In a fire incident seconds really can count, so that’s the reason why and it’s not unique to TK at all. @ Ivan — It’s something that has always impressed me about the airline. ***** If you have a Known Traveller number/Global Entry – Take Note: Turkish airlines doesn’t know how to enter that information – it has to be done at the check-in counter ONLY and on the day of departure – Trust me I know – 3x trips now. Turkish Airlines Business Class### On the initial trip to Istanbul, we departed on a Boeing 777-300 ER. Can assure you it’s genuine. Lucky… The wind looked very clam (based on the water on takeoff) For some reason they may have changed the active runway and you were the last plane to use 17L. There was also a selection of warm bread, which was served from the basket. This was the only business-class flight where i would and could actually pay cash (I’m remembering about $2k VCE-IST-SFO), since it was a business trip. Anyway, I ended up going to sleep with just under 10 hours remaining to Los Angeles, and woke up about 3hr30min before arrival, as we were over Canada. Turkish Airlines Business Class On their Boeing 777-300ER fleet, Turkish Airlines offers 49 forward-facing, lie-flat business class seats configured in a 2-3-2 layout. I requested a glass of water and the ayran, a Turkish yogurt drink, which was tasty. It goes without saying that this isn’t an ideal hard product, though I will say that I mind this type of configuration significantly less if traveling with someone. Started out with fresh Turkish Delight. You departed out over the sea which obviously has no vertical obstructions whereas the regular flow that day departing to the North heads towards buildings and some rising terrain. There were dozens of decent movies and TV shows, and I also liked that they had no ads before the programming. You do not take off on the runway facing where you are going. We ended up touching down at LAX at 4:50PM on runway 24R, and from there had a 10 minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we parked next to an Air France A380. The theory goes that if a ‘rapid disembarkation’ is going to happen it’s far more likely to happen during re-fuelling due to the things that can go wrong (BA had a rapid dis-embarkation from a refuelling 747 at JFK just two weeks ago due to the fuel hose coming lose and leaking fuel everywhere). For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page. An integral part of the safety demonstration/video is the use of the seatbelt. If you are a couple traveling with a younger child, the 2-3-2 seating is absolutely ideal (que comments about how kids shouldn’t travel in premium cabins). did you book this flight using miles? You, most likely were the last 17L departure before they turned the airport around. Seat controls were between seats, and were easy to use. Like the rest of the terminal, the lounge was fairly empty, perhaps because of the early hour. Service began with the choice of water or orange juice. There are two located between the two business class cabins, and then one in front of the forward cabin. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 777 features two Business Class cabins located in the plane’s front section. Earn 85,000 Membership Reward® points | Terms Apply. As for the seat, yes maybe the 2-3-2 configuration might be slightly worst than the norm of mainly aisle access seats these days, I think that it is still ok as the legroom is big enough for the person in the middle to step over on either side vs other more tightly legroom seats aka BA Club World seats. The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. By the lavatories behind my seat was a drink and snack station. Turkish business class lunch — warm towels. Not the most high tech … And that comes from a country that loves to scrutinise celebrities’ lives… wtf. The forward cabin has four rows of seats, while the rear cabin (behind the second set of doors) has another three rows. Are the seats on their A330-300 designed by Turkish, or are those seats due to the planes being leased from or formerly belonging to another airline (like their A333-200 formerly belonging to Jet Airways). I can’t say enough good things about Turkish’s meal service. I mean, statements like that make little sense to someone like me who rarely travels up front (which I’m going to assume is the majority of OMAAT’s readership). To answer your question, yes I do think a 2-3-2 seating arrangement is uncompetitive, and I think we’re looking at this differently. I prefer Qatar Airways’ business class in terms of the flexibility, since they have dine on demand (Turkish doesn’t), but I thought the quality and presentation of the food on Turkish was even better. Uncompetitive and outdated simply because of the 2-3-2 configuration? Also 17L would be in the opposite direction of flight. The two flight attendants told us what everything was, and they offered us as much as we wanted. They’re very inconsistent. I had assigned us seats 4A & 4B, the window and aisle seat in the last row of the forward cabin. Same kind of food, revisited but everything taste the same. The likely reason you took off against the “flow” is almost certainly performance based and its likely to do with engine out obstacle clearance requirements after take off. There’s no denying that at this point Turkish’s business class hard product is (mostly) uncompetitive. And QR food and drink