A very warm welcome to all Flight-Report members and visitors for this exclusive series of Flight-Report's which was an easy way having a Star Alliance Gold status. In addition, in this series I had the chance to experience the brand new Turkish Airlines Domestic Lounge at Istanbul Airport on the first day of its operation. This exclusive series would include 15 flights ( 14 on Turkish Airlines & 1 on SunExpress ) and 13 of these reports are flights to/from Istanbul Airport in Business Class. The other two flights are also domestic flights which are on Economy Class and they are not reports from/to Istanbul Airport. More details could be found in the routing section.
The seventh flight of this report would be another Business Class review on another Turkish Airlines domestic flight. This report would also include a review of the Turkish Airlines Lounge in Trabzon which is operated by Turkish Do&Co.
The routing would look like this. All reports except #2 would include lounge reviews as well.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7#7 TK 2049 TZX to ISL ( J ) A320-200
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14#14 TK 2030 ISL to ADB ( J ) 737-800
- 15#15 TK 2337 ADB to IST ( Y ) 777-300ER
Pax for this flight
Business Class: %85-90 [Business Class until row 3]
Economy Class: %85-90
TRABZON AIRPORT - TZX
After arriving from my previous flight, I have proceeded to the departures level, clear security and head to the lounge
Our aircraft from the terminal
Boarding Pass
Turkish Airlines CIP LOUNGE - TRABZON AIRPORT
The lounge in Trabzon isn't that big and still has the old design. The offering is mainly based on nuts, pastries, olives and a soup.
My selection for the day
Drink selections
The lounge also has a Nespresso machine with different options of coffees.
Few minutes before the flight boarding had started from the CIP gate and alongside with other passenger I had walked to the aircraft
AnadoluJet 737-800 which would head to Kocaeli.
Our aircraft. TC-JUE which is named Akhisar
Fuselage shot
TK 2049 TRABZON AIRPORT TO Istanbul Airport
The crew was different from the previous flight. They have welcomed myself and then I have headed to my seat
Shortly after the closure of the doors, the safety video was monitored. Emmet is trying to put Wildstyle to one of the overhead lockers.
As a welcome drink I have opted for an orange juice. By the way seat 3D was empty throughout the flight
We have started our push back on time
Nuts and menus were distributed just after the pushback process
Todays menu
Hayri Gür Sport Complex
And we have took off
Over the clouds
Just after takeoff, I have visited the front lavatory. It was clean during my visit.
After arriving from the lavatory, the meals were being served.
Best of Turkish Meze
Grilled Herb Chicken Fillet
Mango Panna Cotta
After my meal, I have asked for a green tea.
The route map was available throughout the flight
Now let's have a detailed look to the seat pocket. Starting with the safety card
Shop&Miles catalogue, Turkish Perspective magazine, Invest in Turkey brochure
Skylife & Skylife Business magazines
Our aircraft in the fleet
TK route map
A shot before our descend
Over the Büyükçekmece area
Center of Büyükçekmece
Port Ambarlı
Beylikdüzü area
Guess the airport
Halkalı train station
Halkalı Train Station & Atatürk Airport at the same shot
Atatürk Olympic Stadium
Başakşehir area
Approaching to ISL
Arnavutköy area
ISL is visible
We are still descending
And we have landed
ATC Tower
Service vehicle facility
New Turkish Technic hangar
The Terminal
B gates
D gates
E&F gates
And we are arriving to gate G8a
A view of the concourse
Istanbul Airport - ISL
Final shots of our aircraft from the gate
And it's time to head to the exit
Baggage claim area
Arrivals level
And, it's time to leave the terminal
Havaist buses
And the İETT ( municipality ) bus that I used that day.
This report has came to an end.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you in another report.
Hello Eryorulmaz!
The lounge definitely looks a bit older and rather “non-standard” compared to most of the other TK lounges you’ve posted in this series. But still, the buffet looks good enough for a quick snack.
At this point, when you’re greeted at the door, you must be like “I’ll just show myself to my seat, thanks.”
As always, the catering looks lovely on TK. This series has certainly confirmed that they’re as good here on shorthauls as they are in my limited experiences of their long-haul flights.
Nice shots on descent. Looks like a lovely day to be flying.
I keep meaning to ask, how are the benefits of TK status? Do they offer free (complimentary or certificate-based) upgrades on shorthauls? (At least, when business class isn’t full of mileage runners….)
And with that, I am caught up with your series. Until you post four more tomorrow, that is. I look forward to them. Happy flying!
Hi and thanks again for stopping by to this report as well,
"The lounge definitely looks a bit older and rather “non-standard” compared to most of the other TK lounges you’ve posted in this series. But still, the buffet looks good enough for a quick snack."
- The lounge in TZX hasn't been renovated and it's still in the old TK concept. The lounges in IST, ESB and ADB has been refurbished in the past so they are not similar to this lounge. Before the domestic lounge in IST was refurbished, it looked similar to this lounge. But I agree that the lounge is good for a domestic lounge.
"At this point, when you’re greeted at the door, you must be like “I’ll just show myself to my seat, thanks.”"
- :)
"As always, the catering looks lovely on TK. This series has certainly confirmed that they’re as good here on shorthauls as they are in my limited experiences of their long-haul flights."
- You could expand your experiences by visiting Turkey and fly on one of the short haul flights. I wouldn't comment on long haul flights as it has been 7 years that I haven't flown TK on a long haul flight. In the past 7 years, the longest flight that I've flown with TK would be TK1451 to OPO.
"Nice shots on descent. Looks like a lovely day to be flying."
- Usually Istanbul is cloudy or rainy in the early winter period but it was a nice day to fly. Especially, it was nice to see the sun in the air.
"I keep meaning to ask, how are the benefits of TK status? Do they offer free (complimentary or certificate-based) upgrades on shorthauls? (At least, when business class isn’t full of mileage runners….)"
- At the moment I am M&S Elite which has the same benefits as a regular *G card. But, I'm close to become a M&S Elite Plus which has lots of privileges such as accessing the premium lounges ( at least the Business lounge not the FFP lounge ) and the arrival lounge at ISL. Also after becoming an Elite Plus member, it's easy to renew your membership by only flying 40000 status miles in your first membership year. Then your membership would automatically extend for two years. Obviously, the status offers free upgrades twice a year ( even on long haul flights ), but unfortunately there is no upgrade list like US carriers for short haul flights. Even though, Elite Plus members have the chance to be upgraded on most TK flights when the Y cabin is overbooked. On the other hand, when flying on another *A carrier, I would have the same privileges as other *G cards which is quite annoying but at least a good advantage. While oneworld has a status called Emerald for their frequent travelers that fly more than others, Star Alliance doesn't even have straightforward rules between rules such as lounge access, priority seating, baggage. For example, I could book extra-legroom seats on any AA flights for free with my non-AA OWS card ( even OWR could book ), but on UA non-UA *G members need to even pay for a preferred seat which doesn't have extra legroom.
"And with that, I am caught up with your series. Until you post four more tomorrow, that is. I look forward to them. Happy flying!"
- I would post the next for in the following days. At the moment, I'm doing the final touches for them and started writing report #12. Hope to see you there and thanks again for your comment here.