Turkish Airlines 9
Istanbul (IST) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Tuesday, April 24
Depart: 1:00PM
Arrive: 4:50PM
Duration: 13h50min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 4B (Business Class)
We boarded through the second set of doors, where we were greeted by the cabin chief and another flight attendant, and pointed left towards our seats. Turkish has 49 business class seats on their 777s, in a 2-3-2 configuration. The forward cabin has four rows of seats, while the rear cabin (behind the second set of doors) has another three rows.
Turkish Airlines 777 business class cabin
Turkish Airlines 777 business class cabin
There’s no denying that at this point Turkish’s business class hard product is (mostly) uncompetitive. I sure wouldn’t want to end up in a middle seat in business class between two strangers on a flight.
Turkish Airlines business class seats 777
I had assigned us seats 4A & 4B, the window and aisle seat in the last row of the forward cabin.
Turkish Airlines business class seats 777
4A has a missing window, so you’ll have to lean forward to look outside during the flight. It goes without saying that this isn’t an ideal hard product, though I will say that I mind this type of configuration significantly less if traveling with someone. Many of the best business class seats nowadays are very private, which some people don’t like when traveling with someone.
Turkish Airlines business class seats 777
Each seat had a seatback entertainment screen, as well as an ottoman that contained a big storage compartment. I like that each seat has a big storage compartment, and also like that when you sleep there’s no small cubby that you have to squeeze your feet into.
Turkish Airlines business class seat ottomans
Turkish Airlines business class seat ottoman
Seat controls were between seats, and were easy to use.
Turkish Airlines business class seat controls
The tray table could be extended from the center console immediately in front of the seat controls.
Turkish Airlines business class seat tray table
While I don’t like the seven abreast configuration, I at least appreciated that they had significant privacy partitions between seats. While I usually prefer having an aisle seat on a longhaul flight, my preference here would be to choose a window seat, as you have significantly more privacy there.
Turkish Airlines business class seat privacy partition
Right behind the privacy shield was the entertainment controller.
Turkish Airlines business class entertainment controls
Underneath the entertainment controller and to the side of the seat was a small storage compartment, which also had the headphone jack and USB outlet.
Turkish Airlines business class seat storage
There was also a 110v outlet.
Turkish Airlines business class seat power outlet
While each seat had a reading light, annoyingly there were no individual air nozzles. Grrr…
Turkish Airlines business class seat reading lights
Also waiting at my seat on boarding were a basic pillow and blanket.
Turkish Airlines business class pillow & blanket
Then there was a bag with slippers.
Turkish Airlines business class slippers
Moments after settling in a friendly flight attendant stopped by our seats, introduced herself by name, said she would be taking care of us throughout the flight, and told us to let her know if we need anything. That’s always a nice touch.
During boarding there were repeated announcements that the aircraft was being refueled, and that no service could be provided until that was complete. I’ve heard crews tell passengers not to fasten seatbelts during refueling, but I hadn’t heard this before
It was about 20 minutes after boarding when a flight attendant offered us drinks — we tried the fresh raspberry and homemade lemon-mint drinks, both of which were excellent. The other two options were water or fresh orange juice.
Turkish business class pre-departure beverages
Turkish has onboard chefs on their longhaul flights, and our flight had two of them. As the other flight attendants came around to serve drinks, the chefs came through the cabin distributing menus and drink lists for the flight.
Turkish Airlines business class chef
Turkish business class menu & wine list
Once the crew finished distributing drinks and menus, they passed through the cabin with a cart that had magazines, newspapers, headphones, and amenity kits.
Turkish business class headphones
The amenity kit was different than on the previous flight, and had Molton Brown products.
Turkish business class amenity kit
At 12:55PM the captain added his welcome aboard, informing us of our flight time of 13hr15min. He had a very strong accent and talked very fast, so that’s about all I picked up from the announcement. A couple of minutes later the chefs came back through the cabin to take meal orders.
At 1PM the main cabin door closed, and there were about 10 empty business class seats. We lucked out because two of the three seats across from us were empty (the lady seated there chose to sit in the middle seat). Then five minutes later we pushed back, at which point the safety video was also screened.
Egyptair 737 Istanbul Airport
There sure was some interesting traffic at the airport. It’s not every day you see this plane parked at an airport terminal between two commercial aircraft…
Plane at Istanbul Airport
A few minutes after starting our taxi we had to hold short of a taxiway as about 10 planes all taxied ahead of us towards the runway. We ended up standing there for about 20 minutes.