are SO BAD that I cannot imagine why anyone can tolerate a QR flight. Business Class on Turkish Airlines' 777 service from Toronto to Istanbul was a real treat! On most days 2-3 of the heavier flights to the US will request 17 departure into the wind. Every single thing tasted like something you’d be happy to get in a great restaurant, rather than something that just made decent airplane food. Usually I don’t drink orange juice on planes since it’s rarely fresh, but I believe Turkish offers fresh orange juice, as it was excellent. Hey Lucky, great review and I agree TK has a great product – I fly them regularly between the US and Europe. If traveling alone, would you prefer a window over aisle on 2 side? We decided to keep the paid booking, given that there weren’t suitable award alternatives and that I’d have an opportunity to review both the 777-300ER and A330-300, the two wide-body planes Turki… He had a very strong accent and talked very fast, so that’s about all I picked up from the announcement. I thought you had the policy of preferring seats in the rear cabin of J? Both of the flight attendants working my aisle, as well as the chef, provided attentive, sincere, and friendly service. The menu and accompanying beverage card had a slick design. It makes for a great departure photo from the well known Fly Inn! But even then you need to add the service/food/beverage/etc. Is that all? All the planes that taxied out ahead of us were taxiing to runway 35R, while we taxied to runway 17L (In other words, we were going to the opposite end of the same runway). I’ve been really wanting to try Turkish, and for all the reasons you’ve mentioned. Now THAT is totally behind the times. Anyone know of any details of that lounge yet? Moments after settling in a friendly flight attendant stopped by our seats, introduced herself by name, said she would be taking care of us throughout the flight, and told us to let her know if we need anything. Turkish Airlines business class entertainment controls. On top of that, there wasn’t a ton of privacy — you could easily see your cabinmates throughout the flight. If you are traveling with someone, keep it that way. Upon take off the plane banked right hard until we were flying parallel to the LAX runways. It is an ex-kingfisher plane. @ Jay — I appreciate the feedback and am always happy to hear it. This is a slight tangent, but I feel like nowadays airlines really overuse mood lighting. We taxied to runway 7L and sat there for 35 minutes while planes took off/landed on the 25s. Turkish business class lunch — table setting. Their meal service is the best of any airline in business class, in my opinion, though they don’t offer dine on demand (which would be hard to do given the format of their meal). Turkish has onboard chefs on their longhaul flights, and our flight had two of them. To finish off the meal I ordered a cappuccino, which was also excellent, among the best I’ve had in the air. So many planes at the airport. As a business-class passenger, I was eligible for entry to the Marhaba Lounge (also accessible to Priority Pass members). We remained at 1500-1600 ft for several minutes before “joining” in the usual LAX departure flow over the ocean. Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners. I made my way to the departure gate an hour or so before our flight time and hopped in the queue, since I wanted to be first on board to snap shots of the empty cabin.Turkish’s 777-300ERs offer 49 seats between two cabins — mine was in the smaller cabin just in front of economy. The seat was pretty comfy as a bed, but again I felt pretty exposed to the rest of the cabin. For me every flight with Turkish is like visiting your grandparents or parents house where you are (over)fed with good food. Including an in-flight entertainment system, wide seat ranges and improved cabin pressure systems, every feature fitted to our aircraft guarantees passenger satisfaction. I’ve always heard amazing things about it. The last line of the review, though, makes it look like a promo material for Turkish, the phrasing is what they use in their marketing all the time. Once Amex issued my ticket, I was able to head over to Turkish’s site to select my seats. Lucky, Every time you get your preferred seat manufacturer and cabin layout you almost always complain about cramped footwells which obviously bother you. Then finally we lined up and took off while an EVA 77W was slowing down on 25L after landing. Istanbul (IST) – Los Angeles (LAX) Options on there included traditional Turkish dessert, fig chocolate mousse, apple & raspberry strudel, pistachio ice cream, assorted cheese, and fresh fruit salad. Equipment: 777 Origin: ORD (21:40) Destination: IST (16:15) Flown: April 2017 Cabin occupancy: 50% . He first asked if we enjoyed the flight, and then asked if we had any feedback. Limited Time Offer: Earn 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points | Terms Apply. Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. While we do try to list all the best miles and points deals, the site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. Next up a tray was served with a salad, dessert, and the appetizer. Last time I flew them it was so hot it was unbearble woke up sweating and every request to have the temp turn down fell on deaf ears – must have been at least 80 F – that and a middle seat in biz has stopped me from flying them again. This is where things get a bit weird. I really enjoyed my first flight on Turkish Airlines, and while visa restrictions at the time could have soured my experience overall, I was able to enter Istanbul without too much hassle. From there, I arrived at the main terminal area, which was similarly empty. