Another of the airline comparison things: I just completed a TK status match challenge using a flight from Dublin to Boston (return), and having done the same trip essentially on BA a couple of weeks before, I thought I'd compare the two.

Obviously there was a slightly different shape - BA was DUB->LHR->BOS and TK was DUB->IST->BOS. But enough points of comparison really, with short haul and long haul.

It was considerably more difficult - in fact impossible - to complete OLCI with TK. The online check in requires you to have a visa if final destination is the US. It has no concept of using an ESTA and you can't progress or even add the API data or GE ID unless you enter something as a visa. If you do that - I put my passport number and "issued by" US and got that accepted, and then couldn't remove it. But it did get my API data properly added, and it was sorted out at the desk in Dublin without any obvious issues (although the idea I had a visa registered persisted into Istanbul where it was sorted at the gate). I did end up with both BPs. OLCI worked fine on BA all the way through. The practical upshot of this was that I had to hang around landside in Dublin until about T-150 when the desks opened, where for BA I just headed straight for the lounge.

Fast track available for both of course. TK uses the T1 lounge in Dublin, same as BA used to use but have now substituted with the EI T2 lounge. No real difference there. Boarding was very similar, though a smaller priority group (I was in G0 for BA but there was quite a queue; much smaller one for TK and carefully vetted).

TK has "proper" business seats in SH and a fairly small cabin. So it feels more exclusive from the start. You get a PDB, and a menu, and the service is initially attentive. There is IFE with reasonable headphones (albeit on a 4 hour rather than 1 hour flight). There is completely free WiFi in business class, available just by entering surname and seat number, and it runs throughout, not limited to >10000 feet. So a lot of "pros". The cons are that there is no pre-meal drink, you order drink and meal together, and they arrive essentially together. The range of drinks, or brands of say gin, is very limited, and there are no proactive drinks rounds. You also don't get quite the level of crew interaction you mostly get on BA SH. Press the call bell and someone will arrive, but it's active rather than passive.

The food itself on TK SH is a little more extensive; you get a plated starter and then your main is brought out. But overall it's very comparable in quality and quantity. Obviously the Dublin to Heathrow meal is very light on BA, but comparing it to Sofia for example it's quite similar overall. Perfectly OK though. In Instanbul we had a business class bus from the remote stand.

The TK lounge in Istanbul is tremendous. It's set up as a set of different areas (I liked the cafe bit with antique tables), and has a couple of areas where street style food is served out of mock buildings. There is plenty of tasty, hot, food, a big buffet, I can't speak much about drinks as I don't tend to drink a lot when I travel, but I really enjoyed my time there. Better in my opinion than GF, massively better than GC. If I had a door to go through which led either to the CCR or the TK Istanbul lounge I'd usually go to the CCR, but there are certainly times when I'd choose TK.

We had a dreadful boarding experience onto the long haul onto a remote stand - business class was on the same bus as everyone else ("oh, the humanity") but was driven to the rear steps, so we had to yomp back to the front and do a Delhi style pyramid merge to get onboard. Very unimpressive.

I was in an A350 for the flight to Boston, but an A330 on the way back. So I can compare the seats from "new" and "old" TK. "New" is 121, the best seats seem to be the even number windows where the table is on the aisle side and gives privacy. The seats are similar to IB in that they have a foot coffin, not masses of storage, and the worst bit is a kind of hood arrangement that wraps round your head but prevents comfortable use of the arm rest. You're given blankets and a mattress cover and a pillow, and it's all quite comfortable. Club suites is much better as a seat, clear win for BA there.

TK advertise an onboard chef, and there is a bloke with a chef's hat who goes around looking alarmingly like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets taking food orders. For this reason, you want to be on the left hand side, as he proceeds from 1A to the back of the cabin and then returns to the other side. So if there are any shortages, they'll affect the right hand side. As far as I could see that was the only chef thing he did, there is no (for example) omelette station, but I suppose he helps shovel the pre-cooked food from the ovens and helps set up the buffet trolley. The latter task takes a while, and there is time to get into your first drink (on the outbound there was a sort of amuse bouche of turkish things including a little kebab, cheese in a wrap, and a sort of spinach samosa) before the trolley arrives. You get some soup if you like first, and can then choose freely from the trolley. I had four (4) very nice prawns - given you get 2 in a BA main, this is quite impressive - plus some very nice smoked salmon lumps. TK win on the starters, and actually better than F on BA.

