comment below and let me know your thoughts :)
In the last couple of years, Turkish
Airlines has been winning a lot of awards for their service and product.
They seem to be doing this while still providing a competitive rate, so I
was curious to experience the service myself. After flying both Business
as well as Economy class, I am not sure why the airline won all the awards --
while the product is decent and I have definitely experienced worst, I have
also experienced better.
I was flying from the U.S. to Switzerland
and Turkish Airlines was providing a very good deal from Houston to Zurich via
Istanbul. For another family member, we had previously booked a Turkish
Airlines flight through a travel agent and it was difficult to manage the
booking on the Turkish Airlines website, so this time we decided to book
directly through Turkish Airlines website. The website does provide good
deals and options pre-booking and during booking, but it is not good post
booking or managing the booking. Seat assignments, for example must be
confirmed by calling the airline - however if you book too far in advance than
the airplane has not been confirmed for your flight so you are not able to book
your seat. There were other instances like this which does not make the
site very user-friendly (as opposed to Qatar and other airlines which are more
user-friendly). 
I got to experience both Business as well
as Economy class on Turkish. My original ticket was in Economy class but
you are able to upgrade to Business Class at the counter, if space is
available. NOTE: if you are travelling on more than one sector, the
upgrade is only valid on the first sector. We were travelling from
Houston to Istanbul and then from Istanbul to Zurich so the upgrade was only
applicable from Houston to Istanbul. In Houston, Turkish partners with
Star Alliance member so you have access to the United Club; in Istanbul we
would be back to economy so would not have access to the lounge. Given
all this, is it worth to upgrade? That really depends on what you value.
We were flying on a Boeing 777 and the Business
class is laid out in a 2-2-2 section. The positive is that the seats do
turn into completely lie-flat beds and there is a massage button to help ease
the long flight. They also do feed you a lot in Business class, with many
courses and their advertised ‘Chef on Board’.
The food was good, not great, but good and they did provide a lot of
it. One thing to note was that the
flight attendants never explained what any of the dishes were and, when asked,
could not provide the answer as to what was being served. Every time I asked for an explanation of the
dish they had to run back to the galley to get the answer. That was a negative in my opinion. Other negatives were that the service in
Business wasn't that good, there is very little privacy between you and your
seatmate, and the beds are not that comfortable. Additionally, the
amenity kit in Business is the same one that was received in Economy. Finally,
the IFE is wider in Business class but they have less selection (overall the
selection wasn’t that good, but it was worse in Business Class). Given we
were fed well and were able to rest, we did not feel as tired when we landed in
Istanbul at 12 hours so in that aspect it was worth it, but given the lack of
service and the other negatives we decided not to upgrade on the return flight
(more about that later).
Just a note about the Club at IAH: Turkish does
not have its own club so it partners with fellow Star Alliance member United
and uses the United Club. The United Club is nice but the Club it is nowhere
near the Turkish gate. Turkish departs
out of D gates and the closest Club location is in E gates – about a 15 minute
fast walk or a 20 minute slow walk. As
it is a United Club, there are no announcements of the Turkish flight so you
have to guess and estimate the time.
We transferred in Istanbul to our flight to
Zurich. Istanbul airport is nice, but
very crowded and very long – there are long walks between gates and when
transferring from one gate to another.
Additionally you have to go through security even when transferring as
well as go through a boarding pass check.
Given the immense crowds, seating space is a commodity especially since
the gates are only announced about an 1.5 hour prior to the flight.
The return flight from Zurich to Istanbul
was on the same type of aircraft and the service was the same (which was decent). Transferring in Istanbul was a bit chaotic,
especially for the flights to the U.S.
The plane was not parked at the gate so we had to take a bus to the
plane. It was a full flight with over
300+ passengers but the waiting area was so small and compact, with only 6
chairs and no food/beverage services.
Prior to the waiting area, you had to go through 3 security checkpoints
so it was becoming very crowded, very quickly.
Given the crowded situation, Turkish opened the gate early and we were
allowed to board earlier than scheduled.
The flight from Istanbul to Houston was
operated by a Boeing 777 and this time we were in economy. The seat pitch was extremely tight – there was
barely any room to sit no matter what your height was. The seats were also uncomfortable and so it
made for a very uncomfortable 12+ hour flight.
The service included a meal upon takeoff, tea, distribution of amenity
kit (which was the exact same one we received in Business Class on the
departure trip) as well as a meal upon landing.
In addition, there were snacks and drinks available in the galley. The service was decent, the only problem I
had was that 30 minutes after take-off three bathrooms on one side of the plane
ran out of soap. I am not sure whether
soap was not filled initially or too many people used it, but instead of
refilling the soap or apologizing for that, the attendants’ response was ‘just
use another one’. It was this lackluster
response that was indicative of their service throughout all the flights we
took, and it was this lackluster response which did not make the flight
enjoyable. The seats did have a person
IFE as well as USB port to charge your electronics. The IFE in economy had a better selection of
movies than business class, but the selection was not as up to date nor as vast
as other airlines (including the US, Emirates, etc.). The movie selection was enough to pass 12
hours but not enough to come back to the airline.
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