I bought a Turkish Airlines Business Class Hong Kong to Istanbul ticket at the airport because they had an upgrade for 750 Euro from economy so decided to take that, all for the sake of writing about it on this site, and not at all because I didn’t want to slum it back in economy with the other peasants! The original economy ticket I got for around USD$1200 return which was pretty good.
I’ve never flown Turkish Airlines before so thought I’d might as well try out both business and economy on the way back. I got seat 1A and was rather excited until I saw that it was a 2-3-2 configuration and you end up sitting reasonably close to the person next to you. The flight was at 11:15p.m, normally I’d have tried to have gone straight to sleep but I thought I’d see what the food was like since there was a Chef prancing around looking like he was shit hot. I should have gone to sleep. There were only a couple of choices, I went with beef noodles and they were pretty ordinary, not much better than something you’d get in economy on Cathay Pacific.
Waking up you get a breakfast, some omelette which was not bad, but again not great, and a good and healthy portion of some nice fruit and the usual fruit juice and things. The breakfast was way better than the dinner or supper, and about 10 times better than the slop they serve you up in Turkish Airlines Economy Class (which you can read about here).
I asked for some headphones and got snapped at and told they’d be giving them out soon. Meanwhile the fella next to me was given some, as well as about 3 amenity packs. Speaking of which, they give out a nice, soft Bentley branded toilet bag with the usual goodies – socks, eye thing, lip balm, a comb (has anybody actually used the comb?) and the like. That was probably the nicest thing about Turkish Airlines Business Class Hong Kong to Istanbul. When the headphones did get given out, they were these nice looking Denon’s. Not that comfortable and not noise cancelling, but alright.
The seat is a flat bed, but not that flat, and not that comfortable. They give out a sleeping bag thing to cover your seat but I was in the middle of eating when they asked me and never got asked again if I wanted it on, so can’t comment if that made a difference or not. I got bugger all sleep, but I get bugger all sleep whatever time and whatever airline I’m flying. The Turkish Airlines Business Class Hong Kong to Istanbul flight was really bumpy. Not in term of strength, but it’s the most turbulence in terms of time I’ve ever felt on a long haul flight. Obviously that’s not the airlines fault.
The staff, other than the little incident mentioned, were overall pretty good. Quite friendly, professional and nothing to complain about. I’d say they’re as good as Qantas or Air New Zealand and better than Cathay Pacific (who’s crew, especially in Business, tend to be stuck up and think they’re absolutely brilliant because the serve you food, clean toilets and show you the emergency exits on a plane).
I don’t think I’d pay to fly Turkish Airlines Business Class Hong Kong to Istanbul or any business class for that matter on Turkish Airlines again, only because if I’m going to pay that much money, I don’t want someone sitting that close to me. The privacy you get on Cathay is much better. Having said that, overall it was a good experience, but I don’t think it’s worth paying the extra to fly business, especially having flown economy. Of course, you don’t have to deal with the things that go with flying economy, but the seat wasn’t that great.
Read about Turkish Airlines Economy Class Hong Kong to Istanbul here or visit our Istanbul travel pages here. Any questions regarding Turkish Airlines Business Class Hong Kong to Istanbul, as usual ask us on Twitter.
