OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 15020 posts, RR: 48 Posted (1 year 2 months 2 hours ago) and read 11261 times:
Hozgeldiniz....Welcome to my trip report. For a long time now I have eagerly been awaiting TK's entry into Star Alliance. As soon as it was possible I cashed in some BMI air miles for a return in J class LHR-IST-LHR. I decided to go from LHR as TK use the A330 with a much upgraded J class. I cashed in 19,000 and paid taxes of EUR127 for the whole trip.
DATE : 05/APR/08
FLIGHT : TK 1980
ROUTE : LHR-IST
A/C : A330-203 Delivered 28/JUL/2006
REG: TC-JNE named ( Kayseri )
I flew on BMI from DUB-LHR. After landing into Terminal 1 I walked over to Terminal 3 and checked in at the Turkish Airlines Business Class desk. The staff were quick and efficient.
I then headed up to the Departures area.
I passed through security in less than 5 minutes which was quite impressive. From landing into Terminal 1 until passing security at Terminal 3 was around 25-30 minutes !! Amazing for LHR.
I decided to split my time between the SK lounge and the SQ lounge as being a Star Gold member I can get into any of them.
Cant believe anyone would try to wash their feet in a public sink !!!!
Time to go to the SQ lounge ::
I asked the lady at the desk what gate the A380 was at and she pointed me in the right direction.
I stood there for 10 minutes. It was amazing to finally see it close up. I just kept looking in amazement. It is a wonderful aircraft. Then it was time to go to the boarding gate.
After around 10 minutes it was time to board. The usual fight to get on board with eveyone blocking the gate area. I just sat down and waited until the end. I was surprised they did not do a Business class and Star Gold pre boarding call.
A nice smile from the friendly FA.
We were offered newspapers at the door. I was greeted by two friendly crew and welcomed onboard and directed to my seat.
My first impressions were very nice!!! I was offered a pre take off drink .
PHLstudent From United States, joined May 2006, 463 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (1 year 2 months 2 hours ago) and read 11190 times:
excellent report.
Is the return report in J as well? Also I'm curious to know if you were able to get the traditional turkish meal on the return?
One more question, is the seat completely 180 degrees flat or is it lie flat (at some sort of angle?)
Stylo777 From United States, joined Feb 2006, 2126 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (1 year 2 months 1 hour ago) and read 11142 times:
Selam Phil,
this is a great work and a very nice picture trip report (more or less ). It made my day!
Very good to see that TK improved their premium product so much, especially in terms of catering they choose Do&Co which is known for premium catering. This was a very smart decision! Also in Economy class you get a very tasty meal and have even the choice of two varities alternatives.
I'm very anxious to read the return, because I dont think that it was as nice as your onward flight. The A332 make the whole difference
Semsem From Israel, joined Jul 2005, 1704 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 10745 times:
Wonderful report. Turkish is one of my favourite airlines. However I had a flashback to 30 years ago when one of their DC-10s from Paris to London crashed. It was the fault of Douglas, not theirs.
Quoting PHLstudent (Reply 2): or is it lie flat (at some sort of angle?)
Its angled lie flat and it was very comfortable.
Quoting Stylo777 (Reply 3): this is a great work and a very nice picture trip report (more or less
Quoting Stylo777 (Reply 3): The A332 make the whole difference
Thanks , yes the A330 makes all the difference. A picture tells a 1000 words as they say LOL...
Quoting AH332 (Reply 4): How was Istanbul? How expensive is the city?
Was lovely. I didnt find it expensive at all. roughly 2 Turkish Lira to 1 Euro. Taxis were cheap and so was food. Duty free is alot cheaper also . 200 Cigarettes in Dublin were €29 and in Istanbul it was €21 !! I got them for a mate of mine.
Quoting Emrecan (Reply 11): I hope you had a chance to eat kebab in Istanbul
Yes , the food was great . Greek and Turkish food is my favourite. Much better than the boring food here.
Flyboy_se From Qatar, joined Feb 2000, 579 posts, RR: 4 Reply 13, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 9991 times:
Excellent TR as usual Philip. TK seems like a great airline.
the A380 looks amazing.Hopefully i will try it out sometime.
What did you think of the London Lounge?? Kris Lounge looked much better to me
SQ772 From Singapore, joined Nov 2001, 1670 posts, RR: 3 Reply 15, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 9568 times:
Thanks for your report. Love the pictures and TK's J looks pretty good.
As for the lounges... SK's does indeed look like an IKEA show room... nice, clean decor, average food. SQ's Silver Kris lounge looks terribly dated and boring. Doesn't look like much effort went into the design and decor... just an empty room with hundreds of seats thrown in. Food in SQ's lounge looks plentiful compared to SK's though....
Rogerbcn From Spain, joined Sep 2006, 500 posts, RR: 8 Reply 17, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 9501 times:
Hola Philip!
Again another great TR.
I like the details you get into and all the information you give about the flight, crew and plane.
Quoting OA260 (Thread starter): I asked the crew if I could go to Y class to take some photos and they replied ''of course''.
