Review of Turkish Airlines flight Istanbul → Amsterdam in Business

To conclude my trip to Türkiye, I return to my home country of the Netherlands flying the prestigious TK, from one of the biggest airports in the world, IST.

Due to decent pricing and to check an item in my bucket list, I made the decision to book the return flight in Business class.

I arrive to IST after a 90 minute bus ride from the Anatolian side of the city. The check in area alone looks massive, with many rows of desks and a high, curved ceiling that I find aesthetically pleasing. It does require a quick security check to access, though.

This is certainly the biggest terminal I've flown from. There is a large array of screens showing check in information for flights in the next hours.

The TK Business class check in area features a neat seating area with many seating options and some green decorations. Even though I already have the boarding pass in my phone and I have no bags to check in, I go up to a desk to have the boarding pass printed in paper.

There is a Business class exclusive queue for security, so it goes through rather quickly. As usual, though, my bags are selected for additional screening. Leaving security, there is an area decorated for the month of Ramadan, which was being celebrated at the time of the trip.

Accessing the TK Business class lounge, I see this talented ghost playing a simple piano tune. Overall, the lounge is a great experience that makes waiting at the airport something to look towards, rather than a chore.

Arguably my favorite feature are the luggage lockers, free of use for everyone with lounge access.

There are many different seating areas, such as café-style tables, couches, or these capsules that are great to do some work with a bit of privacy.

However, there is a notable lack of garbage disposal. From my experience, lounge staff themselves collect the garbage directly from tables, which leads to some invasions of privacy.

Catering is very good. First, I tried a delicious red (strawberry?) lemonade, with decent pide and a great chicken curry. The rice is remarkably good, and the sauce is delicious. However, the chicken feels overcooked and the texture is not the best.

There was also a large selection of Turkish desserts, shiny with syrup. Texture wise they are all pleasant. However, I feel like they lacked some aromas that I would expect from the nut stuffing.

Shortly before leaving the lounge, I had a quick Turkish omelette and some manti with tomato sauce and cream. The omelette was good, but the manti were divine.

Despite the lounge being in a central area, it still takes time to reach the gate. You can expect to walk well over a kilometer in this airport.

After a slightly delayed boarding, I arrive to 07A. In TK's A330, Business class seats follow a 2-2-2 arrangement. The seats are very wide and comfortable. Legroom should not be an issue for most people, and the seat even features a foldable footrest. The seat in front has a pocket where you can store small items, and the emergency card.

The tray table is stored in the left armrest, and when fully opened, it lays on the right armrest, so it is sturdy. The left armrest has the seat controls, while the right armrest has the IFE and its controls. The inflight entertainment is a previous generation screen, that has trouble registering some touches.

The seats also feature USB and universal power outlets. Overhead, there are reading lights for all seats, but no individual air vents.

Update:
The previous version of this report ignored the free onboard WiFi for Business Class, since I completely forgot. The speed is comparable to public internet elsewhere; considerably slow, while still able to browse pages with few images or play some games.

A menu card is handed, featuring the meal and drink options for today in English and Turkish.

As a starter, we have a salmon and celeriac salad. Presentation is a bit sloppy, but it tastes very good. On the side there is a warm bread roll, some butter and a selection of cheeses. The Cheddar and what I believe is goat's cheese are good, but the Grana is not the best. The salad is unremarkable.

As the main, I chose the chicken, as I had already sampled TK meatballs and manti before. Here, the chicken is well cooked and tasty, though not notably so. It would not surprise me to find something similar in Economy class. The corn is good, but the zucchini is amazing. The pepper feels just sweet, with not much of its characteristic aroma.

As I attempted to use the restroom, the crew told me to wait outside the area, as they were having dinner. When they let me through, I find that the restroom is decently clean, but water is sprinkled around and the sink does not drain properly. There is a fragrance dispenser and some moisturizer as well.

No cute snack box this time, only a small bag of cold hazelnuts. The descent into AMS is quite bumpy, but we arrive on time.

And we're finally in Amsterdam. We're quickly led to connections/baggage claim and I head directly to the train station to go home.