[Anonymous]

[SBingham]

Does anyone know if the closure of the BA Lounge at Ataturk Airport is permanent? The scrap of paper stuck to the door only directs you to a shared Lounge?

[AspirationalFlyer]

Dear SBingham
There is a definatley a British Airways Terraces Lounge at Ataturk Airport which I used last September before a flight from Istanbul back to London Heathrow. From recollection the lounge was a distance from check-in and on the lower ground floor of the airport. The lounge was very busy when I visited and it was difficult to obtain a seat for passengers that arrived shortly before boarding (however, this was before an early evening 767 departure and an Iberia flight). Decent selection of newspapers, magazines, food and drink. Turkish beers available which was a fun way to have my last Efes! I hope that helps.

[syclik5]

Unfortunately, it appears that this lounge has closed permanently.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1458870-ba-terraces-ist-closing-permanently.html

[sparkyflier]

It seems another reason not to fly BA on this route. The TK business product is superior, and on two flights a day into LHR they use A330/A340 and even sometimes 77W, with their long haul flatbed seating product.

[VintageKrug]

For a relatively small airline, more than 500 people killed on Turkish airlines flights, with several recent crashes and/or incidents would certainly give me cause for concern, despite the better cabin set up on their flagship route:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/Is-Turkish-Airlines-Endangering-ALL-of-Us

[Bucksnet]

TK does indeed have a poor safety culture, which of course leads to a poor safety record.

From reading the FlyerTalk link above, it seems the shared lounge is totally packed and a new oneworld lounge should be opened.

[Tirana1]

I am writing this sitting in the Prime Class lounge at istanbul which has replaced the BA lounge – there is nothing prime about it. There are no spare seats, no access to power points, it is airless, noisy and generally foul. Why on earth close a perfectly decent (save for glacial wifi) lounge and replace it with access to this overcrowded dump ?

Having just arrived on a 5 hour flight on THY from Central Asia, I concur re doubts as to THY attitude to safety. No attempt was made by cabin staff to ensure aisles were free from hand baggage, tv screens were left open on take-off. General attitude of cabin staff was reminiscent of aeroflot 15 years ago. With BA having dropped so many of the old BMED/BMI mid-haul routes it is now often a choice between Turkish or Aeroflot for heading to Central Asia, neither of which are especially appealing. But this lounge is really horribel !

[Author]

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