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 eleventh report of this series would be the last flight that had the initial purpose of doing a mileage run. This flight is my return flight to Istanbul and would also contain a short review of the Elite Plus & Business section of the Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge in Ankara.
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
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11#11 TK 2125 ESB to ISL ( J ) 737-800
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
Pax for this flight
Business Class: %100
Economy Class: %95-100
ONLINE CHECK-IN
There was the same issue of couldn't be able to online check-in, similar to flight #5 in this series. I was in ISL, 23 hours before this flight so I have printed my boarding pass at the check-in counter over there.
ANKARA ESENBOĞA AIRPORT - ESB
The Turkish Airlines Lounge in Ankara is located outside the terminal and does not have a direct access from the terminal. That's why passengers shouldn't enter the main building if they are going to use the lounge.
Turkish Airlines LOUNGE ANKARA - ANKARA ESENBOĞA AIRPORT
After validating my boarding pass at the counter and clearing security, I have entered the Elite Plus & Business section of the lounge. Like the lounges in IST ( domestic ) and ADB; this lounge is operated by BTA.
The offering is same as the ADB lounge. In addition to this photo, there is a small business corner, a TV zone and phone charge lockers available.
Boarding pass
Shortly before the flight, boarding was made from the CIP gates and we were bussed to gate 109 from the lounge. This AnadoluJet 737-800 was parked to gate 110.
Today I was going to fly again with TC-JVN; fuselage shot
TK 2125 ANKARA ESENBOĞA AIRPORT TO Istanbul Airport
After being welcomed by the crew, I have headed to seat 4F as we had already swapped seats with my neighbor at the lounge. I have recognized him with his boarding pass. He was also a mileage runner at that time and arrived from the same previous flight as I did.
TK A321 next door, which would fly to Atatürk Airport
Shortly after boarding has completed, welcome drinks were offered. I have opted for a raspberry juice.
Later on, nuts and menus were distributed.
The menu was same with flight #5 which was four days ago this flight and also a TK 2125 flight.
Later on, the safety video started to play. During the safety video, the cabin crew has came to take drink orders with the meal. Even though, I swapped my seat without noticing the crew, the flight attendant who remembered my name from the previous flight asked my drink of choice my addressing my real name instead of the name of the original passenger seated there.
The domestic terminal while pushing back.
The international gates were empty at that time.
Later on, we have took off
It was beautiful to watch the snow from the air.
The IFE was active during this flight.
My selection that day, 3D maps
Shortly after the seat belt signs had turned off, the meal service has begun.
Best of Turkish Meze
Hunter's Borek with Beef
Mascarpone and Passion Fruit Tart
Later on the trays were collected and we have started our descend.
Roads leading to ISL
And we had landed before schedule
The massive IFE tower
Later on, we had parked to gate G8a. After saying "hope to see you again" to the crew I have left the aircraft.
Istanbul Airport - ISL
Last view of our aircraft
This time I've followed the signs for arrivals.
Exiting the baggage claim area
Arrivals hall
And we're outside.
The mileage runs have ended at that time but I was going to continue to fly from ISL for a vacation and for a day meeting which would be the future flights of this serie. The reason to fly from ISL on these future flights was that flights departing from ISL have Business Class fares starting from €39. ( First 4 passengers on the J cabin )
This report has came to an end and hope to see you in another report.
Hello Eryorulmaz!
Only four more to go to complete the status run. Good stuff!
“The Turkish Airlines Lounge in Ankara is located outside the terminal and does not have a direct access from the terminal. That's why passengers shouldn't enter the main building if they are going to use the lounge.”
- That still seems odd to me. I love having direct access from outside, but it’s odd that you can’t get it in from within the terminal. I would have thought that it wouldn’t be beyond the possible to connect in Ankara.
More connections with the mileage-running crew, I see. Awesome.
I love the TK raspberry drink. Just delicious.
Shots from the air featuring the snow are, indeed, quite lovely. And familiar catering again, but again, looks very good.
“I have flown the fourth time with all the same 4 cabin crew members in a future flight.”
- Wow. At this point, it must be like getting together with old friends.
Thanks for sharing once again — looking forward to the balance of this series!
Hi hometoyyz and welcome to this report,
"Only four more to go to complete the status run. Good stuff!"
- The status run is completed at the moment, I have linked those other four flights to this serie and I haven't flown them for mileage. The Gaziantep flights were for a vacation and the Izmir flights were for a day meeting. But, anyway I paid up €117 ( 39x3) for three of the segments to experience this great J product again.
"That still seems odd to me. I love having direct access from outside, but it’s odd that you can’t get it in from within the terminal. I would have thought that it wouldn’t be beyond the possible to connect in Ankara."
- There is a transfer security area in Ankara, both in the domestic and both in the international terminals, but they don't have access to this lounge. Priority Pass holders could use the the transfer path and use one of the eligible pay-to-entry lounges as well.
"More connections with the mileage-running crew, I see. Awesome."
- Yes, they were awesome
"I love the TK raspberry drink. Just delicious."
- Yes, I would like to know where they cater it. I don't think they squeeze them freshly in one of the Turkish Do&Co facilities.
"Shots from the air featuring the snow are, indeed, quite lovely. And familiar catering again, but again, looks very good."
- I love when it's snows and it was nice to get those pictures. By the way, thanks for appreciating. The catering was good as always.
"Wow. At this point, it must be like getting together with old friends."
- As I mentioned in one of the other replies, I would recognize them if I saw them on the street. I don't think that I'm a hard passenger so probably they would greet me like a friend if we meet in a future flight.
Thanks again for your comment and hope to see you in the rest of the series which would be posted in the near future.