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

[yflyer]

I also could not resist heading back to Rockpool Bar & Grill...



...where I celebrated a successful project milestone with a glass of Champagne.



The portion sizes here were quite large, so I was careful to pace my dinner carefully, with small snacks as an appetiser...



...before focusing my energy and appetite on the main event, their delicious steak, which was as good as ever...

[yflyer]

Other favourite dining (and drinking) spots I headed to on this trip included my current favourite restaurant in Melbourne: Gimlet.

I headed there on a couple of different occasions, either for cocktails, or dinner.

I am a fan of their signature Gimlet cocktail...



...and their martini is one of the best I have ever had in any bar in any city.



The modern Australian cuisine at Gimlet is also superb. They have an excellent Dry-aged Muscovy duck on the menu. While it is not mentioned on the menu, I was pleased to learn from one of the friendly waiters there that it was possible to order a half portion of the duck.



This was absolutely delicious. I paired it with a glass of Torbreck "The Struie" 2022...



Next door to Gimlet was the Apollo Inn, a sister establishment. While it is primarily an intimate and cosy cocktail bar, they serve pretty good food there too.



I headed there for both drinks and food during my stay. Needless to say, the cocktails at the Apollo Inn were top notch, but I also really liked their raw tune with grapefruit and fennel seed, as well as their classic beef tartare...

[yflyer]

While in Melbourne, I could not resist heading back to Lulu's for my favourite Penang-style Char Koay Toew...



But Lulu's now has really stiff competition from another restaurant, Kakilang, which serves up a very similar menu of Malaysian and Asian delights.

I previously had a wonderful dinner at their Balwyn location with fellow SQTalkers Kyo, SQ228 and SQ218.

Kakilang has recently opened a branch in the Melbourne CBD, along Bourke Street.



This was a really busy restaurant -- you had to get in there before 12noon, otherwise you would need to wait in line at the entrance for a coveted lunch-time seat.



On one of the days, I headed there for lunch with Kyo. My schedule on this trip was so hectic and unpredictable that there was no opportunity to plan a proper SQTalk get-together with the Melbourne based SQTalkers. But on one of the days, a lunch slot opened up on my calendar, and fortunately Kyo was free that day.



The char koay teow was excellent, easily the equal of Lulu's, and possibly better. I could not resist loading mine up with an extra sunny side up duck egg, extra cockles, and extra lard...



Thanks for driving all the way to the CBD to meet for lunch, Kyo! It was great to meet up!

[yflyer]

You did not have to be in the arenas to soak in the tennis atmosphere. The whole city was in on the event.



I spent some time at "Afloat", a bar and cantina on the Yarra River, watching the tennis while sipping an Aperol Spritz...



Not a bad spot to watch the tennis!

[yflyer]

I was there for the Australian Open grand slam tennis tournament. This was a major event on the sporting calendar, and many current and past tennis stars would be there.



The AO venue, Melbourne Park, was just a pleasant 10-15 minute walk from the CBD, which was very convenient.



The atmosphere at the AO grounds was quite electric, with both locals and many international visitors in attendance.



I was at the tournament for work, of course, but there was time in between work commitments to walk around, and even watch some tennis if I was so inclined. I happened to walk past Rod Laver Arena, one of the tournament's main venues, just as a press event was taking place.



Tennis fans there must have been ecstatic to be in close proximity to one of the all-time greats from the past...



It was John McEnroe!



I was there with a colleague. I was not really much of a tennis fan, so I didn't really capitalise on the opportunity to watch the big names in action.

By contrast, my colleague took every opportunity watch many matches, as well some of the practice sessions in the practice courts. He watched Novak Djokovic play a match one evening.

"How much is a ticket?", I asked him.

"200 dollars", was his reply, "It's not cheap because it's him."

One of the tournament sponsors was kind enough to invite me to watch a quarterfinal, between current top seed, Jannik Sinner, and Alex de Minaur, a young Australian and a local favourite. Unfortunately I messed up my travel booking and was scheduled to fly back to Singapore on the night of the match, and missed my chance to watch the world number 1 in action. In that match, Sinner demolished his opponent in clinical fashion, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Sinner eventually went on to win the tournament.

One thing I would say, though: Watching tennis on TV is nothing like watching it live. Watching live, I was stunned by the speed, strength and power of the players. You would have to be super fit, not to mentioned incredibly skillful, to play at this level!

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

After deplaning, I got through the automatic immigration gates quite quickly, and as I had no checked luggage, I was not delayed at baggage claim either.

I was in an Uber on the way to the city by 9.40pm, which was pretty good timing for a flight which only touched down 45 minutes prior, at 8.55pm.



My hotel in Melbourne was the Victoria Hotel, at Little Collins Street. I picked this hotel because of the excellent CBD location, walking distance from Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open Tennis tournament was taking place, and also because of the very reasonable room rates.

