Turkish Delight: TK A359 SIN-MEL in Economy, VA Domestic Biz MEL-PER, Mining Charters

[yflyer]

In March 2024, Turkish Airlines began flying from Singapore to Melbourne. The flights on this sector originated in Istanbul, but this was a 5th freedom route, which meant passengers could join the flight from Singapore. TK joins SQ, QF, Emirates, Scoot and Jetstar on this popular and highly competitive route.

I flew to Melbourne on Turkish Airlines last month, January 2025, for the Australian Open tennis tournament, the first grand slam tennis event of the year. While soaking in the incredible sporting atmosphere, I had lots of good food, and also managed an impromptu meetup with fellow SQTalker Kyo.

The flights began operating this sector with TK's 787 Dreamliners but quickly switched to their Airbus A350-900's a month later. TK's A359's on this sector were 2 class aircraft with a very new cabin product. The business class seat on this aircraft was from Stelia Aerospace, and was similar to SQ's current regional business class. I'll be trying this J seat later this year when I head to Italy and Turkey on TK, but on this trip, I flew from Singapore to Melbourne in Economy.

From Melbourne, I flew to Perth on Virgin Australia in domestic business class on thie 737, and then flew up to a mining village in the Pilbara region of Western Australia on a charter flight, also operated by Virgin Australia. What an eye-opening trip segment that was.

[yflyer]

Turkish Airlines departs from Changi T1...



TK168 SIN-MEL was a 10.25am departure that got you into Melbourne at 8.55pm local time.



The check-in area was very quiet, practically deserted, when I checked in.



The reason for this would be come clear when I boarded the flight later: most pax on this flight were travelling between Australia and either Turkey or Europe. It appeared that fairly few pax boarded in Singapore.

I headed airside...



T1 was not busy in the morning...

[yflyer]

The designated lounge was the Marhaba Lounge...



...which was up a level from the main airside concourse, accessible via escalator.



The Lunar New Year was coming up soon. The lounge entrance was festooned with red lanterns.



The lounge was operated by Dnata, and was also the designated lounge for Thai Airways.



The first thing you saw when you entered the lounge was their self service bar.



To the right was a large seating and lounging area...



To the left, a dedicated dining area with an international buffet spread.

[yflyer]

Breakfast cereal and fruit...



Sausages and tomato with egg...



Baked beans, roasted pumpkin and stir fried noodles...



The Asian breakfast selections looked very tempting. There was beef gyudon...



A very tasty century-egg congee...



Mee Tai Bak...



The wine and liquor selection...



There were red wines and white wines from Somerton, as well as a smallish selection of spirits.

[yflyer]

After wolfing down some of the beef gyudon and century egg congee in the lounge, I headed to the gate, D47...



There was a long line of pax queuing to enter the holding room, but there thankfully there was a dedicated security queue for business / priority pax.

At the gate, Airbus A350-900 registration TC-LHA. This was Turkish's newest A359, delivered just 4 months previously, in September 2024.



Slightly delayed boarding, at 10.20am...



A spotless, and brand new economy cabin, laid out 3-3-3.



The seats looked wide and comfortable, with grey fabric and red highlights and dark leather headrests.



Seat pitch looked quite generous.



My seat, 42D, was in the 2nd last row.



On each seat, a red pillow, with fabric pillow case, blanket, headphones and an amenity kit (in Y!).



Seat recline was good.



The last row window seats were 2-seaters, with some extra space by the window.

[yflyer]

The amenity kids came in different colours.



Headband type headphones, which to me sounded a bit better than the horrible earbuds that SQ used.



That said, my usual advice applies: bring your own headphones. These days I also see more and more pax use airline bluetooth adapters i.e. they use their Airpods and bluetooth headphones onboard. I wonder when airlines will start introducing bluetooth headphone connectivity as standard.

Large fabric blanket.



I was amazed at what TK provided in their Y amenity kit.



The downside of this was that the last few overhead bins were packed with amenity kits and other items, which meant less space for pax to stow their bags.



The IFE screens were huge -- larger than SQ's A359 equivalent. Very bright and sharp.



The screens came with both USB and USB-C power.



Very convenient!



I could not locate any A/C power socket though. I guess this is less of an issue these days, now that most devices are charged with USB / USB-C, and even laptops/notebooks have batteries that can last hours.

The IFE suystem was pretty comprehensive, as good as any in terms of functionality, with a broad movie and TV selection as well...



...including live TV...



Some of the movies onboard...

[yflyer]

Just over 6 hours and 50 minutes to Melbourne today.



3 live camera views were available...



