Review of Turkish Airlines flight Dublin → Istanbul in Economy

Hello guys, its been over a year since I wrote a trip report. But that doesn't mean i haven't flown since lol. All the trips i had was the usual boring European flights with Aer Lingus, Cityjet and Ryanair. As summer was near to an end and i havent been outside europe for a while, i thought i would go visit my parents home in Algeria and catch up with the family and friends. At First i wanted to fly either with Air France as i heard they have a good product recently or Swiss Intl as an coincidence they opened a new route from Geneva to Dublin and Algiers …. The only small problem was i had to either sleep over in Geneva or Zurich which wasnt a big deal.And the prices were soo cheap, it was below 210 euro which is shocking. Until something caught my attention and immediately and it was a great opportunity for me to just forget about Air france and Swiss. Turkish Airlines, Europe's best airline, 5 star service and what is even better was to fulfil my dream and to fly on the rarest bird around …. the A340. Without thinking or having a second thought i booked my flights for Algiers. It was ridiculously cheap i couldn't believe it at all.

This trip report will be divided into 4 reports as the website does not allow to wrote the whole journey. My flight was DUB-IST-ALG-IST-DUB with a hellish long of a transit for 14 hours and 7 hours. But do i regret it ? Absolutely not. In fact it was the most adventuress trip i did since i went to Dubai back in 2013. Sit back and relax, and enjoy this Turkish Airlines, A member of star alliance trip report :D.

After a long two months of waiting, finally it was the day to fly with turkish airlines, its been my dream to always fly with them as i always loved there ads back in the days with the tonne always in my head globally yours every time i seen turkish airlines lol.

Airline: Turkish Airlines (Star Alliance)
Flight: TK1978
Route: DUB-IST
Aircraft type: Boeing B737-800WL
Reg: TC-JGA
Cabin: Refurbished with overheads IFE

I Arrived at the airport less then hour before departure, when thru with no hassle and was airside less then 15 mins after checked in my bags and the usual stuff.



Had some starbucks and relaxed for a bit before my flight was ready for boarding. was the first one on board and was greeted by a friendly cabin crew and chef which was amazing to see, not everyday you see a chef onboard lol.



After getting my self settled and all, the middle seat was blocked which was really helpful for the 4.5h flight, had a friendly seat mate and been chatting which is better then having an individual IFE, i was bit upset to be honest. but the overhead IFE was great full of interesting documentary about everything you can imagine. There was alot of music channels which helped alot to pass time.

We took off a bit late as there was no fullers to fuel the second round and we took off nearly an hour late, but that wasnt a problem at all as i have 15 hours transit in Istanbul.



I Flew on the B737-800 countless times but the take off on this flight was the longest and heaviest i have never experienced which was soo cool ! after take off we had a lovely view of Dublin and the amazing sunset setting slowly, it was spectacular.



As we kept climbing, the chef came around giving us menus and the flight attendance giving us a lovely Turkish delight which i really loved !

This Aircraft had a super generous seat pitch which was super amazing, it was soo comfortable sometimes i forget im on a boeing b737-800 lol, as well the middle seat was free which helped alot ! the cabin crew were super nice and attentive i couldn't believe it ! as i heard alot and read alot of complaints about Turkish airlines service. soo far there was not one fault with them honestly.



What i noticed about turkish airlines is that they bring out two trolleys and one start from the back and one from the front in order to serve meals as soon as possible to make everyone happy. i salute them for that, there was a choice between chicken and beef and off course i went with the traditional Turkish grilled beef which was soo yummy !, after the meal the chef goes around giving us drinks or coffee or tea ! as im a coffeeholic i drank coffee which was lovely !, it was soo dark but very smooth and it was super clam in the cabin !



After i had coffee, i either watched whats on the IFE overhead or chatted with my fellow pax who was sitting in an aisle, i love chatting with random people who are nice and goes with the flow. i stood up and walked abit around the cabin and took a shot of the cabin in darkness lol.

After flying for over 4hrs we started our descent towards Istanbul Ataturk Airport



After a breath taking views if istanbul at night which was amazing !!!! we landed after 1am at attaturk airport, with a long taxi away around the airport to park at the domestic gate but we were transferred by bus to arrivals. I love getting out by stairs rather then the airbridge. and the ground crew we friendly and let me took as many pics as i want hehehe



After getting into the terminal i was bit confused where to go to get my hotel, after nearly an hour of asking and getting lost i eventually found it and they took me to a very nice hotel not far from the airport. Istanbul airport is quite big, got bit lost as ground crew at the airport have limited English but kudos for them for trying and not ignoring you what so ever. 14 hours transit was the best thing i did as i really enjoyed it and having some time alone.