Turkish Airlines J class

[SQueeze]

Does anyone have any experience with TK's J class on their A343s or new 777s (the new ones, not the jet airways ones).

I am not expecting SQ 77w's standard.
But how do they compare with SQ 747's or LH's in terms of sleep comfort, culinary offerings, and cabin crew service.

[9V-JKL]

See post #24 onwards: http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10717

[SQueeze]

The reviews are not encouraging. Sounds more like an American carrier than a European one but these reviews are not about their long haul business class products.

Any second opinion about TK's long haul J in terms of seat comfort, culinary offerings, and cabin crew service? We are flying BKK-IST-GRU

[demue]

Well I think the questions on TKs C product by the OP valid a more detailed response as the quoted discussion focuses on the short SGN-BKK add on in C and my Y experience SIN-IST-SIN.

Now I can only talk of the A340, but that should be better than nothing. I would have loved to have the brand new product on any of my recent flights, but there are only 3x 777s with that seat in the TK fleet right now AFAIK and they fly GRU, LAX and one more route that I don't remember (JFK?).

What is the basis for my assessment? Glad you are asking as I just completed BKK-IST-BKK roundtrip flight on TK in C on an A340.

First of all let me state in general that the service and offering on the short flight between SGN & BKK and vv. as reported by MAN Flyer is no proper reflection of the C class service and in particular food offering you will receive on the long haul BKK-IST-BKK sectors (or similar routes like SIN-IST-SIN).

So where to start? Well let me go from the hard product first as that is the easiest I guess. The seat on the A340 was described to me as angled flat by a friend (no it wasn't MAN Flyer ) having me think that it is like a SQ SpaceBed or LH Blue C seat, but he must have been drunk as that is not really the case. The seat reclines maybe 170 degrees and does not really form a fully flat (angled) surface. I have a picture of the fully extended seat but need to get around to pull it off my mobile and upload it first for sharing.

However, that does not mean that the seat is utter rubbish or highly uncomfortable. Actually I managed to get a few good hours of snoozing time (sleeping on my back and on my side) without major pains or a sliding sensation like on the LH seat. Yes there are way better C seats out there, but it was overall quite alright even on night flight.

IFE is decent enough (AVOD) and on the long haul sectors (they don't load all those movies on the short hops, guessing licensing fees) has a pretty good selection of maybe 50-60 recent and 'classic' movies on a good size screen (didn't measure, but same size or slightly bigger than LH screen I would say). Add to that plenty of TV shows and music on demand and it is decent enough.

TK also hands out a proper (quality) blanket which I'm almost tempted to call a duvet and not that crappy, staticly charged, eco looking blanket stuff that SQ gave me on my SIN-FUK C flight on A330. If I had to compare it I would say it is like the one you get on NH C just a different color. However, the TK cabin was quite warm for my taste so I placed the blanket on the footrest to elevate my feet a bit higher and cushion them. On SQ (in those refrigerators they call aircraft) it would have been a godsend.

The highlight of the long haul sectors though has to be the food. Now while the flight times make for odd eating hours I would be tempted to say that if you travel for leisure and do not need to be up and running on the morning of your arrival then go ahead and indulge at 1:00am. TK does have a chef onboard the longhaul sectors and they are brilliant. I mean I'm not easily impressed, but I would say it is a fair statement that my meals on BKK-IST-BKK were some of the best I have ever had on an aircraft regardless of carrier and class of travel. That includes SQ, NH, TG, OS, LX, LH, ..., in C & a few F sectors, but excludes SA, NZ or OZ which I have never flown so far.

I got some pictures of the menu and will post them together with the seat uploads. Now I was quite hungry so I totally forgot to take pictures of the actual food (Yes MAN Flyer scolded me already, but I countered telling him that he let StarG take all the pics on the GRU inagural ), but I will try to correct this on my next flight in about 3 weeks. What I can tell you ist that you will get a choice between two appetizers, then can have a soup, and then can chose between 3 mains (usually a fish dish, a meat dish and a veg dish) to be followed by a cheese selection, fresh fruits and around 3 different dessert components.

Now the catering for this food is done by Do&Co which some of the regulars will know as the OS caterer as well as supplier of food to the FRA LH FCT & FCL. It is really good stuff. I had the fish on both legs and it was moist with crisp skin, a good sauce and nice sides. On this flight they serve you breakfast as a second meal and in the menu there is a section where you indicate your choices for that meal from the menu. Think room service breakfast order form in a hotel and you get the idea. On the way from BKK to IST I had Turkish style scrambled eggs and they were absolutely perfect being real creamy in consitency. Compare that to the hard boiled scrambled eggs SQ served me on BKK-SIN in C last Sun and it is a huge difference (Lobster here from SQ Talk was together with me on that flight and had the same meal, so maybe his eggs were better than mine or I'm just picky ).

The drinks selection is so so from my view with 2 whites (1 Turkish), 3-4 reds (1 Turkish), Champagne (not a big brand, but okay) and the usual hard liquors. I stuck to the champagne which is relatively decent (no DP or Krug or anything like that of course), but you really need to keep asking for another glass of anything. Be it water, juice or harder stuff. It is there, but they are not forth coming or overly attenative in serving it. I don't think that they actually try to hold out on it, it is just not 'trained' into them (yet). Apart from that the crew did perform their duties well enough with no real reason for complaint, but this is the one certain area where they are still leagues away from SQ or NH. However, I would say on par with LH for example.

