TRIP REPORT: First impressions of Turkish Airlines Sydney to London

I have just flown Turkish Airlines for the first time, as has my husband, but on different flights. My trip was Sydney–Kuala Lumpur–Istanbul–London. His was Bangkok–Istanbul–Prague, and return. Before I do a considered full report on the flights and the trip, I thought it was worth posting about my first impressions.

It’s always the quality of the crew, stupid

My first flight with Turkish had a crew change in Kuala Lumpur (KL). The crew from Sydney to KL were fine, but adequate rather than good. The crew on the flight between KL and Istanbul were excellent, as were those on the final shortish flight between Istanbul and Heathrow.

I mean, there were just more smiles, attention, and genuine hospitality with the 2nd crew. The procedure was different, too. Drinks and food orders were taken promptly, as opposed to much later in the piece, on the first flight.

There were more hot towels, although that might be more about the longer leg between KL and Istanbul. Crew attention just seemed to be better, and the on-board Chef seemed to be taking more of a leadership role than on my first flight.

My final leg to London was much shorter. Business Class was just over half full, so the crew, on a much tighter service schedule, could afford to be more attentive, which they were.

Dining on-demand is a concept, not a reality

On the 2nd flight, I chose not to join the first meal service. It was my ‘bedtime’, and sleeping is the only thing I felt like doing. About 6 hours into the flight, I began to feel a little pekish, so I asked if I could have the first meal service. Essentially, the answer was ‘no’, but I could have some packaged snacks, like chips and nuts. And then the staff relented, saying they could serve the meal, but without the ‘hot’ component. Which is what they indeed did. It turned out there was plenty on the service tray to sate my hunger, so no biggie. But it did explode the myth about ‘dining-on-demand’.

A seat that looks good in pictures may not be in reality

I was looking forward to the seats I had seen in promotional pictures for the Business Cabin on the A350 with Turkish Airlines. They looked private and comfortable, roomy, and, with their grey theme and maroon touches, very attractive. Well, they are attractive. But that’s where it almost ends. They are comfortable to sit in, for a long flight, they do have quite a degree of privacy, but that is where the story the pictures tell ends.

The recline mechanism essentially takes you from upright for take-off and landing, to supine for sleeping. You can’t elongate the seat or the leg rest, or independently control the angle of the back. It just means it’s a one-size-fits-all notion of moving from chair mode to lie-flat bed mode.

You can’t achieve my favourite position, the cradling ‘Z’ position, where your knees are slightly raised above your hip height, with your thighs and calves extended. The Business Class seats on the Turkish Airlines Airbus A350-900 were developed in-house by Turkish Airlines’ subsidiary TCI. I implore them to make a ‘Z’ position possible in the next iteration.

Foot wells and side sleeping

I’m a side sleeper who finds it almost impossible to sleep on my back. The way these seats are arranged, and the way your legs hit the footwell, mean it is comfortable to sleep on one side, but not on the other. Especially if you bend your knees a little. I could sleep very comfortably on my right side, but not on my left. My knees kept hitting the entrance of the foot well, which made it very uncomfortable.

Privacy wings block windows

Why would you design a seat with a privacy wing, which runs against the side of the aircraft, where you don’t need one, and blocks a window? Search me. But Turkish has. It just makes no sense. It means you have to lean forward to see anything from the seats, which are actually at the window, with the footwell for the person behind closest to the aisle.

Now, this could have been a peculiarity of my particular row and seat (2A), but I suspect it affected all truly window seats in Business Class. You should fix this, too, in the next iteration of TCI.

2PAXfly Takeout

Maybe I kvetch too much. I don’t want to leave you with the impression that Turkish Airlines Business Class is a bad product. It’s not. Arguably, a good day on Turkish could beat a bad day on Emirates.

I suppose it comes down to a couple of calls I made, which may be individual to me. My other potential choice for this trip was Oman Air for the same price. I chose not to because I’ve already done more than a couple of return trips with them. Although I l-o-v-e their Business Class product (Apex Suites), I don’t love the three roughly 6 to 8-hour legs.

With Turkish, it takes a little longer, but you get a roughly 8-hour leg, then an 11-hour leg, and then a 5-ish-hour leg between Sydney and London. I like that 11-hour leg. It means you can have a meal, and a sleep, and even catch a movie if you’re lucky. Oh yes, and as an airline blogger, I couldn’t resist the chance of travelling on an airline I haven’t previously travelled on.

But, in terms of seat comfort, service, and seat storage, Oman Air and its 787s would beat Turkish hands down, in my opinion. Always depending on the crew, of course.