Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Stockholm in Economy

Hello everyone and welcome to the fourth and last part of this short series covering my trip to Istanbul, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest back in October/November 2016. This part concludes the series, with the last flight from Istanbul IST to Stockholm ARN.
NOTE: Pictures used in this report were taken with my camera and my phone.
Full background can be found in part 1 with slightly alternated versions in part 2 and 3.

Itinerary:
Part 1 - ARN-IST, TK1792, Turkish Airlines, Airbus A320-200, TC-JPR - Here
Part 2 - IST-VIE, TK1887, Turkish Airlines, Airbus A321-200, TC-JSV - Here
Part 3 - VIE-IST, TK1890, Turkish Airlines, Airbus A321-200, TC-JRH - Here
Part 4 - IST-ARN, TK1795, Turkish Airlines, Airbus A321-200, TC-JSA - You are here

As mentioned on the previous part, there was no security after disembarkation as a result of being dropped at the departures area instantly. It was around 11:00 AM local time (scheduled time of arrival was 11:25) and the TK flight to Stockholm wouldn't depart until 14:35 (boarding at 13:35). We had roughly 3,5 hours to kill before getting on the next flight, we were also dry of ideas at this time.

IST airside.

Gate information for TK1795 was not available yet, still too early.

A few minutes pass and we just decide to walk around the place and enter a few stores to kill some time until further notice.

Food court.

Eventually after some wandering around my dad realized he had some Turkish lira on him, that he would have no use for once we boarded the flight. We went inside a duty-free store and purchased some sweets for the family back home with dad's last amount of Turkish lira.

My father went to a random gate to relax at before going to our actual gate later on, I followed him to see which gate it was. This was also when my Wi-Fi connection ended, Wi-Fi at IST is available for 2 hours a week (or for two weeks, I don't remember). However, there are other hotspots around the airport like the TK lounge, Starbucks etc. The password for the Wi-Fi at the TK lounge can be found on the web.

This picture was taken to remember where my dad was at. It was time to see what kind of spotting I could do at IST today.

Bad spotting shots today. IA 738.

SV A333.

Too bright.

A little bit better.

Turkish Ground Services.

ATA Airlines, an airline based in Iran. Seen her doing flight I35402 to Tabriz.

I went back to gate 214 after roughly 10 minutes of spotting, my phone was in a good need for a recharge. Local time: 12:17 PM.

It is difficult to see on this picture but our flight was finally assigned to a gate, gate 311. I remember seeing signs for those gate while doing spotting and I am pretty sure 311 was a bus gate.

Heading to the gate.

We are heading downstairs and that's pretty much a confirmation of a bus gate.

Gate 311, it was 12:46 PM in Istanbul at this time.

55 minutes fly by and it is almost time for boarding.

Boarding begins a handful of minutes later, me and my father were assigned to boarding group A which meant we were quick to board the bus.

Inside the bus (Cobus 3000).

This flight was scheduled to be operated by an A321 with Sharklets but we ended up on TC-JSA, a regular A321. Some may consider this an equipment change while others may not.

Flight information:
Airline: Turkish Airlines
Flight no & route: TK1795 IST-ARN
Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A321-200
Scheduled time of departure (actual): 14:35 (14:58), UTC +3
Scheduled time of arrival (actual): 16:20 (16:04), UTC +1
Scheduled flight time (actual): 3h 45 min (3h 6 min)
TC-JSA, a 4,7 year-old A321 delivered to TK back in May 2012.

SQ B772.

Entering the aircraft.

The usual "Hello" interactions with the FAs were made while walking to seat 28A and 28B.

Row 28.

The seat pitch seemed to be okay as a first impression. Comfort wasn't as good as in the newer A321s but definitely better than the comfort in their A320s.

This A321 featured a personal IFE system unlike the A321 on the previous VIE-IST leg. It wasn't the newest IFE system but it still featured one. I got to experience three "generations" of TK 321s on this itinerary. Thanks to NGO85 for pointing out the covered cutouts on the seatback. USB ports and other ports are normally located here but they were covered in this aircraft, I believe there were no USB ports behind the seats but I could have missed it.

Still boarding at 14:17 local time. Departure scheduled at 14:35.

Wing view.

Overhead bins.

A portion of the languages offered in TK's IFE software.

Coat hook.