Lastly, an amenity kit (if that matters) is given on each long haul sector and contained Hermes Orange products on BKK-IST and had Bvlgari items for some pax on the return IST-BKK while other pax still got the Hermes kits. Outside looks the same and the kit also contains a comb, toothpaste, socks, ear plugs , sleeping mask and a shoe horn IIRC. They also hand out slippers in addition to that. In the toilets you have L'Occitane Verbena liquid hand soap, eau de toilette and hand lotion. The head phones are not noise cancelling and looked alright overall, but I used my own ones instead.

So overall, for the right price I think TK C even on an A340 (or A330 which I think has the same seat) is alright from a hard product point of view, decent enough in regards to crew & onboard service and truly excellent when it comes to food. Now on the ground and the lounge in IST are a different story, but that is for another time. Hope that helps.

EDITED: And finally here are the pictures to view http://community.webshots.com/album/...host=community

[demue]

The reviews are not encouraging. Sounds more like an American carrier than a European one but then these reviews are not about their long haul business class products.

Any second opinions about TK's long haul J in terms of seat comfort, culinary offerings, and cabin crew service? We are flying BKK-IST-GRU

Hmm looks like someone booked a cheapo one-way on the TK error fare. I think you will be quite okay with the BKK-IST flight and very happy with IST-GRU one given the new seat product which a friend told me is very good. Great food throughout.

[SQueeze]

Hmm looks like someone booked a cheapo one-way on the TK error fare. I think you will be quite okay with the BKK-IST flight and very happy with IST-GRU one given the new seat product which a friend told me is very good. Great food throughout.

hahaha, did you get that fare too? Just too irresistible to let it pass. I guess for that fare, I won't be complaining about the 170 degrees angle. And BKK-IST is the shorter sector compared to IST-GRU

Now, I need to find ways to get from GRU to MXP from where I have already secured the SQ 77W FCL saver award glitch earlier this year.

Anyway, thanks for the extensive review above and we look forward to your pics/trip report

[demue]

Nice combo of two unrelated glitches. No I did not go for that TK D fare one way error as GRU is a bit out of the way for me and I have not much to do in GRU.

Getting back on an award can be quite expensive even when using BD cash + miles or so. Maybe the SQ Y class 30% off mileage special that is currently on for GRU-SIN would have been good, but then you suffer for over 24hrs on the way back

[calvinoeh]

SQueeze: When are you flying?

I couldn't resist the deal myself and am going end of July. FYI - SQ has relatively cheap one way fares GRU-BCN (and tag on to several other destinations). I am heading back on a GRU-IST-KUL on a combination of TK and a MHcodeshare that prices relatively cheap for one ways but in Y though.

[SQueeze]

SQueeze: When are you flying?

I couldn't resist the deal myself and am going end of July. FYI - SQ has relatively cheap one way fares GRU-BCN (and tag on to several other destinations). I am heading back on a GRU-IST-KUL on a combination of TK and a MHcodeshare that prices relatively cheap for one ways but in Y though.

Currently in December. But I will be trying to change the date to 2012 when it comes closer to the date. Not willing to give up my outgoing SIN-MXP on SQ glitch F saver award yet.

Anyway, hope to see your trip report on TK's new J class.

[demue]

I updated my post with the pics (see above).

[StarG]

I updated my post with the pics (see above).

Thanks for the pics, demue.
The seat controls and style look like SpaceBed's, but newer.

[Lobster]

. On the way from BKK to IST I had Turkish style scrambled eggs and they were absolutely perfect being real creamy in consitency. Compare that to the hard boiled scrambled eggs SQ served me on BKK-SIN in C last Sun and it is a huge difference (Lobster here from SQ Talk was together with me on that flight and had the same meal, so maybe his eggs were better than mine or I'm just picky

Yeah I agree the eggs were not good. In fact the return BKK-SIN-BKK was my first SQ flight for about 2 years and i was totally underwhelmed by the whole experience. The food on both legs was very poor. On the way to SIN the person in front of me reclined his seat so far I could not put my table or IFE screen out. The service was OK but nothing above average.

[SQueeze]

I updated my post with the pics (see above).

Thanks demue.

Seats don't look comfortable to me. But if the price is right, will never mind.

Anyway, do you see any coveted preferred row or section? Or any row/section to be avoided.

[demue]

Thanks demue.

Seats don't look comfortable to me. But if the price is right, will never mind.

Anyway, do you see any coveted preferred row or section? Or any row/section to be avoided.

I agree that they may not look that comfy, but actually I found sleeping on them somehow better than on LH's fully flat angled seat where I get that sliding sensation and kind of similar to a SpaceBed. YMMV.

Overall it beats the heck out of Economy which you still wouldn't have gotten for the price you paid for your ticket

Cabin layout is 2-2-2. So if traveling with a partner I think the window + aisle seat combo is fine as you know each other. However, I travel solo mostly and prefer the 2 middle seats (D & E) as each has aisle access and no one will try to climb over you to get to the bathroom or so.

I would actually avoid row 1 D&E as it is in front of the bar they have on TK and can be a bit more busy / noisy. Seats 1 D&E and 2 D&E have no overhead storage bins so you will have to park your belongings in the overhead bins for the other seats. However, even in a full C cabin BKK-IST that did not seem to cause any issues. I would also avoid the last row in C completely as it is close to the galley and the noise from food preparations maybe bothersome. Hope that helps.

[9V-SIA]

Your input on TK is appreciated demue

They're spending a lot on advertising but I don't want to fly an airline where the J class PAX are playing football in the cabin