Review of Turkish Airlines flight Antalya Istanbul in Economy

Airline Turkish Airlines
Flight TK2129
Class Economy
Seat 08A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:40
Take-off 22 Nov 18, 11:00
Arrival at 22 Nov 18, 12:40
TK   #13 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 776 reviews
ISTFlyer
By SILVER 777
Published on 23rd November 2018

Note: This report is exclusive for Flight-Report. For photo usages at other websites please credit the link of this report or contact by direct message.


Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Flight-Report members and readers,

It's an honor to present this exclusive series to the community as this series would include 2 regular domestic flights within Turkey but the other two flights would be a beginning for me as a new airport is opened in my city of origin. Due to the first two months of opening, discounted fares were offered from that airport to some destinations starting from 9€ in Economy Class and 39€ in Business Class. Unfortunately, this series would only contain Economy class flights but I have 10 ticketed Business Class journeys from that airport to 4 different destinations in December and I expect to report all of these 10 flights exclusive for the Flight-Report community.

The second part of this series is the report that I would fly to the magnificent Istanbul Airport for the first time. The aircraft was the same with my previous flight and all the crew, including the captains were also the same people from the last flight.
  
The routing for this exclusive series would look like this 



Apologizes for the delays publishing these series. Ce série des FR's va être traduire en français dans quelques jours.


Pax for this flight

Business Class: %100
Economy Class: %85-90 


ANTALYA AIRPORT - AYT


After arriving from my previous flight, I have headed to the departures area for my next flight


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The security checkpoint is located two floors above the check-in area. I have cleared the checkpoint within 5 minutes.


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View from Terminal 3 ( Domestic Terminal )


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Today, our gate would be gate 210, which meant that we would be transferred to the aircraft by bus.


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FIDS


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Boarding started 30-35 minutes before scheduled departure priorities being respected. Priority passengers boarded the bus from the right lane while others boarded from the left lane.


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After a short bus ride to the aircraft, I had realized that I would fly TC-JHT again. I have recently flown on that aircraft on its previous flight


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TC-SNZ was parked next door, this bird was going to head to Cologne before us.


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Another view of our aircraft


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TK 2129 ANTALYA AIRPORT TO Istanbul Airport


When I boarded the aircraft, the crew recognized me from the previous flight and they were shocked. Then I told them I am onboard to try the brand new Istanbul Airport.


Seat:

The seat was the same from the previous flight. The legroom is OK but it is smaller than those 737-800 equipped with the new seats ( Next report ). Even though seats are equipped with Panasonic ex2 entertainment systems, they are kept closed on domestic flights. The IFE system opened for a minute and then closed during boarding. 


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The Maiden Tower is the main IFE content for domestic flights


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Overhead panel


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After boarding was completed, the safety video played. After the safety video the same videos as the previous flight had been monitored.


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We had pushed back on time and started heading to the runway.


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Terminal 2


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Small jets


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A private jet


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In addition to SunExpress and Tailwind, Freebird Airlines is also an Antalya based airline.


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Another view of Terminal 2


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TC-SNG was parked near Terminal 2


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Pegas Fly 737-800


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AYT is a focus city for OnurAir


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TC-OBL was also parked at the apron.


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And it was our turn to enter the runway


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When we were starting our takeoff process, this SunExpress 737-800 was heading to the runway


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Terminal 2 again


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We are in the air


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Views after takeoff



Meal:

The meals are same in all TK domestic flights. The meal was a kaşar cheese sandwich which is served warm with a choice of drink.


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IFE

The seat pocket is same as the previous flight. More details could be found it the TK2064 IST-AYT report. 


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We had started our descend


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Büyükçekmece district


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Haraçcı district


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We're continuing to descend


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The roads which lead to Istanbul Airport


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And the airport is visible


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It was raining to the photos are not the best quality


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And we have touched down


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The taxi was very long so I put all photos in a gallery excluding the photo of the tower


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Photos during 20-25 min of taxi to the terminal. The domestic concourse is the farthest concourse to the runway that we have landed



And finally, the terminal is visible


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We were going to arrive to gate G4a.


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HSBC ads on the jetway


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And the scheme of the gates. Similar to SAW


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After saying goodbye to the crew, I made the joke "hope to see you in a future flight" and they replied me as "hopefully". They were going to return back to Antalya.


Istanbul Airport - ISL


First shot from the jetbridge


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Unlike like all airports in Turkey, the arrivals level is above the departure level. Passengers take the escalator to reach the arrivals level.


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Our aircraft from the terminal


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And I am in the massive Istanbul Airport terminal


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Shot of departures area


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Toilets


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Another view of the departures level


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After exiting the gate areas, passengers use the escalator to reach the pathway to transfers and baggage claim.


