#14 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
780 reviews
Hi everyone,
As promised in the last report, I am taking you on my Turkish trip, featuring Turkish Airlines and Pegasus on their different aircrafts and in different travel classes. Look out for some tourism bonus as well, hidden within this series.
Let me start by showing the routing, so that you know what to expect next:
Flight details:
Flight number TK1766
Route Warsaw - Istanbul (IST)
Flight date 10.09.2021 (1935-2305)
Scheduled flight time 2:30
Aircraft model Airbus A330-300
Aircraft registration TC-JNO
Seating configuration C28Y261
Aircraft age (at the time of flight) 9.5 years
Seat number 25K
I must say, September 2021 was a very intense month for me - the trip to Turkey with my best friend Asia, started just one day after I had arrived from my internship in the UK on LX A330 (previous flight report via ZRH). My journey to Turkey starts at Warsaw Chopin Airport, where I met with Asia. There was only a little queue to check in, around 20 mins wait time. Whilst we did not encounter any problems, some people in front of use had COVID documents-related issues (the bad old days…).
Once we checked in our bags, we were airside very quickly, as WAW wasn't too busy at the time. Here's two pictures from the biggest duty free store - Baltona - it has some very good range of cosmetics, fragrances, alcohols and other items. And good prices with frequent promotions too.
A section with chocolate from the Polish company E. Wedel. Not my favourite, though certain products, such as Ptasie Mleczko, are definitely worth trying!
We didn't wait too long until the boarding started. Our A330-300 arrived from IST on time and was ready to board quite quickly. I was very excited to get on, as it was my first time with TK and before I had heard only good things about them from many friends.
Perfect time to take a sunset picture :)
And here is our gate area. As this is a wide body, boarding started a bit earlier than usual for a short haul and also 2 gates were used, though only one jet bridge.
Still in the jet bridge, at the aircraft entrance, there was a box with "COVID safety kits" which one could help themselve to. Once on board, we were greeted, by (at least seemingly) cheerful and polite crew. Upon boarding, the charming new TK boarding music was being played.
We took our seats in the rear part of economy cabin. Comparing to the SWISS' A333 that I reviewed a couple of days ago, this cabin was much brighter, although similarly dated. I found it very clean though. I really like the different colours of headrests used throughout the cabin and the embossed TK logo. On this short flight, no pillows or blankets were provided. However, there were earphones waiting at each seat. There were no individual air vents above seats, but cabin temperature was just fine.
The seat was actually reasonably comfortable - with a bit of padding, and decent width. Like I said, the adjustable headrests did a good job too.
The back of the seat featured and old-ish IFE screen (more on in-flight entertainment later), a couple of ports including USB, a coat hook, a remote control, a foldable tray table and one pocket to store your things. Everything was in good working condition and clean.
Legroom was rather fine too - probably similar to what I saw in SWISS' A330 two days before. It was more than decent for this 2-hour hop to Istanbul.
And here is the recline. I would say, quite good for Economy class as well. Although it could make people sitting behind uncomfortable, I reckon.
And here is the hygiene kit, I grabbed at the entrance, it was well-equipped.
As we were pushing back, it started to get dark outside. Meanwhile, this Air China A330 parked next to us. Now, a couple of months later - I don't think they fly to Warsaw anymore. But they just announced, they will start again soon.
During pushback, safety video was played on screens throughout the cabin. Afterwards, a lengthy COVID-related announcement was also made. And then the theatre started… As we kept taxiing all cabin crew, including the purser started walking around the cabin to check if everyone is wearing face masks correctly - giving out spare masks if someone didn't have one. Okay, I understand they have got strict COVID rules. In fact, probably the most strict of all airlines. And everything would have been alright, if only we hadn't been on the runway already. We were cleared for takeoff, and the crew was walking around the cabin as if nothing has happened. Do you want to hear more? The captain shouted through the speakers: "CABIN CREW! SEATS FOR LANDING!" (he meant takeoff of course but I could tell he was angry). The crew didn't even pretend to care about what he said, and kept doing COVID checks. This was indeed an unbelievable and unprofessional behaviour! We blocked the runway for ca. 5 mins, after which we finally took off. Read my future TK reports for more COVID paradoxes of this airline…
Takeoff was very smooth. 20 mins later, the seatbelt sign was switched off. However… lo and behold, all toilets remained closed for another 30 mins. Why? - you may ask. Probably they were not cleaned properly by WAW ground staff, according to the cabin crew… as one of the members (so called COVID marshall) was walking around the cabin, going to each lavatory and cleaning it once again. Of course, they were later serving us meals in the same uniform… Well, there you go - another TK paradox. But at least, of course everything was clean indeed!
