Review of Pegasus Airlines flight Istanbul Ankara in Economy

Airline Pegasus Airlines
Flight PC2672
Class Economy
Seat 21F
Aircraft Airbus A320neo
Flight time 01:05
Take-off 06 Aug 18, 20:15
Arrival at 06 Aug 18, 21:20
PC   #5 out of 24 Low-cost airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 39 reviews
ISTFlyer
By SILVER 1080
Published on 13th August 2018

This trip would include these flights

PC 2672 Istanbul-SAW to Ankara ( Economy ) Airbus A320neo, Codeshare: AZ 6089 ( you are here )
[ Bonus: ibis Hotel Ankara Airport - Review ]


QR 314 Ankara to Doha ( Economy ) Airbus A321-200 ( click here )

QR 904 Doha to Melbourne ( Economy ) Airbus A380-800, Codeshare: BA 6374, IB 978, S7 4735 ( click here )

QR 905 Melbourne to Doha ( Economy ) Airbus A380-800, Codeshare: BA 6375, IB 979, S7 4736 ( click here )
[ Bonus: Free Doha Stopover Hotel Review: Safir Hotel ]

QR 257 Doha to Ankara ( Economy ) Airbus A320-200 ( click here )



Trip Overview

Bonus : Click here display



Route Overview ( IST/SAW - ESB )

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Pax for this flight

Economy Class 160/186
This is the exact number of passengers onboard this flight. I have heard one of the ground crew telling the pax to the bus driver that took us from the terminal to the aircraft.
There were mostly passengers transferring to Kiev at Ankara and some transfer passengers from international flights that arrived to SAW.




ONLINE CHECK-IN



I have checked-in online for this flight 72 hours before departure on the PC mobile app.

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Today, seat 21F was assigned for me, I kept this seat as I didn't want to pay a seat selection fee for a 40 minute flight.

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No additional service bought today so check-in is completed.

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ISTANBUL SABIHA GÖKÇEN AIRPORT - SAW



Entering the airport:

For those traveling from the European side, bus E-3 from 4.Levent is one of the best options to access this airport as it only takes 45 minutes to the airport ( without traffic ) and costs only 7,80 TRY ( equal to 1,25€ ) with Istanbulkart.

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The terminal

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The west and the middle entrances was packed to I have headed to the East Entrance which is located at the end of the passenger drop off lane. It's much quieter than the other entrances because most of the cars dropped passengers at the very beginning of the drop off lane. I was in the building within 5 minutes.

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I have weighed my bag to ensure that I have paid for enough extra luggage weight. My baggage was under 20 kilos so no problem.

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Check-in:

Pegasus Airlines has 3 check-in islands at this airport. Island C which I used today is bag drop only, the other islands D & E are standart check-in counters. The light under the screens at the counter turns green when the agent is ready for the next passenger.

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I had arrived early so I had lots of time. First I've bought my shampoo which I would use during this trip at the Watsons store on the departure level of this terminal.

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I was hungry at that time so I headed Caribou Coffee which is located near check-in island H for a late lunch. A cold drink and a sandwich was my choice today. I've paid this by food checks.

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Then I headed around the terminal to buy my monthly magazines at the D&R store.

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After that, it was time to go airside. Almost all of the security lanes where open and I was in airside in 5 minutes despite the high crowd.

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I didn't want to eat something onboard so I have headed to Puro Gusto Restaurant. I had a pasta with chicken for dinner. I would like to note that the photo below is taken after I took some bites so the portion is actually bigger.

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At that time the gate was assigned for my flight.

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FIDS

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Boarding Pass:

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VISIT TO THE TERMINAL EXPANSION



On the 31st of July, the new terminal building has opened officially which would expand the area of the domestic terminal. There would be 4 more jetbridges in this building and some more bus gates. The expansion wasn't completely open so I could have taken photos of some of the areas, security was not allowing passengers to those areas which were not in service at that time.

Passengers arriving to this building would connect to the main building from this area.

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The new area for domestic arrivals, buses assigned to flights arriving at remote stands would drop off their passengers here.

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Puro Gusto Restaurant, which I have eaten my pasta at, would open a new restaurant to this new building.

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The barriers not allowing passengers to go the area which the new jetbridges are located.

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BOARDING AND BUS JOURNEY TO THE AIRCRAFT




Gate 310B is a remote gate.

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An AJA 738 and a PC 738 can be seen at the gate.

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Boarding had begun at gate 310B 45 minutes before scheduled departure time.

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On the bus journey to the aircraft, this AJA aircraft getting ready to Trabzon appeared.

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TC-CPY, a 738 for PC at gate 206A

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Food is loaded to TC-SAH which would also fly to ESB as TK7254

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TK7346 to BJV is pushing back.

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This TK A320 would also be flying to Bodrum.

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This PC 738 parked at gate 202B would serve PC702 to Bishkek.

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TC-JGA had just arrived from ESB at that time.

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A PC A320 getting ready to head off to Kayseri

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TC-IZI would operate PC2206 to Izmir

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A TK 738 getting ready for his flight to Tbilisi

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The Airbus A320neo which would take me to Ankara

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This aircraft was named Feyza.

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As my seat was 21F, I boarded from the rear door.

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PC2672 ISTANBUL-SAW to ANKARA



Seat:

It was comfortable for a low cost airline and the legroom was fine enough.

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The overhead panel

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Before takeoff:

TC-JGA to TBS was pushing back as boarding continued.

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TK7346 to BJV has been seen again.

