Review: Turkish Airlines B777 Business Class, Istanbul-Manila

Christmas and New Year in the Philippines flying Turkish Airlines Business Class

For the second time after three years, I will be celebrating Christmas and New Year in the Philippines, together with the Singelresor group. We are a group of 16 although I guess it could have been more. Our program starts in Manila, the capital city and after that, we fly to Cebu to explore the oldest city in the country. Then we have four nights in Panglao where we visit the famous Chocolate Hills, the Philippine tarsier, and do the Loboc River Cruise among others and of course enjoy the white sand beaches of the island. Then, we fly to Boracay, the world's best island for 2016 according to the readers of the Condé Nast Traveler where we celebrate New Year. From there, we fly back to Manila and take the long bus ride to Banaue to see the 2000 year old Banaue Rice Terraces. Finally, once we are back in Manila, we visit the famous Pagsanjan Falls before taking our evening flight back to Stockholm. As I am currently doing this trip, you can check my trip report on flyertalk for the updates.


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Review: Turkish Airlines B777 Business Class, Istanbul-Manila
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Review: Turkish Airlines B777 Business Class, Manila-Istanbul
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Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER business class cabin

Flight: TK 84
Departure time in Istanbul (IST): 2:35
Arrival time in Manila (MNL): 18:40
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 7A
Duration: 11h 5min
Date of flight: December 24, 2016
*Revenue Ticket, Business Class flight #122

Turkish Airlines Business Lounge, Istanbul Airport

We had about three hours before our flight to Manila and spent most of it in the beautiful Turkish Airlines Business Lounge. Around 1:15am, we left to lounge and slowly made our way to the departure gate.

Istanbul Airport

Istanbul Ataturk Airport departure gates

This is the first time I've been to this side of the airport which is obviously the newer side of the airport.

Aircraft, Boeing 777-300ER

Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER

I've been checking Flight Radar's website for the routes of the Boeing 777-300ER with the livery of BatmanVSuperman and saw that it just flew to Manila the other day so we missed it by one day. Maybe next time 😉

Boarding, gate 230A

Gate 230A

Boarding started around 1:50am instead of the scheduled 1:35am and as usual, business class passengers got priority boarding.

Passenger bridge.

Cabin

Turkish Airlines business class cabin on their Boeing 777 has the main cabin from rows 1-4 and a smaller cabin located behind the lavatory from rows 5-7 with a 2-3-2 configuration and a total of 49 seats in business class. I would say the cabin was at least 80% full.

As I boarded, I was greeted by one of the flight attendants and directed to my seat.

Business class cabin

Seat, 7A

My seat 7A is located in the smaller business class cabin in the last row, and behind us is the economy class cabin. Already waiting at my seat is the blanket. The slippers on the other hand were placed in the magazine rack.

In front of the seat is the ottoman where one could keep smaller items like shoes, headphone case, etc.

Ottoman and personal screen.

The magazine rack is located between the two ottoman.

To the right of my seat is the reading lamp and IFE controls.

Seat controls

Foldable tray

Privacy divider

Under the right armrest, there is the headphone socket and USB socket.

There's also a power outlet.

Lamp, seat belt sign, no smoking sign

A few minutes after settling in, Neset the flight attendant working in our aisle came to introduce himself and welcome us on the flight.

Afterwards, we were offered some predeparture drinks with the choices of lemon mint, raspberry, orange juice and water.

I settled for the lemon mint.

IFE magazine, safety instructions card, Shop & Miles catalogue, etc.

The personal screen is of average size.

Airshow

Airshow enroute to Manila

Around 2:33am, the captain came on the PA to welcome us on board and to give us some flight info including our flight time of 10 hours and 20 minutes.

Moodlighting

Moments later, the flight attendants came with a cart and offered us the Jaguar amenity kit which was the same as the one I got from the Istanbul-Panama flight a few months ago ....

... the Denon headphones (we were informed by the flight attendant that they will be collecting them before landing) and some newspapers although I declined.

Safety video

From the new releases, I ended up watching Jason Bourne. My Denon headset was not working so I borrowed Mike's since he wasn't planning to use it.

