It’s time to leave Cancun and I’m ready to leave with Turkish Airlines to Istanbul then Gothenburg before reaching Paris. Here is the summary of this somewhat special routing.

Why so many detours? I explained it in the first report dedicated to this trip:

• The need to score a significant number of miles even if it means making detours
• The fares offered by Turkish Airlines, well below the competition on this flight.
• The pleasure of flying with Turkish Airlines which is one of my favorite airlines.

Here are all the articles related to this trip:

Review#	Type	Post
1	Hotel	Moxy Paris CDG (no article, look at our previous articles on Moxy Paris CDG )
2	Flight	Paris-Frankfurt – Lufthansa – Business Class
3	Flight	Frankfurt-Gothenburg – Lufthansa – Business Class
4	Flight	Gothenburg-Istanbul – Turkish Airlines – Business Class
5	Flight	Istanbul-Mexico – Turkish Airlines – Business Class
6	Flight	Mexico-Cancun – Turkish Airlines – Business Class
7	Hotel	Renaissance Cancun Resort and Marina
8	Hotel	Ritz Carlton Cancun
9	Flight	Cancun-Istanbul – Turkish Airlines – Business Class
10	Flight	Istanbul-Gothenburg – Turkish Airlines – Business Class
11	Hotel	Gothia Towers Gothenburg
12	Restaurant	Epoque in Gothenburg
13	Flight	Gothenburg-Zurich – Swiss – Business Class
14	Flight	Zurich-Paris – Swiss – Business Class

Check-in and ground experience

No way to check in online on the Turkish Airlines app, so I will have to go to the check-in counter.

I left my hotel, the Ritz Carlton Cancun, with a little bit of delay due to the difficulty to find a car because of a big rain shower that had just fallen on the city, causing a massive recourse of people to cabs and Ubers.

Things don’t get any better on the way and we fall into a massive and inexplicable traffic jam as we approach the airport. I will discover the cause 20 minutes later.

A few meters further on a car will be crushed under the safety railing. Certainly a consequence of the big shower I was talking about. In my direction of traffic, the slowdown was only due to curious people who slowed down at the level of the accident

My driver finally drops me off at the airport and I still have some time left, I am far from being late.

Cancun is a popular destination in every sense of the word and welcomes a crowd of North American tourists that an army of low-cost airlines transports daily. Concretely speaking in the airport it looks like this:

Less people or better managed queues on the side of traditional airlines, especially when you have access to priority lanes. Few people ahead of me in the business class lane at Turkish Airlines.

5 minutes later I am checked in and can go airside.

While no health document was required to enter Mexico, it was necessary, at least at that time, to fill one out to leave or even to take a domestic flight.

Big crowd before the security checks where everyone scans the QR code to fill in the online document.

Yes but the site does not work. The wifi is slow as hell and passengers are worried about missing their flight. A certain tension sets in.

No question of spending a fortune in roaming to fill this form so I take out my Solis Skyroamto use my “personal wifi”. The result is no better. The tension rises.

Eventually the staff will hand out paper formsand then it will be a war to find a pen and a place to sit to fill them out. The problem was not the wifi but the government site.

As far as I am concerned,I lost 40 minutes. Fortunately I had some margin, but I see many stressed passengers around me.

No priority lane for the security checks…I waited patiently and after a certain wait I passed the controls rather quickly. The same goes for police checks. I am finally airside, in the duty free that I will walk through very quickly.

Head to the lounge. I tell myself that in spite of all this I might have time for a drink.

There is no Turkish Airlines or Star Alliance lounge, so the passengers of the Turkish airline (and many others) go toThe Loungethat Olivier has already presented to you.

The lounge is full as an egg and, because of COVID’s policy, there is no buffet, but dishes are on display that you have to order and then wait for them to be brought to you.

Very crowded,the lounge is not pleasant, I don’t have much time and I find the staff quite unpleasant. In short, I get out as quickly as possible and go to the gate. Right next door there wasa Priority Pass loungethat looked much less crowded and for which I was eligible as a cardholder. But I made the wrong choice and now I don’t have time.

Heading to the boarding gate.

Our B787 arriving from Mexico City is there and waiting for us.

There is plenty of room and everyone sits patiently waiting for boarding to begin.

We are finally told that the boarding will start and that we can approach the controls.

Boarding

We are few in the priority lane but even the “normal” lane doesn’t seem to be very full.

