As a first-time experience on Turkish Airlines in general, and no less their highly anticipated Business Class experience, I was excited to be flying from Cancun, Mexico, to Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul was actually a stopover on my way to Tokyo, Japan, where Turkish Airlines partners with Istantours to provide free tours and a hotel to layover passengers. You must have a minimum 4-hour layover and continue flying on Turkish Airlines to qualify.
We arrive in plenty of time with a quick business class check-in and passes for the Mera Vip lounge near our departure gate. Nice comfortable lounge with plenty of seating, a full bar, and a buffet of various items. Since we were there at breakfast, it was pancakes, hash browns, sausage links, and scrambled eggs for the hot items. Then the usual pastries, breads, cereals, and fruit with some Mediterranean touches like humus and pita wedges. The furnishings were a bit gothic to my liking, but that was the style of the lounge.
Boarding was also simple and quick for the whole Boeing 787-9, I noticed they didn’t provide the usual premium economy seats always seen in this type of aircraft.
Business Class was the usual 1-2-1 configuration and had its Turkish Airlines touches and was comfortable. On the window seats, there are 2 options: with the side table on the window or on the aisle. I thought the storage was a bit lacking; however, the flat screen was of higher quality and size than on other airlines and was supplied with Denon noise-cancelling headphones. The programming was similar to all airlines with movies, music, kids, your flight info, and games, but they also had a few live TV options, which didn’t work on this flight. The seats are typical, but a bit narrow, and although the side armrests could be lowered for more width, the one on my aisle would not stay down. Also, the location of the seat controls and lighting is right where your right arm rests, so you end up hitting them quite frequently. I wonder if anyone actually tests these seats, or if they are just designed by architects and designers?
Comfortable slippers, a pillow, and a blanket were provided immediately; the seat pad for sleeping was added sooner or later, depending on your request. Our first encounter with the onboard chef was when he handed out the menus. One was the beverage list and the other the planned food selections. Very impressive wine, cocktail, and champagne list including Taitinger champagne, Turkish and French wines as well as call liquors like Chivas Regal 12, Jim bourbon, and Absolute Black vodka.
Restrooms were again typical of this aircraft, however only one in front and one in back. Soap, lotion and incense products were from Molton Brown London.
The first meal is breakfast and comes with an appetizer plate of meat, cheeses, fruits, yogurt, and vegetables. The attendants serve fresh baked breads and then your hot entree choice of a zucchini red pepper, feta cheese omelet or blueberry pancakes. After breakfast, lights were dimmed and one could take a rest. The bar and some like snacks were open and available in the front galley
Dinner service was started a few hours before landing, and the on-board Chef was actually passing out the food appetizers from a cart. They included guacamole, empanadas, Caesar salad, carrot soup, honey mustard chicken, salmon tatare, and moutabel. You could choose from one, some, or all. Bread is also served with a cute plate comprised of butter, olive oil, and herbs. A nice touch of a votive candle provides the effect of a candlelight dinner! A short while later, the entree was served from the choices of filet mignon, seabass, or pasta. I chose the filet, and since it was tough and overcooked, I changed it to the seabass. It was also a bit dry and could have used some sauce. Then the dessert cart comes with several choices again, like Sacher torte, fresh fruit, blueberry muffin with vanilla sauce, and a cheese selection. Overall, a great service experience in business class!
Arriving an hour earlier at Istanbul airport was good and at the same time bad because of the lack of services and personnel. The walk was very long from the gate to immigration, and since we had a wheelchair, it proved to be troublesome as we were switched 3 times along the way. We were planning to take advantage of the free tours, but the weather was rainy, so we opted for the free hotel. After all the back and forth to figure out where to go, it was almost 2 hours before we exited the airport.
Turkish Airlines provided a great hotel, although it was 35 minutes away, and included free transportation, free breakfast, and free lunch at the hotel. This is certainly a nice benefit if you are going to have a layover here! We did not take advantage of the tours and simply took a taxi downtown and rode the hop-on, hop-off bus around the city. Our scheduled 10 pm pick up from the hotel to the airport was longer because the driver had to stop along the way at another hotel (which he could not find), to pick up another transfer passenger.
We departed on time for the next leg of our journey from Istanbul to Tokyo, Japan. This was another 11-hour flight on a different aircraft configuration of a Boeing 777-300 with a 2-3-2 seat configuration. We ended up in the middle section, but this aircraft provides lots of space in front for extending the seat and legs for a more comfortable sleep vs. the small cubby hole on the 787 configuration. Therefore, the touch screen is far enough away that you have to unbuckle your seat belt, but the wired remote control is a handy way to control it.
With the late-night departure, the Chef service was not with carts this time, but with trays, as is usually done. Appetizer choices included Turkish Meze, Smoked Salmon Carpaccio, or split pea soup. This was followed by the choice of Grilled Beef Cutlet, Grilled Seabass, or Ticotta Mezzelune. This time I chose the Seabass, and it was very good! Desserts were also served from a choice of Marcarpone Tart, Apricot Crepes, Ice Creams, assorted cheeses, or fruit salad.
The same sleeping arrangements were available with a pillow, blanket, and seat pad installed upon request.
A few hours before landing in Tokyo, Japan, even though it was evening, breakfast was served with a choice of cheese & turkey, Acuka (tomato pepper spread), or Kaymak (clotted cream) appetizer, and then choice of mushroom/spinach omelette, egg and sucuk wrap, straweberry smoothie, or blueberry pancakes.
Overall, I highly recommend the Turkish Airlines business class, and I would certainly fly with them again if the occasion came up. They were just a notch above the rest of the international business classes that I have flown around the world. The noteworthy item is the overall friendly and accommodating flight attendants on both times on my journey around the world!
Blogging about the various airlines business classes can be seen in my blogs posts!
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