Finally satisfied to my great surprise by the comfort of the Turkish Airlines A321 economy class compared to to that of the A330 (for a 3 hours flight…beyond that I’m not convinced by the charms of the single-aisle aircraft…) it’s this option that I chose for a new trip in Turkey.
Boarding and ground course
It’s always a pleasure to rediscover the old-fashioned charm of Roissy’s Terminal 1, which I reach by the CDGVal from T2, where I had spent the night at the Sheraton CDG because of the early flight schedule.
Roissy and its famous glass corridors that intersect in a very aerial way in the heart of the terminal.
And its tunnels that connect the terminal to its satellites…
I quickly skip the ground course: quick access to passport control via the Access N°1 priority lane, Parafe kiosks still not operational but in the end there wasn’t much of a wait, and then again for the security check at the entrance of the satellite where the Access N°1 line made me gain about fifteen positions in the queue.
Given the hour and to my great regret I don’t have the time to go to the excellent star alliance lounge to have my coffee.
Here I am at the gate a few minutes before the flight boarding.
Boarding
The plane is there and waiting for us…
The last passengers are just disembarking, I feel that we will have difficulty to leave on time in spite of what is posted at the gate.
The crowd is starting to gather at the gate.
Finally, miraculously, the boarding will start on time.
The boarding priorities are respected and the business and star alliance gold passengers go first in the corridor leading to the jetway. And there…no way to go further and enter the jetway because a nice stretched ribbon indicates that you can’t go further.
In fact the aircraft was not ready and the airline is just trying to save time by starting on time and “stocking” the passengers at the jetway entrance.
People are starting to stack and push given the small size of the jetway.
That’s when the staff has a brilliant idea: use another gate for the remaining passengers, since the two corridors meet! (you will soon see that “genius idea” is used for ironic purposes).
Finally we wait 5, 10, then 15 minutes and people begin to get a little irritated. Logical since despite the early hour the sun starts to hit the windows and the temperature starts to rise.
The boarding finally begins and the staff “releases” the passengers….who have gone through the other gate and therefore pass in front of everyone.
One lady decides to remove the ribbon so that we can move forward as well. There, she was rudely chastised by a member of staff (not from the airline, rather security or airport) who told her “Madam business and priority passengers first, wait your turn”. She answers him “were are the priority ones”, what I confirm. The guy looks at me with an unhappy look and says “Sir, shut up, I’m talking to the lady”.
There more and more passengers begin to raise the voice but nothing makes it, we remain blocked in our corridor behind our ribbon the time that the rest of the passengers advance.
We are finally released and…. again 10 minutes of waiting in the jetway.
The passengers are really starting to grumble.
We arrive finally in the cabin for that some passengers begin to complain not to have room in the baggage compartments… logical considering that non priority passengers boarded first in front and took the place. If there are boarding priorities, it is also so that some passengers have priority over the baggage compartments.
The flight crew realizes the mistake that was made by the ground crew and apologizes. I arrive at my place and, bingo, no more room for my luggage. The flight attendant notices this, asks me for my boarding pass to check my status and removes a suitcase of a person who should have boarded in the last ones in order to store it at the very back of the cabin where there is still room, so that I can have my suitcase at my seat.
In short, not the best boarding ever and a total lack of professionalism from the ground staff, coupled with a total lack of politeness from the airport staff. Fortunately, the staff on board tried to make up for it, but the passengers were still pretty upset.
In the end we had to wait 30 minutes between corridors and gangways, it could and should have been managed differently.
The cabin
A picture of the business seats. Not a full flat but a wide and comfortable recliner in 2-2 configuration. That will be, I hope, for another time.
Otherwise we have a standard Turkish Airlines single-aisle cabin as I have already presented it here.
A comfortable cabin and very nice looking, much nicer than the economy cabin of their twin-aisle B777 and A330.
The legroom is very decent for my 1m88.
I may not spend 6 hours in it and anyway I’m not a fan of single aisle aircrafts for trips longer than 3 hours but this is quite decent. I have the impression to have a little less space than on the A321Neo of my last Istanbul-Paris flight but as I don’t have anything to measure on me, it may just be an impression.
In use it will seem to me a little less comfortable than that of the A321Neo whereas it seems to me to be exactly the same. A little more worn? Or maybe it’s the context of flying with a very average experience that makes me look for any little bug.
The screen is of good size and good quality with a large choice of movies…but too mainstream for my taste or already seen.
On the other hand, the touch screen will prove to be very unresponsive and not pleasant to use. Ironically, I realized this when I tried to fill out the satisfaction survey.
No USB plug either: if the cabin looks like the one of the recent A321Neo, these “old” A321s have an older generation and it shows on some details as well as on the lighting of the cabin.
The boarding will last long after I am seated. And the overheated cabin air does nothing to enhance the passenger experience.
Finally we are ready to go.
We are given the interminable safety instructions and we start to run on the runway.
Flight and service on board
The service will start very soon after take-off. Curious to see what Turkish offers for breakfast.
The trolley moves slowly towards us. Logically, the service is slower on a single-aisle aircraft. It eventually gets to my row.
It’s pretty well presented.
I tackle the “main course”. A doubt comes over me: is it a cold dish or a badly reheated hot dish. Considering the packaging of the service, it’s cold but the question was legitimate because I will hear my seatmates asking it.
Verdict? Insipid, a bit heavy and tasteless.
What’s next? A slice of cucumber, two olives and a piece of cheese. It is fresh but it is a bit light and doesn’t leave an unforgettable memory.
The small, fluffy cake will save the day a bit but not enough to change my overall opinion of this service.
Only point of satisfaction: Turkish Airlines gives metal cutlery and not plastic in eco and it is more pleasant.
The bread will not be hot unlike my other experiences with the airline? No respect of the protocol or they serve cold plain for breakfast and hot for the other meals? I don’t have the answer.
End of the meal: 1h54 flight time left! As much to say that it was quickly served, quickly eaten.
A glance to the side: the meal doesn’t seem to have pleased my neighbors who have hardly touched it.
One more proof that breakfast is always the worst meal served on plane, the one on which the airlines try to make small savings.
It will be a long, long time before someone comes to clear the trays. In the meantime, it’s impossible to use your tablet for anything else. The clearing up is done with the service of the coffee and it will be again…looong.
Once the clearing is done, the staff will disappear in the galley to not reappear before landing. Recurrent on this type of flight at Turkish.
So 1h30 of flight follow without much to tell.
A glance through the window from time to time…
The cabin is quiet and I take the opportunity to watch a series on my iPad.
Arrival and disembarkation
We will arrive finally on time after a long taxi, as it is usual in this new airport in Istanbul.
Beautiful airport, by the way.
The Crew
Very friendly and professional during the service then disappeared as always afterwards. They has also took a very long time to clear.
Bottom line
Delighted by my previous flights with Turkish Airlines, the return to earth was violent. A catastrophic boarding, a slow service and a more than average meal are enough, on a 3 hour flight, to spoil your experience even if the flight itself was pleasant.
But on this flight it is clear that Turkish Airlines did not live up to its reputation.
For information my routing
- Paris-Istanbul : Turkish Airlines Economy (Here)
- Istanbul-Izmir : Turkish Airlines Economy
- Izmir-Istanbul : Turkish Airlines Economy (pointless, no review)
- Istanbul-Paris : Turkish Airlines Economy
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