Turkish Airlines is one of the easiest airlines to find bonus trips on among Star Alliance. As most airlines they have some good sides as well as areas where they could develop. After having to intercontinental night flights and an intra-european morning flight with the recently I will give you 3 pros and 1 cons with them.
3 pros with Turkish Airlines
I always tries to find the positive thing about the places I visit or services I use. Mostly because I think that mistakes or bad service is more rare then well done job. So by that way reason i want to start to mention 3 pros of Turkish Airlines.
The food
Turkish Airlines have Do&Co as their catering partner. Just like 60 other airlines. How ever, what you get is of course always depending on what the airlines order. And here I would say that Turkish do offer better food then most other. It’s them and Austrian Airlines that really makes you feel like you are at a good restaurant when you fly business inside Europe. On their transcontinental flights they have eat on demand. This sounds good but if you wait to long to eat the food get a little dry. But on every flight I had with them I would say that their soup is the best dish at the dinner. This independent of travel time and if I had dinner at take off or before landing. Their soup is just yummy.
Real business seat at Intra-European flights
Flying business class inside Europe today usually gives you an economy seat in a 3-3 seating with the middle seat blocked. But there are exceptions and Turkish Airlines is one of them. For them it’s not uncommon to fly wide body with real full flat seats between Istanbul and Europes bigger cities as London and Frankfurt. But they also have business seats on many of their narrow bodies. For example my A321 between Istanbul and Copenhagen had real business seats in a 2-2 configuration. Not only are the wider, they can also recline into lounge position. Something that is really appreciated if you connect after a longer flight and just wan’t to get home.
The Lounge in Istanbul
Turkish Airlines flag ship lounges in Istanbul is fantastic. There are two of them that just mirror them self. At least I could not find any difference when it came to service. But they are well worth a stay. What do you say about a self-playing piano, several food stations as well as a great dessert table. On top of that, their is decent shower rooms, rooms for prayer and a cinema. Its just an amazing lounge.
But they could still find them a little to small. More then 1 hours waiting time for a shower is not okej. On the other hand, there is excellent lockers if you are having a transit and want to visit Istanbul. Lock you hand luggage in at the lounge and pick it up when you get back to the airport.
What I did miss was an easy entry to the lounge from the business check in area. Even with priority at security it was not as smooth to get to the lounge as I think it should be. Luxury problems, yes for sure. But still a little irritating.
1 cons with Turkish Airlines
So far Turkish Airlines seems to deliver. But I do have one cons that is worth to mention. Turkish Airlines are infamous for changing planes with short notice. For many this does not sound like a problem as long as you arrive at time. But because their seats and configuration is different on the different plane models it can actually become if not a problem at least some discomfort. There is a great difference in value for the ticket between flying in a 2-3-2 config in business at their 777 over their semi-open 1-2-1 at their 787 and their closed suite onboard their A350. Again it’s not a big big problem, but if I pay for an inter-continental business ticket I don’t want to be waken up because my seat mate need to use the toilet. Thats not a modern business class experience.
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