This trip includes these flights
TK 1629 Istanbul to Munich ( Economy ) Airbus A321-200, Codeshare: UA 6907, IR 2629 ( you are here )
TK 1634 Munich to Istanbul ( Economy ) Airbus A321-200, Codeshare: IR 2634 (click here)
Route Overview
It's my 6th time on a flight from IST to MUC. I have flown 4 times with LH ( 3xLH1775, 1xLH1771 ) and it's my 2nd time on TK. I had flown the same flight, TK1629, in July, 2014. This flight was operated with an A319 at that time. As I remember that flight was scheduled to operate with an A330 aircraft but it was changed to an A319 two days before the flight.
Pax for this flight
Business Class %100
Economy Class %95-100
Most of the passengers were transfer passengers arriving elsewhere in the world.
ONLINE CHECK-IN
Online Check-in
Simple and quick online check-in. Didn’t used my mobile boarding pass which I issued.
ISTANBUL ATATÜRK AIRPORT - IST
Entering the Airport
As my travel companion had a Miles&Smiles Elite card, I had the opportunity to use priority access. Gate E2 was crowded today and waited 10-15 minutes to pass this checkpoint. Also security process stopped at this gate for 3-4 minutes because security inspected someone elses baggage by hand.
Check-in
There were empty booths as I arrived to the Business Class check in counter. The employee there was polite and always had a smile on his face. He also double-checked passport&visa information which I entered during online check-in because he told us that most of the passengers had issues entering passport details during online check-in.
Passport Check:
Waited only 1 person at the Star Alliance Gold & Elite card queue. I was at the airside in 5 minutes.
Boarding Pass
TURKISH AIRLINES LOUNGE ISTANBUL
Lounge
Welcoming took 2-3 minutes because of an angry passenger arguing with lounge staff to rebook his Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt that has been cancelled. After tranquilizing that passenger the lounge staff checked me in. Today I chose to sit downstairs which includes more stuff than upstairs. The only thing missing compared to the first level is the cinema area and a billiards table.
Omelette bar. It’s possible to create your own omelette.
Tea&cake bar
Coffee selections today
Nuts
Fresh fruits
The gözleme station
PS4 & racing game
Drinks offered today
Alchocolic beverages
BOARDING AND BUS JOURNEY TO THE AIRCRAFT
Boarding
Before going to the gate I collected my daily newspapers at the newspaper counter near gate 214. They don't offer newspapers at the gate from flights departing from IST.
Gate 311 was a bus gate and crowded at the time I arrived. There was a short delay of 15 minutes because the pilots arrived late from their previous flight. There was no priority boarding and everyone was rushing to the gate when boarding begun.
A TK Boeing 777-300ER aircraft getting ready for his flight to Izmir this morning
Sun Country Airlines 738, parked at the hangar, getting ready for his new airline
Some aircraft at the hangar
TC-JHU getting ready for his flight to Sofia
Zagrosjet A321 parked at Onurair Technic for a long maintenance
Our aircraft, TC-JTJ, one of the newest A321 in fleet
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Named after Küçükçekmece, a district in Istanbul
TK 1629 ISTANBUL-IST to MUNICH
Seat
Was perfectly OK for a 2h30min flight. Legroom was good. Like all of the 5-row-C class A321 aircraft on the fleet this aircraft was installed with PTV’s which has Thales Entertainment System. This aircraft had USB-ports in each seat.
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Earphones were distributed by the cabin crew.
There was no pillows & blankets left in the overhead bins but the cabin crew managed to find me one in the rear section.
Before Takeoff
Safety video was shown as usual.
Also Star Alliance videos, Turkish Airlines ad featuring Dr. Oz, and video about zero waste project was shown.
TC-JOK, A333 service to Frankfurt today
TC-JZE is assigned for flight TK1409 to Vilinus
A Turkish A333, this time to Berlin-Tegel
Kish Air A321-200, his flight to Tehran-IKA was cancelled
TC-JGR, one of the oldest generation 738 of the Turkish fleet getting ready for his flight to Skopje
TK1369 to Malta would be served with this A320 aircraft
A Turkish A332 with a special livery “Invest in Turkey” , is assigned to TK1761 to Helsinki
The only A319 for AtlasGlobal arrived from SVO this morning
TC-JVF will fly to Chisinau today
AtlasGlobal Ukraine A320 arrived from Baghdad this morning
TC-JHO, a 737-800NG arrived from Hatay and getting prepared for a flight to Marseille
A Turkish A319 that would fly to Zaporizhia, Ukraine
TK1967 to BHX would be operated with this 737-800 aircraft
TC-JDN, Turkish A343 which is used for Umrah flights
Another TK A343, also used on Umrah flights
HZ-AQH parked in IST
Another TK 738 at waiting for takeoff
TC-LNF, getting ready to takeoff to OSL
Takeoff:
It’s time to depart.
Küçükçekmece district ( This aircraft is named after this district )
Atakent district
Atatürk Olympic Stadium
IFE:
The route map crashed during the flight so I could’nt take any photos. Movies were mostly recent choices around the world. Today I started a movie but I fell asleep after the first 20 minutes so I would continue the movie on my way back.
Also some information about Munich on the IFE
Safety card
Shop&Miles catalogue and Skylife Magazine ( Will have more information in the next report )
Meal:
I was sleeping when the crew served breakfast so I could’nt have it but I have seen it from another passenger. It was the same breakfast tray as my previous report TK1451. Also a flying chef was onboard but served Business Class. By the way no menu cards were distributed.
Crew
The crew was doing their job perfectly. They were absolutely nice to passengers. Also the cabin chief greeted passengers in many different languages depending their nationality. Also there was an announcement that there were cabin crews that spoke Dutch onboard.
MUNICH FRANZ JOSEF STRAUSS AIRPORT
Descending
MUC Fire Station
Terminal 1 from the taxiway
A Lufthansa A321-100 getting ready for his flight to Berlin-Tegel
Two Delta aircraft, one arrived from Detroit, the other one from Atlanta
Norweigan 737-800 would fly to PMI today.
Arrived at parking position 107, which meant gate B1
Aircraft from the gate
Welcome to Flughafen München Terminal 1B
Passport Check & Baggage Claim:
As we arrived just after a DL flight from Atlanta, the passport queue was crowded. Only 3 police was responsible for Non-Eu citizens that made me wait for 20-25 minutes. There was no priority passport check in Terminal 1 but there is a priority lane in Terminal 2.
Baggage belts were not numbered in this terminal. There was one small and one big carousel to reclaim luggages. Our baggage arrived at the small belt as passengers arriving from Delta picked their luggage from the big carousel. In addition priority baggages didn’t arrive first. Bags were arriving in a random order but our suitcases was one of the first 50 bags which arrived.
One last view of our aircraft from the baggage claim area
FIDS for Terminal 1B arrivals
Train station
Thanks for reading.
Why?! Why Lufthansa kicked TK out of T2?
Hi there,
I don't actually know the reason of why Lufthansa kicked TK, but they both had several issues between them and ended their codeshare agreement. Also, M&M members earn %25 of status miles compared to award miles earned on TK flights. I have found a flyertalk discussion about this topic if you want to read, https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turkish-airlines-miles-smiles/1573761-turkish-airlines-leaves-star-alliance-terminal-munich.html.
By the way, thank you for your comment.