Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Amman to Istanbul in Business

Each year, my mother and I spend a few days in Jordan.

This year we decided to give TK a try but from FRA, as the prices from BSL were 50% higher. We took the ICE from Basel to Frankfurt.

amm airport

We've been dropped off in the middle of the night in front of the airport:

The check in process took a very long time. First there was a couple having issues with their connection and next a woman who is clearly overweight with her bags. She screams she won't pay for it and after more or less 10 minutes of drama the agent sends her off to the ticketing desk to pay for the excess and finishes by stating that when done, she needs to go back to the economy counters since she is neither travelling in business nor holding a gold card. He could have sent her ways earlier to the correct desk as there was a lot of passengers waiting at the business class desk (only one desk available).

We then head over airside:

rj crown lounge

The lounge welcomes most of the airlines:

There is only a single elevator to access the lounge, no stairs other than the emergency exit, are available. This is pretty weird.

The welcome was friendly enough and we take a seat next to the screens wall that looks close to its end of service life :)

Some views of the lounge:

I have a look at the offering, I know from past experience that the buffet isn't worth it at night.

There is no good surprise, the offer is exactly the same as at my previous visits.

Houmous:

Cheeses:

Very light salad bar:

Bread station:

Cookies and muffins:

Those sandwiches are also always the same. Dry and tasteless.

Tea and coffee stations:

Cold drinks:

For hard drinks you would need to get at the bar, but at night, no waiter is on duty.

Some people simply went behind the bar to help themselves :)

The view from the lounge :

FIDS:

Orange juice and where it comes from :)

I give a try, again to a sandwich and the sausage thing, but both are as expected: awfully dry and tasteless. Cheese was ok, though. Note the plastic cups for the apple juice.

Boarding passes:

The last three Jordanian visas (sadly 2020 will be without Jordan, since the country is still closed for visitors):

The lounge is clearly a shame for the flag carrier, we didn't stay more than needed.

Some arabic delights are available for purchase here:

Our 332 is waiting for us:

I liked the screen display:

More views of our bird:

the flight

Boarding starts a full hour before the flight, which is ways too much.

Finger controls:

Aircraft door:

Very nice welcome at the door, unfortunately we have, again, the old cabin we had inbound:

Side view:

This is the max recline of all seats, even if they are, in theory, angled lie flat seats:

One of the crew members sees me taking those pictures and asks if there is a problem. I quickly explained the concept of Flight-Report. He liked the idea of it and started to apologize for this cabin and said he hated it. He didn't understand why the airline offered such a bad product. He also gave me some insights about it: the seats are blocked to this maximum recline since they are always having technical issues. So all seats can be converted to a craddle seat at best. Unless the passenger asks for lie flat specifically and in that case, the crew can do it manually. But it needs a very, very hard push that not everyone can do. (even not him, he admitted)

Safety card :

There was a light load that evening with only 50% of the seats taken. Behind us the row was free.

Headsets:

And welcome drink:

Menus:

Outbound there was no vegetarian option, inbound it is only vegetarian :) -no meat, no fish tonight ^^-
The very generic drinks menu:

The pitch:

Limited storage:

A quick lavatory tour:

We pushed back 15'' earlier since every one was on board due boarding starting 1H before the flight. ERJ 195 Royal Jordanian:

320 United Nations:

Fly Jordan 733:

LX sends some of its Airbus to AMM for heavy maintenance:

So does EW:

Followed by take-off:

Hot towels mark the start of the service:

The breakfast tray looks superb:

Only the croissants weren't that good:

The gözleme is excellent:

I spend the flight watching a movie and soon enough, we begin our descent:

We fly over Atatürk airport, sorry couldn't do any better pictures.

And landed:

Stay tuned for the next and last part of this trip :)