Boarding was completed by 14:26 and we were given a nice gift from TK, an empty middle seat. The unoccupied seats on this flight were located on the back of the aircraft, choosing seats back here turned out to be a decent idea.

The safety video was playing on the PTVs once pushback commenced. 14:39.

Swiftair Boeing 737-300(SF). This little guy has operated for around 14 other carriers in its lifetime.

Taxiing to runway 35L.

320.

Thanks for tracking Martin1405!

333 with a lot of ground vehicles.

332 with few ground vehicles.

343.

Lined up with runway 35L.

Rolling down.

Climbing out of IST at 14:58 local time.

Banking towards Stockholm.

Leveling out.

Earbuds were handed out 9 minutes after takeoff, the quality was awful but still better than nothing. I used my own earbuds and I would recommend you to use your own equipment too if possible.

The regular safety card.

Skylife magazine with Zanzibar being the highlight.

Conakry is not included on this map but is now a TK destination (as of 02FEB17).

Havana and Caracas are now also a part of TK's network, not visible on this picture. This FR has been severely delayed which explains the absence of these destinations, I did this flight back in November 2016.”

The other basics.

The flight was around 90% full today, the front of the plane was full with a dozen unoccupied seats in the back.

Lavatory.

Cruising.

The hardware wasn't the latest, although the software seems to be up-to-date with the newest IFE system. Content seemed to be pretty similar as well, the moving map didn't work this time either… Responsiveness of the screen was lousy at its best.

The meal service commenced 40 minutes after departure. The choices were chicken or pasta, like on the IST-VIE flight (part 2). I went with chicken last time and wanted to check the other option out, I basically ended up with pasta. The main consisted of pasta rigatoni in some kind of sauce, that was about it. It was a bland meal in comparison with the chicken option but still good for a short haul flight. It would have been classed as a pretty bad entrée if this had been a long-haul flight. My father went with chicken which was identical to the chicken option on TK1887 IST-VIE. The chocolate mousse was good with a sufficient amount of chocolate taste and the bowl to the left was just a small side with an olive, cucumber slices, tomato slices etc. A bun was also handed out.

Turkish Lokum and menu cards are not handed out anymore (at least on most short-haul flights), a part of TK's recent cost-cutting plan.

Wet wipe.

We are suddenly flying through some clouds.

A tea/coffee service was done 40 minutes after the meal service, or 80 minutes after departure.

The remainder of the flight was spent charging my phone, listening to music, looking out of the window and just generally thinking about life.

Announcement about our descent to Stockholm.

Descending.

Some of the Eastern parts of Stockholm can be seen on this picture, Nacka, Sickla etc. Motorway 222 runs through these parts connecting Eastern STO with downtown STO, barely visible.

And now to some of the Southern areas and suburbs. Globen (The Globe), Hammarby, Björkhagen, Kärrtorp, Enskede, Bagarmossen, Skarpnäck, Sockenplan etc.

Lined up with runway 01R.

The weather is miserable in Stockholm today, as always. One reason why 30% (just a wild guess, probably an exaggeration but it feels like it) of the population goes abroad as soon as we have holidays. More than 30% of my friends go away to places like Spain, Thailand, the U.S., to their parents' country etc during most holidays.

Landing on 01R at 16:04 local time.

Slowing down.

Taxiing to terminal 5.

Luxair B738.

The regular SAS 737s.

Docked at the gate.

We left the plane at 16:19 local time.

A last look at our ride.

Walking to passport control.

We were through in a few minutes and continued to the baggage claim area.

This is the first time I have seen any signs for transfers at ARN.

Belt number 2 for flight TK1795.

Our bag arrived in roughly five minutes, now it was time to take the shuttle bus to the Beta long-term parking lot.

Waiting for the bus at the arrivals level.

A yellow Volvo bus with "BETA" as the destination approached us after 1,5 minutes of waiting time.

I had taken a picture of the correct bus stop in part 1, bus stop K. Finding the car was a breeze thanks to the picture, we've always forgotten where our car has been in the past.

Inside the car, we are ready to go home.

Driving out of the parking lot.

On the E4 freeway/motorway towards the city centre.

I live in the Northern suburbs of Stockholm and the airport is located in the Northern outskirts. The airport is only situated +-30km away from my home as a result. The central station is located around 45km from ARN.

Thank you for taking your time to read this FR :). Have a good one and see you later!