Hope nobody’s sick of Turkey, because that’s where we’re heading with this trip report. Turkish Airlines, the flag carrier of Turkey…er, Türkiye, depending on if you want to use the official or colloquial name for the country, flies to 340 destinations around the world, including 14 in the United States. These are served with the A350-900, 787-9 Dreamliner, and 777-300ER. LAX, for example, is served with both the A350 and the 777, with the former arriving in the late morning and the latter arriving in the mid-afternoon. Departures for each are respectively in the early afternoon and the mid-evening. Today, we’re taking the earlier flight to Istanbul.
Server: Solo
Airline: Turkish Airlines
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Origin: Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California (LAX)
Destination: Istanbul Airport, Arnavutköy, Turkey (IST)
Flight Number: TK180
Route: KLAX-LTFM
Seat: 7K (Business)
Time En Route: 12 Hours 28 Minutes
Waiting to board at Gate 152. Our aircraft today is one of TK’s original A350-900s, configured as 32J/297M, with several other aircraft from Aeroflot’s unfilled orders configured as 28J/288M.
Single-engine taxi over Sepulveda Boulevard. Turkish Airlines’s business class has long been renowned for its soft products, but its hard product seems to also of similar quality from our first impression of it.
Trent 1000 XWB Takeoff for Turkey! To elaborate on the hard product we’re going to be enjoying on our flight, we’re in a staggered cocoon-like business class seat that converts into a lie-flat bed. Even though the seats aren’t fully enclosed, the wall of the shell they’re in provides an impressive degree of privacy. The seat also feels spacious, with the footwell, usually a weak point in many airlines, being large enough to to wiggle our size 16 wide feet around in. Besides a modern IFE system, a power outlet and USB socket are also provided, along with compartments for storing personal belonging and even a fold-out mirror. Long story short, Turkish Airlines has a fully loaded business class hard product and one of the best in the business.
At our intial cruising altitude of 33,000 feet over Phoenix, Arizona. For lunch today, we had a grilled Turkish-style meatball, served with sautéed zucchini, roasted red pepper, and bulgur pilaf. It was deliciousand was served punctually and with a smile. TK’s soft product in business class is legendary for a reason.
Briefly waking up over the North Atlantic at 41,000 feet. We slept through dinner, owing to the comfort of our seat when fully reclined. The seat controls were straightforward and responsive, with adjusting our lie-flat seat to our desired parameters being no trouble at all.
Cruising near Nuremberg in the morning. Sleeping was absolutely superb in business class and we were only woken up by a flight attendant asking us if we wanted breakfast. We gladly obliged.
Starting our final descent over the Black Sea
Touching down in Turkey after just under 12 and a half hours in the air
Parked as the west pier of the terminal. To be completely honest, this was one of the best business class trips we’ve had as of late, due to both the legendary cabin service coupled with a comfortable and modern seat. Would definitely recommend traveling with Turkish in business class if possible, and we’ll definitely be back!
