Turkish Airlines Business Class - WARNING AVOID!

[prozac]

I recently flew to Georgia via SIN and IST, returning via IST-AMS-SIN-SYD.

The sectors SYD-SIN-IST were flown Singapore Airlines and as usual the service was superb, and J class cabin also up to standard. After a long layover in IST I boarded the Turkish Airline plane for the Tbilisi leg an A320. Business class was simply a row of 3 economy seats with a little table placed between on the middle seat to separate the business passengers. OK I wasn't expecting much on a regional trip but the cost of ticket was more than double for this privilege. I had the same arrangement on the return trip to IST.

The real eye-opener was TK1951 flight IST-AMS. This is noted as a 3hr 45minute flight so I do not regard this as regional travel. The standard of cabin on this plane (A321) was not up to the standard of business class of any airline I have ever flown. The seats were standard (for TK) economy, as was the pitch which was inadequate. The only concession to business class was the spare middle seat with table placed on it. When the passenger in front of me reclined his seat I had his seat-back in my face. The toilet facility for the business class cabin of TK1951 was one cubicle forward and could only be described as tired and I was not encouraged to imagine it was cleaned throughout the flight.


Having flown other sectors of my journey on Singapore Airlines I was expecting this Star Alliance partner to uphold the same sort of standard. I was sadly mistaken.

Note I did not purchase a discount ticket so I expected a minimum standard which was not attained.

Worst airline ever? Absolutely!

 

[markis10]

There is no standard for business class, and what was on offer is pretty much the defacto European J offering for regional flights from a number of players be it BA, LH etc etc.

 

[casanovawa]

I think i would still choose Turkish Airlines over EasyJet or RyanAir, but seeing i go for value i will fly these on my own dime...

But J class on any of those small A320 types or B737s is in my opinion a waste of money for what you get and several people have talked about how average J seats are in Intra Europe flights, with being pretty standard Y seats with just the table in the middle...

For long flights on their bigger planes ie A330 up, I had heard they weren't to bad and would probably be prepared to give them a go on a USDM redemption in J... But sounds like your expectations certainly weren't met...

 

[prozac]

Thanks for your opinions on what to expect.
Next time I go to Tbilisi it will be via Munich with the direct flight to Tbilisi on Lufthansa. Might be the same class of a/c but it might be a bit cleaner.

 

[yohy?!]

Business in European-short haul is pretty much what you described from most carriers.

I certainly wouldn't be put off TK over it - they are quite good on long-haul

 

[prozac]

Business in European-short haul is pretty much what you described from most carriers.

I certainly wouldn't be put off TK over it - they are quite good on long-haul

Then it looks like I will be saving my sheckles and moving back to whY.

 

[trooper]

Perhaps the thread should be titled.. "EuroBusiness - AVOID"

As already mentioned - and with a +1 from me - TK's long haul Business product is something I have NO intention of "avoiding".. far from it in fact.

 

[smit0847]

Worst airline ever? Absolutely!

Try Ryanir or Tiger xx_

 

[dajop]

Yes I think your title is a bit emotive, as we tend to after a disappointing experience. It's like flying on old 734 on QF and saying "Qantas Business Class - WARNING AVOID!", no correlation to a QF A380, Bottom line, it pays to do your homework to see what product you'll get, particularly in/around Europe on business class which, in Australian terms is comparable with either DJ's old Y+ product, or QF Y with a shadow. An exit row seat on Jetstar is probably just as good.

 

[prozac]

Yes I think your title is a bit emotive, as we tend to after a disappointing experience. It's like flying on old 734 on QF and saying "Qantas Business Class - WARNING AVOID!", no correlation to a QF A380, Bottom line, it pays to do your homework to see what product you'll get, particularly in/around Europe on business calls which, in Australian terms is comparable with either DJ's old Y+ product, or QF Y with a shadow. An exit row seat on Jetstar is probably just as good.

Certainly an eye-opener that's for sure. I can say dajop that the Jetstar seat would be newer and fresher than the tired old seats I sat in.
I had no great expectations of the short flights to and from Tbilisi, but had expected something better of a flight from one side of Europe to the other.

