Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Mardin to Istanbul in Economy

Report No: 2022-504E

Dear Flight-Report community, welcome to this report

The series would continue and end with the second report which would be the return leg of my trip to Mardin. On this occasion, I would be reporting you another experience onboard the Turkish Airlines A321-200. However, as Mardin Airport has no lounge, no lounge report would be covered on this occasion.

The routing for this short series is as following;

Loads for this flight:

Economy Class: 95-100% 

MARDIN AIRPORT - MQM

About 1h30mins before the flight, I have arrived at Mardin Airport.

After a quick security check after entering the airport, I was inside the hall of the airport.

The check-in counters were empty when I stepped in to get my boarding pass. I have waited two minutes for my turn. As no Business Class service is offered to Mardin, there were no priority counters.

Here is my boarding pass for the day.

Since there is almost nothing to do airside and since there is no lounge at MQM, I decided to do some planespotting landside.
At the time, I was near the window, the only aircraft on the ground was this private jet. 

A few minutes later, this SunExpress 737-800 had arrived from Izmir.

And TC-SON is taxiing to its dedicated stand

Parked

Stairs arrived

And passengers started deplaning

A few minutes later, our A321 had arrived from Istanbul Airport.

TC-JTF named Ataşehir would be parking at stand number 2 for the evening.

Some more photos of TC-JTF

And the aircraft is parked and passengers started to disembark the aircraft

The airport is quite small, although a small play area for kids is available.

The airport also has an international section, however, there are no scheduled international flights out of MQM at the time this report is written, however, some unscheduled charter flights operate from this section.

FIDS for the day

Security was quick despite one lane being open and the aircraft being almost at capacity.

FIDS one more time

There are two gates at MQM, one for Pegasus and SunExpress and another one for Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet. Turkish Airlines uses gate 2 at Mardin Airport.

Boarding had started 25 minutes before scheduled departure time with disabled passengers and passengers requiring special assistance boarding early. Passengers seating in row 15 and above were advised to use the rear stairs for a faster boarding process.

The terminal building

Fuselage shot of TC-JTF

TK 2677 MARDIN AIRPORT TO ISTANBUL AIRPORT

Passengers were greeted upon boarding by the cabin crew and passengers who weren't wearing a mask were handed a hygiene kit containing masks and antiseptic wipes.

After picking up my hygiene kit, I went to my seat 1A for the day. One of the perks being an Elite Plus member of Turkish Airlines is that upon request, these front row seats are being assigned for free of charge at the airport if there are no VIP's traveling that day.

Although, these seats are the older recliner seats that are used on the Turkish Airlines A321 fleet, the seat covers were changed and looked brand new. 

Legroom in row 1 is perfect for an Economy seat.

After settling to my seat, I have waited boarding to end and was playing with my phone at that time.

Route map and overhead panel

Boarding was completed within minutes and the ground crew advised the cabin crew that there was only one empty seat onboard this flight. Guess which seat it was, it was the seat next to me and I had the whole row to myself.

Shortly after doors were closed, the safety video was being monitored by the overhead monitors

And, after a short taxi, we were on our way to Istanbul and we have took off from runway 03.

A last shot of MQM from the air.

Shortly after the seatbelt signs were turned off, it was time to explore the IFE system

The IFE menu

Movie options

Route map

As Turkish Airlines does not provide earphones on domestic flights and I only had wireless earphones, I wasn't able to watch a TV series or a movie ( however, 1h30mins is a very short timeframe for a movie ) thus I played some Sudoku.

Shortly later, the crew came with the meal service which consisted a kaşar cheese sandwich and a choice of drink. I have opted for a cup of tea.

Sometime during the flight, some TK advertisements and promotions were monitored from the personal screens and overhead monitors.

During the flight, I have visited the lavatory which was clean.

During the flight, I had the chance to take a photo of Ankara, the nations capital, from the air

A photo of Ankara Esenboğa Airport from the air

Route map at that time

Sakarya and Lake Sapanca

Shortly later, the seatbelt signs have been turned on for landing and the cabin crew made their final landing preparations.
During landing, I was able to take a photo of the Osmangazi Bridge 

As well as Istanbul Atatürk Airport

And, here is a photo of Ispartakule, a neighborhood in Istanbul

And today, we would be landing at runway 36, which is the closest runway to the domestic area of the terminal

The domestic concourse

And we have touched down at Istanbul before our scheduled arrival time.

Shortly later, the boarding/deplaning music has started to play and we have commenced our taxi towards our parking position.

At that time I was able to spot this Turkish Airlines 737-800 that was heading to Antalya that Friday evening.

As well as this Royal Jordanian A319 heading back to his home in Amman, Jordan.

Some Turkish Airlines narrow-body aircraft at remote stands

After a 10 minute taxi, we were going to park next to this A320 which was going to head to Trabzon as TK 2836 that evening.

Today's arrival gate was going to be G9a.

And after the seatbelt signs have been turned off, I have gathered my belongings and waited for the door to open.

ISTANBUL AIRPORT - IST

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

Since G9 is one of the furthest gates to the arrivals hall, I needed to walk 10 minutes just to go to the arrivals hall which could be a nice exercise after sitting for 2 hours.

Walking towards the baggage claim hall

As I had no checked baggage, I headed straight towards the exit.

Then, it was time to go downstairs to the public transportation level.

And shortly later, the bus that I was going to ride arrived and I was on my way back home.

As per the advertisement below, I hope we'll meet again at another Flight-Report.

Thanks for reading this report
I hope you enjoyed reading this series and hope to see you on another Flight-Report.