For the mains, it's much of a muchness with BA. I had lamb cutlet and kebab, and it was nice but not outstanding. Again, I can't talk about the wine list much.

There is then a really nice selection of desserts. Overall TK win on the long haul food. Not a lot of proactive service although if they notice you awake they'll ask if you want something. There was a pre-landing meal which I declined, and they give you a couple of turkish delight chocolates at the end with a request to fill in the satisfaction survey. I had mixed service (same crew both outbound and inbound because it was a short trip), which was a mix of irritatingly obsequious and quite enjoyably fun, depending on the crew member. BA win consistently on crew, this is my firm conviction. Again, free WiFi in business class the whole way.

Just to cover the return flight too, the seating is 2-2-2 side by side business seats. Not much privacy but more leg space. Unfortunately the top half of the seat when used as a bed is quite narrow and constrained, and TK flights are generally kept quite warm, so sleep was fitful. There was no trolley service although the Swedish Chef was wandering about. It was Do&Co so the incinerated fillet steak was nigh on identical to BA. Oh, and Boston lounges, BA is better. Spending an hour or two in the rammed Lufthansa lounge with a crowd of loud beer drinking Germans before the A380 was filled with them was not my idea of fun.

So although it's an enjoyable experience, no clear advantage over BA. But the return trip had one further element which was exceptional. I had a long layover booked in Instanbul, which I learned qualified me for a free hotel. There's a form online to book but it's very confusing as to eligibility, so I decided I'd just turn up at the TK Hotel Desk and ask. This is landside, and quite a distance away from the arrivals door, but I eventually found it.

I handed my BP to the dude, and he took it and checked a few things. Then a supervisor came up and asked me if I was TK Elite. I got a bit short and said it should be on my ticket, thinking he was looking for a reason to deny a hotel, but found my card on my phone. He smiled and said I'd get a different type of transfer, so I became instantly less short and more compliant. I didn't even know that I'd get a transfer, so this was a bonus. I was sent to an area where others were waiting for a transfer, and eventually a short, extremely fast moving, and rather incomprehensible lady came to collect us by name, a group of maybe 30 passengers. Most seemed to be Scandinavian, and were joking about getting a Hilton and VIP transfer, though I was concentrating on keeping up with the lady, which wasn't that easy.

We reached the transfer door, and she noticed she'd left a couple of specials behind, so went back to get them. When the group was assembled, she led us out, with the Scandinavians still muttering about limousines. They were shovelled onto a bus, and I was shown to the limo. Even Group 0 isn't as much fun as that.

The limo itself was completely curtained off, had a massive flat screen at the driver's end, comfortable seating with star leds on the ceiling, and stupendously bling. I was driven off, a coffee was collected and given to me, and off we went. My only worry was that the longer the trip took, the more I worried about how much it would cost to get back to the airport the next day. It was quite a long trip and disorientating with the curtains, so I eventually opened them to see the scenery go past.

Then into the hotel - a Renaissance on the seafront - where the first thing that was said was that breakfast and an evening meal were covered, and the second was that my return shuttle was arranged for 9am. Literally everything was covered except drinks, really a tremendous bonus. The food was a set menu and not tremendous, but very little tastes as good as free food.

And I guess the only other thing to mention was the airport experience coming out of that - there is a priority lane which leads to business class check in and thence to passport control and fast track security. It's not quite as swish as the Gold Wing, but it's pretty nice.

So overall, TK just shade it over BA, but mostly because of the stopover which of course I didn't need on the Dublin to Heathrow transit (though you'd never get anything like that on BA). In flight and ground experiences quite comparable really. I would be very happy to fly TK more often.

My bottom line though is that the status match is very easy and worth doing. I have 2 years of *A Gold now for about £1300 spend on flights, and I've earned enough points for a business class flight back to Istanbul in the process. I timed the match process so I could book the flights on advanced purchase and then later apply within 4 months of the actual flights; it all worked very smoothly. You get the points very quickly - on the first long haul before we landed. Googling TK status match will get the instructions, but it's very quick and easy.