Welcome everybody to my flight report for TK003 from IST - JFK
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
This summer I was travelling with my family to Iceland and Venice for a few weeks. Iceland is somewhere I always wanted to go to, and I am very exited to finally be seeing that country. My Mom really wanted to go to the architecture biennale in Venice and I found a really cheap flight VCE-JFK via IST on TK for $377 per person. After Venice I will be joining my family on my Dad's side for a week long beach holiday at Bethany Beach, Delaware. After that I will be returning to SFO (or OAK, actually) on WN from BWI. To clear out any confusing IATA codes HFN is Höfn, a town in southern Iceland, and FEI is a small Icelandic domestic carrier called Eagle Air (it doesn't have an ICAO code). RKV is Reykjavik's smaller domestic airport. Here is a map of my routing from gcmap.com (excluding my one domestic flight from RVK-HFN):
Here is my routing:SFO-BOS VX352 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/16114/Virgin-America-VX352-San-Francisco-SFO-Boston-BOS
BOS-KEF FI632 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17405/Icelandair-FI-632-Boston-BOS-Reykjav-k-KEF#c362114
RVK-HFN FEI742 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17150/Eagle-Air-Iceland-FEI-742-Reykjavik-RKV-Hornafjordur-HFN%3Fv=68
KEF-DUS AB3929 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17402/Air-Berlin-AB3929-Reykjav-k-KEF-D-sseldorf-DUS
DUS-VCE AB8762 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17576/Air-Berlin-AB-8762-D-sseldorf-DUS-Venezia-VCE%3Fv=10
VCE-IST TK1870 Y http://flight-report.com/en/report/17575/Turkish-Airlines-TK-1870-Venezia-VCE-Istanbul-IST%3Fv=30&edit=_edit_report
IST-JFK TK003 Y HERE
BWI-OAK WN565 Y Coming Soon (maybe)My routing from gcmap.com:
My domestic flight:
This is my second leg where I will be flying IST-JFK on TK on July 7 2016. This was after the terrorist attack (I saw where it happened at IST) and the Coup.
This flight-report is dedicated to the people of Turkey. The past few months have been very difficult, but I fully belive in the potential of this beautiful country and its people.
Also, Flightreport.com has yet again rotated my photos with no reason, so some pics might be upside down / sideways. Sorry.
FLIGHT REPORT
FIDS at IST pictured during our layover:
IST apron, early morning:
There was extra security at the gate (this was only a week after the terrorist attack at IST) but this wasn't a problem as it was the only bording line, you just entered the a/c after clearing security.
Another pic of the apron:
Boarding our plane TC-LJG, a boeing 777-300ER, only 3 months old at the time!!
J class looks nice. Some day…
The seats look comfortable, but are not pleaseing to the eye. Here's my seat, as I found it:
The IFE hardware is very new, the screen size is very good. The homepage is very intuitive too (photo taken later in flight):
Our smaller neighbor:
The legroom is very good:
The amenity kit looks great! I didn't expect to get something that big in Y:
Seat pocket contents:
The pillow and blanket were good too:
Taxiing (the plane with the not-tk livery is an A330 of Libyan Arab Airines (5A-LAR):
IST ATC tower:
More pics of taxiing:
TK A340 (I think) in the old livery:
Lining up to the runway for an ontime takeoff:
Takeoff with beautiful views of Istanbul waking up to a new day!
I'd love to go to Istanbul someday!!!!!! Hopeully, better times lay ahead for Turkey, and tourisim is safer!
Oshibori (nice touch!):
The IFE is great! Lots of content and great software quality. Also great hardware size. The picture quality isgood too!
The content is suffiecient for this 10-hour flight. On par with FI.