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After TC-JGA pushed back, TC-IZI appeared for the second time.

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After boarding was completed, the captain announced that the flight would be delayed due to heavy traffic at the runway so we remained in our parking position for 25 minutes and then headed to the runway. After pushing back the safety demo was done by the cabin crew.

We had took of at 21:10 ( 55 minutes after our scheduled departure time )

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Somewhere around Tepeören district in Istanbul just after takeoff

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Meal:

Pegasus Airlines doesn't offer free meals or drinks so a buy-on-board menu can be founded in the seat pocket. Today most of the passengers wanted to buy something so it took a long time that the trolley came to me as one of them starts service from the first row and the other one from the last row and they meet at the middle of the aircraft. Today I have just bought some water. The menu and the price list can be found in my PC 3308 report.

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IFE:

Pegasus hasn't equipped their Airbus fleet with overhead screens so the only way of entertainment is inflight magazines. The Pegasus Magazine wasn't present at my seat pocked at this flight as someone might took it home on the previous flight. The only choice to read was the Euro 2024 bid brochure and the inflight menu.

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Also the safety card is attached to the seat in front.

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Crew:

The crew was nice and polite to passengers during this flight. They were slow at the buy on board service so they couldn't collect rubbish due to landing, but when leaving the aircraft the crew offered to throw my waste to the rubbish bins. Also as I heard other passengers talking with the crew, their English were understandable and they spoke fluently, it is hard to find a fluent English speaking cabin crew onboard on Turkish carriers.

Descending and arrival:

Some photos of Ankara before landing

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We had landed at 21:50 at Ankara ( 30 minutes late than scheduled arrival time ). We had parked to gate 115 after a short taxi.

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TC-CRB which would serve PC3169 to ESB was parked at gate 113 at the time we parked.

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ANKARA ESENBOĞA AIRPORT - ESB



A last view of the aircraft from the terminal.

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Domestic Arrivals FIDS

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Our baggages would be arriving to carousel 24. There were not many passengers at the carousel because most of the passengers had onward connections or had to clear customs at the international terminal. Bags have arrived within 10 minutes.

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After claiming my luggage, I have headed to the taxi rank to go to my hotel. I would like to remind you that I have posted a review about the hotel below in the bonus section.


BONUS: IBIS HOTEL ANKARA AIRPORT



Bonus : Click here display



Thanks for reading.
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Verdict

Pegasus Airlines

7.0/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi3.5
Buy-on-board menu7.5

Istanbul - SAW

8.3/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.0

Ankara - ESB

8.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

As this was a short flight with a really good price. It was satisfying for the price I have paid and the 30 minute late arrival didn't affected me as my next flight was the day after. Also I would like to remind that if you check-in online for PC flights, you earn 250 BolBol points for domestic flights and 500 BolBol points for international flights even you if you don't purchase extras so it's possible to collect more points by online checking-in.

SAW:
(+) Airport staff was prepared for heavy passenger traffic
(+) Wide selection of facilities at the airport
(+) Food at Puro Gusto is for a reasonable price ( compared to airports ) and tasty
(+) With the expansion and new bus gates, there is more space to sit when waiting for flights
PC2672:
(+) Cabin crew was nice to passengers
(+) Crew spoke clear English with non-Turkish customers
(-) In flight magazine lacked in my seat pocket.
(-) Crew was slow during buy-on-board service as my turn came when descending
ESB:
(+) Fast baggage claim
(+) Not crowded

Related

6 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 459581 by
    fiftytwo GOLD 1417 Comments
    thanks , reports from/to esb are quite rare in this site

    looks like this airport is too big for this city (besides kurban bayram and seker bayram) , coz its never too crowded , and its something i like

    about SAW i always tried to avoid it cause of traffic jams , better adding extra money and land/take off in IST

    cant wait for the next report

    bye
    • Comment 459705 by
      ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
      Hi and thank you for your comment,
      -As you said, ESB airport is really big for the low traffic there but it can be crowded on mornings and late-afternoon due to the heavy business traffic from/to Istanbul. Otherwise, it's true that the airport only gets crowded in religious holidays.
      -As IST is closer to my house in Istanbul, SAW seems to be a place to avoid but I have got used to it after flying 3-4 times. As I'm accustomed to the traffic jams in Istanbul, I choose the cheapest ticket to my destination but I never forget the fact that transportation to SAW can be a nightmare from the usual route sometimes. I can just tell that the travel time to SAW would be better when the metro would be expanded to SAW next year.
      My next report would be posted this week and I would wish you to have a nice day.
  • Comment 459832 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6656 Comments
    Hi Eryorulmaz, thanks for sharing this thorough report on SAW and Pegasus. It's impressive that SAW is expanding and IST is also being replaced by a new bigger airport this fall! Istanbul is really well connected to the world by air.

    The cabin looks nice and new and the seats and legroom do look decent for a low-cost carrier. Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 459854 by
      ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
      Hi Kévin,
      I would like to agree that the cabin and the legroom provided is above average for a low-cost carrier, and luckily this aircraft had more legroom than some of TK's domestic aircraft. Furthermore, most of the citizens of Istanbul is getting prepared to use SAW instead of the new airport because SAW is closer to some European-side districts and they won't anymore pay the price difference to fly from IST. Also, a second runway in SAW ( which can handle the A380 ) is proposed and will open to service in a few years. However connecting passengers would continue to fly from the new airport which would be better than today's IST.
      By the way, thanks for your comment and have a great time.

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