I assume that either the plane is not full or that it has embarked a lot of passengers in Mexico City.

Confirmation when entering the aircraft: the economy class seems to be quite full, unlike the business class where there are only two passengers. But it will be full when we leave.

Headphones and slippers are already in place and waiting for us.

The business class cabin of the Turkish Airlines’ B787

Without surprise it’s exactly the same as on the outbound flight with its new seat more in line with the market standardsthan the old one and that we already know because it equips the “regional” B787 of Singapore Airlines.

On the other hand, compared to the outbound flight, my seat is on the aisle side, less isolated than the window side that I had.

But in terms of privacy it’s still very decent.

All controls are tactile.

The tablet is large and deploys at the touch of a button.

Very comfortable in the reclining position, tall people will complain about the lack of depth in the reclining version.

We are given menus and served a welcome drink.

More surprisingly, orders will be taken before departure. Understandable for a late flight but surprising when it is not even 3pm.

It’s nice to see the Turkish Airlines “chief” back in the cabin after the pandemic.

The amenity kit is still from Versacce. If the products are of quality I am still not a fan of the colors.

That’s it, we are ready to take off.

The flight and the service

We are given safety instructions.

Next to us a Westjet is preparing to leave to Canada.

In 11h30 we will be at our destination, shorter than the 14h30 of the outward journey between Istanbul and Mexico City, to which we must add the 2h30 of the Mexico-Cancun journey.

After the takeoff we say goodbye to Cancun and its hotel zone.

We are brought a warm oshibori and the table is set.

For the aperitif it will be a glass of champagne. Taittinger Brut Reserve.

I take this opportunity to share with you the menu that was distributed on the ground.

The service can begin.

The appetizers are still brought on a cart but, no doubt due to the COVID effect, we no longer have a sort of buffet from which we can compose an à la carte plate.

The shrimp Caesar saladdoesn’t look like a Caesar salad at all but it’s good. Well, especially the shrimps which are delicious.

It is accompanied by a very honest zucchini soup.

For the main course I had the beef tenderloin, which on a plane is always a risk in terms of cooking.

Well, the meat will be almost perfect (for an airline meal). Neither hard nor chewing gum, quite tender. I like to see the sauce on top of the meat where another airline that I won’t name would have served the meat in a shallow dish where it would be dipped in its sauce.

Then here are thedesserts that come with the cheese.

There we have the choice so I took all the desserts of the menu. The chocolate cake is hot and soft.

As on the outward journey, the service is not idle and nothing lags behind. Everything that is finished is promptly removed. On the other hand I will make the same reproach: no proactive service of wine nor drinks, it is really necessary to ask for its glasses if not one proposes you nothing. However, when you ask for it, it is served very quickly and in large quantities.

A new oshibori is distributed before the coffee is served.

I will finish with a tea and an armagnac.

It’s really hot in the cabin and I set the ventilation to maximum.

A little tour to the bathroom before going to sleep. They are clean.

Toiletries are available and there is a pleasant smell.

I set my seat in the bed position and fall asleep very quickly.

The cabin is lit again while we fly over the Netherlands, 2h20 before the arrival. Oddly enough I was less bothered by the width and depth of the seat than on the outward journey.

We are given a new oshibori and an orange juice.

The bread and pastries are warm but not too soft. The rest is fresh and not bad at all.

On Turkish Airlines, breakfast is served in two courses. For the “main course” I will take the scrambled eggs which will be delicious.

It’s hearty and perfectly cooked. Others could learn from it.

The service

Always soprofessional and efficient on Turkish Airlines, nothing to complain about.

I will just make my usual reproach but which is more directed to the protocol than to the crew. It is a pity that we are not spontaneously offered drinks outside of the aperitif and that we have to call out to a flight attendant every time. But on the other hand the orders are served in a very short time.

Otherwise everything was perfect.

Landing and arrival in Istanbul

The ground gradually appears to our eyes. I am not sure if it is the suburbs of Istanbul as the airport is so far from the city.

After a very very long taxi (as always here considering the distances between the runways and the terminal) we see the control tower characteristic of this airport.

We disembark without problem and I make my way to the lounge to wait for my flight towards Gothenburg not without saying goodbye to my bird of the day.

It will be necessary to pass again the security checks on the way but it will happen so smoothly that it remains anecdotal.

Bottom line

Excellent service, good catering, comfortable flight. Another excellent flight on Turkish Airlines.