The future of Comfort Class
 

Calling all Turkish speakers ^:

This article http://kokpit.aero/thy-comfort-classi-kaldiriyor, it was suggested on twitter, announces that the new B777 will not feature CC and that CC may be removed on all B777s. This would go against all the industry trends.

My question is has Google translate failed or is this just ill informed? (my hunch is on the latter)

Let us know ;)

Premium Economy is a great thing IF an airline can command a healthy premium over regular Economy AND not cannibalize Business Class traffic. From what I read about Comfort Class pricing on FT and elsewhere, it seems as if TK struggled mightly on meeting these conditions, both in establishing a healthy price premium a la BA's WT+ and in avoiding the diversion of J sales to Y+. I think TK is taking the smart course in having a larger J cabin that allows for more aggressive discounting of that cabin as needed.

According to the article:

THY is getting rid of comfort class because they could not fill up the seats as much as they'd like.

Instead, they are going to increase the size of business class and economy class.

The new planes will be ordered with two class (business and economy).

The existing planes will be converted to two class next time they undergo major maintenance.

Thanks. Still not sure that's what TK will really do but time will tell.

TK failed miserably with CC, which probaly had the best hard product in the market? Zero marketing combined with the worst product implementation(booking engine still can't process bookings correctly with CC) i have seen and here you can see the results. Management:td:

Instead of scrapping the entire CC cabin, they should reduce the number of seats and increase the J cabin. Make CC more exclusive, charge a premium for it. Dedicating 20% of the seats on that aircraft to Y+ while only 10% to J was a strategic mistake for TK.

On NA routes particularly, J is usually sold out and CC goes out half empty.

Do they have any chance of using those CC seats on the short-haul fleet? They would only require new covers...

On the B777 it might actually make sense to leave front cabin with 5-6 rows of CC (30-42 seats), middle cabin with 6 rows of business (42 seats), and economy with 246 seats. That could reverse the crazy situation described exactly by Far Siren above. Not sure though if people will dig a business cabin that is not in the nose...

Just had a quick scan of the news outlets in Turkey. The link starflyergold gave above seems to be the only source. Hopefully, it's not decided yet.

my first CC flight was the very first few months of the LAX-IST route introduction. I take that route multiple times a year and I've seen a few things change over time, but the service remains good and the food remains great with nice, wider more comfortable seats. for me its a win. I haven't seen a eco cabin on turkish since that first CC trip. at the current price of tickets I can't afford business class, hence CC for me. it would be sad to see CC go, after investing so much time and money into my turkishairliens miles.

For me personally, the removal of CC will be a disappointment and might start looking to fly Emirates. I'm not a fan of the new eco configuration on turkish. for me, this will only work if the business price was more reasonable.

From Europe to Asia, prices for C/J are much more reasonable and you have a lot of options (2000 - 3000 Euros to Bangkok). Out of North America, C/J fares are astronomical, usually approaching 10K, the only cheaper options will be Aeroflot (Business savers) for under $4000.

Comfort is the only reason I'm sticking with TK, once it's gone, I'd rather fly with EK/EY/QR on A380s (all 3 will have some over the next few years) if it's economy. Another worst scenario will be putting 10 seats in a row on 777.

What's the opinion of members here on how THY might handle CC bookings made presently for later next year? Their website still allows reservations in Comfort; I was just about to pull the trigger on an LAX-IST routing, but am NOT interested in being left high and dry (or worse, in eco) having purchased a CC seat. Sim to others here I would go to another carrier if CC vanishes.

I don't really know if there's a precedent for such a situation; will be nice if the carrier could address this rumor in the near future. Anyone now much about the source (ie: is it a reputable news outlet, a flight website, blog, etc)?

I'd stay calm, at this point there has been one single post on a lone website. No reputable news organisation has picked up on this and until TK confirm or deny we won't know.

all my flights are from the US and with business prices being so high, i would probably never book it and pay it from my pocket for a vacation.

as another post says, staying calm for now but, need to start think of alternatives for my LAX-??-BEY routes something comfortable for reasonable prices like the CC by turkish.

my opinion would be to offer you an upgrade at reasonable price, or with miles if you have them. or give you back the difference if seated in eco. It would be very bad business to simply seat you in eco when you paid for CC (specially if the difference is big). but turkish have done some funny things with people here in the past from what I've read so I wouldn't be surprised if they just seat u in eco and never even tell you until ur onboard.

This is bad news since CC has been an excellent product in my experience... I had no problem shelling out an extra $400 for it. The only reason I flew TK from LAX-IST was because of Comfort Class. This was the edge over other airlines in getting me to Europe. If CC is pulled, I'm probably going with another airlines next time.