Review of Turkish Airlines flight Istanbul San Francisco in Business

Airline Turkish Airlines
Flight TK79
Class Business
Seat 4K
Aircraft Boeing 777-300ER
Flight time 13:35
Take-off 29 Oct 17, 13:55
Arrival at 29 Oct 17, 17:30
TK   #13 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 776 reviews
HI_flyer_SFO
Published on 21st December 2017
Final report for this trip… I realized I did not take any pics of my IST - FCO portion.

SFO - IST in Business on Turkish Airlines - Here
IST - FCO in Business on Turkish Airlines - Here
FCO - IST in Business on Turkish Airlines - Didn't take pics!
IST - SFO in Business on Turkish Airlines - YOU ARE HERE

Boarding proceeded calmly and smoothly, I chose the same seat again 4K since I enjoyed it on the inbound leg from SFO. At my seat was a lumbar pillow, blanket and slippers.
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The first thing I noticed was that these were the slightly updated "newer" business class seats unlike my inbound flight from SFO which you read and see about above. They were still in the same 2-3-2 config but has more of an updated color scheme, updated IFE and a new version of the ottoman at your feet.
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The one thing I enjoyed about this new seat was a larger pull out privacy partition. Since the seat next to me was occupied, I decided to pull it across quickly when he wasn't looking. The gentlemen had made a HUGE stink about being placed in the middle seat when he reserved an aisle. He demanded to be moved and since it was a 100% full flight… sorry buddy.
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The screen was sharper on this version as well as the ottoman was now fully enclosed with a flip up lid which made it look very smart. It was big enough for my backpack and shoes.
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The remote was also updated with a second touchscreen so you could display a map on it and watch content on the main screen. It was also located in a different place on this version. Instead of being tucked under the armrest was built into the side of the seat itself.


Menus were also distributed for this daytime flight back to San Francisco.


Since I had such a great experience with the fish inbound, I decided to have the seabass.

We pushed back from the gate on time but did not take off for about 45-minutes. It felt like we were just driving around the airport. Turns out that due to the heavy weight of the plane and the way the winds were blowing we had to line up a different direction than other traffic and take off over the Sea of Marmara and not over the Black Sea like other departing traffic. I checked flightradar24 and saw that there was a Houston (IAH) heavy taxiing behind us as well.

Here is a shot of us lining up and waiting on the runway to take off via the nosewheel cams.
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We were finally up and away and the meal service began. I promised myself I wouldn't go overboard… I failed somewhat.

Warm nuts and a beverage of my choice were up first.
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The tables were set, even with the votive during this daytime flight. I did notice that the cabin lights never dimmed like the outbound but stayed a constant yellowish color.
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I only had two starters this time…. the potpourri of seafood and the soup. They were just the right size and delicious. I love the soup in a gold bowl.
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The main was up next and was the seabass en papillotte which means "in parchment" in French. Again, it was just the right size and even better than the fish I had on the inbound flight.
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Dessert was a chocolate raspberry souffle and a mango and passionfruit mousse. I got a digestive tea to help things along too.
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The FA came around and asked to make up my seat into a bed with which I gladly obliged.
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I managed about 3-4 hours of napping. It was hard to do since it was in the middle of the day in Europe. Also the temperature wasn't an issue on this flight which made me happy as I tend to overheat.

I took a screenshot of my flight on flightradar24 via the free inflight wifi. Wifi was free for J but it crawled at most points and I gave up trying to use it.
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About 2 hours prior to landing in San Francisco we were served a light meal.
Everything came out on one tray with the first course, bread and dessert. After I finished the starter they brought out my main of spicy chicken with spinach. It was another excellent meal.
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Here is some parting shots as we approached foggy SFO on 28L via the nosewheel camera.
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I found the flight crews very professional and attentive. They weren't overbearing and hanging on you but they did a good job at checking up you during the flight. I wouldn't say they were very friendly, I tried to chit chat with one of them and she said yes and smiled. I think this could have been due to a language barrier issue.
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Verdict

Turkish Airlines

9.4/10
Cabin9.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering10.0

Turkish Airlines Lounge

9.5/10
Comfort8.5
Meal/catering9.5
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Services10.0

Istanbul - ISL

7.6/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness8.0

San Francisco - SFO

8.5/10
Efficiency9.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

Another great flight on Turkish. I would not mind taking them anytime I travel to Europe for vacation. However, the transit time and having to stop in IST added more travel time and would make me think twice about business travel.

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