#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
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The domestic series would continue with this Turkish Airlines flight from Antalya to Istanbul onboard the Airbus A321-200. As the Turkish Airlines Lounge in Antalya was closed during my visit, there would be no lounge report this time.
Here is the routing for this trip
Loads for this flight
Business Class: 95-100%
Economy Class: 90-95%
About 24 hours before departure, I have checked-in online for this trip,
I was asked to verify my ID number and HES code ( a code required for Turkish citizens when traveling domestically )
As I am a Miles&Smiles Elite Plus member I am able to select seats for free, otherwise, you would need to pay ₺35 ( about €4 ) to choose your seat. Despite having status or not, an exit row seat costs ₺50 ( about €5,75 ) for a domestic flight.
I had sticked to my pre-reserved seats onboard this flight
Same situation for my onward flight
The OLCI confirmation page
While entering AYT, two security agents were checking a confirmation of travel ( ticket, mobile boarding pass, e-mail confirmation, etc… ) for people who wish to enter the terminal. This is because that due to the new restrictions after COVID, only passengers are allowed to enter the terminal.
The CIP Lounge and the Business Class check-in area was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, there was a desk allocated for Business Class & Elite Plus customers at the regular desks, the wait was only 2-3 minutes which was better compared to the normal Economy desks.
At the desk, I have asked for an exit row window seat, however, only the 2nd emergency exit row which misses a window was available, so I decided to stick at my seat, however, due to operational reasons, my seat was changed to 08F rather than 11F.
As you could see, AYT is not that busy, however, at this day, most international flights departed from Terminal 2, so it's acceptable that the domestic terminal ( Terminal 3 ) and the adjacent Terminal 1 is empty.
Security was quick like a breeze, there was a wait but the wait was shorter than 3 minutes.
After security, most merchants were open, however, a minority of them being closed.
FIDS for the day
At the airport, the majority of the aircraft parked were Corendon, Freebird and SunExpress aircraft.
About 30-35 minutes before scheduled departure time, boarding had started by a rear-to-front boarding model. Row numbers were announced and passengers whose rows were not announced were turned back. Also, a temperature check was made at the gate.
I have also noticed some Business Class passengers that tried to board early but they were asked to take a seat as Turkish Airlines does not offer priority boarding due to COVID. Also, as I was seated in the first row of Economy Class, I needed to wait until the majority of people have boarded.
Also there was a scale to measure the weight of backpacks and handbags but the majority of bags were not weighed. As you might know, due to the Turkish Civil Aviation Directorate decision no larger carry-on's are allowed onboard; everything should fit under the seat.
TC-JML would be the aircraft operating our flight and it would be my second time onboard this aircraft. The first time I have flown this aircraft was a flight from Istanbul to Warsaw last summer.
After being welcomed by the crew, I have took my seat.
The seats were the TSI Economy Class seats that are usually equipped in domestic configured TK aircraft.
The legroom was decent.
During boarding, a hygiene kit which contained a mask and an antiseptic wipe was provided.
Our neighbor was this Pegasus 737-800 that would head to Istanbul-SAW.
Before aircraft doors have been closed, there was an announcement that onboard literature would not be available so that passengers could use the PressReader app instead. I have quickly obtained my access code and downloaded some newspapers and magazines for this flight.
After that, the safety video was monitored from the overhead monitors.
Normally, this aircraft is equipped with the mobile Wi-Fi entertainment system, however, on this flight, it was not activated.
And we have pushed back on time
The apron while we were pushing back
A Freebird A320 and a Corendon 737-800
More Corendon 737's at remote stands.
The first international terminal ( Terminal 1 ) is empty.
After a 5-10 minute taxi, it was our time to take off from runway 36C.
Just before us, this Pegasus A320neo had landed
And it was time to take-off.
As you might have realized, there were many aircraft at Terminal 2. There aircraft were mainly the aircrafts of Russian carriers.
Nordwind Airlines 777-200ER and Aeroflot 777-300ER while we're departing
Terminal 1 and Terminal 3
And we're gaining altitude
After the seatbelt sign had been turned off, the water service had started. Turkish Airlines have suspended anything other than water on all flights shorter than 2 hours both in Economy and Business Class.
After reading newspapers onboard, it was time to do some spotting before landing. Starting with Lake Sapanca and Kocaeli Cengiz Topel Airport.
The new Northern Marmara highway construction
Intercity Istanbul Park racing track which would host Formula 1 after 9 years, this November.
Şile area
Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge
Anadolu Kavağı
Sarıyer area
Istanbul Airport at the back
Maslak area, Istanbul Technical University & Türk Telekom Stadium
Levent Plazalar and Etiler areas
Mecidiyeköy, Şişli areas
The Golden Horn strait
Merter and Bağcılar area
Topkapı and Cevizlibağ area
Veliefendi Horse Racing Track
Marmara Forum shopping center at the bottom
Atatürk Airport and Sinan Erdem Dome
Ataköy Marina
Atatürk Airport, mostly filled with cargo aircraft and grounded Turkish Airlines aircraft
Avcılar area
Ambarlı Port
Again, Avcılar area
Beylikdüzü area
Beykent area
Esenyurt area
Esenyurt area
Lake Küçükçekmece
Atatürk Olympic Stadium which would host the 2021 UEFA Champions League final
Başakşehir area
Arnavutköy area
Approaching IST
IST is visible
The massive terminal
And we've touched down to runway 35R
While taxiing, mostly Turkish Airlines aircraft was visible.
More Turkish Airlines aircraft parked at the F concourse
And we were going to park at gate F3a.
Next to this Boeing 737-800
Before arriving at our parking position, the cabin crew announced that deboarding would be made row-by-row and passengers were asked to remain seated until their row number has been announced. However, when the seatbelt sign had been turned off, people from the rear rows stood up and advanced to the forward of the cabin and didn't listen to the warnings of the cabin crew that was trying to sit people down. In the end, no row-by-row deboarding was so I was out of the aircraft before my row number had been announced.
After a short walk to the domestic transfer boarding pass check, I was up in the domestic departures hall
And, the journey would continue in the next report.
This report has come to an end.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.
The experience was an overall Turkish Airlines domestic flight experience. The inflight experience is a similar post-COVID experience with only water being served and no literature onboard. The presence of the PressReader application for free is also a nice touch. The interesting part of this journey was that nobody cared about row-to-row deboarding and most people in the rear rows rushed to the forward without giving way to those people seated in front. Otherwise, the experience in AYT was pleasant except for the fact that the lounge was closed.
AYT
(+) Reasonable wait at security and check-in
(+) Row by row boarding was enforced
(-) The Turkish Airlines Lounge was closed
TK 2415
(+) Comfortable seats and decent legroom
(+) Free PressReader access available instead of onboard literature
(-) Serving only water is unacceptable
IST
Nothing special to mention
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Antalya (AYT) → Istanbul (IST).
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.
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2 Comments
AYT is rather pleasant except that the lounge was closed.
On board a similar experience as for the outbound flight
It seems that, from now on, water will only be offered on demand on all flights under two hours flighttime
A rather good domestic flight
See you soon
- Although it's one of Europe's busiest airports, especially in the summer, I always had a pleasant experience in AYT. The PriorityPass lounge at the domestic terminal was actually open but I don't have PriorityPass.
- Unfortunately yes, that's true. TK is planning to save money by not distributing water to the majority of passengers onboard.
- Indeed, it was an average domestic flight. Nothing special and nothing negative.
- Same
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