Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge New Istanbul Airport

Tk Elite members at the old lounge were allowed to guest in their whole family when travelling together. Has this benefit been removed? Big downer if so.

Have a few trips through here in the next 12 months, looks incredibly disappointing and already dated.

I was there in the morning 10 ish in the old lounge. There was no food that you speak of. No desserts to die for. Just bloody olives.

They like to die later in the day?

For a new lounge this looks incredibly dated. I honestly hate the furniture.

I've had many, many multi-hour layovers in the Atatürk Turkish Lounge and never once had an issue with the wifi, including for calls and video streaming...maybe you've just been unlucky?

Is there a maximum amount of hours you can use the suites? I presume that they don't have showers in those suites and you have to go to another section to have your shower.

Was your review about both lounges or just the Turkish Business Lounge? The pictures and text did not have consistent nomenclature.
I maintain TK Élit as my Star Alliance Gold so am more interested in what will allow me access in the back.
I’m so disappointed that they didn’t do something new. Looks exactly like ataturk which was already showing signs of wear and tear. Totally agree with WiFi issues at ataturk. It never worked and I was there twice a month.

@Lucky they definitely re-used some of the furniture from the old lounge. The pianos are from the old lounge as well. Can't wait to check it out myself, but from observing the pictures, it almost feels like the old lounge appeared a bit more elegant as far as decor goes?

@Moneda, for sure, Turkish citizen are not allowed to die in the mornings, only later in the day.

some bits look really nice but many look just ok.
I would expect them to put togethr something spectacular, and something with more local identity (with the exception of the lounge, the rest have failed on thagt front). People will poss pictures across blioogs and social media, and you won;t be able to say, ah that must be the new lounge in Istanbul. it looks a bit confused, there's even a bit of an italian trattoria... kids area looks great though

My one layover in the old lounge was interesting and enjoyable. The only negative for me was that the Chinese food stand had no soy sauce. Maybe they fixed that in the new one.

Hi all anybody knows if other lounges ( such as HSBC....etc) will also open in the new terminal

Kingal

The old lounge had the iconic stairway in the center plus the library. Looks to be missing in the new lounge.

@Steve
@Lucky

No, They didn’t re-use the old furnitures and Piano.They all have been brought to the Istanbul Airport before “Big move”. The old “ones” can be seen in the Farewell videos of the employees at Ataturk, which has been recorded after last TK-flight to Singapore...

> This is so outrageous

Slow wifi, yes, such an outrage. Oh the humanity.
What an unjust world we live in, that you must suffer so terribly.

I just don't see your issue with the wifi... Just saw a speedtest with 60mb/s up and down at the new Airport ‍♂️

"There’s a reception desk on the lounge level ahead of the entrance, should you need any help with your travels." Where there isn't a dedicated person taking care of people wanting to bring a guest (you can't use the automated gate in that case). If there are a couple of people with issues in front of you, then you wait quite some time until you can enter. Other lounges solve this by having the "help desk" inside the lounge.

"There was a model set of sorts, showing a combination of the airport and the city, or something." That's a car model race track, but it seems as if the cars and the controllers are missing. At the old airport they were always there, but maybe at here you have to ask for them.

The warm food is exactly the same as it has been at the old airport for many years now. It's OK, but when you are there twice a week you really want something different.

Ben - You might need to clean your wifi, and dump a bunch of the auto saved wifi addresses. I had 100s and 100s of these saved from hotels/airports worldwide. This can slow your speed in certain networks (but not all) so it would seem like IST is a problem for you, and perhaps its just something that happened the first time you logged on to TK IST network, and that bug is still there. Bugs and types of hidden viruses can slow us on some networks, as we pass these around from network to network and upon our return the issue continues.

Macbook: Click on wifi and then "open other networks" "advanced" and you will see 100s of wifi auto connects that you should delete. Keep the main ones you use repeatedly, and for sure dump TK and ones that are repeatedly slow. Once cleaned out, the next time you log in at IST the issue should be solved.

An IT person clued me in to this.

food is the same as the one from IST ... and the same for the last 10 years. Tired of it. Same for inflight meals... same again and again.

Looks already dated. Nothing new, spectacular or with any good taste. Looks really the same as the previous one and was expecting changes, but it's nothing more than the old one.

Will be dirty, noisy and crowded as the old one, pretty sure about it. Too many people with status in Turkey from the administration, corporate, whole 10 people family, etc, etc.

Relax rooms... will be the same than IST : impossible to get one (they didn't learned from the past).

Showers: same, 2 hours average wait and will be the same regarding poor capacities.

To be honest this airport is a no go for me now : I used to love to do 2 days stopovers in Istanbul... but regarding how far it is and the traffic, I will not anymore and connecting there sounds like a huge nightmare (IST was already a pain at peak hours and some gates were too far). Here sounds like minimum connection time is 2 hours.

For me, they failed and it's not a surprise, used to be a TK loyalist and enthusiast but since 3 or 4 years I really feel that everything is going down and still don't understand why people go crazy about their C class and their lounges.

