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 hotel to layover passengers. You must be on minimum 4 hour layover and continue flying on Turkish Airlines to qualify.
We arrive in plenty time with a quick business class checkin and passes for the Mera Vip lounge near our departure gate. Nice comfortable lounge with plenty of seating, full bar and 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, however 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 their 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 canceling 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 but they 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 was not staying down. Also the location of the seat controls and lighting are right where your right arm rests, so you end up hitting them quite frequently. I wonder if anyone actually tests these seats or are they just designed by architects and designers?
Comfortable slippers, pillow, and blanket were provided immediately, however 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 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 choose 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 in 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 raining, 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 bus around the city. Our scheduled 10pm 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 pickup 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 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 you have unbuckle your seat belt, but the wired remote control is the handy way to control it.
With the late night departure, the Chef service was not with carts this time, but with trays as usually is 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 pillow, blanket, and seat pad installed upon request.
A few hours before landing in Tokyo, Japan, eventhough it was evening, breakfast was served with 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 them again if the occasion came up. They were just a notch above the rest of the international business classes that I have flow around the world. The noteworthy item is the overall friendly and accomodating 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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