thevacationqueen

Looking to book two Business Class tickets on Turkish Airlines--FCO-DWF. The schedule is great, the price is right.
So---experience with Turkish Airlines Business Class service? Is there a lounge at IST for Business Class?

I'd book a one way FCO-DFW, refundable. Are they reliable, as far as refunding?

Any experiences, input is appreciated!
Thanks,
TVQ

sermasri

I like to much TK Business class service, also the lounge in Istanbul is good.
Only, some time can be crowded and is more hard enjoy the time here.

The best is the option for get hotel free during layover.

ronin308

Turkish business class is generally quite good. The big negative is most long haul planes still have an older product which is almost lie flat with no direct aisle access for all seats. As a plus the short haul from FCO-IST will have recliner style 1st class seats vs the blocked middle you see in most Euro Business flights.
Catering is really good and bedding is nice even though you don't get a true flat bed (it's close enough for me to sleep from ORD-IST).
I have not been to the lounge in the new airport but they are generally well regarded for their IST lounge, although as noted the lounge can be crowded at times.

If you can't get a direct business class flight and want business they are a solid option compared to other *A European carriers. I generally don't look at business class ex Europe though as it's a daytime fligtht so I don't need a full recliner, economy plus does me just fine.

hfly

What on Earth are you talking about? Of appx 130 widebody a/c in the fleet, 32 have 7 middle seats each, and incidentally most of these 32 a/c (777's) also have FORTY NINE Business Class seats, rather than appx 30 on all the other aircraft, and all, bar 7 or so 330's which do not operate long haul have Flat Seats. (and I am not going to go into the fact that any person over 160cm prefers the 777's) How you translate any of this into "most" or whatever is really curious. Why even comment on the lounge if you have not actually been to it? Making a comment that it can get busy at times is a comment that can be made of almost every lounge opertaed by every airline in the world.

scott429

Of course much of the fleet also feature window seats in Business Class that don't have direct aisle access.

burak25

TK has the best business class by far inside Europe and also one of the best in terms of long haul flights. I just recently flied to YUL with old style B777 with 2 +3+2 config and even though it lacked the better experience of cabin style A350s, service and quality was amazing. I just switched my seat to corridor instead of window to not annoy the guy sitting next to me...
Istanbul Airport of course has a business lounge and although it is very crowded, food and faculties are quite satisfactory and not much lines for food or drinks. However IMHO new airport sucks.

PS: If you get lucky, you may fly with the new A350s, but I don't know which routes they fly.

ronin308

Wow, I guess I touched a nerve.
As another poster mentioned, when it comes to direct aisle access the equation is more than just middle seats. The 777 is in a 2-3-2 configuration which means of the 49 seats you mentioned, only 28 have direct aisle access. The A330 is a 2-2-2 configuration. Without a middle seat the chances of direct aisle access is better as only 1/3 of the seats will not have direct aisle access. If you like the window seat though you're out of luck as neither of these aircraft types will have window seats with direct aisle access.

Furthermore, the seats on these aircraft are old and do not recline to 180 degrees (but come close enough most people won't notice), I do know of a few people commenting that the slight angle bothered them. I totally agree that taller people tend to better with these seats.
Finally the 777+A330 make up 83 of the 130 plane long haul fleet or over 60% which is why I asserted the majority of their fleet does not have a modern business class hard product. For me it was perfectly suitable and I found the soft product made it better than many airlines that might have a newer hard product.

With the lounge, why would I not repeat what I have heard to save the op the trouble of having to do further research, isn't the very idea of this site to help people and reduce them having to go through the same searches that I have had to do? I clearly called out that I had no direct experience so that the op can make the decision to search further if he wants verification. Even if I had visited once or twice is that really more valuable than aggregating group feedback from multiple people and sites?

ronin308

I agree for the intra-Europe segment, will be flying it again IST-VCE in the next few days. And yes for many flights, they are lightly loaded enough in business you can switch seats in the last minute to avoid being blocked.

Just curious as I only have experience with Ataturk, what did you not like in the new airport. For me the only thing at Ataturk that I liked was the lounge, the rest of the airport did not feel very European.

burak25

It is super far away. Metro station is about 1 km away from the main entrance of the airport (not even underground connection). Bus connections are run by idiots and they are not following schedules or anything (once every hour to Kadikoy is so big ........). Everything is super expensive and I live in Finland one of the most expensive European countries. (Luckily I have Dragonpass). Airport is designed like a shopping center, not travellers ease in mind but trying to maximise sales space. Staff is barely able to speak English in a meaningful manner.

Not even going to start with the corruption, work accident related deaths, ecological damage and political .... that went into construction of this monstrosity. (Not even mentioning closure of a perfectly fine working gigantic airport in a quite central location and others...)
Oh also name should be Ataturk Airport but...

hfly

Ronin, while 1-2-1 may be considered to be modern or "state of the art" by you, 9 out of 10 airlines that have such configuration also have foot coffins, the seats are short and narrow, and are considered by the vast majority of FF's to be substandard. 99% of complaints are about the "middle seat" not about aisle access. Regarding your whole "angle" thing. I literally just stepped off a 777, and there is no angle. There are a couple of A330's that have an angle, but they are generally not used for long haul (nothing is never ever with TK however). Considering that you have not even been to the new IST airport which has been in operation for 5 years now, how can you possibly comment with any real world experience. Also, how on Earth did the old IST, Ataturk, NOT feel like a European airport, if you were referring to the old Ataturk, pre-2000 fair enough, but the int'l terminal, post -2000 was as good (or bad) as any other European airport, and was essentially designed by ADP and Vienna Airports?!

HawaiiO

Just Considered TK for asia to europe trip and ruled out TK after finding out the 777 on my route still has outdated 222 seating.
i love window seats with direct aisle access.

Plus the IST to europe flights are almost all narrowbody planes.
The widebody 330 also comes with 222 seating.

So lame.

TK does seem to have nice amenity kits though but they really need to update the seats.

mfgr

I fly TK regularly to Europe from my home base here in Indonesia via IST.
Their short haul business product compared to most European airlines is a notch above.
Those new seats are very comfortable.
Long haul, give me one of those 'dated' 777 seats over the SQ A350 torture coffin every day of the week.

Having flown pretty much every decent airline long haul in business, Turkish rates right near the top.
It's nowhere near perfect, but it's getting there slowly.
As their new fleet integrates it will be even better

And for anyone moaning about IST, try doing 4 hrs in MNL and come back to me

Abyssin

Thanks Ronin, well said.
Cannot agreed more , I love the seat especially on the A333, a truly lie flat can be very uncomfortable with a tiny feet cubicle don't speak about the with at the shoulder almost like as a Y+. On top of nicer when flying at two.....

We do not need privacy we need comfort .....remembered a plane is a public transportation do you ask for privacy in the tube, or bus?