Turkish 737 Istanbul Airport
Turkish A321 Istanbul Airport
Pegasus 737 Istanbul Airport
There were also tons of Turkish planes parked at remote stands, as well as a few cargo planes.
Turkish A330 Istanbul Airport
Plane at Istanbul Airport
Plane at Istanbul Airport
This is where things get a bit weird. I’m sure there’s an explanation, but as someone who loves looking out the window during taxi, I found this to be strange. All the planes that taxied out ahead of us were taxiing to runway 35R, while we taxied to runway 17L (In other words, we were going to the opposite end of the same runway). My assumption was that maybe the winds were changing and we’d be one of the first planes to take off as they were making a runway switch.
When we got to runway 17L at around 1:40PM we were immediately cleared for takeoff (there were no other planes taking off in that direction), and as we climbed out I noticed there was still a long queue of planes waiting to takeoff on runway 35R. Does anyone know why they’d have one plane take off in the “wrong” direction, while all planes before and after took off in the other direction? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that before, and I sure found it strange.
Taking off Istanbul Airport
View after takeoff from Istanbul
View after takeoff from Istanbul
View after takeoff from Istanbul
The views on the climb out were beautiful, and really made me want to visit Istanbul again. It has been far too long.
View after takeoff from Istanbul
View after takeoff from Istanbul
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
The meal service/feast began about 40 minutes after takeoff. The menu read as follows:
The drink list read as follows:
First warm towels were distributed on individual plates.
Turkish business class lunch — warm towels
Then tablecloths were brought out. A couple of minutes later drinks, mixed nuts, and canapés were served. I ordered a glass of champagne (Turkish serves Mumm in business class). I’m not sure what exactly the canapés were, but they were excellent.
Turkish business class lunch — mixed nuts, canapés, and champagne
After the first round of drinks was served, tables were set in preparation for the meal service. What a beautiful display. This included a fake candle, as well as a small plate on which they placed the bread (they had a big selection in the basket).
Turkish business class lunch — table setting
About 75 minutes after takeoff the appetizer cart reached our row. Turkish has DO&CO catering, and they plate everything at your seat. The two flight attendants told us what everything was, and they offered us as much as we wanted.
Turkish business class meal cart
For the appetizer I had the sweet pumpkin soup, marinated Mediterranean prawns, smoked eggplant salad, carrot humus, hunter’s borek, salmon tartare, and homemade yogurt with walnuts and fresh mint. The quality of the food was tremendous. Every single thing tasted like something you’d be happy to get in a great restaurant, rather than something that just made decent airplane food. I think this was the best business class appetizer I’ve ever been served..
Turkish business class lunch — appetizer
Main courses were served about 30 minutes after the initial appetizer service. While I almost never order pasta, I decided to do so on this flight, given that it was the Turkish specialty. So I ordered the Turkish homemade ravioli with minced beef, tomato sauce, and yogurt. YUM!
Turkish business class lunch — main course
Ford ordered the beef teriyaki with fried rice and vegetables, which he enjoyed, though he agreed my dish was the best.
Turkish business class lunch — main course
Next up was the dessert trolley. Options on there included traditional Turkish dessert, fig chocolate mousse, apple & raspberry strudel, pistachio ice cream, assorted cheese, and fresh fruit salad. I had some pistachio ice cream, Turkish desserts, and then a mint tea. This dessert was every bit as good as the rest of the meal.
Turkish business class lunch — dessert
To finish off the meal I ordered a cappuccino, which was also excellent, among the best I’ve had in the air.
Turkish business class lunch — cappuccino
I was also offered a bottle of water.
Turkish business class lunch — bottled water
I can’t say enough good things about Turkish’s meal service. I’d say this was easily the best meal I’ve ever had in business class. I prefer Qatar Airways’ business class in terms of the flexibility, since they have dine on demand (Turkish doesn’t), but I thought the quality and presentation of the food on Turkish was even better.
The service was also friendly. Both of the flight attendants working my aisle, as well as the chef, provided attentive, sincere, and friendly service.
After the meal I was asked if I wanted turndown service, which I agreed to. While that was being done I checked out one of the business class lavatories. There are two located between the two business class cabins, and then one in front of the forward cabin. The lavatories are large, and they even have sinks where you push a button and the water stays on, similar to what Cathay Pacific has in first class.
Turkish 777 business class lavatory
There were Molton Brown toiletries in the lavatory. I was also impressed by how clean the lavatory was kept throughout the flight. The crew constantly refreshed it, and it was almost always spotless.