Take off around 3:07am went smoothly and within a few seconds, we were airborne.

As soon as the seat belt sign was turned off, the flight attendants started distributing immigration forms and customs form.

We were also asked if we wanted our bed to be made and gladly accepted it.

Turkish Airlines business class slippers

Wifi

Just like the Boeing 777-300ER I've flown from Istanbul to Guangzhou in November, this aircraft also offers wifi connectivity.

Wifi is complimentary for business class passengers as well as those with Elite and Elite Plus status.

Economy Class Cabin

As I was seated in the last row of the business class cabin, I decided to take a picture of the economy class cabin before the rest of the passengers came.

Dining

A few minutes after being offered the turn down service, hot towels were offered which was followed by the menu card and wine list.

Menu card and wine list

Menu

Wine list

Breakfast menu which was later collected after making our choices

Moments later, we were offered some drinks and nuts.

The in flight chef also came to take our main course order and after awhile, our table was set up.

Table set up with the Turkish Airlines signature "candlelight dinner high above the clouds"

For my appetizer, I had the Smoked Salmon with Daikon, white cheese tabbouleh, stuffed sundried red pepper.

I skipped the Roasted Pumpkin and Chickpea soup although Mike had it and which according to him was very tasty.

For the main course, I had the Potpourri of Grilled Seafood which was phenomenal 😋

The other choices were:

Traditional Dolma Varieties
Spicy Chicken Skewer

I was already full by this time and skipped the dessert and cheese and just had some sliced fruits.

Green tea

To end the meal service, we were offered some tea and coffee. It was also followed by a bottle of mineral water and a hot towel.

After watching the full Jason Bourne film, I went to sleep and was able to sleep for a few hours.

View somewhere in Asia

More than two hours before landing, hot towels were offered. Then it was time for our breakfast.

As usual, breakfast was served using a tray. Bread was also offered and since they don't offer a bread basket (unlike Qatar Airways and other airlines) I had to place it somewhere on the tray. Hopefully, Turkish Airlines would eventually serve bread on individual bread baskets.

Mike chose the "Scrambled eggs, tomato and green pepper" for his main course.

While I had the "Flat pastry with cheese and leaf spinach".

Toilet & Lavatory

The lavatory had the usual cologne and hand & body lotion from Eyup Sabri Tuncer. Interestingly, the refreshing towels which used to be offered in the lavatory are now gone.

Business class toilet

A window in the lavatory ... although it's not real.

About 50 minutes before landing, blankets were collected after which, an announcement was made that they would be collecting the Denon headphones.

Landing at NAIA 

Due to congestion, we were forced to make some detour.

From the window, I caught sight of the hotels in the Entertainment City including the Okada Hotel (with the pink lights) which is being advertised as a 7-star hotel.

Finally, around 6:37pm, we landed in NAIA, about 3 minutes ahead of schedule 👍

As usual, we were among the first ones to disembark. Turkish Airlines uses Terminal 1 which is the oldest of all the 3 international terminals. It has been voted as the worst airport in the world time and time again but with the recent make over, it definitely has shown a lot of improvement.

Duty free shop located before the immigration control.

Immigration control went pretty fast and within a few minutes, we were already waiting for our luggage to arrive from the luggage conveyor.

NAIA Terminal 1 arrival hall

NAIA Terminal 1 Arrivals

CONCLUSION

I have flown four times (long haul) with Turkish Airlines in business class for the last three months so I knew more or less what to expect from this flight. The food was very tasty specially the grilled seafood although I wish they would improve their breakfast menu. The flight attendants were friendly (although not the friendliest) so I guess there's still improvement for that. The complimentary wifi was a big plus and the new Denon headsets only show their dedication to improving passenger satisfaction. The amenity kits were actually okay although I wish they would offer better contents like the Bulgari items being offered by Emirates. And maybe a pair of pyjamas on night flights just like Qatar Airways 😊 Overall, it was a very nice flight with great food and service (and reasonable price) and I would definitely fly with them again in the future 😉


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