As always, Turkish Airlines provided a smooth, high-quality service in business class on this flight from Saigon to Istanbul.
Well, it’s (almost) the home stretch for me with this flight to Istanbul, from where I’ll be heading back to Oslo, the starting point for the international part of this trip. At least with Turkish Airlines I know what to expect and I’m not too worried about this flight, even if you’ll see that there are one or two things to talk about before departure.
To start with, I checked the status of the inbound flight in the morning to see that it had left Istanbul 3 hours late, so technically speaking, if the delay is passed on to the return flight, I’ll miss my connection to Oslo. But at this stage I’m not worrying about it any more: experience and my instinct tell me it’s going to be fine, and besides I can’t do anything about it at the moment, so I’ll think about it again when I get to Saigon.
For the record, the air routing for this trip.
You’ll find a summary of articles about this trip to Vietnam at the bottom of the page.
Ground course and check-in
I arrived from Phu-Quoc on Vietnam Airlines at the domestic terminal, so I have to go to the international terminal from where my flight leaves over 6 hours later.
It is, of course, possible to switch from one terminal to the other while remaining airside, provided you have a connecting flight, which is not my case!
In fact, these are two different tickets, so I’m in a self connect situation. I was therefore unable to check-in my luggage from end to end with Vietnam Airlines and Turkish Airlines, so I had to collect it on arrival and wait for the Turkish Airlines check-in to open.
So not only do I have to get to the international terminal landside, but I have to wait just over 3 hours for check-in to open, with no access to the lounge, and then wait again for over 3 hours after check-in, but this time in a lounge.
That’s quite a lot, and given the number of flights between Phu Quoc and Saigon, I could have minimized the wait with a later flight. But as I explained in the article on self-connection it’s always important to take a margin of safety, and when things go wrong the hours of delay often add up quickly, so it’s better to have a long connection than a missed flight.
The landside connection takes just a few minutes with this perfectly signposted path between the two terminals.
So here I am on the arrivals level of the terminal.
The flight from Istanbul is still announced on time, but flightradar confirms a 3-hour delay…
Good luck to those who are waiting.
I enter the terminal to go up to the departures level.
Not many people and, of course, the Turkish Airlines counter isn’t open yet.
I’ll take a tour of the terminal to pass the time but, knowing it already, I know I’ll have to find something else to do to pass the time. Given its size, it takes no time at all to get around it, and there’s not much you can do inside.
I was in this situation on my previous trip to Vietnam, where I had to wait for hours for my flight to check-in. So I’ll do exactly the same thing: I’ll walk out of the terminal to find a place to sit and watch the planes take off and land.
Same spot as several years ago, history is repeating.
I won’t be able to see much of the spotting as a torrential downpour begins, cutting off all visibility.
But at least I’m sitting in the open air and can keep myself occupied…for example by starting to take an interest in the incoming flight and its delay. Flighradar confirms that it will be very late arriving.
Exactly like my outbound flight…
Should I be worried? No. Already because if the delay is passed on to the return flight and I miss my connection to Oslo there are other flights a day to the Norwegian capital so I’ll still make it, maybe just a little later than planned.
Secondly, because I looked at the history of this flight and realized that it was often very late leaving Istanbul and arriving in Saigon, but leaving again almost on time. It makes me wonder if this is all on purpose!
Indeed, on closer inspection, this is never due to the late arrival of the aircraft making the flight, as it is always present in Istanbul many hours before the flight’s departure.
Why is that? I don’t know. Perhaps because the plane is supposed to be parked for long hours in Saigon, and it’s better to arrive late and make a fast turnaround than to pay for the towing and parking of the aircraft? But it must still cost a lot in EU261 if that’s the case… But it’s too regular and inexplicable to be purely accidental.
Anyway, if you have any ideas on the subject, I’d love to hear from you.
In the meantime I decide not to worry, almost certain that my flight will leave on time or nearly.
I won’t hide from you that I’m beginning to find the time long, but eventually it’s time for check-in to open.
I return to the terminal and, indeed, a queue has formed and the agents are finishing the final preparations for the opening of check-in.
At one point, all the agents leave their posts, walk past the counter, line up and bow to greet the customers. A ceremony I had already seen in London with Garuda Indonesia a few years ago.
Check-in begins. I’m 3rd in the business class queue and less than 10 minutes later, stripped of my suitcase and equipped with my boarding passes, I head for the immigration and security checkpoints. The flight is always on time, which confirms that my intuition was right.
I don’t see a priority queue, but it doesn’t matter: there are so few people that the formalities will be completed in 5 minutes.