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. I think this was the best business class appetizer I’ve ever been served.. Main courses were served about 30 minutes after the initial appetizer service. The airline will eventually take delivery of new 787s and A350s, so my hope is that they’ll make some improvements on that front. If you'd like to participate in the discussion, please adhere to our commenting guidelines. I also agree that QR is a very very close second. The meals do look wonderful. In regards to TK, they may not have the best hard product, but the soft products makes up for it 1000x over. 4A has a missing window, so you’ll have to lean forward to look outside during the flight. Unfortunately they changed the plane a few hours before departure. So regardless of which airline I was flying, I could have gotten in thanks to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, along with a handful of others. The appetizer consisted of a selection of seafood. Since they did change the runway for whatever reason and the winds were calm, it was probably just easier to keep the IST-LAX flight on the same runway vs possible doing a complicated change to the flight plan. @Lucky, in regards to your Aeroplan booking, have you had any difficulties managing your booking (select seats, etc) on the TK website? I am always 3/4 full by the time I am done with the appetizers. Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. On top of that, the airline is soon moving to a new airport, which should translate to an even better passenger experience. All over Turkey, stopping at simple places, I always ate like a king. That’s some interesting pricing. Waiting at my seat was a pair of slippers, plus a very basic amenity kit. My aisle seat was fairly exposed — in the future, I might opt for the window, instead, especially given that there was enough pitch to get in and out without too much effort. Turkish staffs onboard chefs who are exclusively responsible for food and beverage prep. I love TK biz class….the 777 and A330 are great. Some airlines do not allow boarding during re-fuelling, period. Turkish Airlines … The … My comments keep getting deleted…are no longer allowed to post links on here? Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. At the moment availability isn’t good at all. Odd. These reviews drive me nuts sometimes. See, often offers excellent business-class award availability, Turkey suspended visa services for US passport holders, I was still able to cross the border into Turkey, phenomenal Turkish Airlines Do & Co catering, which is provided by Vienna-based Do & Co, I was able to enter Istanbul without too much hassle, Reminder: You don’t have to be on the ‘No Fly List’ to receive an airline ban, Marriott reinstates elite benefit guarantees effective immediately, Check your American Airlines accounts: 2021 rollover elite miles, dollars and segments now posting, Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express. I booked TK using Aeroplan points and received the TK PNR but it doesn’t seem to work on their website. Turkish has 49 business class seats on their 777s, in a 2-3-2 configuration. Excellent airline,i did the same sort of flight from Istanbul to Miami on a 777 /300 more or else the same flying time, i agree the 2-2-2 seating is not ideal especially if you are on an isle seat near the window and the window passenger is constantly interrupting you to go to the bathroom ,however this is fully compensated by the excellent food,comfort of the full lie bed and that Turkish touch which US airlines don’t have and will probably never have. They never did, and ultimately both of my flights went out full. Turkish’s hard product on all their longhaul aircraft is outdated, and that includes their flagship 777 aircraft. If so, how difficult was it to find availability? For the appetizer I had the sweet pumpkin soup, marinated Mediterranean prawns, smoked eggplant salad, carrot humus, hunter’s borek, salmon tartare, and homemade yogurt with walnuts and fresh mint. Register here to save your space. This was certainly a strange process (we were the only one that day who did this procedure) and I am not sure why the pilots felt compelled to do this procedure. Turkish Airlines Business Class 777-300ER Los Angeles to Istanbul. Great job. And I note you have more beef for your pre-landing meal. It’s not every day you see this plane parked at an airport terminal between two commercial aircraft…. While the food quality is excellent , I think they can still learn a bit from Qatar (presentation mostly). Turkish Airlines business class seat storage, Turkish Airlines business class seat power outlet, While each seat had a reading light, annoyingly there were no individual air nozzles. Now, as of this writing, the visa ban has been lifted entirely. “There’s no denying that at this point Turkish’s business class hard product is (mostly) uncompetitive.”, “Let’s start with the negative, which is the seats. United Airlines 737-900/ER economy class San Diego to Chicago (ORD) 03. 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