We had a very long layover in Istanbul — we landed from the Seychelles before 4AM, and departed for Los Angeles at 1PM, as flights to both cities are only offered at most once per day. Personally I didn’t mind having such a long layover since it would allow me to get work done between two longhaul flights.
Our bus from the remote stand dropped us off at the terminal, though it was still quite a walk to both the transfer and immigration center, which I found a bit odd. Usually the benefit of a remote stand is that the bus at least drops you off close to the arrivals area.
Istanbul Ataturk Airport terminal
Fortunately the terminal was quiet, and I was happy to get in some movement between two flights. We easily found the transit area, and there was almost no wait at security, so within five minutes we found ourselves in the departures area. Istanbul is getting a new airport later this year, which is great, though I have to say that the departures area of this terminal still looks quite nice.
Istanbul Ataturk Airport terminal
Istanbul Ataturk Airport terminal
We followed the signage towards the Turkish Airlines Lounge (formally known as the July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge). The airline has one main lounge at the airport, and it had a glass exterior with big curtains.
Turkish Airlines Lounge exterior
The Turkish Lounge has automated entry, so you scan your boarding pass and then the gate opens. There’s a customer service desk as well, in case you have issues with entering the lounge, or need help with your travels.
Turkish Airlines Lounge entrance
The Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul is massive — it’s over 30,000 square feet, spans two floors, and has all kinds of different “zones.”
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Near the entrance to the lounge is a luggage storage area.
Turkish Airlines Lounge luggage storage
Across from that is a pool table and library area.
Turkish Airlines Lounge pool table
Also in that area is an entertainment room that’s dark and has reclining seats, which seems to be where many people go to nap.
Turkish Airlines Lounge entertainment room
That entertainment room had a popcorn machine, which was a cute touch.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Past those zones is a seemingly endless number of chairs, split pretty evenly between dining tables and more traditional lounge seating. I’ll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves.
Turkish Airlines Lounge seating
Turkish Airlines Lounge seating
Turkish Airlines Lounge seating
Turkish Airlines Lounge seating
Past that first main section of the lounge is a narrower hall with lower ceilings leading into the rest of the lounge, including the ground floor.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Past that hallway was the largest area of the lounge. While the “bones” of the building itself don’t look that great, Turkish does a great job distracting from that with the use of those circular-looking things above the various seating areas.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul seating
As you can see, the seating in the areas that don’t have that look significantly less nice.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Both floors of the lounge had pianos, which would automatically play music.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul piano
There was also a very small business center with some iMacs. I’m not sure if there was another business center and I just missed it, or if this is it, because it seemed awfully small to me.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul business center
The coolest-looking part of the lounge was the staircase leading to the lower level, which had a globe with the Turkish logo on it.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul lower level
The lower level had tons more seating, most of which was similar to what you’ll find on the upper level.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul lower level
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul lower level
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul lower level
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul dining area
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul lower level
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul seating
The lounge also had some other cool amenities, like a play area for kids, a golf simulator, and some sort of a racetrack set, or something (I’m still not sure what exactly that is).
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul play area for kids
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul golf simulator
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul
Unfortunately the lounge doesn’t have much in the way of views, and just looks out over a parking lot.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul view
The lounge also had some nice shower suites. Ford requested a shower shortly after we arrived, and there was a wait of about an hour. They give you a little pager that goes off when the shower is ready. Later on during our layover when I requested a shower, I was informed the wait would be three to four hours. Ouch.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul shower suite
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul shower suite
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul shower suite
To get Wi-Fi in the lounge you have to find one of the Wi-Fi kiosks and scan your ticket. I wish they had more of these throughout the lounge as it was tough to find them at times, and then several of them were also broken.
Wifi was a weak point of the lounge. When I first arrived it worked fine, but as the lounge filled up later in the morning, the Wi-Fi became almost unusable. Fast Wi-Fi should be one of the most basic amenities for a lounge.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul Wi-Fi code generator
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul shower suite
The Turkish Lounge is huge, and has many food and drink stations throughout. On the most basic level, there are at least a handful of stations that look like the below, with fridges that have soft drinks, as well as coffee and tea.
Turkish Airlines Lounge drink station
Turkish Airlines Lounge drink station
Each of these also has an espresso machine where one of the lounge attendants can make you an espresso or cappuccino (and the cappuccinos were great).
Turkish Airlines Lounge drink station
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul cappuccino
Then there were some separate drink stations with liquor, and others had wine.
Turkish Airlines Lounge liquor selection
Then there were also at least a handful of stations throughout the lounge that had the same food selection all day, including fresh fruit.
Turkish Airlines Lounge snack station
The more substantial food was available at many stations, with a similar selection at each of them. For breakfast there was cheese, veggies, yogurt, muesli, oatmeal, and cereal.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
One of the awesome things about the Turkish Lounge is that it has many live cooking status throughout, so lounge food doesn’t get much fresher than this.
Turkish Airlines Lounge meal prep station
There was a selection of paninis, including grilled chicken and mozzarella paninis.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Then there were eggs prepared a variety of ways.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
There were all kinds of fresh bread.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
For lunch the selection changed a bit, as they added salads and different types of veggies. For lounge food I was impressed by the quality of the food — the tomatoes, olives, etc., all looked really good.
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul food selection
The dessert selection in the lounge looked outstanding. Seriously, check out those cakes!
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul dessert
One thing I’d note is that during peak hours the lounge got extremely crowded. Like, uncomfortably so. Turkish is a huge airline and all Star Alliance business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold passengers get access to the lounge, so during the morning rush there was barely an empty seat in the lounge. As you’d expect, there was also a line for almost everything.
One other major frustration I had with the lounge was the lack of outlets. The lounge barely had any outlets, which I find to be ridiculous. It’s not just that each seat didn’t have multiple plugs (which some new lounges have), but I actually had to spend several minutes trying to find a seat that did have an outlet.
While I like the overall decor of the lounge, it’s starting to show its age. They did a good job with the overall design, but the seats mostly felt quite worn.
Anyway, I spent several hours working, and eventually we decided to head to our gate at around 11:30AM. Boarding was scheduled for 12PM, and we were departing from gate 208, about a five minute walk from the lounge.
Istanbul Airport terminal
Gate 208 was one level below the main concourse.
Escalator to Turkish Airlines gate
Since this flight was bound for the US, there was a special security screening at the gate. All passengers had to go through an extra security check, where all bags were searched and some security questions were asked. Fortunately the process was painless, and there was even a separate business class queue. At that point we found ourselves in the gate area, which was pretty small for a mostly full 777.
Turkish Airlines departure gate
The crew arrived at 11:55AM, and then boarding ended up starting at 12:25PM. The boarding process was quite organized as they have four boarding zones, so everyone can line up in an orderly way.
Turkish Airlines departure gate
Turkish Airlines Lounge Istanbul bottom line
There are many things to love about the Turkish Lounge Istanbul. The design is beautiful, the lounge is large, and the food selection is excellent. Many people view this as the nicest business class lounge in the world. While I do think the lounge is solid, it has some weaknesses as well.
The lounge gets really crowded during peak hours, there aren’t many outlets, a lot of the furniture is worn, and the Wi-Fi was unusably slow at times. So while I do have some mild criticisms of the lounge, I imagine Turkish Airlines will address many of them as they move to Istanbul’s new airport later this year. I can’t wait to see what kind of a lounge they open there.
All things considered I’d say the current Turkish Lounge Istanbul is one of the better business class lounges out there, though not the best airport lounge.
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.