Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Athens to Istanbul in Economy

Report No: 2020-305E

Ladies and Gentleman,

Welcome to this very interesting and thrilling Flight-Report series as the COVID-19 situation in the world affected my travel plans, however, not this time as I was able to return back to Europe as planned with some minor changes. This series would contain 2 parts, with 5 flights all on Economy Class, covering 3 different airlines, 6 different airports, 5 different lounges and 5 different aircraft types.

In the final part of this series, after a long break in ATH, I have taken a Turkish Airlines flight from ATH to IST and luckily, it was on board the Boeing 787-9. The reason that I've decided to take a longer layover was that I was scared to fell asleep at my layover at ATH as I'm a deep sleeper.

On this review, I would provide you a report of the Aegean Business Lounge in Athens and the flight report itself with a brief review of the Turkish Airlines 787-9.

Pax for this flight

Business Class: No idea
Economy Class: %80-85

ATHENS ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS AIRPORT - ATH

After a long night at the Sofitel Athens Airport, it was time to leave the hotel at 17:00.

FIDS from the hotel

Before heading to the terminal, I decided to have a drink and a late lunch at the restaurant at the hotel. The food here tasted super good, however, it was a bit expensive compared to Greek standards.

After my late lunch, I had checked out from the hotel, and headed to the terminal.

Athens Airport has only one terminal

As I already had my boarding pass and my bags were checked through, I didn't stopped by the check-in desks.

So, I headed to 

Passport control and security was a breeze with no wait; after the checks, there is a mandatory duty-free and a construction passage.

This part of the airport is new which I haven't seen before.

AEGEAN BUSINESS LOUNGE NON-SCHENGEN - ATHENS AIRPORT

Turkish Airlines contracts the Goldair Lounge at Athens Airport, but I have decided to use the Aegean Business Lounge 

The lounge was empty and there were only 4-5 passengers at that time.

The lounge has a food buffet which has many choices

Mini sandwiches, bagels, cakes, poultry, cheese, veggies

Cookies and halva

Soup and Mediterranean style pastry

Main dishes and salads; plus freshly squeezed juices and smoothies

And adult drinks which were placed into an aircraft trolley

While at the lounge, I have noticed that TC-LLB would be one taking me to Istanbul.

GATE AREA & BOARDING

I have headed to the gate about an hour before scheduled departure time. About a few minutes later, my name was announced and the agents wanted to see verify baggage tags as my transfer time was 20h+.

Also my LH stock boarding pass was replaced with this TK stock boarding pass

And, 45 minutes before scheduled departure, boarding started with the respect of priorities and I was the second passenger to board the aircraft.

Fuselage shot

TK 1844 ATHENS AIRPORT TO ISTANBUL AIRPORT

After being welcomed by the crew, I had headed to my original seat 11K.

In general, the TK 787-9 Economy Class seats are a huge improvement regarding the old TK wide-body seats; these seats are much more comfortable and has better legroom than the older TK 787-9.

A view from the window at that time

Overhead panel

Due to the COVID-19 measures, no literature was present; the seat pocket contained the safety card and an air sickness bag. Later in the flight, the crew made an announcement apologizing that there was no onboard literature.

An earphone was present at every seat

And every seat in Economy Class has a personal screen which also has an USB port. Compared to older A330 and 777 aircraft of Turkish Airlines, there is no power outlets onboard the Economy cabin of the Turkish Airlines 787-9.

Which also has live TV in it.

And the route map. Our flight time would be 52 minutes.

Route Information

The IFE system also has aircraft cameras available for viewing

The aircraft also had Wi-Fi and cellular signal equipped.

However, Wi-Fi is not available from gate to gate like some other carriers.

While boarding was still going on, I have visited one of the lavatories which was clean at that time

The toilet also had some interesting features.

When I returned to my seat, this Aegean A320 has parked next to us.

A few minutes later, after the boarding was complete, I have moved to the bulkhead row, seat 9A as it was empty. A view from the left side of the aircraft. The crew helped me move my belongings from the right side of the aircraft to the overhead bins at the left side of the aircraft.

The legroom at the exit row is much more generous.

And, the safety video was played.

At that time, the seat-belt signs were turned on.

Later on, the new Turkish Airlines TV ad was played on the IFE screens and common monitors.

That video was followed by an informative video about the zero-waste project.

And, the last video monitored was related to coronavirus

And, we had pushed back on schedule, at that time this MEA A320 had arrived from Beirut.

And finally it was time to take off.

And we're in the air

Just after the seat-belt signs have been turned off, the cabin crew has distributed health forms to everyone. This form was needed to be filled for everyone who was going to enter Turkey. The form also had an English version. The crew distributed pens for those who haven't had one.

At that time, the Wi-Fi system was activated.

Miles&Smiles Classic & Classic Plus members have 10MB, Elite & Elite Plus members have 400 MB and Business Class passengers have 1 GB of data available for the flight. Passengers exceeding these limits are asked to pay for one of the packages available for sale.

The login page

As an Elite Plus member, I had 400MB of data which is highly enough for a 52 minute flight.

At that time, meals were distributed. Compared to Aegean Airlines on the same route, the offerings of TK is much more better.

Tuna fish sandwich
Mozarella & Tomato
Homemade Vanilla Chocolate Cake 

Flightradar24 screenshot at that time

I have also opened the route map on the IFE screen

And we've started our descent to Istanbul

Arnavutköy district

And the airport is visible

The presidential terminal

And we've landed on time

Turkish Airlines hangar

And the magnificent IST tower

A Silkway Airlines Boeing 747

The terminal

At that time, I noticed that our bags would be distributed from baggage carousel 17.

The terminal which mainly had Turkish Airlines aircraft

After a 20 minute taxi, we've parked to gate A7 next to this Boeing 777-300ER

The view from the front camera of the aircraft

ISTANBUL AIRPORT - IST

After saying thank you to the crew, I have left the aircraft and entered the terminal

A last shot of our aircraft

The terminal

The walkway to passport control

There was no wait at the passport control for Turkish citizens; about a minute later, I was in the baggage claim hall.

FIDS

3 flights arriving at the same time had the same baggage carousel.

The baggage claim hall

A list of Havaist buses from the airport, which is not valid anymore, because it had discontinued routes.

After a 3-4 minute wait at the carousel, my bags have arrived with other priority bags from the ATH flight and it was time to leave the baggage claim hall.

And, as someone was going to pick me up, I have headed up to the departures level, where that person would pick me up.

Arrival FIDS - There were many flights canceled that day

And the departures level

After my friend came to pick me up, it was time to end this Flight-Report

And, the last Flight-Report of this series has ended.
Unfortunately, as I don't know when I would travel in the future, I am unable to give clues about my future reports, however, I might share Flight-Reports from 2019 which I still haven't shared. 

Take care and stay tuned with Flight-Report.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you on another report.