If you compare this with the new MCT airport (and their stunning lounge), the new LX lounges in Zurich, the Singapore lounges or even Emirates... they are far behind and below.

Sounds that for everything they go on quantity over quality... sad but true.

PS : there is still the dedicated entrance (security + immigration) for C pax?

Great review Ben. I think you will get a few google hits as I honestly have never seen Turkish Business Lounge repeated so many times lol.

Thanks for the information about the new airport and lounge review. I think you are right about the airport being to big with no trains and not enough moving walk ways. The lounge does look the similar just more updated. I am not concerned about the food being the same as it is good food. I am looking forward to seeing everything in October when I will also hopefully get to check out the new Dreamliner from DC.

I was thinking of taking a trip over to check it out. Thanks for saving me the trouble! So much looks so similar - the furniture, the golf simulator, the lockers, even the simit cart. I loved the old lounge and staircase and separate tv room. It was always a fun stopover even when crowded. This one looks blah and not as fun.

looks beautiful, altho ill miss that iconic staircase with the logo thing in the middle from ataturk.

Is there any lounge I can use upon arrival? I’m not connecting but departing 4 days later on a separate ticket. Business class but no status

Is it just me or is it confusing that you can only access Turkish Airlines Business Lounge when you are traveling in Business class but the signage in this post has Star Alliance Gold logo on it as well? Coz it usually means you can access if you are a Star Gold member regardless of your class of travel.

Hi,
What are the opening hours of the Miles & Smiles Lounge?
Is it also 24 hours?
Pal

Hi @Lucky,
Are these pictures only of the Business Class Lounge? Did you have a chance of checking out the Miles&Smiles lounge? Do you reckon it is better or worse than the Business Class Lounge, or just about the same?
Thanks

I am a Star Alliance Gold card member and not a Business class flyer and I could use the Business Lounge.

lovetospendit says:
April 10, 2019 at 5:18 pm
Above person has only one intention . He/She is only to make propaganda to show this beautiful world best lounge " a bad review ". I traveled around the world and this is the best.

@Nikhil Pai I think Lucky was just copying what Turkish Airlines official website says about this access rule, but not validating it himself since he's not a Star Gold, but a One World Emerald.

I just upgraded myself to Business out of Istanbul because of this. Wish he could have made it clearer.

It looks boring to me. The old one had flair even toward the end when it was worn. This looks tacky and old fashioned and not particularly nice. It will do for a layover of a couple hours but It sure doesn't have that "ooohhh" feeling you got at the old one when you walked in and saw the billiards tables and library and then the big staircase. I saw you mentioned that both this Star Alliance Gold lounge and the one for just Business class passengers are the exact same, is that right??

What I wonder is, do they still have the free tours for long layovers even with the new airport further out of town?

I just flew via the new airport and I was very disappointed. Took us 30 min from landing to arriving at the parking bay, then a 20 min dash with poor signage through an airport, that in some parts looks old already (very poor workmanship), to find a lounge that feels exactly like the old one. I never really got why people raved about the old lounge - it was dirty, overcrowded and messy. Just like the planes on TK. Even had a passenger that sat down in vomit on the seat from the previous flight. I try and avoid them. It‘s simply not a very polished airline.

"...including an awesome plane model you could play in"

Pretty sure it's meant for the kids, but you do you. Haha.

I had a long layover today - was able to access both the business class lounge and the Miles and Smiles lounge with business class ticket and no status. They were identical as far as I could tell. Can also confirm that the private suites now have access cards given to passengers.

I've been many many many times to the old lounge and never had any WiFi issues.

For the suites, your continuing flight must be over 8 hours to get a suite. The rule in the old lounge was that if you came from an 8 hour flight and your next flight is under 8 hours, you WILL Not get a suite.

Good taste and Refinement died in the construction of the lounge. Life will never be the same again.

It is a pretty comprehensive review.
May I know if a private suite has its own toilet/shower room?

Lounge were nice but water ran out of the showers twice 🙁

The airport is rather huge without enough travellators. Instead, there are marked lanes for buggies to transport passengers who are too tired or unable to walk. The food at the Turkish Business class lounge is pretty delish I must say, with tortellini freshly made n cooked on the spot. HOWEVER! The shower facilities is dismal as I was told the queue would be 2 hrs!!! On top of that the attitude of the young female conceige was horrendous. She looked as if it was a crime for me to ask for the shower room and rolled her eyes at me. When I asked if there were other shower facilities elsewhere, she gave me another of her b*%@hy looks and retorted that all queues at other shower facilities are 2 hrs long! Then she passed me a buzzer and my boarding pass! Come on unless my lay over is 4 hrs, who could wait for 2 hrs for a shower!

Any lounges open to Loungekey members?

@Gerhard
At the moment there aren't any for LoungeKey members. So unfortunately for now you'll have to pay to use the other lounges.