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There is a direct transfer from domestic flights to international flight as well as domestic to domestic. But they were closed at the moment.


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After heading one level down, it's the baggage claim area.


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Arrivals FIDS


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And the exit


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Landside arrivals level


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For the moment the only bank available is Ziraat and the only car rental company available is Avis-Budget


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Only one international arrival left for the day


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Gloria Jeans Coffee would open just after the exit of international arrivals.


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The rest of the photos are on the next report which I would post in a short while. Hope to see you there or in another report. Thanks for reading.


Coming up
 
This section would include spoilers of my next reports if travel plans are made. This section would appear in my recent report "except the flashback series reports" so you could have an idea what flights are coming next. Just a quick note that, flights I that I marked that I haven't flown yet could be not reported or/and not flown depending on several factors such as itinerary change, cancellation of trip, dead battery and more.


The next report would contain a detailed review of the departures area of Istanbul Airport and a report of a short domestic flight to Izmir onboard a newer Turkish Airlines 737-800 aircraft. This report would be shortly posted.


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And the last part of this series would contain a report of one of my favorite airlines. 


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Next coming up this month

After the exclusive series of flights, the next series would be a British Airways series as I have mentioned before. This serie would include the World Traveller product on their 747-400 & 787-9 aircraft, such as their Club Europe product which is continuously reported by Flight-Report members.


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See more

Verdict

Turkish Airlines

7.5/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering8.0

Antalya - AYT

9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0

Istanbul - IST

9.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

This flight was a beginning for me as it was my first time at Istanbul Airport located in my city of origin. In the future I would probably be a regular of this airport. The domestic concourse of the terminal is almost completed but there is still a lot of work to do in the international terminal. I would share more details in the next report. The flight was an average domestic flight but the fact that the IFE being turned off is annoying and not OK for a prestigious carrier like TK and the route map is only available for Business class passengers. An interesting fact about the route map would be that ISL hasn't been programmed yet so the route map was showing information about Istanbul Atatürk Airport

AYT
(+) Fast and efficient checkpoint
TK 2129
(+) Nice meal for a short flight
(+) Nice and fabulous crew
(-) IFE turned off during the flight. ( Business Class passengers could follow the route map on overhead monitors, which are available only on the Business cabin on this specific type of aircraft. ) ( -3.0 in the entertainment section )
ISL
(+) Huge & enormous terminal
(+) Efficient terminal
(+) Public transportation options
(+) Spotting options from the terminal
(-) Long taxi from the runway to the gate. ( This issue would be figured after the 3rd runway, which is close to the domestic terminal, enters in service )
(-) Toilets weren't clean when I used them ( -1.0 in the cleanliness section )

Information on the route Antalya (AYT) Istanbul (IST)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Antalya (AYT) → Istanbul (IST).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Turkish Airlines avec 8.1/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 27 minutes.

  More information

6 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 477122 by
    lagentsecret 12186 Comments
    Thanks for sharing this FR

    "I have recently flown on that aircraft on its previous flight"
    You could have stay on board ;)

    "When I boarded the aircraft, the crew recognized me from the previous flight and they were shocked"
    I'm sure there will be a lot of avgeeks flying a lot on the flights to and from ISL

    Of course same cabin

    Same catering too

    "And the airport is visible"
    Unfortunately it's raining

    Thanks for the first pictures of the new aiport

    Impressive terminal

    It seems so big, of course because it's empty

    What are the public transportations from ISL ?

    See you soon for your next flight
    • Comment 477151 by
      ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
      Hi Lagentsecret & welcome again,

      "You could have stay on board ;)"
      - Yes I could, I knew it would be the same aircraft with the same crew before I booked the flight :)
      "I'm sure there will be a lot of avgeeks flying a lot on the flights to and from ISL"
      - Mostly they prefer Ankara flights because of the schedule, not Antalya
      "Unfortunately it's raining"
      - Yes it is :(
      "What are the public transportations from ISL ?"
      - Shuttle buses in 5 different lines from different parts of the city runs for each flight. The number of lines would increase to 19 when the move in from Atatürk Airport is completed. In addition, municipality buses from Mecidiyeköy district, Halkalı district ( Near to the train station ) and Atatürk Airport. Of course taxis are also available.

      Thanks again and hope to see you in another report.
  • Comment 477174 by
    ThomasDutch SILVER 633 Comments
    So massive and so quiet. Just enjoy it right now before it opens to all flights haha! Thanks for your report!
    • Comment 477235 by
      ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
      You're welcome. The airport is really quiet. At the moment, there are more employees working there than passengers.
      Thanks for your comment and hope to see you in another report.
  • Comment 477480 by
    Chibcha SILVER 540 Comments
    ISL looks awesome, thanks a lot for sharing!
  • Comment 477556 by
    ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
    You're welcome, thanks for the comment.

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