Initial Thoughts: Turkish Airlines A330-300 Business Class
Intro
I recently had the opportunity to try out Turkish Airlines Business Class on the A330-300 from Istanbul to Dhaka, and boy, oh boy, was I impressed. For now, this is just a brief summary of my first impressions, but I expect a full review to be published in the coming months.
Turkish Airlines fully blew me away with their onboard product. Istanbul is a large airport and certainly a challenge to navigate, but once onboard, I had the best sleep I have ever had on a plane!
The Seats
Turkish Airlines is known for last-minute aircraft swaps, and luckily, the plane stayed with lie-flat seats for the 7.5-hour flight to Dhaka. Interestingly, in the days prior, it had been switched to an Ex-Cathay plane (talk about a downgrade🙃).
Lucky I was, as the cabin remained about half full on this flight, so the seat next to me was empty! Unfortunately, the hard product is almost identical to LOT (report posted), meaning that privacy is certainly lacking.
However, after eating a full-on feast, I put the bed into the lie-flat position and managed to end up with 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Do you know the feeling when you are at home in your own bed and wake up refreshed? For once on a plane, I felt exactly this way when I woke up on approach to Dhaka. The bedding was extremely comfortable and up there with some of the best I have experienced in Business Class.
Service/Food
Various reports online have indicated that Turkish Airlines has some of the best service in the world. While I found the service on Turkish Airlines to be good, I didn't find it to be anywhere close to the likes of Thai Airways, Garuda, or Singapore Airlines. The flight attendants certainly were friendly, but it wasn't personalized to the same degree as certain other carriers per se.
Another interesting aspect to note is that no alcohol is served on the ground in Istanbul. Looking back at some of my other flights, I cannot think of an airline that doesn't serve alcohol in business on the ground at their home base. 🥴
In regards to the meal, it was interesting to note that Turkish Airlines doesn't market their flights to India/Bangladesh/Kathmandu as a full premium service. This means no Tattinger, no chefs, etc.
However, I opted for the chicken breast with gnocchi (like my favorite thing in the world), and found it to be sublime. In fact, there was a singular FA who did go above and beyond and offered to get me a second helping🙃. The food did live up to the expectations, but I was dissapointed to see a 7.5 hour flight marketed as a medium haul (LHR-JFK is the same distance).
Final Thoughts
Generally speaking, colour (or color for Americans) me impressed with Turkish Airlines. Overall, it was a very pleasant flight with good service, fantastic food, and the best sleep I have had on a plane (even better than Thai Airways First Class). However, if Turkish was able to polish up a couple of bits and bobs, it would truly make one of the best business class experiences in the sky. I plan to be flying 4 flights in 4 days with them across the 777, A350, and 787-9 come December, so let's see how they fair!
Stay tuned for the full review!
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