Thanks Mo, that is sad, at Ataturk we could have used the Turkish Airlines lounge.

Is there a pay-for-use option for the lounges for economy class passengers flying on Turkish Air? I have a 7-hour layover and just looking into options.

Lucky - do you know if I can enter the lounge more than once? Say I arrive in early afternoon, eat, leave my carry-on in the baggage area, leave to do transit tour and come back to lounge?

Dear,
can I enter with PRIORITY PASS card?
When I was at Svarnabhumi Airport, Thailand, I entered Turkies Airline Lounge by using PRIORITY PASS, memorable. ..

Hi! The review was really helpful! It's my first time traveling to Istanbul and using the Business lounge. Sorry for the silly question but could I please know if the food buffet in the lounge (that everybody seems to love) and other amenities free? I have a 7 hour layover and really looking forward to good food and a comfy chair to crash in.

It's cheap and overcrowded just like the old one. Sometimes you can't even get a seat and you're deafened by screaming kids. TK lower the bar for access too far. Those of you SAG members in the US - think of the United Clubs and you get the idea...

Turkish airline business class is a rip off to say the least!!!
I have bought a business class ticket from alanya to istanbul with 9 hours 35 minutes layover and then to toronto.
When i was buying the ticket, I’ve specifically asked if I could use private room in business lounge and they said “of course” which was a lie!
When I reached the airport, they said “we can only avail the private room for layovers between 4 to 9 hours”!!!! Which doesn’t make any sense.
After more than half an hour argument, a rude staff told other one in Turkish language “she is talking a lot, get rid of her” and didn’t think I’d understand!

I paid more than 13,000 Lira ($2600) for a business class to use the lounge and got refused easily because of stupid technicality which I call rip off.

You can’t offer your service for layover more than 9 hours? Really?

And before you say “what about hotel?”, they don’t offer hotel service for domestic to international connection, only to international to international transit passengers!!!!

The supervisor was as unhelpful as the rude staff “Mrs. Muge Kurt”

Two more beautiful things to say about this huge useless airport is there is no escalator and more funny there is NO SINGLE PHARMACY, so i had to sit for 9:35 hours with headache on a very uncomfortable chair in business class in one of the world biggest airport!
Shame on them.

I used to live in Dubai, and by far distance Emirates Airline’s business class and business lounge and Dubai International Airport is the best in the world and you can’t even start to compare these airports.

Was just in this lounge last week. I found it worn and tired. The seating is very uncomfortable, no place to put your legs up. Passengers were sleeping all over the couches some with bare feet. Yuck! The clean up crew roved in groups of three or four in slow motion. I agree with others that the staff was rude or at least disinterested. The number of daybeds wasn’t adequate, were constantly full and one had to pass by them to access another so I’m sure that wasn’t restful for the occupants. The lounge lacked signage so if it was your first visit, you had no idea where things were. Most stunning omission was the lack of charging stations! There were silver plates in the floor where devices could be plugged in if you wanted to dangle the cords across the traffic path.

I will have a halt of 15 hours in Istanbul next month. I was just thinking of using the private bedroom at the airport but it appears from Mehran's comment that they are very strict about 9 hour max limit. I think I should avail the hotel room in that case. Does anybody know how to reserve the hotel room? Can it be done in advance? What about transportation between airport and hotel?

After custom clearance, go far right after all the hotel desk and you will see the TK counter. They will book for you and also provide transfers.
You do not book anything in advance, they will book what is available on the day you arrive. I was booked at a Renaissance hotel near the old airport. I spent only 3 hours at the hotel as they will pick you up 4 hours prior your departure as the bus will have to make all rounds of hotel in the city to pick up other travellers before heading to airport.

Great article. I have to respectfully disagree regarding the new versus old lounge. While the new is excellent by anyone's standards, the fact that it's open to the terminal brings it down a notch or ten. More importantly, the old lounge had a very grandiose and unique feel. I mean how many 2-story lounges do you see? The new one has the same top-notch food and amazing amenities, but might as well be any one of a million generic lounges where you and the terminal are one. Much less relaxing than the old one, and much less special.

Ben and others, great news. I'm sitting in my suite now and have a key card in my pocket so when I leave I can get back in so it seems they fixed that issue with the private suites.
This is an awesome feature of the lounge by the way.
I can only think of the Cathay Pacific rooms and Lufthansa. I believe in both of those scenarios you have to be flying first class.
These sweets have an actual bed so I'd compare it more closely to Lufthansa's lounge product which is far and away best in the world is say as long as you're talking FCT in Frankfurt
To have something like a private suite in J is really really cool. The fact that there is a bed is even better.
that said I was really underwhelmed with the food served on my flight from SEZ to IST. Not only did they run out of the pasta dish for my wife but I ordered the chicken and it came out looking worse than some of the microwave lunches I've had in the past.

dear sir, madam,

how much are the charges for access to the new lounges at the new airport pls?

thanks

is it possible to "reserve" a private suite in advance?