TK 1629 Istanbul to Munich ( Economy ) Airbus A321-200, Codeshare: UA 6907, IR 2629 (click here) TK 1634 Munich to Istanbul ( Economy ) Airbus A321-200, Codeshare: IR 2634 ( you are here )
Route Overview
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It's my 4th time on a MUC-IST flight and my first time on TK 1634. I had flown LH 1772 two times and TK 1630 once.
Pax for this flight
Business Class %75-80 Economy Class %95-100
There were mostly passengers continuing to domestic flights but there was also some passengers who were connecting to international flights. There was just a few passengers who ended their journey at IST as the baggage carousel was empty.
ONLINE CHECK-IN
Online Check-in
This time I had checked-in online from my laptop instead of my phone.
Mobile boarding passes are not allowed on TK flights departing from MUC.
The incoming flight as departed when I was packing my bags at the hotel. There was a last minute aircraft type change that a 4 row Business Class aircraft (32R) would operate the flight instead of a 5 row Business Class aircraft (32B). Just a quick note that 32B and 32R are shortened codes that is assigned to these aircraft by TK.
S-Bahn is a good solution to go the airport. It costs €11,60 per person or €24,30 per group ( 5 adults )
MUNICH FRANZ JOSEF STRAUSS AIRPORT - MUC
FIDS at the Munich Airport Center
Check-in
Check-in was empty when I have arrived to the counters in Terminal 1C. All of the ground staff could speak Turkish in addition to German and English. The agent who helped us checked our bags and told us that the usual security checkpoint is closed today so we just head upstairs for security control.
Security & Passport Control
Even though we had access at the Priority Line, it allowed us to get in front of some of the queue as it merged with the regular line at some point. There was a new type of security device in this terminal. There is some information about this device in the photo below this text. Also it took 15-20 minutes to pass this checkpoint because small children had difficulties to maintain the designated position for the new machine and security was handsearching them. After screening it was time for passport control.
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Our aircraft had arrived when we were at the queue for passport control.
The passport queue was a chaos. There was only 2 police officers serving all passengers departing from Terminal 1B and Terminal 1C and there were mostly families that time of the day so they couldn't use the e-gates. I waited almost 40 minutes for my passport to be checked and people tried to pass you at the queue. Luckily after waiting for 30 minutes another booth has been opened and there were 3 booths open at that time. Luckily the flight was delayed so I didn't need to run at the gate. By the way there were passengers getting thirsty at the queue and there was no vending machines after the security check until the passport control booths.
Boarding Pass
Lounge
Even though we had access to the Atlantic Lounge, we didn't have time so we just headed to the gate.
EK A388 to Dubai
TC-SEU will serve XQ978 to Izmir-Adnan Menderes.
Finally in Terminal 1C airside
BOARDING
Boarding
Our aircraft from the gate
I arrived to gate C10 at 14:20 which the gate should be closed but boarding wasn't started at that time. No delay was announced that time.
The boarding queue at that time.
Later on boarding started for Business Class passengers & Star Gold card holders and Group A Economy Class passengers at the same time. There were some passengers in Group B & C trying to board the aircraft early but the ground staff didn't allow them to board early.
The aircraft from the jet bridge
Newspapers were offered at the gate. There were mostly Turkish newspapers but also some international ones.
TK 1634 MUNICH to ISTANBUL-IST
Widen your world & welcome on board
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Seat
The seat and the legroom was fine. Each seat had it's own PTV but this time there was no USB ports and power sockets for Economy passengers. Pillows and blanks could have been found in the overhead bins today.
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Earphones were waiting for me at my seat
Our route today
Before Takeoff
Safety video & the same videos from the previous flight was shown today.
D-ABON had parked next to us, getting ready for its flight to Heraklion.
EY 77W and SA 346
Terminal 1 - S7 is arriving to the gate that we had left.
RJ123 from Amman had just arrived at that time
Two LH Cityline CR9 parking at the apron
This CR9 was getting ready for its flight to Sibiu, Romania.
Terminal 2
D-ACNO was in the takeoff line. This bird would be flying to Genoa today.
This CR9 serving LH1664 to Sibiu appeared again.
Takeoff:
Last view of Terminal 1
This A380 was taxiing to the hangar.
Some photos after takeoff
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Route map at that time
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Meal:
Lunch was served onboard this flight. There was an option between pasta & beef ( meatballs ) but they ran out of pasta until they served me so I had to have the meatballs. Meatballs were served with rice and chickpeas. There was also a small dish of "cacık" , and a chocolate mousse. Bread was distributed by the cabin crew but my tray missed butter as maybe the catering employee had forgotten to put one. In addition, a small cup of water was also served with the tray. The portion of the meatballs was small but it was just a 2h30min flight.
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IFE:
The entertainment system perfectly worked. This entertainment system was a Panasonic one instead of Thales. This one had less content than the one in TK1629 as I couldn't continue the movie I left watching because that movie wasn't loaded on this aircraft so I watched another movie instead. By the way it was difficult to find a movie shorter than 100 minutes.
