep on a 737 J seat. Or at least I can't. I decided to watch a film for the last two hours of the flight. I had brought my good headphones which was a good choice as they handed out the Y headphones. I am a little embarrassed to admit to watching the latest Charlie's Angels film. It was one of the few on the TK system I had not seen. There have not been may updates this year from what I see. I only mention this film as quite as lot of it is shot in Istanbul.

Now I was thinking that the TK strategy may be to serve a decent breakfast after the food box. I feel another however moment and sure enough this is what turned up:


No prizes for guessing the contents...


Did someone get a multi-billion Lira contract for inedible cheese buns?

No amenity kit was provided for the flight, just the hygiene kit. We did get blankets though.

We arrived into IST on time I think. A grey, damp and cool morning which will prepare me for the same when I get back to London. The A gate wing where we parked up was deserted. I could see some staff on the departure level but hardly any passengers and this at 1100 in the morning. It was a bit more busy in the central area. Looking out the windows, it is a sad sight to see some of the taxi ways used as parking for unneeded aircraft.

Quickly through immigration and baggage reclaim and into the landside Yotel where I await part 2 of my journey on TK1979 in the morning. In theory that should be the new A350. According to Flightradar24, that has actually been a 350 (either TC-LGA or LGB) for the last few days, so I hope it will not turn into an A330/B777 in the morning.

Spending best part of a day in IST also allowed me to turn some LHR-TAS flights back into flights from the vouchers I took when they were cancelled earlier in the year. Luckily Uzbekistan Airways turned up at the same time as me and were delivering bags to the neighbouring belt so I was able to chat to them and confirm that quarantine is no longer needed, just the negative PCR test. There is only one of the two ticket service areas open on the departure level at IST and neither M&S Elite areas. So there was a bit of a queue. Thankfully the lady behind the desk understood what was needed for my fairly complex 3 person booking across 4 different reservations and she produced the new bookings without any difficulty.

Tomorrow I will endeavour to send a report from the A350 if it really is one and the wifi works and if I wake up in time!

Note for mods: I did wonder if I could add 'Dar - London' to the thread title, but that is beyond me!