[yflyer]

Thanks for the comments, SQfanatic! Yes quite a coincidence. In May this year, I will be heading to Rome on TK, and on the way back, I am also doing their free stopover in Istanbul, as I have never been to Turkey.

TK had business class sale fares which were irresistable -- about SGD 3K return for a business class ticket from Singapore to Europe, via Istanbul. The clincher was the free stopover in Istanbul where J pax were offered up to 2 complimentary free hotel nights at a 5 star hotel. You could choose which hotel on a website after your booking was confirmed, and the hotel choices available were unexpectedly good (As long as you booked far in advance, I presume). My two free nights in June are booked at the Conrad Bosphorus.

I had a choice of TK's 77W or A359 and I picked the A359 as those planes are much newer. To me, a new plane is half the battle won. To get to fly the very newest A359 in the TK fleet was a pleasant bonus.

Yes I was very impressed with TK's economy catering, although the chef onboard (easily recognizable because he was literally wearing chef's whites and a toque) spent all his time in J and didn't show his face in the Y cabin, except for a short chat with the cabin crew in the galley prior to take-off.

[SQfanatic]

Excellent TR yflyer. What a coincidence that you (or anyone on this forum) would post a TK flight that I should have taken more recently than go to Hawaii.

In fact, for almost the past 7 months, I was raving to fly TK's 777-300ER from San Francisco to Istanbul, stay a day there with touristanbul, fly to Rome, return to Istanbul and take the free hotel and fly the 777-300ER back. I heard their Wifi provider is the same on every aircraft (same as UA's 77W and SQ's SWU-SNC birds), but their seats can be a hit or miss (you could get an old or a new interior if you are on a 77W). My mom's coworkers at her school flew TK and truly found them phenomenal which prompted us to hopefully try it. Sadly, the ticket prices became higher just for that particular February 14-21 week alone (No other week, didn't matter when you'd book) and it was isolated to SFO alone and we had to settle on UA's 77W to HNL.

The reason I was raving about TK's 77W is because nowadays, you can't get many airlines that fly a 9-across 777-300ER and have a footrest in Economy. I can evidently see that is missing in TK's newer planes. It's sad we missed out and they have a tendency to bring it back every Winter to SFO (maybe cargo needs).

I'm hoping in next February to try this out if they bring back the 777-300ER. I'm trying to avoid an A350 whenever it's possible (one exception - flying SQ in May), even on TK.

Overall, it looks like the food presentation looks very nice - almost to the same style Emirates serves it in, if not bigger. SQ from my understanding has gone downhill for years. Service is good, but not the seats or food (i.e. not exactly just the quality, but serving sizes have gone down). And as far as the crew, yeah that was part of my concern too - lack of warmth compared to say Emirates or SQ. At the same time though, part of me expects that but the other part of me doesn't mind it a lot unless you are asking for say water or some snacks or assistance because I care most about the food quality and enjoying what the flight itself has to offer.

[yflyer]

Overall, this was a very good flight. This was my first ever flight with Turkish Airlines and I was impressed.

The hard product was state of the art. This was a brand new Airbus A350-900, with an excellent Y seat and IFE, as good as any Y seat I have flown in. I found the TK A359 Y hard product as good as SQ's in every way, and in some ways slightly better than SQ's A359 (The TK IFE screen was bigger, for example).

The catering was really good. I really enjoyed my lunch onboard. While there were no spirits or cocktails served, I was happy with the wines onboard. I think I still prefer SQ catering, but the margin is very small.

As for negatives, there weren't any major ones, but I did find the cabin crew to be a little less warm and friendly than expected.

They weren't rude or cold, but did not smile very much, or make conversation with pax the way cabin crew on many other airlines do. Perhaps it was a language or cultural thing? The cabin crew in my section of the cabin spoke and understood English fairly well and were courteous and professional, but appeared more on the reserved side. Perhaps they were more comfortable making small talk with pax who spoke Turkish.

After meal service, they did not make much of an appearance in the cabin either. By contrast SQ cabin crew were both professional and super warm and friendly, and also spent more time out in the cabin checking on pax in between meal service.

Still this was a really good flight, and I was very happy with the overall Turkish Airlines experience on my flight TK168 SIN-MEL.

Next up, Melbourne!

To be continued!

[yflyer]

Close to MEL airport...



It as quite late in the evening, after 8pm, but as this was the height of summer in the Southern hemisphere, the sun had still not yet set...



Final approach...



Gear down...



Light crosswind today...



Approaching the threshold...



On the ground, spoilers deployed...



...and a short taxi...



...to the gate.



We had landed bang on time, at 8.55pm, and were at the gate by 9pm.

[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.

[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]

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]

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]

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...