Safety card
Shop & Miles Catalogue
Skylife Magazine
I would also like to share an article about the new Istanbul airport.
Bonus : Click here displayhide
Turkish Airlines, Europe Route Map
Technical information about our aircraft
Crew
The crew was fine for this flight and they were pleasant to passengers. Also some of the cabin crew spoke German onboard this flight. There was also an onboard chef for Business Class passengers but also appeared in Economy Class during the meal.
ISTANBUL ATATÜRK AIRPORT - IST
Some flight information prior to arrival
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Connecting gate information wasn't available on this flight.
Shots over the Marmara sea
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Yeşilköy park
Florya park
Just before approaching
Bosphorus European Airlines aircraft ( I had never flown them )
The newest apron of this airport
TC-LOD was getting ready for his flight to Lahore
This A333 was parked at gate 228
Another TK A333 at gate 227, this time to HKT as TK172
An Emirates 77W arrived from DXB
A TK 738 getting ready for its flight to Podgorica and a TK A321 getting ready to serve TK1667 to Hamburg.
TC-JSK, this bird would serve TK1667 to HAM
As we arrived to our remote stand, this TK 739 was pushing back for its flight to Abuja.
So I had also the chance to take a photo of this ULS Cargo A310 which operates for Turkish Cargo
Last view of our aircraft
TC-JUG, this A320 would serve TK1447 to Bari this evening.
Just a quick remark that there was a special bus for Business Class passengers and Star Gold card holders but that bus was randomly been filled up with all Business Class passengers and some Economy Class passengers seating in the front rows.
A last shot of A6-EBT which would serve EK122
Arrived to the bus drop of point near gate 701. It was a long walk to the passport control from here.
Passport Check & Baggage Claim:
The regular line was emptier than the priority line so I had chosen to enter the regular lane. It took 5 minutes to pass this checkpoint.
Bags were there waiting for us at carousel 10 as we arrived there. My journey to MUC had ended there as I went to my companions car as he will drop me home.
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Verdict
Turkish Airlines
8.0/10
Cabin6.5
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi8.0
Meal/catering9.0
Munich - MUC
5.0/10
Efficiency3.0
Access4.0
Services5.0
Cleanliness8.0
Istanbul - ISL
7.5/10
Efficiency7.5
Access7.5
Services7.0
Cleanliness8.0
Conclusion
MUC (+) Check-in agents was polite and nice to passengers (+) Passengers whose boarding group wasn't announced wouldn't able to board until they are called. (-) Terminal 1 not efficient. Details are below. (-) Security checkpoint waiting time. (-) Priority lane just allows to skip some passengers. Not a separate x-ray or passport booth. (-) Unorganized passport control line. Only 2 booths open for 6-7 flights at the same time as 2 of them are wide-body flights ( one EK A388 and one DE 763 ). One booth that later on opened was only for EU citizens. (-) Could not use the lounge because of the long security & passport check process (-) Short delay not announced (-) Business Class & Economy Class passengers to seat at the rear of the aircraft board together. No priority boarding for families with children. (S) Small children should be directed to the old machines instead of the new body scanners. It took a lot of time to handsearch them. TK1634 (+) PTV's on each seat (+) Entertainment system worked perfectly (+) Meal tasted well but the portion was below average. (+) Nice detail that there was German speaking cabin members onboard. (-) They ran out of pasta (-) Cabin was not well air-conditioned. I sweated during the flight even though the overhead AC panel was fully open. (-) Cabin noisy because of high amount of babies and small children IST (+)Fast immigration process (+)Bags were there when we arrived to the belt (-) The premium bus from the aircraft to the terminal hasn't got a passenger list so it randomly allows passengers to board.
As TK was the cheapest and most profitable option for this ticket and had a better service than my previous Porto trip. I think that TK cares a lot for their flights to MUC because Munich is one of the biggest airline hubs in Europe and there are many passengers connecting to a long-haul flight in IST. In addition, this route is strategic because that LH can resume their IST-MUC flights at any time. For this trip the service was good and I had no problem with TK except short delays in both flights and air-conditioning issues. But I would like to advise to avoid flying on international flights from Terminal 1 in Munich if possible, especially in the summer season. There is no similarity between the tiresome Terminal 1 and the efficient & modern Terminal 2.
1 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Stunning flight report and thank you. Probably one of the few things Turkish gets right on the ground is the boarding process by group. My crew from Bangkok to Istanbul last year spoke German which would have been nice as there were many German passengers onboard. Nice to see the A330 being prepared for Lahore. Shame I got a an awful 738 and suffered back and leg pain for days after flying to Lahore. In closing,it is nice to see TK's inflight service is still great (my butter was also missing on the tray to Lahore). I hope you will enjoy my 8 reports of TK flights. Sadly I don't see me flying TK again as apparently it is forbidden to take photos onboard. As a blogger that just can't be sustained as pictures do the talking. Nowhere in Skylife or the website is the fake "No Photo" rule mentioned. When TK decide to improve their ground and customer service I will fly TK again. But not in a hurry.
