Review : Turkish Airlines Business Class between Istanbul and Phuket on A330

Continuation of my journey to attend a wedding in Thailand with a Business Class flight on Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Phuket.

Check-in and ground course in Istanbul
Boarding in Istanbul
Turkish Airline’s business class cabin
Turkish Airlines Business flight and service
Turkish Airlines crew
Arrival and disembarkation in Phuket
Bottom Line

Check-in and ground course in Istanbul

Having collected my boarding passes in Stockholm, which was my departure city, I didn’t have to worry about it in Istanbul and I was able to quietly go to the Business lounge while waiting for my connection.

As usual in Istanbul you have to walk a long way through the terminals to get to the lounge, duty free or to your gate.

It takes a long time, but the airport is so beautiful and pleasant that you almost enjoy it. Moreover, being designed to absorb many more passengers than it does today, we are very comfortable and not squeezed even at rush hour.

After my stay in the lounge, it was back to the long corridors of the terminals…

And here I am at last at my gate.

Boarding in Istanbul

There is no rush at the gate and everyone waits quietly.

After a while some passengers start to rush towards the door, surprised that boarding has not started. This is logical: the boarding time mentioned on Turkish Airlines boarding passes (in Istanbul at least) rarely corresponds to the actual boarding time. So you’re supposed to arrive at the gate 1 hour before departure, but boarding usually starts only 30 minutes before. When you know you don’t rush, when you don’t know you wait…

The gate is still not ready…

The boarding signs are finally installed.

The boarding is finally launched, the boarding priorities (business and Star Alliance Gold first) and I enter the aircraft just after a family.

The shoe bag and blanket are already in place.

The cover is not very aesthetic.

We are given the comfort kit. At Turkish Airlines it’s Versace.

The products are of good quality but the content is still “cheap” for a business class.

Note the sticker to stick on your seat depending on whether you want to be disturbed or not.

Noise-cancelling headphones are distributed.

A welcome cocktail without alcohol is offered. For me it will be as usual on Turkish Airlines a “mint lemon”.

The menus are brought to us and the orders will be taken before take-off to serve us as quickly as possible…but we’ll talk about that later.

Now we’re ready to go.

Distribution of safety instructions…we came back to something more classic after the famous “Lego 2” which were nice at the beginning but quickly became unbearable if you multiplied the flights on Turkish, which was my case this year.

And after a long, long taxi (typical in Istanbul), we finally take off.

Turkish Airline’s business class cabin

The cabin is the ‘usual’ Turkish Airlines cabin on its twin-aisle aircraft with a 2-2-2 configuration on the A330s and 2-3-2 on the larger B777s.

So of course a 2-2-2 configuration does not correspond to the standards of the moment where it is more and more rare to have a seatmate when you have a window. It has been discontinued on the new 787s in the fleet, which are adopting the same seats as Singapore Airlines on its ‘regional’ Business Class.

But one of the advantages of this cabin is the impression of space it gives. Indeed, unlike most business cabins where you lie down under the front seat, which means that you can be quite close to the back of the seat, here the seat stretches out until it touches the front seat, so it is much further away.

But we will see later that this impression is partly an illusion.

You will also notice, but we will also talk about this later, that there is an unusual promiscuity in this travel class with one’s neighbour even though a small retractable mini separation can be put in place.

By the way, the seat control is not very practical or understandable.

The seat is also limited in terms of storage: a space under the ottoman for storing shoes or even a small bag, a minimalist storage space in the central divider which becomes difficult to access when the seat is lying down…. and that’s it.

Turkish Airlines Business flight and service

As soon as the required altitude is reached, the service begins. We start with the aperitif.

The vodka tonic is averagely dosed (rare on Turkish Airlines) and is accompanied by some dry snacks. Fortunately, delicious canapés arrive quickly.

Then comes the setting of the table. On Turkish in business, everything is done with a cart and it has another class.

A very nice setting.

The fabric container to keep the bread warm and the small candle to add a little charm to the table are particularly noteworthy. The butter is served in a cup and not in its packaging as is still the case on some other airlines, although this is fortunately becoming rare.

Here is the menu that was distributed before take-off.

The breakfast menu was distributed at the same time. The choices will be collected at the end of the dinner, again for a faster and smoother service in the morning. Swiss does the same and so do many others, I wonder why this isn’t a widespread practice though.

The starters arrive, of course, on a cart. Really a class apart from trolley service. You don’t choose a starter, but you can ask for anything you want and the plate is prepared in front of you.

And here’s the work!

It’s beautiful, it’s good, it’s very tasty and it’s served with a smile and great attention, ending with a “bon appétit” in French.

Then I chose the fish papillote. If, logically, the starters are served row by row, the main course is brought to you when you are ready (since it has been ordered beforehand). So once the starter is finished, the pace of the service is personalised, passenger by passenger, each according to their own pace.

It is simple and well presented.

Once again it is very good and the quantities are very correct even if I would have liked a more copious side dishes.

For dessert I’ll have the mango chocolate ball. Once again a very sober presentation.

Well…it’s delicious.

A tea and a cognac to finish…

Now preferring my own film library to this in-flight offering, I sit quietly with my iPad.

The cabin is gradually being converted to night-time mode. I’m not a fan of the colours. One member of the crew will stay long enough to officiate at the bar before setting it up in self-service mode for the night.

I switch the seat to the bed position and, oh surprise, contrary to what the visual impressions suggest, there is not that much room.

With my 1.88m height I touch the front seat. Fortunately I don’t have a neighbour, so naturally I’m going to lie at an angle and take up some of the living space of the seat next to me.

The lack of separation makes it very simple, so simple that I have no doubt that one can do it even unconsciously when sleeping. This can become quite annoying or even inconvenient when you have a seatmate.

In the early morning, the cabin is relit quite violently, going from pitch black to bright white in one go.

I had specified that I didn’t want breakfast but I was still brought a minimal meal tray which I wouldn’t touch except for the tea.

I am not a breakfast person and I was not convinced by the menu either.

Another hour or so and we’ll be in Phuket.

Turkish Airlines crew

The crew were true to the airline’s reputation: very stylish, professional and friendly.

On the other hand, I often criticize Turkish Airlines crews for quickly disappearing after the service, only to reappear shortly before arrival, both in economy and business.

This time it was not the case, as one person remained an officer at the bar long after the dinner was over. But being a night flight (my first on Turkish Airlines) it is something that is less noticeable and felt than on a day flight.

Arrival and disembarkation in Phuket

We are preparing for the landing…

The land of Thailand soon appears under the aircraft.

After a smooth landing we taxi to park next to an Aeroflot B777.

The police controls go very quickly as well as the customs where obviously they operate a lot of face based controls: with my jacket, my hand luggage and my computer I am waved through with a big smile while anything that looks like a backpacker or a group of young people arriving almost in beachwear is entitled to an X-ray screening.

And here I am outside where the car sent by my hotel is waiting for me. But we’ll talk about that in another review.

My opinion

An excellent flight based on the service, the staff and the dinner, even if we can find fault with the seat. But as is often the case, the quality of the service makes you forget about an “average” seat, whereas the reverse is rarely true.

For the record my routing :