Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class, Istanbul-Stockholm

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

For the second time after three years, I celebrated Christmas and New Year in the Philippines, together with the Singelresor group. We were a group of 16 although I guess it could have been more. Our program started in Manila, the capital city and after that, we flew to Cebu to explore the oldest city in the country. Then we had four nights in Panglao where we visited the famous Chocolate Hills, the Philippine tarsier, and did the Loboc River Cruise among others and of course enjoyed the white sand beaches of the island. Then, we flew to Boracay, the world's best island for 2016 according to the readers of the CondΓ© Nast Traveler where we celebrated New Year 😍 From there, we flew back to Manila and took the long bus ride to Banaue to visit the 2000 year old Banaue Rice Terraces. Finally, on our last day in Manila, we visited the famous Pagsanjan Falls before taking our evening flight back to Stockholm. Unfortunately, the snow chaos in Istanbul Airport caused us to have an extra three nights in Manila where we were accommodated in the Belmont Hotel Manila. No doubt, it was one of the best Christmas and New Year celebrations I've had lately and would celebrate it here every year if only I could πŸ˜‰



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Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class, Istanbul-Stockholm

Turkish Airlines business class breakfast, Istanbul to Stockholm

Flight: TK 1793
Departure time in Istanbul (IST): 8:50
Arrival time in Stockholm (ARN): 10:40
Aircraft: Airbus A321-200
Seat: 5A
Duration: 3h 50min
Date of flight: January 11, 2017
*Revenue Ticket, Business Class flight #124

Aircraft

The Airbus A321-200 flying us to Stockholm 😊

Boarding, Gate 210

With lots of flight cancellations that happened the previous days, flights haven't really normalized yet. Boarding was delayed and as soon as it started around 9:05am, those families with kids got priority boarding, followed by those flying in business class and those with status.

Seat

My seat 5A

Already waiting at my seat was a pillow and a blanket. The business class cabin has a total of 20 seats from rows 1-5 in a 2-2 configuration. On that flight, all the 20 seats were taken.

Spacious legroom

Literature pocket and coat hook

Located under the right armrest are the seat controls and IFE controls.

Personal screen

From the movie selection, I watched "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back".

IFE controls

Headphones

Skylife Magazine and other reading materials

From my seat, I saw another Turkish Airlines plane was parked.

As you can see, there's still lots of snow left from the snow chaos the previous days.

Around 9:39am, one of the cabin attendants came to offer us welcome drinks.

Mike and I both settled for lemon mint.

Around 10:03am, the captain came on the PA once again to apologize for the delay due to heavy traffic and that we would start our push back in 10 minutes. An announcement was also made regarding a passenger who was allergic to nuts and we were told not to consume nuts on the plane.

View of the cabin from my seat.

We were also offered newspapers although both Mike and I declined.

Then, the inflight safety video was played around 9:55am.

During taxi, I caught sight of a plane of Zagrosjet, an airline headquartered in Erbil, Iraq.

Around 10:25am, we had our take off.

View after take off.

Dining

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, hot towels were offered. The flight attendant also took our drinks order. I remember seeing an inflight chef on this route on one of my previous flights but this time, there was none. I guess it depends on the time of the day.

Menu card and beverage list

Menu card

Beverage list

My breakfast was served on a tray consisting of hot chocolate, fresh fruit salad, olives, butter, mandarin jam and a plate with coldcuts, cheese, tomato and cucumber. Bread was also offered afterwards.

After enjoying my first plate, my "Traditional Black Sea Region Omelette" was served which tasted good but nothing special. Coffee and tea were also offered.

Airshow enroute to Stockholm

View a few minutes before landing

Airshow enroute to Stockholm

Around 10:57 Stockholm time, the captain came on the PA to give us the updated arrival time of 11:30am. We had a very smooth landing at 11:21am, thanks to the pilot's expertise πŸ˜‰

Arrival at Stockholm Arlanda Airport

SAS planes at Stockholm Arlanda Airport

We parked beside a Ukraine International Boeing 733.

As business class passengers, we were among the first ones to disembark.

We collected our bags from belt 6 and on our way to Customs Control, we passed by these lovely dogs πŸ˜‰

CONCLUSION

I've flown on this route a few times in the past and I really love the fact that Turkish Airlines is using real business class seats instead of the usual economy class seats with the middle seat being blocked. I thought the food was good and the service was also friendly. The delay was not a good thing but I guess with all the flight cancellations Turkish Airlines had encountered in the past days, this was a minor thing and that we were just happy to be back home. Overall, a nice flight.


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