Stunning flight report and thank you. Probably one of the few things Turkish gets right on the ground is the boarding process by group. My crew from Bangkok to Istanbul last year spoke German which would have been nice as there were many German passengers onboard. Nice to see the A330 being prepared for Lahore. Shame I got a an awful 738 and suffered back and leg pain for days after flying to Lahore. In closing,it is nice to see TK's inflight service is still great (my butter was also missing on the tray to Lahore). I hope you will enjoy my 8 reports of TK flights. Sadly I don't see me flying TK again as apparently it is forbidden to take photos onboard. As a blogger that just can't be sustained as pictures do the talking. Nowhere in Skylife or the website is the fake "No Photo" rule mentioned. When TK decide to improve their ground and customer service I will fly TK again. But not in a hurry. The level of disrespect I have been shown by TK UK and Istanbul in the last 10 years is appalling. The inflight service and crew are the best however.
First, I would like to thank you for your comment, Flying with a 738 or an A330 is really different experiences as TK is one of the airlines that last minute aircraft changes happen so it's not always possible to confirm the aircraft type except long haul routes, one of my previous flights was downgraded from A330 to A319 but sometimes the aircraft type changes from A320 series to A330. I can agree that TK 738 ( new series ) has less legroom than their older versions and it can be unpleasant to fly these aircraft longhaul. Their service in prestigious routes hasn't changed, like this route, but I have heard that TK now serves only a cheese sandwich at most European routes under 3 hours. As TK expensive compared to other airlines, I usually prefer non Turkish carriers or other Turkish carriers such as Pegasus Airlines, AtlasGlobal, ... because of the cheaper fare they offer but sometimes due to travel companions or friends I can't pick my airline or flights on some occasions. Also, I have read some of your reports including all TK reports and I completely agree that TK customer service didn't treated you well at all and I wouldn't be surprised if I pass through something similar that you have experienced.
Thanks for your reply and your report truly is amazing ! I wouldn't wish the poor Customer Relations/Social Media team on anyone. It is a shame that such superb inflight service is let down by really rubbish Customer Relations.
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4 Comments
My crew from Bangkok to Istanbul last year spoke German which would have been nice as there were many German passengers onboard. Nice to see the A330 being prepared for Lahore. Shame I got a an awful 738 and suffered back and leg pain for days after flying to Lahore. In closing,it is nice to see TK's inflight service is still great (my butter was also missing on the tray to Lahore). I hope you will enjoy my 8 reports of TK flights. Sadly I don't see me flying TK again as apparently it is forbidden to take photos onboard. As a blogger that just can't be sustained as pictures do the talking. Nowhere in Skylife or the website is the fake "No Photo" rule mentioned. When TK decide to improve their ground and customer service I will fly TK again. But not in a hurry.
My crew from Bangkok to Istanbul last year spoke German which would have been nice as there were many German passengers onboard. Nice to see the A330 being prepared for Lahore. Shame I got a an awful 738 and suffered back and leg pain for days after flying to Lahore. In closing,it is nice to see TK's inflight service is still great (my butter was also missing on the tray to Lahore). I hope you will enjoy my 8 reports of TK flights. Sadly I don't see me flying TK again as apparently it is forbidden to take photos onboard. As a blogger that just can't be sustained as pictures do the talking. Nowhere in Skylife or the website is the fake "No Photo" rule mentioned. When TK decide to improve their ground and customer service I will fly TK again. But not in a hurry. The level of disrespect I have been shown by TK UK and Istanbul in the last 10 years is appalling. The inflight service and crew are the best however.
Flying with a 738 or an A330 is really different experiences as TK is one of the airlines that last minute aircraft changes happen so it's not always possible to confirm the aircraft type except long haul routes, one of my previous flights was downgraded from A330 to A319 but sometimes the aircraft type changes from A320 series to A330. I can agree that TK 738 ( new series ) has less legroom than their older versions and it can be unpleasant to fly these aircraft longhaul. Their service in prestigious routes hasn't changed, like this route, but I have heard that TK now serves only a cheese sandwich at most European routes under 3 hours. As TK expensive compared to other airlines, I usually prefer non Turkish carriers or other Turkish carriers such as Pegasus Airlines, AtlasGlobal, ... because of the cheaper fare they offer but sometimes due to travel companions or friends I can't pick my airline or flights on some occasions. Also, I have read some of your reports including all TK reports and I completely agree that TK customer service didn't treated you well at all and I wouldn't be surprised if I pass through something similar that you have experienced.
I wouldn't wish the poor Customer Relations/Social Media team on anyone.
It is a shame that such superb inflight service is let down by really rubbish Customer Relations.
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