TK1754 – Oslo Gardermoen Airport to Istanbul Airport – BUSINESS CLASS
Growing Old with In Style
Time for a new business class experience. How does the Turkish Airlines Mid-Haul Experience stack up?
In this mammoth trip report (note, headings subject to change)
- Yes. I’m that old. Next.
- Off to Heathrow, Terminal 3 and Cathay Pacific Lounge
- BA768 London Heathrow to Oslo Airport (Club Europe)
- The Best Laid Oslo Plans, and the OSL Lounge
- TK1754 Oslo Airport to Istanbul Airport (Business Class)
- A new airport – Istanbul transit. Shame it was in a rush….
- TK054 Istanbul Airport to Singapore Changi (Business Class)
- Welcome back to Changi and the Ibis Budget Ruby, Geylang
- Back to Changi Terminal 4 and AirAsia AK710 Singapore to Kuala Lumpur International.
- Into Kuala Lumpur and the Holiday Inn Express KLCC
- To the Batu Caves
- Exploring Kuala Lumpur
- Back to KLIA, The Golden Circle Lounge
- MH627 Kuala Lumpur to Singapore Changi (Economy Class)
- HOTEL: Intercontinental Singapore, Bugis
- For the love of Nasi Lemak and Hawker Markets
- Exploring Singapore, whilst avoiding Rain
- Glasses in a Rush
- Pokémon Centre Singapore
- Back to Changi, and the Lounge
- TK209 Singapore Changi to Istanbul Airport (Business Class)
- Into Istanbul and the Sheraton Levent, Istanbul
- Back to Istanbul Airport and the Turkish Airlines Lounge
- TK1753 Istanbul Airport to Oslo Airport
- A leisurely Oslo transit
- SK815 Oslo Airport to London Heathrow (Economy Classes)
- Homeward
- Older, Never Wiser
TK1574 Oslo Gardermoen Airport to Istanbul Airport
Airbus A321neo
Seat 4A, Business Class
1509 miles flown, 2034 status miles awarded
Waiting to board
I headed aboard the aircraft and was greeted by the crew. With my bags secured, I looked around. For Turkish Airlines’ business class, they chose to install a regular seat that we have seen before – the Collins Aerospace MiQ. This is the same seat that is used in American Airlines’ Domestic First Class.
Whilst I have flown it on a transcontinental route (which, no matter what anyone says, is far too long in a recliner business class seat), a 1500-mile flight is much more of a comfortable experience.
The space factor improved, with no passenger sitting next to me for this segment to Istanbul.
As boarding continued, welcome beverages commenced. The airlines went for non-alcoholic beverages here – something different to see. I chose the orange juice, which had a slice of fresh orange in it. Very much the pulpy kind and cold of orange juice, but very fresh.
Menus were also distributed at this time. By the time the glasses were collected, it was time for pushback with the A321neo loaded up.
The seat features an IFE system built in – and this was used show the safety demonstration.
Safety Card
This was shown as a two-part video, firstly presented in Turkish, then in English. At the end of both demonstrations, there was also an announcement that there was an accessible version on the IFE system.
Signing and accessibility notice. Notice the passport. We’ll come back to it later. Or not.
Off we go
As we seek to improve the passenger experience, this is a great touch for those who need sign language or things explained differently.
With that complete, our aircraft pushed back and began to taxi around Oslo Airport.
Pre-takeoff darkness.
Beginning pushback
Tug moving away
Norwegian Boeing 737-800
Lufthansa A320neo at the deicer pad
SAS and Lufthansa are getting their deicer.
During the taxi, the captain ran up the engines once, passing the de-icing pads on the way. The aircraft arrived at the runway and completed another engine run-up, before ramping down, then releasing the brake to allow the aircraft to take off at take-off power.
Into the night sky
This was a good time to investigate the IFE system. After the required advert, I was dropped at the main interface.
So, the first thing to investigate is the map. This is a very modern map implementation, with Turkish Airlines deploying FlightPath 3D’s mapping solution. It is a solid solution (and I have covered the product in depth on this blog).
This is a good idea – marking out all the destinations you serve on a map.
Now, not something in this image – yes, Turkish Airlines has seemed to retain overhead screens when other airlines are removing them for weight purposes. Odd. Don’t get me wrong, I love an overhead screen for maps (as I don’t have to rely on my own screen for mapping).