Turkish business class lavatory amenities
By the lavatories behind my seat was a drink and snack station. Earlier in the flight they displayed drinks here, and then later in the flight there was a selection of packaged snacks and fresh fruit.
Turkish business class snack bar
Turkish business class snack bar
The bedding consisted of a second pillow, a mattress sheet, and a large duvet. The bedding was quite good, and I found the seat to be comfortable.
Turkish business class bed 777
Turkish business class bed 777
At this point we were about three hours into our flight, and were over Northern Europe, with over 10 hours remaining to Los Angeles.
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
I briefly browsed the entertainment selection, which was solid. There were dozens of decent movies and TV shows, and I also liked that they had no ads before the programming.
Turkish Airlines entertainment selection
Turkish Airlines entertainment selection
Turkish Airlines entertainment selection
Turkish offers Wi-Fi on their 777s. The good news is that it’s free for business class passengers. Alternatively you can purchase a one hour pass for $9.99, or a 24 hour pass for $14.99. That’s some interesting pricing.
Turkish Airlines Wi-Fi 777
Turkish Airlines Wi-Fi 777
In order to connect to the Wi-Fi you’re asked to enter your ticket number from your boarding pass. However, this only seems to work if your ticket was issued by Turkish Airlines, though our tickets were issued by Air Canada.
Turkish Airlines Wi-Fi 777
If you enter information that’s not correct then you’ll be given the option to instead enter your last name and seat number, which does the trick.
Turkish Airlines Wi-Fi 777
The bad news was that the Wi-Fi was outrageously slow. Expect this to work for text messaging, but that’s about it. Anyway, I ended up going to sleep with just under 10 hours remaining to Los Angeles, and woke up about 3hr30min before arrival, as we were over Canada. That’s some solid sleep!
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
This is a slight tangent, but I feel like nowadays airlines really overuse mood lighting. Mood lighting is cool and all, but only in moderation. Am I the only one who just likes a dark cabin when I’m trying to sleep? I feel like lots of crews seem to think that mood lighting should always be in use.
Turkish business class mood lighting
As soon as I woke up I ordered a cup of coffee.
Turkish business class coffee
About 2hr30min before landing the cabin lights were turned up and the pre-landing service began.
The menu read as follows:
Service began with the choice of water or orange juice. Usually I don’t drink orange juice on planes since it’s rarely fresh, but I believe Turkish offers fresh orange juice, as it was excellent.
Turkish pre-landing meal — juice
I was also offered a warm towel.
Turkish pre-landing meal — warm towel
Next up a tray was served with a salad, dessert, and the appetizer. The appetizer consisted of a selection of seafood.
Turkish pre-landing meal — appetizer
The salad was small but good, while the dessert was a delicious Turkish baked rice pudding.
Turkish pre-landing meal — salad & dessert
For the main course I ordered the Turkish stuffed eggplant with minced beef, tomato sauce, and rice. Much like the main course with the first meal, it didn’t disappoint.
Turkish pre-landing meal — main course
By the time the meal was done we were about an hour from landing in Los Angeles. At this point the cabin chief came around to ask each passenger how the flight was. He was a really nice guy, and I appreciated his approach. He first asked if we enjoyed the flight, and then asked if we had any feedback.
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
Airshow enroute to Los Angeles
About 30 minutes before arrival the captain announced we’d be touching down at around 4:50PM. At this point the crew began to prepare the cabin for landing, including collecting headphones. The views on approach were beautiful, as usual.
View approaching Los Angeles
View approaching Los Angeles
View approaching Los Angeles
We ended up touching down at LAX at 4:50PM on runway 24R, and from there had a 10 minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we parked next to an Air France A380.
View approaching LAX
Air France A380 LAX
Turkish 777 business class bottom line
Turkish Airlines business class is phenomenal, and is easily one of the most underrated business class products out there.
Let’s start with the negative, which is the seats. Turkish’s hard product on all their longhaul aircraft is outdated, and that includes their flagship 777 aircraft. I don’t mind this when traveling with someone, but it’s not ideal if traveling alone. The airline will eventually take delivery of new 787s and A350s, so my hope is that they’ll make some improvements on that front. On top of that, the airline is soon moving to a new airport, which should translate to an even better passenger experience.
Other than that, Turkish business class is exceptional. Their meal service is the best of any airline in business class, in my opinion, though they don’t offer dine on demand (which would be hard to do given the format of their meal). The crew was friendly and professional, the amenities were great, and I love how they inject some aspects of Turkish culture into the experience.
Turkish is a great way to fly, especially when you consider that they fly to more countries than any other airline in the world.
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