Total Score 15.3 / 20
Service 4 / 5
Food 3.8 / 5
Seat 3.5 / 5
Amenities and IFE 4 / 5
Flight Number TK732
Departure From Istanbul at 04:15
Seat 2A
After a short flight from Tel Aviv and a long day in Istanbul, I arrived back at the airport with plenty of time to enjoy the lounge before my 4am flight. As one of the first people to visit the new airport, I was very impressed by the design, though I cannot believe they don’t have shuttles for passengers as walking times can be up to 30 minutes to your gate!
Boarding
After a 20 minute walk from the lounge to the gate, we had an additional 15 minute wait before boarding was called. At that point, I could barely keep my eyes open and couldn’t wait to make my bed and get to sleep! They ended up allowing all passengers to board at the same time which was a bit chaotic, though we eventually made it onto the plane and sat down in our seats 2A and 2B.
Cabin and Seat
The A330 business class seats are in a 2 – 2 – 2 layout in five rows at the front of the cabin for a total of 28 seats.
While the seats aren’t the newest design, the cabin overall feels elegant with a small bar at the front, nice color scheme, and the Turkish Airlines logo at the back of the cabin.
Turkish Airlines Business Class Bar
Just this past week, Turkish began flying with their new 787’s which have an upgraded business class cabin that looks quite nice and I’m excited to try it out as well. The Turkish business class cabin overall felt warm and inviting which helped set a nice mood for the flight.
I found my window seat 2A to be comfortable enough for this medium haul, 8 hour flight.
Each pair of seats are nearly identical in design as they all face forward with a small table between the seats and an ottoman in front of the seat that can also be used as storage (the only seats that have slightly less room are the two first row window seats as the plane begins to curve inwards and takes some of the foot space).
Ottoman + Storage
Table Partition and Seat Controls
Each seat has a fairly large IFE screen which I found to be good enough, though not as good as on some of the newer business class seats.
IFE System
IFE System
The A330 business class seats can turn into a fully flat bed which did the trick for me, though I’ve had better beds in business class with other airlines. Turkish gives out a thin mattress pad, large pillow and thick blanket which made a big difference in being able to get a good sleep.
Bed Mode
Overall these seats are great if you are traveling with a companion, though I wouldn’t want to be sitting so close to a stranger in business class. I was sitting with my girlfriend on this flight, so the seats were perfect. There are many other business class seats that I prefer to these, but I managed to get a good sleep and was comfortable throughout the flight.
Food
Business Class Tray Table
Given the very late departure time for this flight, I wasn’t sure what the meal service would be like though I was hoping for Turkish’s signature meal service which is supposed to be phenomenal. Menus were distributed and read as follows:
Sadly not the signature service with several appetizers and desserts served on a trolley, though I was looking forward to tasting what they had.
It turned out they were planning to serve dinner around 5am and then a small breakfast (nearly the same options I had leaving Tel Aviv) before landing around 2pm. I along with everyone else in the cabin passed on a 5am dinner and opted for some sleep.
After waking up about 2 hours before landing, we were served the dinner options as lunch which I was happy about as I didn’t love the “before landing” options.
The meal started with a mozzarella and tomato salad which was basic and tasty. This was also served with some eggplant salad, cheese, bread, and the mango dessert.
For the main course I chose the Turkish Meatballs. I liked the presentation in the clay pot, and the dish tasted great.
The mousse dessert was fine, though I didn’t think it was worth the calories. Thankfully I had stuffed myself in the lounge before the flight, otherwise I may have been hungry on this flight.
Service
Moments after being seated, my girlfriend and I were offered hot towels as well as a choice of Turkish’s signature welcome juice drinks.
Amenity kits were waiting at our seats along with a pillow, blanket, headphones and slippers.
Amenity Kit, Pillow, and Blanket
Slippers
Headphones
Given the late departure, I along with most of the passengers tried to get to sleep quickly, and the crew were very helpful in helping me turn the seat into a bed.
In the morning I was woken up in time for lunch, about two hours before landing. The crew were again friendly and helpful in moving the lunch service along at a nice pace and always offered more. Overall I had a more pleasant experience with the crew than on my other flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul, though they were not extraordinary as I have experienced on many Middle Eastern and Asian airlines in business class.
Landing
As we begun out descent into Male, the views were absolutely spectacular. I forgot about my movie, food and girlfriend and spent about 45 minutes just admiring the amazing views below.
Bottom Line
The Turkish Airlines A330 business class is a comfortable product and great for couples traveling together. The seats are comfortable, service is good overall, the food is fairly good (better on longer flights), and the entertainment system is well above average. There are better business class products out there, however considering Turkish has such a vast network of flights, chances are you’ll have good reason to fly with them on a future trip. I would gladly fly Turkish Airlines again in business class.
