DaveS

Well here goes for my first trip report. It is also my first work flights since early March, so it felt a bit odd doing what I do again. Because of the quarantine rules in the UK, I combined work in four different countries in Africa to reduce the pain of 14 days of restriction when I get back to just do it once. I booked my (economy) flights just a week before going. There appeared to be plenty of availability judging by the seat map in the app. After the usual battle with vanishing ELPL upgrade vouchers, I had no problem getting into business class. In between sorting this and departure, the UK government decided a lockdown would be a good idea. It would start 2 days after I left, so no problem. My plan was to stop in IST at the landside Yotel for 18 hours and get the COVID test I needed to enter Rwanda.

Come departure day, I drove to LHR T2. Heading into the airport, the roads were deserted. Car handed over to the park & ride man, I headed into the terminal. It was fairly busy in the check in area. I found TK check in in its usual place at the far left hand end. That was normal enough, but one minor hassle was that my luggage could only be checked to IST because I could not show the COVID test at check in. The helpful check in lady told me that only the LH Lounge was available. That is fine as it is my preferred lounge anyway.

No fast track security. However, the regular security had no significant queue so that is fine. And through to T2 airside.


T2 was looking less than 25% of its usual pre-COVID capacity. T3 and T4 are closed and their flights shared between T2 & T5. So really not busy at all.

I headed to the LH Lounge. I think the other lounges (UA is the TK default) have been retasked to the other airlines. I like the 10-15 minute walk from the LH lounge to the B gates where TK usually depart. A bit of exercise before a flight is good. So the LH Lounge. The Senator lounge was closed, which is where I usually go. Having said that, pre-COVID the offering in the main lounge always looked pretty good. I usually end up eating so much in the lounge that the in flight catering is not important and that was definitely the plan here given TK's 'enhanced' offering. Sorry for using BA language over here. I would say there were about 20 people in the lounge, so social distancing was not a problem. However, the food was:


Some people had managed to get a small pasta dish, but this was all that remained for me. I ate most of the sandwich before I thought I should ask what was inside. It was not obvious from the taste - there was none. Apparently it was chicken and coleslaw. At least that is what the people on the next table were told. I can only compare it to one of the £1 sandwiches you get in Cost Cutters. A couple of Becks beers helped a bit, before my walk to the B gates.

The gate area was fairly busy, but was reasonably well managed. There is no priority boarding now, so I waited until the end. I boarded what looked like a full A330. I was pleased to be turning left. My quiet flight had turned into a flee the UK before lockdown special! I did not see lots of big carry one, so there must have been some enforcement of the hand luggage rules. The bins looked pretty full though. I just had my laptop bag as I wanted to be sure to have it with me. I gave up on big carry ons long ago so that works for me.

Sitting on my seat was these:



OK, they were in the bag to begin with. I had left my own Audio Technica headphones in my suitcase in the hope of a set of Denon's on the A330. A mistake, so I watched very little on the IFE and instead went online. The wifi did at least work well.


1GB allowance in theory in J, but the quota never dropped, so it looks unlimited. How anyone could use 1GB of data on a satellite connection is beyond me. The only interruption to browsing and posting on here came with the food box. Enough has been said about that and I have already posted this photo on the requisite thread.

Apart from the nearly notorious cheese sandwich and Cappy juice, the rest was good. However, it would only satisfy the appetite of a small rodent.

This was a warm flight. TK regulars will know what that means and the sense of relief getting onto the cool of the air bridge later. The safety cards are really just there to be improvised fans. Why TK can't get cabin temperatures right I do not know.

Arriving into IST, the aircraft found its gate relatively quickly. I still shudder when I think of how many times we circled the building when new IST opened. Getting through the terminal was no problem. This was the first time I have needed to enter Turkey at new IST. There was no queue for immigration. I don't know if any fast track was open as I just headed for the first empty immigration area. There is a design flaw with the immigration areas though. The zig-zag barriers which are immovable glass things don't allow them to open a direct route to the immigration counters when there is no queue. It's just a bit frustrating.

