Review of Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Amman in Business

Each year, I go with my mother to Jordan. This year we decided to give TK a try but from FRA, as the prices from BSL were 50% higher. We took the ICE from Basel to Frankfurt.

istanbul airport

Here we are at the new Istanbul Airport, My first impression was : this is huge!!

We are here at the far end of the F gates and had no clue on where the lounge could be. This was one of the few problems of the airport, the signage to the lounge. We assumed it should be central, and gave a try to it.

FIDS:

There is an outside smoking terrace my mom wants to try it :)

Unfortunately this is the best view you can get from the terasse

Then we continued to walk towards the lounge:

The center part of the terminal, the other side is the domestic part of the airport:

TK is queen here:

The airport really impresses me.

It is so big!

I had never seen any Skechers shop in an aiport!

The roof is amazing:

You can even rent a buggy service!

For us it is this way:

The entrance is via self gates:

business lounge turkish airlines

Red roses as welcome:

To get access to the WiFi, you need to scan your boarding pass:

Let's start the lounge visit!

Lots of games here…

You can even play golf:

Lots of lounging opportunities. This one was one of my favourites:

Another a bit more modern:

Oriental style:

One of the many place to seat to eat:

IT corner:

Bag storage area:

You can even have video conferences in the lounge:

One of the nap area, the only concern there is that the  front curtains don't close  so you are really exposed while napping:

We decided to stay on those couches that were comfy:

Pide station, lots more being prepared by the cooks so the picture doesn't give justice :)

Huge, very huge, salad bar!

Lots of things, for every taste!

And more:

And more than more :)

Never ending!

At last!

 Gözleme station:

Turkish tea:

Fresh fruits:

Turkish sweets:

Some more?

Raspberry lemonade (the same as in the plane)

Simit:

Loukoums :

There was also a köfte, a manti and more Turkish food stations, I wasn't able to take picture of everything as there was just too much. I sampled some köftes and kisir, both excellent:

I liked this sign, as the airport is so big, you really need to plan your walking time!

We used the lift to get down:

ist part ii:

Take off was in a little bit than an hour, we had a bit more time to explore :)

I am really impressed about this airport!

FIDS:

Above the Vuitton store there is the TK Gold and Gold Star Alliance Lounge:

Still a long way to arrive to our gate!

This way down:

We are now almost at the opposite of the side we arrived earlier

A2 was our gate:

That's here:

Our bird for tonight:

Couldn't take a better picture:

Boarding starts right on time:

Pole position for us:

inflight

This time the welcome at the door was friendly and smiling, I am happy to discover a new cabin, different from the recliner seats!

The cabin looks good but once you have a closer look, the seat shows its age:

The pitch is ok and the screen size is good:

It is not a lie flat seat and even not flat at all. This is the max recline of my seat with my mother trying to have her seat moving :)

The seat doesn't move any further forward. Over the 24 seats of the cabin 4 are INOP. Not a single seat of the cabin reclines fully, the crew members will go to each passenger to explain that the cabin is old and the best they can do is to move the seats to flat manually. They will need to remove the seat cushion and press a button, then push hardly on it to get it down.
The seat controls are useless:

Cocktail table:

Front view:

Lavatories:

No Do & Co chef on that flight, the service might be reduced as the flight is pretty short.

The service starts on the ground with a welcome drink. 

Followed by the menu:

It is, as per the previous leg, a full menu. I am impressed.

Drinks are the same as the flight from FRA:

Safety demonstration:

A light mood lighting to start the service with a hot towel:

Ready for dinner!

The tray comes like that, the hot entree following later:

The salmon was delicious!
I took the köftes as main:

My mother took the mantis:

My dish was lovely a real delight! My mother did like her mantis but she said it was a bit to greasy for her.
Coffee to finish with a second hot towel:

And we were almost there!

Shortly before landing:

We exited the aircraft almost first:

And arrived in Amman!

Immigration was a mess, we arrived at 1130P and it took us more than an hour. The process was a pain, you first need to queue to get the visa (40JD / 50€ that is really expensive!) then you need to queue again to have them stamped together with your passeport. There is a fast queue but you need to pay an additional 7JD to access it.

The good thing was that our luggage was already on the belt when we arrived in the hall :)

After an hour drive we arrived at Dead Sea and were greeted with this lovely welcome gift!