[Anonymous]

[tarisingh]

Just had 4 long haul flights with Turkish in two weeks – I have never experienced such s l o w service in all my 40 years of flying – quite astonished it’s a member of star alliance!!

[rferguson]

In what way do you mean slow tarisingh? As in giving out food and drink? Which class did you travel?

[seanyjmuclhr]

I have to agree with the OP’s comments. I flew last year to IST then onto JNB-CPT in business class. While the hard product was great (lovely flat bed and great entertainment), the soft product was not all that. Yes, the food quality was good but it took forever for the crew to serve the cabin and then clear away.

Plus, the crew were extremely surly on all 4 sectors. There was no further drinks rounds and when I ask for another drink, I practically had to beg the staff to get me one. No smiles, nothing. They had set up what appeared to be a bar at the front of the business cabin but it was woefully poor in selection and volume.

Shame as TK would get my business again if only they’d up their game on the cabin crew and their attitude.

[Tramor01]

I’d agree!
I recently flew business class from Istanbul to/from BKK and in both cases on the overnight flight out and daytime return home the main meal service took almost 3 hours. The drinks service was non existent to the point I went up to their bar setup served myself and then asked if anyone else wanted a top up 🙂
Having said that the use Do & Co as caterers who are great (used by Austrian)

Don’t get me started on the pre landing safety check – luggage left on the floor, seats in semi recline position!
The ticket was a good deal….. but with all the hassle etc. I’d only use them again if the cost was as cheap

[DavidGordon10]

In contrast, a couple of weeks ago I found the TK service in economy on a quite long flight (IST – ALA) to be much better than I had expected for what was, to my employers for that assignment, a very modestly priced ticket.

[DutchinSwitzerland]

Flew them to JNB last year in business and had a good experience, maybe because it was a night flight and not that many people ordered food that I was served in a relatively good time. They do have the process that they prepare everything in the galley and then bring it to your chair opposed to using trolleys. Drinks service was wonderful, they guy kept topping up my champagne to the point that I had to ask him to stop…….again probably because I was the only one awake. (jetlag from a previous trip that kept me awake…..)

[rferguson]

In terms of speed of service I guess it’s down to giving options – an elaborate offering for those who want it but some kind of ‘express meal’ for those that would prefer to sleep. Three hours for a Business Class meal service on a day flight isn’t unreasonable. On a night flight i’d be mighty peeved though.

[MartynSinclair]

Finnair must use the same training company 2 – 3 hours for evening service, starting over 1 hour after take off….

[rferguson]

I wonder what the reason is? I guess TK have gone through an extremely rapid expansion and so have probably had to constantly recruit new cabin crews which are probably a bit slower.

As for Finnair I believe they have a pretty poor crew to passenger ratio on board to cut costs. Actually they have just been given the green light to set up a crew base at JFK staffed by American crews for the JFK-HEL-JFK route, again as a cost saving measure.

[sparkyflier]

I flew them on segments LHR-IST-Ankara-IST-LHR in Y about two years ago and the service was anything other than slow. The flight from IST-Ankara was about 45 minutes on a full tightly packed A320, but every one got a very nice mini meal and drinks. Staff were generally friendly and all meals very tasty indeed.

[superchris]

I was in Business on a IST to JNB flight recently and yes the service was a bit odd, albeit leaving at midnight I had to feel sorry for the on-board chef who was clearly there to encourage people to have a full on meal, which no-one wanted.

I dont remember service being particularly slow to be honest but then I slept most of the flight as I found the seats incredibly comfortable.

[Jetcruiser]

I just flew TK #033 IST-IAH on their 777-300ER – seat 2K with a full cabin up front yesterday. This was my second long-haul flight on TK in 3 days and I felt that the hardware was great for a business class product, but service, attention to detail and the friendly smiles was lacking! Although they don’t offer a snooze suit, I travel with one and it required 3 flight attendants to get me a hangar to hang my clothes! It was beneath the Female Chief Purser to open the cupboard in front of the bathroom to hand me a hangar – she was only an expert at ordering her other team members to do her work! The flight was just under 13 hours and I always like having a full glass of water and a glass of champagne (they served Gosset Brut Grand Reserve) at my side – had too constantly remind them during the flight to refill both! They need to train their onboard teams better as it would be a winning product!

[tarisingh]

exactly my experience yesterday – I think the FCP thought she was on a catwalk – she, when asked by a passenger to get their bag from the overhead bin actually stopped the only stewardess serving meals and drinks to deal with it and continued with her catwalk.
I was in economy and row 16 on all flights, so only 10 rows in front.. It took almost 30 minutes for the meal to arrive to me – the toasted sandwich, which I’m sure was delicious when it started life was cold and rock hard, The chicken on another flight was cold and had gone leathery …….On each flight there was just the one cabin crew serving in each isle, plenty of crew watching so it must be company policy???
Also – on one flight two of the toilets were out of action and one didn’t have any paper, on all flights the toilets were disgusting a few hours into the flight – not had this experience on any other star alliance flight before, in fact have always admired the crew giving them a once over through the flight.
Anybody from TK reading this??

[Tirana1]

My own experience is that TK cabin crew are often young, inexperienced and with poor communication skills. They think nothing of failing to administer safety briefings properly (eg not doing them manually when certain screens are not working) or leaving luggage in gangways (a significant issue because carry-on limits are seldom policed and boarding is invariably chaotic.) It smacks of an airline that has expanded quickly – but also of one that does not prioritise safety as it should.

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