Safety card with super small pictures and font. I had trouble reading it without my reading glasses on...



Individual air vents! I appreciate having those vents and wonder why SQ orders their planes without them.



Cartoon-style safety video...

[yflyer]

Pushback and taxi...



I was amazed at how sharp the downward facing camera was when the aircraft was on the ground.



We would be taking off next, after the ANA Dreamliner bound for Tokyo Haneda...



Lining up on Runway 02C...



A very smooth and quiet take-off roll...



Rotation and climb out with plenty of runway to spare...



Over the coastline...



Switching to the Airshow display...



Many different Airshow views available...



This Airshow had some views I had not seen before, including this summary view...



Another view showed the direction and time for Islamic prayers.

[yflyer]

Wifi was available on this flight. Messaging was complimentary for J pax and TK's frequent flyer programme members.



Complimentary wifi data was offered to TK's frequent flyers and members.



Wifi was complimentary for J pax. For non-TK programme members (even Star Alliance partners), wifi was available for a fee.

[yflyer]

After take-off, lunch was served. In the Y cabin, service began from the rear of the plane, which was great considering where I was seated.



Menu cards had been handed out earlier.



Two choices of main: fish with potatoes or vegetable fried rice...



Soft drinks, beer and wines were available (But not spirits)...



I chose the fish...



This was an attractively presented meal, with both a starter and a salad, along with dessert on the same tray, and metal cutlery, as well as salt and pepper sachets (SQ no longer provides salt and pepper sachets on the meal tray - you have to ask for it).



I paired my fish with a Turkish white wine, which was served in a paper cup.



Always nice to get separate salad dressing with salad (Are you reading this, SQ?)...



I found the starter, listed on the menu as white eggplant salad, a tad salty. Maybe it was meant to be eaten with bread.



The main was as delicious as it looked.



The fish was very tender, with good flavour...



Coffee, served in a paper cup.



This was a wonderful Y meal -- very tasty. It was nice to have metal cutlery as well as salt and pepper on the tray. Too bad about the paper cups for wine, though.

[yflyer]

The bathrooms were done in grey, with mottled black/grey counter tops.



Bottles of Eau de Cologne and hand/body lotion...



Sensor activated flush button...

[yflyer]

Cabin ambience was pretty good, although this was a full flight. Most pax looked to be either coming from Europe or Turkey, or Australians returning from vacation.



The IFE had a do not disturb function.



If activated, it actually asked if you wanted to be woken for meals.



When activated, this sign appeared on the IFE screen (Simple and effective!).



With 3 and a half hours left to run, we made landfall over Australia...



For much of the flight, the landscape below was varied and desolate...



I headed to the galley for a glass of red wine...



...which the cabin crew were happy to pour for me...



My impression of the TK cabin crew on this flight: while they were quite professional and efficient, I found them quite impersonal and not very warm -- quite a contrast from SQ cabin crew. Was it because of language? Perhaps they were more comfortable speaking in Turkish to pax from there.

[yflyer]

If I had a window seat, I would have spent a lot of time peering out of the window. At my inner aisle seat, I spent my time watching the IFE live external camera feeds instead.



The views from the downward camera were fascinating...



...at least for the stretches without cloud cover.



Much of the interior of the Australian continent was sparsely populated.

On previous flights over Australia, I had always wondered what conditions were like at ground level. I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to find out, but later on this trip, I would have the opportunity to travel to a remote mining village in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, a part of the country far from large population centres, but rich in minerals and iron ore.

I would be heading there later during the trip, on a Virgin Australia charter from Perth. More on that later in this TR.

[yflyer]

2 hours prior to arrival, a hot snack was served, along with beverage service.



There was a choice of smoked turkey ham and cheese or ratatouille in a bun. I picked the turkey ham.



For my drink, I asked for sour cherry juice, which turned out to be quite tasty!

Cake was also available.



Some stunning views of the Southern Australian coast as we approached Melbourne...



On this stretch of the flight, there were few clouds in the sky...



...so the live camera views were great.



Enroute to Melbourne, we overflew Adelaide...



It was a little cloudy, but parts of the city of Adelaide could be seen clearly from the downward camera...



Orange lighting in the cabin to match the evening hour...

[yflyer]

As we commenced our decent into Melbourne, this passenger survey popped up on the IFE...



I wonder how many pax clicked on it...



It was quite a detailed survey...



...with both multiple choice questions, and the opportunity to enter free text comments.



I took the opportunity to provide feedback on how the rear overhead bins were filled with amenity kits and other operational items, rather than left empty for pax.