After takeoff, I checked out the in-flight entertainment. The choice was very wide with movies in different languages. The IFE system also worked intuitively. A big plus on a short-haul flight, as TK is one of the only airlines that provides IFE on nearly all European flights.
WiFi was also available with some free data for Miles&Smiles members. Although I was one, I forgot my login credentials, and unfortunately couldn't check them without Internet, so I didn't get to use the WiFi (of course I didn't want to pay either).
Turkish Airlines is not only the only airline to provide personal screens on European flights, it also serves hot meals on flights above 2 hours, including Warsaw. And they are really tasty meals from Do&Co, served with real metal cutlery as well! Although there was no choice, the meal was absolutely delicious and consisted of:
- A starter: feta/cucumber/tomato salad, and a warm bread roll
- A main: turkey in sauce and rice
- A Dessert: mango mousse. This was the highlight of the meal! After the dinner I asked the crew if they have any of the desserts left and indeed she brought me another one. The two flight attendants who were serving Asia and me, were really friendly - quite honestly my 2 favourite crew members on this flight.
- Drinks: including alcoholic beverages, such as wine, beer and spirits (which should've maybe been served more carefully, as a couple of male passengers behind us got too relaxed and careless - but that's only my opinion)
After the delicious dinner, I checked out the toilet, as always in my reports. It was very clean (as expected :p), spacious and well-equipped with amenities. Good job here.
And one more look at the Economy cabin - rather long one I would say. It was nice to see, people were taking advantage of the IFE screens
Not much long after the dinner was cleared, and we started our descent into Istanbul IST airport. Both the descent and touchdown itself were really smooth - a rather uneventful cruise I shall say.
After landing, we docked into one of the jet bridge gates of the new IST airport, next to a TK Boeing 777-300ER. Disembarkation was quite quick, and once again, TK-branded boarding music was played.
One more look at the Economy class, as we were disembarking.
And business class which I sneaked into. It really does look quite dated. And although I know TK's soft product in business is really good - I don't know if I would like to spend extra money on flying in that cabin…
I asked the purser, if I could take a picture in one of the business class seats. Surprisingly, she allowed me to do it, and she even let me take off my mask for the picture (she was the most strict one before).
I also took a picture of Turkish Airlines logo, for goodbye :)
We disembarked into the monstrous but also beautiful and well-organised new Istanbul Airport (more on the airport in later parts of the series). We docked into the furthest possible gate, so after solid 15 mins walking, we arrived at the passport control (a little queue) and baggage reclaim hall.
Apart from the endless walking, the airport really did make quite a good impression to me - spacious and lively - as an international airport should be!
Our bags made it on time, and so we left the airport quickly and took a taxi to our hotel for a good night's sleep.
Thanks everyone for reading this report and I already invite you to read the subsequent parts of this series which will be released soon.
Greetings from Madrid
Mateusz
It was a good first impression of Turkish Airlines. Of course they stand out from other European carriers, since they provide hot meals in Economy (even on short routes), most aircrafts are fitted with personal IFE screens and there is a 23 kg baggage allowance. Nevertheless, TK's prices are, from my experience, also one of the highest in Europe, so I guess that's where the additional perks come from - we have to account for that when rating the airline. In addition, the unprofessional behaviour of cabin crew on my flight (who probably had good intentions), made me mark this flight down.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 3 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Warsaw (WAW) → Istanbul (IST).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Turkish Airlines avec 8.1/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 23 minutes.
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8 Comments
thanks for the report
The flights with TK are always a lottery , i got a refurbished a330 for my last IST-WAW flight with TK
I am glad i wasnt flying much with them during covid , now Turkey lifted all covid restrictions so no need for masks anymore unless you want
When i will finish publishing all my reports in french i will start translation into english this summer so you can enjoy them also
Thanks for your comment :) It's good to hear Turkey also finally lifted covid restrictions. I am definitely looking forward to reading your reports in English.
Mateusz
I finally made it onto TK and I finally found time to write a report from that eventful flight indeed! Thanks for commenting and see you soon :)
Mateusz
Despite its age, the cabin still looks fresh and modern...surely due to good maintenance but also I imagine the bright seat colours help.
Hah, and now just 6 months later, they don't even require masks on board anymore. Though the crew behaviour was certainly unprofessional, and especially unsafe, I can understand their attitudes, which were likely the result of almost two years of battling with the public to wear masks at that point. Nevertheless, should have been handled better.
A hot meal on a two hour flight in Economy Within Europe...only on TK! Looks really nice too.
Thanks for sharing!
Indeed I think the bright colour scheme of the cabin helps. Maybe it doesn't look as "premium" but surely more "fresh". It is great to see that COVID rules have been lifted, also in Turkey where they were quite strict :)
Oh yeah... the meal was indeed delicious. Probably the highlight of any European TK flight haha.
Mateusz
All the best
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