The last thing left to talk about my trip to New York is the Turkish Airlines Lounge. On the way to New York I spent an hour in the lounge which wasn’t much time to experience it but on the way back I had five hours to kill so I then managed to properly check everything out.
The Turkish airport itself is pretty nice. There is a good amount of restaurants and cafes with a bunch of known stores like Hermes and Burberry and then the usual bookshops, electronic stores and souvenir shops. It’s not as big as the the Bangkok airport which I always compare to a mall, but still a lot better than most if not all the airports in our region (I haven’t been to the new Emirates terminal in Dubai). The lounge is pretty sweet, you enter by scanning your boarding pass and once you’re in you’re inside a different world. There’s a lot of seating all around the lounge with different moods and seating styles in each section. You’ve also got a lot of food stations scattered all about, some serving dessert, others freshly baked items a couple of hot food stations as well as four salad/snacks/fruit bars located in the different sections. I spent most of the time in a space at the back of the lounge sitting underneath a tree with a grand piano playing by itself in the background. It was very peaceful and cozy away from all the airport hustle and bustle.
Other than the different seating areas they also have a pool table, a kids games room, a mini movie theater, showers, sleeping rooms and a business center filled with iMacs. They also had a masseur who walks around offering complimentary massage as well as the usual free WiFi.
Overall I thought the lounge was pretty well done. You could even leave the airport from within the lounge bypassing the busy immigration counters in the airport. I don’t remember where but I read that they also offer guided tours of the city if you have a long stay over which is what I should have done since five hours is just too long to spend in a lounge no matter how nice it is.
15 replies on “Turkish Airlines Lounge”
Man I loved the experience there. the food was fresh and nice, especially the Fatayer. I loved how fresh the coffee is, unlike other lounges around the world.
I recognize the masseuse in two of the pictures 😛 they need to have this guy in all the lounges. did me good after a long flight 🙂
One more thing I wanted to add is that their toilets are better than other lounges also (maybe it’s new). the Mosque is is excellent and they provide hotel style slippers and towels there to wash up for prayer. props to them
i haven’t been to IST, I went to SAW 4 months ago and it really surprised me. Turkey is just great; you should go if you haven’t.
If the person giving you a massage is male, he’s a masseur, not a masseuse 😉
Great review and nice pics…I like how they managed to create small, intimate zones inside the open space of the terminal. I also love, love, love the arabesque pattern in pictures 2,8, and 9 and wish Arab architects and designers would incorporate it more often in their work!
thanks will fix that now and yeah the arabesque was very cool. its a very traditional pattern but they managed to make it look very trendy. i loved hanging out in that area
i like how your photo’s have this old look..is it an app on the iphone? if yes please share which one. if not, GOOD job with the photography!!! 🙂
Instagram
Can u pay to get into the lounge, or is it just for business and first class passengers?
It looks good ! Have you been at Etihad First class or Business class lounge? it’s just awesome.
Nice lounge but really dull pictures, maybe because it was your Blackberry?
And yes, you should’ve mentioned that this is Ataturk Airport. Istanbul has 2 airports, the other being Sabiha Goken.
Nice review
Do you know what the business class airfare ticket cost KWT-NYC? Right now the tickets are exhoritant, the highest I have ever seen in ten years, but off season I wonder what the cost is to NYC? What puts me off is the 10 hour flight from Turkey to NYC, I can do a shorter flight from the UK. Have you ever been in the Virgin lounge in Heathrow? That is one of the best lounges I have seen and it is quite hip. Thanks for the info
No idea what the prices are. I’ve been to the old BA lounge in their previous terminal and it wasn’t much. Haven’t seen the new one.
See how important a new airport is to a country, Kuwait? Your airport should have started construction over a decade ago, way before Al-Barrak came on the scene. So what’s the problem,man? You’re ooooollld airport can no longer cope with the passenger levels, folks.
Nice shots.. btw Mark which camera do you have?
iPhone 4s with the Instagram app.