Another long walk to the baggage reclaim. Bags came through quick enough. Customs showed as much interest in my large pile of bags as your would expect at 2AM. After a slight navigation error I made it to Yotel landside sometime after 1:00AM. Getting tired by now, I had the frustration of being given the room furthest from Yotel reception (2139 just in case you want to avoid it) and a faulty key card. A grumpy return to reception then a visit to the COVID test centre which I have already described in the IST COVID test thread and I was ready for bed by 02:00AM. The Yotel rooms look modern, clean and spacious in the marketing. They are not spacious. That is just a trick with wide angle lenses and Photoshop. However, they are a clean bed at a not too crazy price.

Part 2 follows after my dinner...

ISTFlyer

Thank you DaveS for sharing this report with us.

- There were some reports that the SQ lounge in LHR has re-opened and had much better offerings than LH. Although, it might have been re-closed at the moment.
- The LH lounge offerings are bad compared to what they currently offer in Germany.
- The flight seems like a normal post-COVID TK experience.
- The headphone does not look clean, unless the photo was taken after your usage, it's pretty obvious that TK values hygiene.
- It's nice that Wi-Fi was working on your flight.
- Not surprised as the flight was warm. For those who don't know, TK crews heating the cabin is pretty normal as a warm temperature forces passengers to sleep much easier and the crew would prefer passengers sleeping rather than being awake.
- The fast track passport control in IST is open but as you mentioned, the passport control lines are empty these days with no wait.

Once again thanks for sharing, and hope to read the second part soon.

LondonElite

Looking forward to the next instalment! Curious how you managed to go forward and then back in time?

DaveS

I was not in a much better state than the customs by then! I should have said around 1AM.

DaveS

I had used them and then they had been bounced around the adjacent seat for a while. So I cannot blame TK for anything on them. Next instalment on the way, unless the large amount of beer I have had this evening makes me fall asleep first.

DaveS

Part 2... It took an hour or so for the air conditioning in the Yotel room to get the temperature, or more truthfully the humidity down to a level where I could sleep comfortably. And I did sleep quite well to be fair. In the morning, my first job was to get online and check for my COVID test results. The test centre had been efficient and my negative result was there already, so the alternative consequences shall remain a mystery. Breakfast at Yotel, well it was pretty basic. The scrambled egg did not look much, but it was quite edible. In my tired and erratic path to the Yotel last night, I lost my favourite and for this journey only long sleeve shirt. I thought about buying one, but for the benefit of FT I thought I should check out lost and found. If I had checked, or really if I had remembered the posts here, I would have known the lost & found was next to Yotel. I would not have needed to ask the TK (baggage)check in lady who directed me to the other end of the lower floor. After some cursing, I found the place and after some discussion I noticed it nicely bagged up in a box behind the man who tried had but did not know where it was. I am pretty sure he would have got there in the end, but I felt the need to move on from that experience.

I had also collected the hard copy of my COVID test result and filled out the Rwandan PLF and uploaded my electronic copy of the certificate. That sent me a reference number to use later.

The fast track immigration was open and I used it just because I could. No queues at normal immigration, but those zig-zag barriers were there. I headed for the M&S lounge, noticing the absence of life in the business lounge. Straight in with no problems and it was maybe at a quarter capacity, so no problem getting a seat, table etc. I said in the lounge thread that I had low expectations. That is far better than the high expectations I had for the LH lounge at LHR, only to be so cruelly disappointed. It was late afternoon by the time I was in there and to my delight they were cooking this:


And this:


I know I posted these over on the lounge thread, but it is worth it again as they were really good. The only thing missing was a cold Efes to neutralise the chillis. All the pre-packaged things were there and I had some deserts which were just enough. The model racing car system was not open and neither was the children's play area, but some young children knew better.

