Turkish Airlines

[PR1977]

Coming out via Istanbul for Christmas and New Year - booked in January when Turkish were cheap and before tensions there escalated so it seemed like a good idea at the time...

 

Has anyone flown them recently? What can one expect in comparison to, say, Etihad and Emirates?

 

Also my turnaround time in Ataturk is 1.5 hours but heard some horror stories about transit times etc Any experiences of this? I'm coming in from an EU country on a single ticket.

[izzyg]

I used them in July from EU to Bangkok and they are okay. Sometimes they are a bit Middle Eastern" when boarding, i.e. slow and a bit chaotic.

 

Ataturk is a big airport and with 1.5 hours transit time you must go immediately to departure gate. There is no security control when transiting.

[Shakybfc]

I Used them last April and must say it was a pleasant experience. Service was good and everything was on time, layover at Istanbul was OK in a nice modern airport.

 

Had much worse experiences, Egypt air and Aeroflot to name two. Would definitely use them again.

 

Shaky.

[lounge_lizard]

I've used them half a dozen times now.  Last time was in November.

 

In flight, the service was excellent, but on the ground, they tend to be shambolic - lovely people, trying their best to be helpful, but not quite with it.  No serious appempt to board by row number - just a bumbling queue.

 

At Istanbul, they have a habit of parking a long way from the terminal and bussing the passengers to the terminal.

 

Transit security sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't.

 

Either way, you don't have much time to find your gate, expecially if they close it early because they are bussing passengers out to the onward flight.

 

I missed an onward flight once - Customer Services Iin aerivals at the time, so I had to go through security twice) put me on the next flight with no extra charge because it was caused by their delay.

 

That was a nuisance but not a disaster.

[strawberrypi]

Also, sometimes you get killed when transferring in Istanbul. But you know, we only live once!

[Lancsman1976]

Used them in October flying Man to BKK. They are OK nothing special and not on a par with emirates but I would fly with them again if the price was right. At Istanbul there was only a security check on the way back. I used the lounges there as I had 3 hours to wait each way and found them OK.

[Jebb]

Ataturk Airport is OK, I have been to far worse. TA are also OK, again, I have been on far worse.

[dumbdag666]

I've used them for travel from Manchester to both Shanghai and Bangkok. May be 5 times in total.

I have only travelled business class so can't comment on economy but my experience was generally positive.

Ataturk airport I find confusing but the lounge is comfortable, if usually over crowded.

Aircrafts are a little old but service is friendly and the route through turkey is about 3 hours shorter than Emirates.

 

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[Drewbrogan]

I've used them for travel from Manchester to both Shanghai and Bangkok. May be 5 times in total.

I have only travelled business class so can't comment on economy but my experience was generally positive.

Ataturk airport I find confusing but the lounge is comfortable, if usually over crowded.

Aircrafts are a little old but service is friendly and the route through turkey is about 3 hours shorter than Emirates.

 

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I've only used them to Istanbul.  They were OK.  I didn't like the airport but the flight, aircraft and service was fine.

 

Reference your comment about being shorter time wise than Emirates.  If you are talking about MAN-DXB-BKK and MAN-IST-BKK, then the total flight time is virtually identical between 13:20 and 13:35.  Transfers are normally far shorter in DXB too (as Emirates have 8 daily flights to BKK with the majority of them being A380s, compared to Turkish Airlines two daily A330's)so I would say Emirates would normally be at least an hour quicker. 

[stanger69]

I looked at their deals but then got scared of flying over that part of the world.

I'll stick with going west thru Japan or Taiwan.

[Methos]

I flew TK coming here a couple of weeks ago: YUL-IST-BKK, back to back 9.5 hr flights with 4.5 hrs in IST. I flew in business on points and it was great, fantastic lounge. I got a sleeping room for a couple of hours, took a shower, and had some good food. I've been through IST about 5 times at this point and never had an issue.

[PR1977]

Cheers for all answers...

 

Had a pretty good experience actually. Upgraded to Business class for first leg to Istanbul and then dropped very close to next gate for BKK flight by the transfer bus. Transfer time was 1.5 hours but it was literally 45 minutes from touchdown to getting into terminal after long taxi, remote park and then getting bus due to Ataturk being way too small to handle so much traffic.

 

All flights on time, aircraft modern 737-800s and 777-300ERs with great entertainment and just about the best food I've sampled in economy class

 

Would recommend, but I think you need minimum 2 hours transfer time in Ataturk just to be comfortable.

[jpmelville]

I flew HEL-IST-BKK last week. Good food and service during the flights. My good luck with seats continued as I got the exit seat on the flight from Helsinki to Istanbul. Planes were A321 and A330. Would use them again.