 

[RWJ777]

If you're paying more than double a Y fare, too right you're entitled to expect more than a Y seat with the middle seat blocked off. I'd be very aggrieved too.

 

[Baysider]

Sounds a bit like luck of the draw. In domestic J flights between Istanbul and Izmir I have had flights with the table over the middle seat as encountered by the OP, but I have also had long haul lie flats on the same domestic route. I agree though that its a poor standard for international.

 

[casanovawa]

Probably comes down to what type of plane you are flying and how much effort you put into finding out and selecting the bigger planes if they are available on your route... You're pretty unlikely to get lie flat on an A320/737 type plane but if they also use an A330/767 on some flights each day then you might be in luck of somethign slightly better... I doubt many airlines put their flashiest, new planes on routes to the Caucuses either...

On a recent USDM redemption I had a couple of J class flights on Brussels Airways and on their A320s i was in the front row of business and there wasn't even a table seperating the 3 seats... There was a little bit of leg room because the bulk head was a bit away from the first row, but apart from that, and something of a meal, i wouldn't have know it from the seats up the back of the plane and certainly wouldn't splurge extra hundreds of $s on getting these seats...

 

[prozac]

I was not particularly clear in the original posts. Whilst I expected a little more on the Caucasus route, I really expected a premium product IST-AMS which in distance is right the way across Europe. As everyone has now pointed out this is typical of Euro J. Even so I would have expected something less tired and quite a bit cleaner. Oh, and seat pitch was c**p.

p.s. Appreciate the edumacation from the more seasoned travelers.
p.p.s. IST-AMS is the same route on which TK wrote-off their jet a few years back.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Note I did not purchase a discount ticket so I expected a minimum standard which was not attained.

Discount J or full price J will still be the same level of service.

 

[smit0847]

I flew TK J IST-OSL and was lucky to have the 2-2 plush recliners on a (I think?) A321. There was 1 other person in the 12 seat J cabin so it was peaceful, comfortable and relaxing. I would say it was better than VA 737 J.
It's a real luck of the draw with TK Euro J - they have 476 different aircraft and seating combinations and are very good at max fleet utilisation so swap aircraft around at the last minute.

 

[TomVexille]

I'm pretty sure smit0847 is right about the A321, according to TK they have a 2-2 J configuration. You must have gotten a A320.

 

[burmans]

Perhaps the thread should be titled.. "EuroBusiness - AVOID"

As already mentioned - and with a +1 from me - TK's long haul Business product is something I have NO intention of "avoiding".. far from it in fact.

100% agree! I though long haul was great and Eurobusiness, well that is the same for all airlines!

 

[sergeyvzn]

I flew TK in last July LED-IST-PVG. The first leg was on 737-800 in a 2+2 config with proper business class seats (recliner but a very comfortable one, leg rest, individual AVOD etc) and a really good food. The second leg was on thier 777-300ER which was simply superb. I just came back from Japan on SQ last Saturday and compared to TK, I must say SQ service leaves much to be desired (cabin crew doing a vanishing act soon after the takeoff and pretty much for everything you need you have to press a call button)
I guess you were just unlucky to have a standard Euro configuration on A320, as many have said here before this is what you normally get in J in any European carrier (with a couple of exceptions, Aeroflot being one). Believe me, flying Lufthansa won't be very much different, their food likely being worse

 

[Baysider]

I flew TK in last July LED-IST-PVG. The first leg was on 737-800 in a 2+2 config with proper business class seats (recliner but a very comfortable one, leg rest, individual AVOD etc) and a really good food. The second leg was on thier 777-300ER which was simply superb. I just came back from Japan on SQ last Saturday and compared to TK, I must say SQ service leaves much to be desired

No surprise to hear this. I have flown BNE-BKK-IST several times with Turkish. The BNE-BKK leg is codeshare operated by Thai. I can say without hesitation that the Turkish J product wipes the floor with the Thai J product.