My Kigali flight showed a delay of an hour. Then that dropped by 20 minutes. Once again I am left having to flee the lounge to get to the gate in time. I never learn. The gate was A3A and the aircraft a 737-800. It does not take a genius to know that a full 737-800 passenger load does not fit into gate A3A, even when half the seats are not blocked. So everyone squeezes in there with all seats taken, plenty standing and me sitting on the floor. We all sit there and listen the the announcements reminding everyone to wear masks and maintain social distancing. This is one of the times that you know TK's COVID safe marketing does not match the reality.

We sat at the gate until well past normal boarding time. Eventually it was time to board. Once again, there is no priority boarding. No problem, I am happy to wait to the end. Any minute saved sitting on a narrow body aircraft is worthwhile (I don't like confined spaces). I was lucky enough to have an empty seat next to me. There were two empty in J and Y looked full. Cabin luggage from what little I saw, looked sensible for a flight into Africa. It did all fit in the overhead bins. The seats in these 737's are far from the greatest business seats (putting it politely). Just about the only saving grace of the 737s is the air vent, so you can get some respite from a warm flight. It was better than the A330 out of LHR though.

After another delay we were towed out from the gate. Then towed back to the gate when the engines would not start, then towed back out and eventually headed skywards well over an hour late.

Service followed a similar pattern. No amenity kit, just this menu:


I do not usually drink on flights, but I decided to chance an Efes since I have been so cruelly denied one in the lounge. The usual frothy high altitude beer resulted.



The chicken wrap was good. A major improvement over what was served from LHR. The hummus was also good, but would have been better if some bread was served. Fortunately I had been able to grab my decent headphones from my luggage at IST. So I watched a film for an hour. It was so good I cannot remember what it was. Then I spent the rest of the flight trying to find a comfortable position to doze in. I rarely sleep on flights and no blankets or pillows were handed out.

Towards the end of the flight, second service was offered. A second box was declined by everyone. They must have made up a bit of time on the flight. However, as we approached the man up front needed to hit those TOGA switches so we could fly around Kigali for another 20 minutes. I am assuming everyone here knows TOGA=Take Off/Go Around. Captain announced something incomprehensible had blocked the runway. Incomprehensible probably was 'really fat birds'. We arrived in over 1.5 hours late.

Usually by now I would really grumpy. However, I just could not fail to be impressed with how organised the Rwandans were. Walking into the immigration area we were faced by a line of people in full PPE, armed with tablets. They asked for the reference number from the email which the Rwandan passenger locator form system had sent out. That allowed them to check all was in order and I could carry on through the terminal. A licensed car was waiting with a driver who had my name. I was taken straight to the hotel where they handed me a key card and I went straight to the quarantine floor of the hotel. After a while I had a call to go to a test room on the same floor where someone in PPE took another COVID test sample and $60. He took my PLF number again and had all my details on his screen. I could then not leave my room until a negative test email arrived. The negative result arrived mid morning and I was a free man and moved off the quarantine floor.

From my first journey since March, I have a couple of observations. Firstly, would I pay for business class on TK? 'No way' has to be the honest answer. I used a voucher to get into J. It is not worth any more than that. For my return (wherever in Africa that may be from) I will use some miles due to expire at the end of the year. Otherwise I will aim to be in an exit row seat, which is as good as the J offering. The other thing I must say, the Rwandans really are so much better organised than we are in UK/Europe. I know I should post this over in the COVID forum, but it will only end in an argument over there, so I have put it here and hope to remain below the radar as it were. From pre and post arrival testing and being thorough with procedures, they are really excellent here.

I hope to post something on my return flights (if the UK will let me back) in about a month...

ffay005

Thanks, DaveS, for your report! Yes, the Rwandans seem well-organized and very un-African, if you don't mind me saying so. I was in Kigali in January and loved every minute of it. Flew Rwandair, which was a nice experience, too.

G_G

Thanks for sharing this comprehensive and detailed report

raporot

thanks for report.
what about hand luggage restrictions on both flights?
did you saw that people have bag with wheels + big backpack for example? what was reaction on gates?

