Tried & Tested

Turkish Airlines Business class

30 Sep 2010

BACKGROUND Jet Airways has leased three Boeing B777-300ER aircraft to Turkish Airlines (TK) on a short-term basis. Those who have flown Jet Airways will find the interiors and seat product familiar as nothing has been changed except that TK’s branding has replaced Jet Airways’ own. TK flies direct, non stop four times weekly between Hongkong and Istanbul International Ataturk airport (IST), the only airline to serve the route at press time. Departure time is 2305.

CHECK-IN Besides my boarding pass and an invitation to the Travellers Lounge, I was also given a Fast-Track immigration card to be used at IST.

The Traveller’s Lounge – operated by Premier Plaza Lounge – was near gate 34, but I had no time to use it as I had some last-minute gift shopping to do. I reached the satellite concourse at 2220, already 10 minutes past the boarding time of 2210. Then, I had to walk to gate 44.

BOARDING Long lines had formed for Economy class, while the First and Business class queue was still thin. The announcement to board came at 2230.

Since no one offered to hang up my coat as I was settling into my seat, I stuffed it in the overhead cabin along with my laptop – the better to have all my belongings in one place when we landed. Champagne, juice and water were served.

THE SEAT This B777-300ER from Jet Airways features three cabins. First class has eight seats; Business class has 30 (labeled A, D-G, K); and Economy has 274 seats. Recently, the airline announced that it expected to create a Premium economy class in its new B777s, dubbed as “Comfort Class”.

My Business class seat, which reclined to a fully-flat bed, was extremely comfortable. The seats were configured in a herringbone style, the advantage of this being that all seats have access to the aisle, so you don’t need to climb over anyone. An in-flight entertainment screen pulled out from the side of the seat and there was a hook for a jacket or bag, and a footrest. The seat had adjustable foot, back and headrest, and there was also a massage function.

WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE Seat 8D is exposed to all the pre-departure action of flight crew and ground staff discussing the passenger manifest, meal inventory and the like. Being near to a galley and WC, you, the occupant, will experience a flurry of non-stop movement. Any seat further into the cabin (whether aisle or window) is preferable. Seat 8D’s counterpart, 8G is less prone to disturbance, except for the curtain flipping onto the occupant’s foot. (I had experienced this on a previous flight to Mumbai on a Jet Airways aircraft, which had the same layout.)

THE FLIGHT We pushed off at 2320 instead of 2305. Shortly after, the captain went on the public address system to extend his greetings and inform us that the journey would take 11 hours and 20 minutes, Predicting some mild to heavy turbulence, he warned us to keep
our seatbelts on at all times.

The flight attendants soon went around offering reading materials, most of which was in Turkish, but I did manage to grab the Asian Wall Street Journal, which carried a feature on frequent flier programmes. The ladies also took our dinner orders. I decided to catch up on some much-neglected sleep until I felt the stewardess gently shaking my arm for the meal service.

For starters, I had selected the grilled goat cheese on a bed of seasonal vegetables drizzled with balsamic vinegar (wonderfully refreshing), and from the three main dishes, prawn vulcano with vegetables and steamed rice and artichoke ravioli with grilled green asparagus and artichoke. Mango ice-cream with the usual oversweet Turkish pastries was my dessert.

ARRIVAL I woke up around 0330 Turkey time (0830 Hongkong time). At 0430, I received my breakfast of a strawberry smoothie and ham sandwich. We landed in Istanbul at 0530, and despite the early morning arrival, the immigration hall was packed with travellers just as bleary eyed as I was. The fast-track lane was useless with a queue even longer than the regular ones. I naturally made a bee-line for a counter that had the fewest people waiting to be processed.

Margie T Logarta