Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
This is the Part 2 of the FR, covering BOG-PTY-ISL flight taken on 11-12 March 2018 in the end of my trip to Colombia. The Part 1 can be found here.
As the inbound flight ISL-BOG arrived 2 hours late, we arrived to PTY with the same delay, which resulted in missing of the slot, so the aircraft was parked at a remote stand, not at the terminal.
The Economy
The layover in PTY, while PTY-bound passengers deplaned and the aircraft was being refueled for the transatlantic leg, was a possibility to have a look on the economy cabin. It's absolutely the same as in TC-JNB, which flew me ISL-BOG-PTY and consists of 232 TSI Skysofa seats in 2-4-2 layout.
Some fragments of the rear economy cabin.
The general view of the rear economy cabin during the layover.
The Economy Seat
My seat was 21A - the same as on ISL-BOG-PTY flights, operated by TC-JNB. The seat model is Turkish-produced TSI Skysofa, which is de-facto a hybrid of Weber 5751 and Safran Z300 seats - arguably the best models for long-haul flying - and the result is excellent: the seat is very comfortable and has ample padding. The seatwidth is generous 18.1" - the maximum possible for 2-4-2 layout in A330/A340 cabin, so kudos to TK for properly using the lateral space. As on ISL-BOG-PTY, this time I also was lucky and got an empty seat near me, which doubled the lateral space thus significantly increasing the level of comfort.
The seat has fabric upholstery with "leather" adjustable headrest, modern IFE with big crispy screen, remote control and USB port, bi-fold tray table, seat pocket and legrest. The row pitch is very good. The downside of the IFE is 2 underseat power boxes: wherease one is quite slim, the other is quite wide and bothersome, reminding an infamous power box in LH B748. Though, as I had the entire duo seat block at my disposal, I was able to comfortably put my legs away from these boxes. Waiting on the seat were pillow and blanket.
The crew handed headphones and travel kit, containing slippers, socks, eyemask, earplugs, lip balm and toothbrush with toothpaste.
The seatpocket content: safety card, inflight magazine, duty-free magazine and waste bag. Also there was printed menu (will be shown further), which was a signature feature of pre-Covid TK.
Some screenshots of the IFE, including the main menu. The first screenshot is kind of self-revelation of the Turkish history, because it's well-known, why the city of Ani became a ghost one.
Some content of the inflight magazine: pages about Venezuela, a page about Uzbekistan, pages about TK's then-newest addition into cargo fleet - B77F, about then-flagship TK's lounge in ISL and about the TK's flight academy in Istanbul.
The Flight
The pre-flight cabin lighting is turned on.
A view of the economy cabin from my seat 21A. In the centre one can see the door of the crew rest bunk, which makes TK's own A332s true long-haul machines (for comparison, Azul A332s and ex-ITA A332s, which are about to join AD fleet, don't have crew rest bunks, instead having special reserved seats in the very rear of economy cabin; the same is applicable even for the older LATAM B789s, which have significantly more range than A332s and serve flights up to 14+ hours!).
Safety video with Zach King was played.
Some pre-flight information. The estimated distance is even some 300 km longer than ISL-GRU was, but due to the tailwinds the flight time is 1.5 hours shorter. Though, the messy (due to our late arrival) layover in PTY only increased our delay to 2.5 hours. It became apparent that even with the tailwinds we'll hardly make it up in the air to arrive to ISL on time…
Pushback begins; flaps in the takeoff configuration.
As we missed our slot in PTY due to the delay, we were parked at a remote spot. It gave a possibility to spot some interesting aircrafts, like this cargo B722F (HP-1937UCG) of Uniworld Air Cargo…
… and this cemetery of rotten B722Fs.
Our parking spot was near the CM hangar. This E190 (HP-1560CMP) inside the hangar was phased out in March 2020 and then joined Alliance Airlines fleet in Australia.
A view of this hangar and of the cargo terminal with DHL B763F on the backdrop.
