As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’m flying Turkish Airlines from Kuwait to New York Business Class courtesy of the airline. The trip is divided into two stages, the first is a short flight from Kuwait to Istanbul while the second is the longer journey, Istanbul to New York. One of the main reasons Turkish Airlines wanted me to review them is because they’ve gotten a brand new plane for the Kuwait – Istanbul leg of the journey which they’ve recently entered into service.
The new plane is an Airbus A321 and I think it was entered into service around a month ago if I’m not mistaken. First thing I noticed once I boarded the flight was the trendy color scheme of the seats which were dark gray and had minimal red accents and bright turquoise pillows. The seats have built in power sockets, USB ports, a large pull out screen and a remote control. Since the flight is a short one the seats don’t fold down flat into beds but they do recline back a good deal with leg supports as well. Since this was business class there was lots of legroom as well.
The trip going to Istanbul is 3 hours and 20 minutes long. One of the advantages flying with Turkish Airline to the States or any other European airline is the fact your journey starts by flying west which results in a quicker overall trip since you don’t waste time backtracking your flight path (if your journey started by going east for example).
Breakfast was served on this trip and even though I was told by some readers the food would be great I actually wasn’t expecting much for this first stage of the trip. I was wrong since the food turned out to be pretty good. They started of breakfast with some cheeses, labneh, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives. A light combination which I’ve noticed Turkish Airlines likes a lot since there was a similar setup at different stages of my trip (lounge and Istanbul-NY flight). There was also a bit of turkey, freshly squeezed orange juice, fruits, jam, butter and yogurt. Once I was done with my starter I was served a cheese and tomato omelet which was also very good. The whole meal actually made me look forward to the one I would be having on my next longer flight since there would be a chef on board on that one.
It was a pretty good start to my trip. My only quibble and I’m being picky here is the lack of a phone network on-board. The only planes I’ve been on where I could use my phone while flying to check my email and chat on BBM are the Wataniya Airways ones and I’d like to see other airlines introduce this feature as well. Below are some pictures I took on this trip.
Note: I will be posting about my Istanbul to New York flight as well as the lounge in separate posts.
18 replies on “Turkish Airlines – Kuwait to Istanbul”
Did you get some pics of the airport in Istanbul? Is it a new airport? Also, did you get pictures of the business class lounge at Istanbul? What about the channels in the seats? How many movies did they offer? Did it fly into JFK? Did they give you pajamas or a sleep service for your Istanbul/NYC route? We are all spoiled by Emirates/Qatar Airways, so these are valid questions. Currently, Emirates is around 1800KD to NYC, so if they can beat this price out of Kuwait they may get a market going here that will compete with Emirates.
Ah its a new airport that explains it. I had been to the turkish airport back in 99 but it was completely different from the one i landed in yesterday. the airport is really cool and the lounge the best i’ve been to. i didn’t spend long like an hour tops so will post about it on my way back when i get to spend more time there.
i honestly didn’t check the movies on the flight to istanbul since i had my own archos loaded up with shows.
qatar airways was good but my problem with both qa and emirates is you fly east first. so you leave kuwait and then 4 hours later you pass over kuwait again. wasted time..
and i forget the meal ,
The meal was very delicious but the breakfast meal was not very beautiful but lunch and dinner was very tasty and there are many requests from lunch and dinner
am going from the month of July the previous 2012 from Kuwait to Manchester economy class with Turkish Airlines and landed for transit in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport for two hours and and the plane from Kuwait to Istanbul Airbus 321 its advanced aircraft, but a small size from Istanbul to Manchester was a Boeing 737 -800 but it’s not convenient such as the Airbus 321 the Back to Kuwait from London Heathrow to Kuwait airport is also on the Turkish Airlines but the plane trip from London – Istanbul Airbus 330-200 plane was very nice and comfortable and large space and a very sophisticated and from Istanbul to Kuwait was also on the 321 and Turkish Airlines offers excellent service and very has a lot of films from Hollywood and its go to John F. Kennedy Airport and Chicago and Los Angeles
And there is a pillow and blanket to sleep very comfortable
Did you get to see the ‘Comfort Class’ seats on your plane? Were there any on your Istanbul-NY route? This is an interesting concept.
I didn’t check but according to seat guru there should have been comfort class on that route and a large one.
Mark,
Have you flown business from Dubai to Atlanta or NY on Delta? They have the new pod-type seats. Or have you flown Emirates from Kuwait to NY? If yes I’d be interested in your take.
No, I’ve only flown business with Gulf Air, Lufthansa and British Airways so I can only compare with those 3. I can’t remember last time I flew Emirates though since their prices were always a lot more than the competition. Last time I flew to NY was with Qatar Airways and I think it was like half the price of Emirates.
fooood looks soo good
worst airline experience i had was with Turkish Airlines. terrible service, uncooperative and unfriendly.
traveled business class to Spain in the summer. never again.
“do recline back a good deed with leg supports as well.” – you mean good deal here 🙂
I, for one, am thankful that that stupid phone on board service isn’t available on all airlines.
As much disrespect people have of flying laws with respect to mobile phones (for example, not turning them off) – and then blabbering on and on during the flight – I welcome airlines that disable this service.
I would rather they offer data-only and cut off the voice completely.
What were the flight times like?
lol yes deal not deed
Regarding using phones on board I never came across people who spent time on the phone blabbering to a friend or whatever. Keep in mind the rates when calling from the plane really aren’t that affordable so people usually have very short conversations or if you’re like me you just connect to it every now and then to check your email.
Well, in my opinion the Business Class in Turkis Airlines is nothing special and it just has the basic Business Class features. The Business on Gulf Air looks much better and has great service.
This is the short trip flight not the long new York one. Compared to gulf air business on short flights it’s wayy better.
Not necessarily, this eid I traveled to Bahrain on Gulf Air and they had the big flight with the flatbed seats, but it was no use because of the 45mins flight. But i think they put a big plane due to the congestion of passengers.
Wow yeah that’s pretty cool.