The menu:
The breakfast as presented:
- Savory Turkish Breakfast Selection
- Raspberry Youghurt
-Scarambled eggs
The Scrambled eggs:
I really like that TK provided a hot breakfast. I didn't have the breakfast selection because I don't like olives, so I can't comment. The yoghurt tasted OK, but is probably not th best idea for a flight because of the spill risk! The hot breakfast left room for improvement. The eggs looked terrible, but tasted OK, but they were very industrial. The toast was too white. There is a Jewish proverb thats says: "The whiter your bread; the sooner you're dead". The turkey tasted / looked like trashy lunch meat (which it was). Not the best meal with TK, but at least a hot breakfast. TK probably has a lot to learn from EK. 6/10 for this meal.
Flying over Europe:
Mid-flight pic:
I deicide to visit the lav:
Not the cleanest….
My snack:
It tastes ok… but not the best thing in the world. 3 / 5
We are now overflying Iceland:
The Vatnajökull Glacier (largest icecap in Europe):
The beautiful Icelandic coast:
About 2 hours before arrival in JFK, trollies start rolling down the aisle. Heres the menu for lunch
-Bombay beans in tomato sauce
-Salad with burrata and tomato
-Kofte w/ bulger pilaf
—OR—
Grilled chicken fillets with rice
-Mango mousse
By the time the trolly reaches us, the only choice left is the beef (my choice anyways).
My meal as presented:
The beef main course:
The salad was too watery and a little bland. The beans were good, but nothing special. The Kofte was really good! Flavourful and tender! The bulger is good too. he dessert is also amazing. It is tied with the dessert on EK226 (flight-report here) as the best dessert that I've eaten on a plane. The vegetables were not overcooked at all, and were seasoned nicely! Overall graet job to TK for this meal! 9.5 / 10
Almost there!
On approach to JFK, you can see Cape Cod. From the plane, you can see moterboats driving around
We arrived on time, after a wonderful flight with TK!
CONCLUSION
TK is offering a wonderful hard and soft products on it's long (and short) haul flights. The seats were some of the most comfortable I've seen on modern a/cs. The IFE was great too. Not quite as good as EK, but better than average. The catering on this long-haul flight was overall very good despite the lousy breakfast. Anyways, two full meals on a 10-hour floght is very good. The crew did their jobs very well, but they weren't as friendly as the FAs on TK1870 VCE-IST. English proficency was also a problem for the crew on TK003 (according to my Mum, who I was travelling with). IST was good, despite it being hard to get around due to long walks. JFK immigration took a while, but bag claim was a breeze. JFK overall is an OK airport if arriving, but I avoid it for departing due to long takeoff waits. If I had to compare to LGA, I'd fly into LGA if given a choice. The 30-45 min drive to Manhatten can be anywhere between bearable and hellacious when flying to JFK.
Thanks for reading, and please drop me a line in the comments section.
Also, Please let me know in the comments if you would like me to write an FR for my Southwest flight from BWI-OAK.
Great to still see airlines offering the 3-3-3 layout in coach in a new or refurbished 777 plane, not even the ME3s are doing it. 3-4-3 layout in a 777 is simply rubbish and should be a criteria to score down on airline rating for Skytrax. Nice and honest review btw.
Thanks for your feedback! I'm not too bothered by the 3-4-3 layout usually. However once, I found a 3-4-3 lyout on a EK 773 a little annoying.
Thanks for this interesting,... gravity-defying report. XD Well, inverted photographs are an issue when taken with certain devices. In those cases you can edit them on a PC with some simple software like irfanview ( www.irfanview.com ) which you can download for free. I have tried it many times and you don't need to fear malware or viruses.
I loved the views of Istanbul in the morning!
That dirty upholstery really needs some attention. I have read that plane cabins are some of the dirtiest places on earth. I always carry some gel hand wash with me when I fly!
Thanks for sharing! :)
Thanks for your input! The plane wasn't that dirty, I was actually commenting about the color of the seat fabric when I said that it wasn't "pleasing to the eye". I've tried rotating my pics, but it never works. The pics are always right-side-up before I put them into this website -- then they gat rotated!