Taxiing with CM E190 taking off on the backdrop.
Panama city's skyscrapers in sight.
Taking off from PTY.
Views of the old T1 PTY with numerous CM narrowbodies.
Making a deep left turn over the coast. The tide is still low.
Cutting through the clouds.
Flying over some beautiful convective formations.
The flight information. Despite the distance, exceeding ISL-GRU, the flight time will be just 11.5 hours. Though, our arrival to ISL will be heavily delayed, and my connection to VKO is in danger…
The last view of the continental Panama.
This is, probably, the cape, delimiting Guna Yala gulf from the Caribbean Sea.
Inflight views of the front and rear economy cabins.
The lavatories are clean, well-stocked with cosmetics and nicely decorated.
The crew hand warm oshibori, and it's time to look at the menu.
The dinner: grilled rosemary chicken breast with potato gratin, sauteed zucchini and carrots plus smoked salmon with grilled artichoke and gardenfresh salad plus tabbouleh plus vanilla panna cota. Everything was tasty. The cutlery was metallic, as usual on TK flights. For the drinking I chose TK's signature lemonade, cherry juice and Efes beer.
Some nice music to complement the tasty dinner.
Meanwhile we're flying over the Caribbean Sea with beautiful cloud formations, lightened by the evening sun.
Overflying the eastern part of Espanola island, where Dominican Republic is located. The sky with the cloud rows in the light of the low sun is absolutely beautiful!
The daylight is quickly getting to an end as we're flying easwards over the Atlantics. The last rays of the sun on the wing.
The beautiful afterglow of the sunset with still a long way to go over the ocean.
Some music, corresponding to the vibe of the moment.
Keeping exploring the IFE. Back then, when TK was still housed in the old ISL, they had their signature "miniport" service.
As the flight is not full, there's a good chance to get an additional meal, and the crew hand me the 2nd option: mascarpone and spinach canneloni with creamy tomato parmesan sauce. After this bonus I was completely filled and decided to sleep, as it got completely dark outside.
When I woke up after quite comfortable sleep on 2 seats, it was already dawn outside and we were getting closer to Iberian peninsula.
The first rays of the sunrise on the frozen window.
Tuna-cucumber sandwich and cupcake from the galley plus coffee.
The daylight is getting into its rights outside.
Meanwhile we're overflying Sardinia.
The north-western tip of Sardinia.
Flying over some beautiful clouds.
Overflying Tyrrheninan sea and getting closer to Italy.
A small island in the Tyrrhenian sea, seen through the clouds.
Overflying southern continental Italy.
90% of the distance is behind. During the flight the distance got closer to 11000 kms!
The breakfast is served: mushroom and cheese omelette with sauteed potatoes and roasted tomato plus cheese plate plus fruit salad plus bun, jam and butter. Everything was tasty. Overall, quite a good breakfast.
Clouds over the Ionic sea.
Views of the mountains of northern Greece.
A fellow TK aircraft (seemingly an A333), flying towards EU at a lower FL.
Overflying Kavala bay.
The long flight is getting to an end.
The rear economy cabin shortly before the start of the descent into ISL.
Descending over western Turkiye and overflying Buyukcekmece bay.
Approach to ISL over Marmara Sea.
Landed in ISL 2 hours after the scheduled time. I definitely missed my connection to ISL-VKO flight. Let's see how TK will handle this misalignment.
The Aircraft After The Flight
We parked at a remote stand. Engine view from the stair.
Views of the aircraft while walking to the bus. The sky over ISL was beautiful.
When I eventually got to the TK transfer desk in ISL terminal and said that my TK800 flight arrived 2 hours late and thus I missed my TK417 flight to VKO, I was immediately and without any question rebooked on the later TK415 flight to VKO and even was assigned a window seat similar to those on the missed flight, so definitely kudos to TK for handling this situation well.
It was my last ever visit to ISL. The next time I flew TK happened in early November of pandemic 2020, 1.5 years after TK moved to it's new home - IST.
Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
