#14 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
778 reviews
A very warm welcome to all Flight-Report members and visitors for this exclusive series of Flight-Report's which was an easy way having a Star Alliance Gold status. In addition, in this series I had the chance to experience the brand new Turkish Airlines Domestic Lounge at Istanbul Airport on the first day of its operation. This exclusive series would include 15 flights ( 14 on Turkish Airlines & 1 on SunExpress ) and 13 of these reports are flights to/from Istanbul Airport in Business Class. The other two flights are also domestic flights which are on Economy Class and they are not reports from/to Istanbul Airport. More details could be found in the routing section.
The sixth report of this serie would be a longer domestic flight onboard the A320 aircraft of Turkish Airlines to Trabzon in the Business Class cabin. This review would also include a small visit to the new Turkish Airlines Lounge Domestic at Istanbul Airport
The routing would look like this. All reports except #2 would include lounge reviews as well.
Pax for this flight
Business Class: %100 [Business Class until row 3]
Economy Class: %90-95
I have done my online check-in 24 hours before the first flight. I was able to check-in for my same day return and I was lucky to get the same seat for both of the flights.
The morning of the flight, I have used one of the Havaist shuttles to reach Istanbul Airport.
The airport
Construction going on at the Airport City
The empty apron
The CIP entrance, unfortunately the only way to access there is to drive there, there is no walkway at the moment.
That's why I have used the regular entrance to enter the airport
FIDS
I have checked myself at the self check-in kiosks and proceeded to the security checkpoint.
View of the check-in counters
The security checkpoint took around 3 minutes as there was no one in front of me
Going down to the gate level
The actual gate for our flight. Gate G2a
Walking to the elevators which lead to the lounge
The lounge is located at the ground level
Boarding Pass
Views of the lounge
FIDS
The offerings at the lounge were the same like report #4 so I didn't take photos of the food that day
Boarding had started at a reasonable time before takeoff at the CIP gate
A Boeing 737-800 was visible from the lounge boarding area
After being welcomed by the crew I have took my seat
As this aircraft had seats with the middle seat blocked, it had less legroom than the 737-800 aircraft. However, the legroom was around 31' which wasn't that bad.
Overhead panel - Route map was available throughout the flight on the overhead monitors
As a welcome drink I had took a lemonade.
The empty terminal while we pushed back
After pushing back, the safety video was monitored from the overhead screens. Emmet was making his final remarks at that time.
While we were taxiing, nuts and menus were distributed
As we're taking off
Last view of the terminal
We're in the air
Turning eastbound to Trabzon
The seat pocket was the same as all flight. I would cover the seat pocket content in detail in report #7 and #13
Route map after takeoff
Shortly after takeoff, drink orders were taken and then the meals were distributed
Potpourri of Seafood
Grilled Lamb Chops
Profiteroles
Later on, I have requested a tea.
Before arriving to Trabzon, it was sad to see the filthy sea water
Mosque construction
Port of Trabzon
Forum Trabzon shopping center
And we have touched down
Before we had parked to our spot and the seatbelt signs haven't been turned off, passengers in Economy started to stand up and open the overhead bins. The crew had done a perfect job making passengers taking their seats.
Fuselage shot after leaving the aircraft
The Turkish Stars were at Trabzon at that time
A last shot of our aircraft
TK A330 parked far away which is getting ready for its flight to Istanbul Atatürk.
And we're in the domestic terminal
This report had came to and end. Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.
Of course the cabin was not good as the new cabins on the A321s or 737s but the flight was good and everything went perfectly. The only issue is that the legroom in Business Class could be tight for some passengers.
As I want to expedite the process of writing this serie, there would be no +'s or -'s for reports in this serie. However, there could be some exceptions.
2 Comments
Not having pedestrian access to the CIP Lounge seems an oversight — especially if it means those arriving by bus or other public transit have no easy access. However, the “regular entrance” is quite attractive. A bit of that nice HKG feeling with the bridgeways.
The lounge looks nice, and I still love the “private” departure to the gates. If they were to implement something like that for international flights, that would rock.
How disappointing to have the Euro-J seating. I didn’t realize TK featured this. Is this on all the Airbus planes, or just some? Or is it on all of the older widebodies? Or….?
The lamb chops look somewhat familiar, but delicious. One can’t complain at that catering, that’s for sure.
Alright… off to the return leg, and then I think I’m caught up with your adventures. Thanks for sharing this, and looking forward to the rest of the series.
"Not having pedestrian access to the CIP Lounge seems an oversight — especially if it means those arriving by bus or other public transit have no easy access. However, the “regular entrance” is quite attractive. A bit of that nice HKG feeling with the bridgeways."
- On the 10th of January, the arrivals level exits have been opened so there may be a pedestrian way there, but there was no access on the day I have flown. My next visit to this airport would be on March and I would be able to check if there is a pedestrian was at the moment. As you said, I feel the regular entrance a bit attractive as it's the only airport that vehicles doesn't drop passengers just in front of the door.
"The lounge looks nice, and I still love the “private” departure to the gates. If they were to implement something like that for international flights, that would rock."
- Of course, it would be nice. But, I don't think TK would hire extra 300 drivers and buy 100 more buses to do this. In my opinion, before building the airport they could have thought a direct-gate lounge access like DXB T3 both for the domestic and international terminals. I hope they would think about this concept for the second terminal building that would open in the 2020s.
"How disappointing to have the Euro-J seating. I didn’t realize TK featured this. Is this on all the Airbus planes, or just some? Or is it on all of the older widebodies? Or….?"
- They are equipped on all short haul aircraft. I have responded the same question in detail to another member in report #4 in this series. Just for an overview, not all narrow bodies have this configuration. Only old aircrafts that joined the fleet before 2011 and domestic configured aircraft. Most of the A321's are configured in the new 2x2 cabin so there are Airbus aircraft that doesn't have 3x3 Euro-J. By the way, all A319 and A320's in the fleet has this configuration. All of the wide-bodies except Hajj aircraft have lie-flat or angled seats at least in J cabin.
"The lamb chops look somewhat familiar, but delicious. One can’t complain at that catering, that’s for sure."
- Me too, cannot complain for the catering. TK has one of the best catering products in the world for short haul Business Class.
"Alright… off to the return leg, and then I think I’m caught up with your adventures. Thanks for sharing this, and looking forward to the rest of the series."
- Thanks for keeping in touch, it's a pleasure to answer your comments.
Thanks and hope to see you in another report.
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