Review of Turkish Airlines flight Istanbul Ankara in Business

Airline Turkish Airlines
Flight TK2124
Class Business
Seat 02E
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:25
Take-off 29 Dec 18, 11:10
Arrival at 29 Dec 18, 12:35
TK   #15 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 778 reviews
ISTFlyer
By SILVER 509
Published on 19th January 2019

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 tenth report of this series would be the another flight Turkish Airlines domestic flight; this time to Ankara. This report would also have a small review of the Turkish Airlines Lounge Domestic for the fourth time.


The routing would look like this. All reports except #2 would include lounge reviews as well.



Pax for this flight

Business Class: %100
Economy Class: %95-100


Istanbul Airport - ISL


After arriving my previous flight, I have used the escalators to go to the departures level. At the moment, there isn't a security screening for transfer passengers from domestic to domestic.


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Arriving to the gate level. Our aircraft ( TC-JVN ) is even visible.


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The regular gate of our flight would be gate G2a.


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After a short walk I have reached to the elevators at the lounge and used them to access to the lounge.


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Turkish Airlines LOUNGE DOMESTIC - Istanbul Airport


The lounge was a bit crowded as three flights ( TZX, ESB & GZT ) depart at the same time and the Elite Plus & Business section hasn't been opened yet. At the moment, all passengers are redirected to the Classic Plus & Elite & Star Gold lounge.


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Business corner


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FIDS


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Drink bars are located all around the lounge. Just a quick note that I haven't take photos of the food offerings that day but you could find them in the reports #4 & #8 of this series.


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Boarding pass


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Shortly before the flight, boarding has begun from the CIP gate and we were transferred to the aircraft by bus.


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As there were lots of people trying to retain status or pass to the next status at Miles&Smiles ( even flying Economy ) , there was a long wait for the elevator after arriving to the gate.


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TK 2124 ISTANBUL AIRPORT TO ANKARA ESENBOĞA AIRPORT


While boarding the aircraft, the crew noticed me and welcomed by my name. They have told me that the passenger in seat 3E was seated separately from his wife so they offered me to swap seats with the other passenger. I have accepted the swap and sat at seat 2E.


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Later on welcome drinks were served.


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Continued by nuts and menus


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And by the monitoring of the safety video


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TC-JUE which would head to Trabzon was behind us going to the same place as we do: the runway.


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Shortly after we took of I have opened the IFE screen to check if it's on during this flight. Yes, it's on.


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In addition, as this aircraft is equipped with the new Thales IFE system, business class seats also have power sources.


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Shortly after the closure of the seatbelt signs, the meal was served. It was the same meal with my previous TK 2124 flight, which was 4 days before this flight.


Smoked Salmon and Celeriac Salad
Grilled Chicken Brochette with roasted red pepper, grilled zucchini, sweetcorn mousseline
Do&Co's Chocolate Mousse 


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For a drink, this time I've opted for a tomato juice.


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It was snowing at the Ankara region and the temperature was -10 degrees centigrade.


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 For operational reasons, as the captain said, we had skipped the runway and made a circle. Then we had landed to Ankara Esenboğa Airport.


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Then we had parked to gate 109.


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After saying "see you again" to the crew, I have left the aircraft.


ANKARA ESENBOĞA AIRPORT - ESB


Then I have followed the signs for arrivals and then for the Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge as I would return to Istanbul with the same aircraft.


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This report has came to and end, thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.

See more

Verdict

Turkish Airlines

9.6/10
Cabin9.5
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi9.5
Meal/catering9.5

Istanbul - IST

10.0/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Ankara - ESB

8.6/10
Efficiency8.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

A regular TK domestic flight with an extraordinary service, especially for a 45 minutes flight.

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.

Information on the route Istanbul (IST) Ankara (ESB)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 11 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Istanbul (IST) → Ankara (ESB).


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 11 minutes.

  More information

2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 484718 by
    hometoyyz 539 Comments
    Hello again, Eryorulmaz,

    Almost caught up with this big series.

    Once again, beautiful lounge shots.

    A familiar, but wonderful meal.

    And another delightful experience in TK J.

    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 484724 by
      ISTFlyer SILVER AUTHOR 399 Comments
      Hi hometoyyz and welcome to this report,

      "Almost caught up with this big series."
      - Thanks for reading all the reports in this series.
      "Once again, beautiful lounge shots."
      - Thanks again
      "A familiar, but wonderful meal."
      - I hope that TK doesn't decrease their service in domestic flights. Probably they won't change it in the first years of Istanbul Airport but hope not in the far-future.
      "And another delightful experience in TK J."
      - Completely agree

      Thanks again and hope to see you again in another report.

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