Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Munich to Istanbul in Economy

This trip includes these flights
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

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.

Contenu masqué : Cliquez pour afficher

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.