DaveS

I did not see large wheeled bags. I do not know if they were checking them in. I only carry my laptop now. Usually on a flight into Africa you would expect the bins to be overflowing. From what I saw, they were full, but not overloaded.

DaveS

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!

ISTFlyer

Dear DaveS . Thanks for sharing this part of your journey.

Unfortunately, DAR is not considered as long-haul but medium-haul so it's pretty normal that you got the boxes and the bag with the cheese sandwich.

Also, I hope that you enjoy your journey with the A350 tomorrow. Both TC-LGA and TC-LGB is at IST at the moment. One would head to Manila tonight as TK84 and the other one would operate your flight. Also as the aircraft is at a remote stand, your gate would be one of gates A1 or A4.

I hope you enjoy the A350 and waiting for the trip report for the LHR leg. Don't be surprised if you get the cheese sandwich for that flight as well

By the way, as usual, I'm also transferring the image photos to the catering database in the respective thread.

DaveS

Here we are for the final leg of my travels from IST back to LHR. I had chosen to stay the night in IST as I wanted to rest and visit the TK ticket service office. It also gave me the chance to try out the new A350 and for which I have posted some photos in the A350 thread. I took a land side room at the Yotel. This time a larger room with king size bed. They claim you can fit three people in the bed. You would need to be very good friends. The room was actually very comfortable compared with the tiny one I had before. It cost me EUR131 booking ahead and you do want to book ahead. Someone else was arguing with the receptionist over the walk in rate which was over EUR200. Rather than eat at the hotel, I chose to go up to the restaurant area above the departure level. There is a Turkish restaurant as well as Burger King and another pizza type place. The Turkish restaurant was my choice and I had a respectable meatball dish with EFES beer for TL107. Not too bad for an airport. After a good nights sleep, it was easy to re-check my luggage and head through to the M&S lounge. This was around 7:00AM. And this is how IST looks at that time from the M&S lounge.


The M&S lounge was fairly quiet. The former salad bar that was covered up previously is back with limited offerings for breakfast.


For hot food, there was what looked like scrambled egg and lentil soup. I have never thought of lentils as food, so the small mousse pots and cake was my choice. Cheese buns were also plentiful. The selection in DAR was better!

TC-LGB had been moved to gate D13 during the night which was not too far away. They were already boarding by the time I got there, so the gate was not busy. Two air bridges were in place, but they were only using the rear one. The front may have been reserved for the crew. It was looking pretty busy back in Y, but J was no more than 25% full. We departed on time. There is not much reason for delays these days. The flight to LHR is only 3.5 hours or so. Which means just one service with drinks from the usual menu. Did we get what the promotional screen in the IFE promised?...



OK, IST-LHR is not intercontinental (DAR-IST was). No surprise, this is what turned up.


The cheese bun had become a cheese and tomato bun, but that did not make it worth eating. The table on the new A350 seats is very good at least. with plenty of space to work with a laptop or eat. By the time I had sent a few emails, posted here and looked at the news it was time to land. No time for a film, I have seen all the ones worth seeing and quite a few of the ones not worth seeing too. We arrived in to LHR 20 minutes early. Another cold damp day, this time with a little snow. We don't see that much any more in the south-east of England. T2 was fairly quiet with minimal queues for immigration and the usual level of organisation we have come to expect in the UK... Also following tradition the business class and priority luggage came out last. That was it apart from the journey home contending with a closed M20 motorway.

So there ends my first business flight since early March. That was with SAA, something that sadly may never happen again. My next TK flights will be much sooner, but with my family and out to Tashkent. However, we will be in Y for that. Then most likely back to Africa and possibly using Rwandair for some regional flights. I was happy to have had the chance to be on the new A350 in J. I did not and would not pay for it with money, expiring miles was the right way to do it.

roadwarrier

Wow, what a difference from the old Lounge with grumpy staff.

kaspars

Thanks for informative review. But can you comment on the A350 experience?