Review of Turkish Airlines flight Nicosia → Istanbul in Economy

Merhaba! Welcome to Trip Report 4 en-route to The Land of the Ottomans : Devlet-i Aliyye-i Osmâniyye

ECN-IST (9th May 2015) Turkish Airlines/TK967/Boeing 737-800

Watch the entire Trip Report below:


Having flown this sector before I joined Flight-Report.com, please do bear with the limited narration since i'm unable to recall the finer details of this sector.

Trip Report 4

After a spiritual journey in North Cyprus, it was time to head back to Colombo.
Our flight taking us to Istanbul (Turkey) was thankfully a Boeing 737-800 operated by Turkish Airlines (as per FR24).
TK tends to alternate aircraft on this sector utilizing narrow-bodied aircraft from both the American and the French manufacturer, their Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A320-200 to be precise.

Upon arrival at Ercan Uluslararası Havalimanı - Ercan International Airport (LECN/ECN) in Tymbou, just a short drive away from the Derga of Shaykh Nazim Hz. in Lefke, we managed to check-in and clear immigation with ease.
Ercan Airport being by far the least complicated airport i've ever been to. Efficiency was at its highest, kept clean and well maintained for such a small airport was pretty impressive!

My post-flight meal here in ECN was at "Burger City", the local fast food chain, quite similar to Burger King though, but these guys served up some quality burgers which was really topnotch.
A large meal cost around TRY 25.00 (USD 7.00 aprox.)



Atlas Jet (now AtlasGlobal) Airbus A320-200 ready to depart to Istanbul-Ataturk (IST)


Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-800 ready for departure to Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW)



Boarding was called and we began our walk to TC-JGJ, the Boeing 737-800 assigned to take us to IST

Onboard

An on time Departure ensured us that wed have a little extra time at Ataturk Airport for some shopping before our onward flight to Colombo (CMB) via. Male (MLE) which meant that we'd have a solid 4 hours to rest as well.




Sunset



My seat mate, insisted that I should stop recording, (probably taking the safety instructions way too seriously ) I assured him that none of my actions would cause any harm to the aircraft, showing my phone on flight mode made him more at ease. I further explained that this was a flight report video and he immediately asked me for my channel details too which ended well

The Mealserved, or in this case a snack was an option of a Cheese Sandwich or a Chicken "Tavuk" Sandwich. Went for the Tavuk, which was a cold slice of chicken along with some cheese and veggies. Tasted pretty decent! Accompanied with a choice of beverage,salad a slice of cake and water


Cabin/Seat TC-JGJ was configured in a 3-3 layout in Y Class, a decent seat pitch much better than the A320-200 i flew in on. IFE screens weren't available but magazines and newspapers in English and Turkish were provided for this late afternoon flight





Descent into Istanbul followed Shortly afterwards



Landing was a pretty tough one since there were strong crosswinds making it difficult for our 737-800 to land, a pretty harrowing experience for my seat mate as well as most of the passengers who were pretty disorientated.
I was expecting a go-around since we were flying in too fast and touched down quite late,however the pilots flying the aircraft by hand pulled off a hard but nevertheless a remarkable landing which was applauded by the passengers for a job well done! All in a days work I guess. A great experience!


TC-JGJ


Air Astana KC912 Airbus A320-200 (P4-KBE) just in from Almaty (ALA) Kazakhstan



Istanbul-Ataturk International Airport (IST)