I’ll spend the time until boarding in the Le Saigonnais lounge, used by Turkish Airlines. Not excellent, but considering the lounges I frequented in Vietnam, it was the least bad.
There are also Priority Pass lounges that I could have tried, but I was a bit lazy.
It’s finally time to head for the gate.
Boarding
The aircraft is here, of course, and final preparations are underway before boarding.
The aircraft arrived at 19:58 instead of 17:05, and boarding will start at 21:00 instead of 21:10! A turnaround in less than an hour, a fine performance, but all this confirms me in the idea that this is a more interesting option for the airline than parking the aircraft for 4 hours…
Priority boarding (business class and elite) starts just as I reach the boarding lounge, and I’m among the first to enter the aircraft.
The Business Class cabin on the Turkish Airlines A350
The new business class cabin fitted on Turkish Airlines’ A350 and B787 aircraft features a Symphony seat from STELIA Aerospace.
Staggered 1-2-1 configuration, with one row out of two with seats closer to the aisle and the console against the window, and the other with more privacy and the console separating the seat from the aisle. This will be the case for my seat.
My only complaint is that every other window is hidden.
The screen is a good size.
I’m well insulated from the aisle.
Noise-canceling headphones are stored in their place.
Note that the storage unit can be locked with a code.
The remote control and touch-sensitive seat controls.
Reading light and lighting controls in the seat back.
Turkish Airlines is one of the few airlines to offer slippers in business class, and what’s more, they’re of excellent quality.
A blanket is in place, but others will be distributed during the flight for the night.
The amenity kit is also already in place. Decent, but I’m not a fan of the colors.
The flight
During boarding we are offered a welcome drink and I choose water.
We are also given the menus and orders will be taken on the ground before departure.
The service will be “on demand”, i.e. you choose the time you wish to dine.
Before takeoff, I take a look at the IFE to get an idea of the route we’ll be taking.
Wifi is offered to business class passengers, but with only 1GB for a long-haul flight, that’s a bit stingy.
We take off and fly over Saigon before heading for Istanbul.
A warm oshibori is distributed and drink orders taken.
We’re given bottles of fresh water…I’ll keep mine for the night, but by then it won’t be as fresh.
We are then provided with blankets, pillowcases and mattress covers for the night.
The beverage service begins with hot nuts and the customary candle.
Then the tables are set and the first course is served.
I’m still a fan of Turkish Airlines’ food presentation.
On the vinaigrette side, salt, pepper, butter and a bag to keep the bread warm.
Turkish mezze:
It will be good, fresh and quite tasty.
Creamy cauliflower soup.
A real treat.
For the main course I chose the grilled fish, sautéed vegetables and mashed potatoes with lemon and turmeric sauce.
The purée is very good and the vegetables crisp, but I’ll need to add salt and pepper to both.
The fish is perfectly cooked and the sauce excellent.
Finally, cheese and dessert: chocolate cake.
Once again it’s good, nothing to complain about.
It’s time to go to sleep. Before putting the blanket on, here’s a photo to show you another of the seat’s limitations: if you happen to sleep in the foetal position, you’ll bang your knees against the seat.
I’ll sleep comfortably throughout the flight until the cabin is relit. Two hours to go, we’re just north of Baghdad and I think it’s a bit too early.
On the other hand, breakfast is not served in a single service for everyone, but as passengers wake up, which is less aggressive and saves a little sleep if you wish. In the end, maybe it’s smarter than relighting later and serving the whole cabin on the fly.
As always on Turkish Airlines, breakfast is served in two stages.
Fruit, croissant, cheese, chicken, yoghurt.
Good, but the pastries will be a little dry.
Then I’ll have the cheddar omelette, sautéed potatoes and mushrooms, cherry tomatoes.
The potatoes will be excellent, the rest okay but I’m not particularly thrilled.
And now it’s time to start the descent.
Arrival and disembarkation
The flight ends smoothly and we arrive 40 minutes early. The purser greets us with the usual “Welcome to Istanbul, the meeting point of the world“.
Taxiing will take some time, but given the size of the airport, it’s a bit like landing at Orly with a terminal at Roissy. I’m exaggerating a little, but you get the idea.
We arrive in a totally deserted corridor.
Very convenient given the size of the terminal:
A quick glance to check that my flight to Oslo is still on time.
It will take me 12 minutes to walk to the security checkpoints. Fortunately, there’s no waiting.
All I have to do now is go to the lounge to wait for my next flight.
The service
Nothing to complain about, very professional, efficient and friendly crew.
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines confirms that it is the best airline in Europe today. A very solid, flawless performance.
The articles about this trip to Vietnam
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