Quoting OA260 (Thread starter): I asked the crew if it was ok to take photos and she said I could take as many as I liked.
Woooowwww! That's a very nice touch of them; No big surprise anyway, as they have an excellent product to show and they must be aware that mouth to ear word is one of the best, and cheapest, ways to publicize your products. I remember once on an IB flight, as soon as the cabin crew saw my camera I was asked if it was off several times.
AJO From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 524 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 9253 times:
Wow, great report, thanks for sharing! Turkish J Class looks very decent, I just might give them a try to top off the ol' BD account
Some of their J fares are actually priced very friendly.
TurkishWings From Turkey, joined May 2006, 1000 posts, RR: 8 Reply 21, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 9228 times:
Great report... I am very happy you finally flew TK...in style.... I know that you have been wanting for quite a while now... TK's entry to Star is sure welcome by everyone....
I am supposed to fly TK C class IST-BEY-IST next week but I guess I will change my plans
P.S: You actually came here wthout letting anyone know? Next time, you make sure to drop me a line !!!!
Abrelosojos From Venezuela, joined May 2005, 2935 posts, RR: 25 Reply 24, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 8880 times:
Awesome TR - have been looking forward to a TK J report for a while so this totally made my evening. I will PM you more soon ... it has been super busy.
Infodesk From Switzerland, joined May 2006, 367 posts, RR: 5 Reply 25, posted (1 year 1 month 4 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 8671 times:
Excellent and informative report as always. The service on TK does indeed look impressive and I love the turquoise theme running through the aircraft and the uniforms. It looks really nice.
Sorry to hear about the Turkish kebab....hope you had better luck on the return!
Happy flying
Infodesk
[Edited 2008-05-09 04:24:13]
"Do nothing in haste, look well to each step and from the beginning think what may be the end" - Edward Whymper
26 EI320: Really great Trip report Phil, really enjoyed reading it. The J class service seems very impressive, and the crew very friendly aswell. Also, good to
27 BA319-131: Great report and pictures, really enjoyed the read. - Shame, BA never offer it either on European flights either. - Nice looking meal, shame you misse
28 JWMD123: Excellent TR OA260. I loved the picture of the VS A340 next to the SQA380. What a difference in size.
29 IliriBDL: Great trip report OA260. Love all the pictures, they're excellent.
30 OA260: Like you said last year when you went into it ''Ikea'' !! lol... It was ok but SQ lounge was better although at least they had plenty of snacks and i
31 PKflyer: An amazing Trip Report here. The picture quality is amazing. Thanks for sharing! I might try TK in the near future. Kind Regards Arslaan
32 IliriBDL: Everything is great here, hopefully the same with you. And thanks for the kind words, joined the crew last week actually.
33 StefanPAD: Hi Philip! Again a very good detailed TR with outstanding pictures. Amazing! What a low fare for C-Class. Where do you book all your flights??? What a
34 Ronerone: Excellent TR Phillip! TK has greatly improved over the past years. Their C seats look really good. I have always heard very positive things about this
35 OA260: Thanks , I booked them with the BMI FF call center. It was the Novotel between the airport and city. For the short period it was ideal and very nice.
36 Airbuseric: Philip, I really enjoyed the story and the pics, they tell indeed enough! TK is a very good airline, and an interesting one to fly. I might give them
37 Contact Air: Really great report and a fantastic selection of pictures and videos! Turkish Airlines C-Class service looks really impressive - even if you didn't ge
38 ManchesterMAN: Great trip report as always. I do enjoy how to manage to stick your camera where I wouldn't dare. Looks like you got a very comfy ride to IST. Now TK
39 Stylo777: hey phil we're still waiting for the return leg
40 SASDC8: Wow what a great report!! Great pictures, and must say that TK's C-Class on the 330-200 really looks nice BMI must be the best/cheepest way to get an
41 OA260: Will be up in around 72 hours LOL..... It was the Novotel . The camera I used was a Casio Xlim 4 megapixels. I got it in Dubai Duty Free around 5 yea
42 Gunsontheroof: Great TR Phil, well done on the photos/videos! I'm flying HAM-IST on TK in just under a month, it looks like I can look forward to it!
43 PlaneHunter: Interesting report, Phil. It took me about an hour to load all the pics - and not all of them are expressive IMO - but the cabin and catering shots we
44 Airbuske: Nice report. Why is the rudder deflected when it is parked?
45 SandroZRH: Great TR! You confirmed the many good things i heard about TK in the recent months. Too bad about the kebab, it would have been my choice aswell. Grea
46 OA260: LOL... It follows me around like a lost puppy what can I say !!! Im not sure , maybe someone else knows.
47 DALCE: Hi Philip, A very detailed and super good report! Great to see you spotted the 380 at LHR, a pity that you could not get clear sight of her. TK seems
48 OA260: Return trip is here ::: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...ums/trip_reports/read.main/126070/
49 DALCE: " target=_blank>http://www.airliners.net/aviation-fo...6070/ to which i already c ommented Owwwww, I hate mondays......
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). It made my day! 
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How was Istanbul? How expensive is the city? I'm thinking of maybe heading there this winter. 
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