Review of Turkish Airlines flight Porto Istanbul in Economy

Airline Turkish Airlines
Flight TK1450
Class Economy
Seat 08F
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 04:35
Take-off 18 Jun 18, 15:30
Arrival at 18 Jun 18, 22:05
TK   #13 out of 95 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 776 reviews
ISTFlyer
By SILVER 1148
Published on 2nd July 2018

This trip includes 2 flights;
Flight 1: TK 1451 Istanbul to Porto ( Economy ) Boeing 737-800 [click here]
Flight 2: TK 1450 Porto to Istanbul ( Economy ) Boeing 737-800 [ you are here ]



Pax for this flight
Business Class: %55-60
Economy Class: %85-90

For this flight almost %80 of the passengers were transfer passengers at Istanbul and only %20 terminated their journey at Istanbul. There was mostly Portuguese passengers, also some from Far East which came to visit Porto and the Douro Valley like us.



Online Check-in:

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Mobile check-in was quick and efficient because my seats were prebooked online.

Seats 7A-B-C was empty but it lacked a window so didn't changed my seat and I would be seating at seat 8F.

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Simple questions: Did you prepare your own luggage

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Porto Airport wasn't eligible for a mobile boarding pass or Turkish Airlines didn't let me have one.

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Incoming flight:

The incoming flight TK1449 departed with a 35 minutes delay and scheduled to arrive late at Porto at that time.

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The tram was efficient to go to the airport but checking the tram schedule would be helpful because the interval between two trams are almost 30 minutes.

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Entering the airport:

FIDS as I arrived to the departure terminal

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Check-in:

The check-in agents were not mindful at all. When I first arrived to the check-in desk one of the agents told me that Tax-Free customs is before check-in but the customs officer told me that I should come with my boarding pass but she helped me for that time and I didn't need to go the queue again. After heading back to the check-in desk I have just headed to the Business Class check-in counter. No one was waiting at both Economy & Business lines at that time. The employee issued my boarding pass but she almost forgot to put a Priority tag to our baggages with my travel companion. We reminded the agent and she realized that my companion had a Miles&Smiles Elite card at that time. She told that we could use the lounge and use the fast track service at security.

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Security Checkpoint:

Although there was not a long queue, me and my companion decided to use the fast track. Our boarding passes weren't applicable for fast track so the security guard manually scanned it and let us pass to the fast track line. He told that the check-in crew should register the barcode on the boarding pass to use fast track.

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Lounge:

After wandering around shops I have headed to the lounge. There is only one lounge at this airport which is operated by Ana Vinci. The lounge was not that big but there were some empty tables and chairs at that time.

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Food at the Lounge

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Drinks

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Alcoholic Beverages offered today

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There was also a Nespresso machine which had some small issues but it could prepare my coffee.

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The incoming flight hasn't arrived at that time and FIDS indicated passengers to go the gate.

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Boarding Pass:

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A Bombardier CS series Swiss which is pushing back for its flight to Geneva

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Also I have taken some snack for the flight.

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There was also a small food bar which had some of the selections at the main area

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Ryanair 738 aircraft parked at remote stands

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A Vueling A321 to Paris Orly

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CS-DJH, a TAP ATR 72-600 was assigned to the hourly LIS-OPO service

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Passport Control:

There was no queue at the time my passport was checked.


Our aircraft was arriving to gate 10 just after I arrived to the non-schengen area.

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A TAP A319 getting ready to fly to the capital of France. Another flight to Paris Orly.

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Germania A319, will fly to Agadir, at Gate 13

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Boarding:

It was interesting that Boarding signs were appearing even when the aircraft wasn't on the ground yet. After arriving to Gate 10 the ground staff checked my passport and boarding pass, later on she told me to take a seat until boarding starts.

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There were 3 lanes for boarding today. One for priority, one for rows below 17, one for rows above 18

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Our aircraft from the gate

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It was 15:30 when the flight was ready for boarding. First Business Class passengers & Star Alliance Gold members were invited on board.

TC-JHN "Yeşilırmak" from the jetbridge.

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When I was just entering the Boeing 737-800 a ground staff member stopped the queue and told us to wait 2 or 3 minutes because the aircraft wasn't ready at that moment. After a 5 minutes waiting time I picked up my newspaper at the jet bridge and boarded. Turkish Airlines mostly offered Turkish newspapers but there were some international newspapers too.


Seat:

The seat was the same such as the IST-OPO sector. Pillows and blankets were offered at the overhead bins.

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Personal screens were installed and again no USB port or power supply today. Today my earphones were waiting for me at my seat.

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Boarding was completed in 10-15 minutes.

Before Takeoff:

The same videos as my first flight was shown with the safety video.



