Review of Turkish Airlines flight Oslo → Istanbul in Business

Turkmenistan is one of the least visited countries of the world. The country was closed for several years due to Covid but borders were opened again in March 2023. I immediately applied for a letter of invitation for a visa through a local tour operator.

Very few airlines fly to Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan Airlines fly from Beijing (three times a week), Dubai (four times a week), Frankfurt (once a week), Istanbul (daily) and Moscow (six times a week). The airline cannot be booked on-line and is not in the international booking engines. Only three other airlines fly to the country: FlyDubai from Dubai (five times a week), S7 Airlines from Moscow (three times a week) and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. The latter is by far the best option. Turkish has one daily flight that leaves Istanbul at 20.30, arrives to Ashgabat at 02.10, leaves again at 03.30 and gets back to Istanbul at 05.40. Not the best times but as there’s no real competition those who want to travel to or from Turkmenistan do not really have a choice.

Oslo usually has the cheapest fares in business class from Europe to Asia. 

I stayed at the Comfort Runway Hotel at Oslo Airport and yes, I had great runway views from my room. 

Oslo is a very busy airport with 100+ international destinations.

Priority check-in is available for business class passengers but I had already checked in on-line.

Fast track is also available and is very useful as waiting times in the regular queue can be long.

Turkish Airlines does not have its own lounge at Oslo Airport but being a member of Star Alliance its passengers can use SAS Scandinavian Airlines' lounges. SAS has two business class lounges at Oslo Airport: SAS Domestic Lounge right after security and SAS Lounge in the international area. There’s also a SAS Gold Lounge for Star Alliance Gold members. I went to the SAS Domestic Lounge.

The lounge is spacious. It has different parts, each with a different design and function. While the lounge was crowded near the entrance there were only a few people in the back. 

This part looks like a spa.

Private working rooms.

Showers are available.

There was a reasonably good choice of food.

Soft drinks.

Beer and wine from tap.

The barista made very good cappuccino.  

I left the lounge on time. I got through the automated Schengen border in one minute. 

There’s no lounge at the F gates (non-Schengen) area.

Our plane was already at the gate.  

Priority pre-boarding was available to the boarding area with reserved seats for business class passengers.

Our plane today was an A321, registration number TC-LSP, delivered to Turkish Airlines in December 2019. 

The plane has five rows of business class seats in a 2+2 configuration with US Domestic First Class type seats. The cabin looks good and is in good condition. Legroom is more than enough.   

Overview of the last two rows of the business class cabin.

This is one of the best narrowbody hard products for business class in Europe.

There were only six passengers in business class. I was first in seat 2A but I moved to 4A after take-off as the guy in front of me fully reclined his seat.

A welcome drink was offered with a choice of three or four drinks. I always choose the airline’s signature mint lemonade. Champagne was not actively offered but would have probably been available on request.  

The menu card was distributed before departure.

These people walking between the apron and the taxiway look like passengers with luggage who missed their Atlantic Airways flight to the Faroe Islands. Very strange.  

Ethiopian Airlines has been serving Oslo for many years.

Push-back was at 11.46 for a scheduled departure time of 11.50. We took off at 11.57.

The views right after take-off. 

Flight information a few minutes after take-off.

A hot towel was offered around this time.

Here’s the menu card: 

Meal service started only 13 minutes after take-off. The cabin crew was very efficient and professional.

Selection of Turkish mezze. It was excellent.   

Selection of cheese, Gardenfresh salad with beluga lentils and labneh and double chocolate cake were all served at the same time as the appetizer. 

The salad was simple but good.

I choose Islim kebab as my main course. It looked and was simple but nevertheless very tasty. 

I had some Turkish white wine. It was simple but very good, refreshing and went very well with the meal.

The cheese was average. The cake was more like a chocolate mousse. It was too simple for a business class dessert but it was fresh.

I finished my lunch only 40 minutes after take-off. My meal was altogether very good and definitely a lot better than what most airlines offer on their intra-European flights.

Fantastic views of the Swedish island of Öland.  

The Baltic coast of Poland.

The headphones are quite good.

There’s a built-in screen in the seat in front of you. The size is good and it is responsive. There’s a smartphone style and sized remote control.

The in-flight entertainment system offers 533 movies, 1156 TV programs and 2025 different songs.  

A pack of hazelnuts was offered later. I also had some more mint lemonade.

Flying over Romania.

Views of Istanbul before landing.

Seconds before touching down.

We landed in Istanbul at 16.17 and were at the gate at 16.26 for a scheduled arrival time of 16.45