IFE Controller
Audio-Technica Headphones
Power outlets and headphones
In terms of entertainment, for this segment, I stuck to comedy. That means The Big Bang Theory and Bob’s Burgers.
Note where that passport is in the picture. I did’t.
I am simple in my entertainment tastes – even though they mixed seasons and content. As we all know, loading an entire season of a show on an aircraft breaks various laws, as far as I can work out. Or as the aviation industry content suppliers call it, “Content Curation.”
Orders were taken for meals, and hot towels were distributed.
Then I remembered, there is in-flight connectivity on this aircraft. On this A321neo, this was the Panasonic connectivity solution, wrapped around the TK Wi-Fi Solution, which connects to Wi-Fi on the aircraft, as well as on the ground at Istanbul Airport.
For Business Class Passengers who had Miles and Smiles membership, in-flight, they offered free messaging, plus 1Gb of data. Whilst I am not a fan of metered data, 1Gb is plenty for an evening flight (unless you are hell-bent on streaming video content).
Pony up if you want the full packages. Although the free Gigabyte of data for business class seems good value at this point.
Given that data quantity was limited, I skipped running a Speed test on the link (seeing 1Gb of data vanish when I did a speed test on the ground in Chicago earlier this year scared the bejesus out of me).
The browsing experience was fine, with messaging working well (especially being able to send images through the messaging apps). As well as social media apps and checking various sites.
Soon enough, the tray came for the meal.
Starting us off was Chicken, fried eggplant & tomato salad. Dominating the plate, with the eggplant having a little bite, while the chicken was marinated. Meanwhile, there was some “Süzme” yoghurt and Marinated artichokes in olive oil. It would not surprise you to know that I passed on those.
Cute salt and pepper shakers
I chose the lamb shank to follow. This was a little firm, but quite nice with the vegetable accommodate very refreshing.
Finally, on the tray, there was a Strawberry and cream roll, which was an airy, light bite. A perfect way to finish the meal.
From there, there was coffee, and I spent time catching up with Bob’s Burgers. The cabin crew were attentive, refilling drinks. Even if the coffee cup did not have a handle, but instead a cardboard sleeve akin to what you get from your favourite coffee shop.
Odd as they say.
Soon enough, the aircraft was slowing for Istanbul Airport, with the crew ensuring that business and economy class were separated properly.
Onward connections… including my flight
It seemed the aircraft was making up time from its late departure from Oslo, as the aircraft vectored into Istanbul Airport.
Light underneath
Monitor folded away. How I’ve missed that sound
With ease, the Airbus A321neo lined up for one of the runways at Istanbul Airport, planting itself on the runway.
Safely on the ground, the A321neo taxied around Istanbul Airport and past the main terminals.
Line them up, park them up.
Resting Dreamliner
Big and small Turkish Airlines Aircraft parked… and… a Chatham Dockyard tail?
I cannot escape you, can I?
The main terminal.
We all know what that means – it is going to be a bus gate. And I thought I was escaping these when switching carriers.
You don’t see many of those these days in Western Europe – Rossiya Airbus A320.
Star Alliance logo jet.
No matter.
Eventually, the A321neo was directed to a hard stand, where buses were waiting for us. With the engines powered down, the seatbelt signs.
With a bus transfer, I rushed to get my stuff out and off the aircraft – especially as there was a “CIP” transfer bus waiting for me.
That would come to bite me, much sooner than I would have liked.
Overall:
Not bad at all. It’s good to see a proper business class seat on a medium-haul route (rather than some European airlines that love the adjustable business class, without the business class space). The seat choice is a solid one and perfect for the mission length, with 3-4 hours in a Collins MiQ seat being plenty. The Wi-Fi connectivity is an interesting beast, one that needs further looking at, as the hotspot extends beyond the aircraft.
Way beyond.
As for the crew, business-friendly would be the term I would use there. They were happy to see you aboard, but more than happy to hide away. The food choices were interesting, catering to different palates – I think I had a good selection, even if there was yoghurt there (because I do not get on with the bacterial fermentation of milk).
We’ll see how they do on another short-haul leg on the way back, as well as their long-haul legs in a bit.
Next:
Where the hell is my passport? Oh. ****.
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