We had pushed back 25 minutes later than our scheduled departure time.

Again CS-TTN getting ready for its flight to ORY.

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Route information for today's flight

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IB3094 from Madrid had just arrived when we were waiting for takeoff.

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Before us there was a SN A319 to Brussels taking off.

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Last view of the airport

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Takeoff:

Some photos after takeoff

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OPO from the air

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Another regional airport

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Meal:

There was two options for the meal today on this flight. Passengers could choose between chicken and pasta. No menu cards were distributed today.
I had chosen the pasta option.

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It was served with a plate with cucumber,olives and cheese, a pudding and bread&butter. The pasta tasted well but the portion was small and didn't satisfy my expectations.

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The chicken option

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After the meal service, tea and coffee was offered by the crew.

IFE:

Panasonic Ex2 system for today's flight. Everything seemed good except the enter button on the remote wasn't comprehending my command.

Today I watched the movie Hostile which was a good selection.

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The safety card

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The Shop&Miles catalogue for online shoppers

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Skylife magazine

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Bonus : Click here display


Turkish and AnadoluJet has 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and the technical information about the aircraft

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Mid Flight:

Today no midflight drink service was offered and the cabin temperature rose up and it was too hot at that time.


Flight Information at that point as we were 78 km away from Bari



Had my snack at the middle of the flight

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Played some Sudoku to spend time because I hadn't got time for a second movie.

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Descending:

The entertainment system wasn't closed today. Some flight information just before landing. Connecting flight information wasn't posted today.



Silivri district

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Büyükçekmece district

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Florya park

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Arrival:

Arrived to gate 221 today and a Turkish A321 to Kuwait was preparing to depart at gate 222.

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After arriving to our parking spot Turkish Airlines advertised the 5 senses featured in the commercial which Dr. Oz played.

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Passport Control:

I waited 5-10 minutes at the regular checkpoint although it was crowded. The Turkish Airlines fast track lane was crowded than the regular line as only one officer was calling passengers from the fast track lane.

Baggage Claim:

My baggage arrived 10-15 minutes after I arrived to belt 6. It was interesting that priority luggages didn't arrived first. Bags were arriving in a random order. After claiming my luggage I started my journey back home.

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See more

Verdict

Turkish Airlines

7.4/10
Cabin6.5
Cabin crew7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering8.0

Vinci Lounge

7.8/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering8.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Services8.0

Porto - OPO

7.8/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness8.0

Istanbul - ISL

7.5/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

OPO:
(+) Passed through security in 5 minutes
(+) No queue for the passport control.
(-) Check-in agent almost forgot to attach Priority tags on our luggages
(-) No fast track access was loaded to our barcode even though the ground staff at the check-in desk told us that we can use the service. ( Some other airlines such as Aegean Airlines has Fast Track and Lounge Access information on the boarding pass. )
(-) FIDS were misleading passengers ( It's not ethical to not announce a short delay and post boarding signs on the screen even when the inbound flight hadn't arrived yet.
(-) No information desk after the security checkpoint. ( I needed to ask several airport staff to find the Handicraft Store which does the Tax Free Refund process, but every employee answered me differently. At least I was able to find the store. )
Lounge
(+) Was absolutely OK for this airport
(-) Coffee machine had some issues
Flight
(+) The aircraft was installed with PTV's
(+) The meal tasted perfect but the portion was small.
(-) No midflight drink service. I think that the crew skipped it.
(-) Cabin was extremely hot ( 27-28 C I guess ) even though the captain announced that the cabin temperature was adjusted to 23 C degrees for our comfort.
IST
(-) Priority lane at the passport check was crowded.
(-) Priority luggages didn't arrived first. They were arriving in a random order.

To conclude, Turkish Airlines has reduced their service after losing the "Best Airline in Europe" and "Best Airline meal in Economy" titles, and also people expected more after paying a high amount. Next time when I head to Europe I could choose Turkish Airlines if the price is affordable and competitive to other airlines, but I wouldn't pay extra to fly them.

Thank you for reading.

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2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 452958 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Thanks for this FR.
    Your conclusion pretty much sums up my opinion: now that TK has a great reputation they have decreased the service level.
    Sure they offer more than AF or KL but only on a flight to Istanbul, not a long haul connectng one.
    And as most of their pax are connecting to the world, they are no longer worth the extra money.
    • Comment 452963 by
      ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
      Firstly, thank you for your comment,

      You have just got the point that I meant. I also agree that TK offers more than AF & KL , but TK has lot of stuff to improve, and as you mentioned most of the passengers are transfer passengers and they are the only airline to fly direct to most of the destinations from IST so they decreased the service level.

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