Review: Turkish Airlines A350 Business Class, Istanbul-Manila

 

Turkish Airlines A350 business class, Istanbul to Manila


Trip to the Philippines flying Turkish Airlines Business Class

Flight: TK84
Departure time in Istanbul (IST): 2:30
Arrival time in Manila (MNL): 19:10
Aircraft: Airbus A350 (TC-LGA)
Seat: 7A
Duration: 11h 24m (actual)
Date of flight: September 22, 2022
*This is an award ticket using Turkish Airlines miles, Business Class flight #233

Video on YouTube



Turkish Airlines Lounge Business

We actually could have gotten a free transit hotel as business class passengers with more than 9 hours in Istanbul but since it was too late when I inquired about it at the reception, we ended up spending our whole transit time in the Turkish Airlines Lounge Business which actually went okay 👍

Aircraft, Airbus A350-900

The Airbus A350 for this flight had a tail registration number of TC-LGA which had flown from London a few hours earlier.

Boarding, Gate B17

Boarding started with those needing assistance and at 1:54am, business class passengers as well as those with status began boarding.

Business Class Cabin

The business class cabin has a total of 32 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration giving aisle access to all passengers, unlike in their Boeing 777.

That night, 26 of the 32 seats were occupied.

Seat 7A

My seat 7A is closer to the aisle than to the window, while Mike´s seat 8A is closer to the window than to the aisle (the seats alternate). I have flown on exactly the same aircraft in April when I flew from Cebu to Istanbul via Manila so I will just be focusing on the service on this flight.

Personal screen

At 2:10am, the captain came on the PA to welcome us aboard flight TK 84 bound for Manila and give us some flight information including our flight time of 11 hours and 15 minutes.

Two minutes later, the inflight chef came to distribute the menu card and wine list.

Boarding was completed at 2:19am.

Pre-departure Drinks

The usual welcome drinks consisting of water, raspberry and orange juice and lemon mint were offered and I settled for a glass of water.

Amenity Kit

A few minutes later, the cabin crew started offering the amenity kits. There was a separate kit for men and women, both of which looked nice. The pouch bag from British brand Hacket had the usual dental kit, earplugs, 3D sleep mask, socks and skin care products from Qiriness (body cream, facial mist and lip balm).

Safety Video, Pushback & Take Off

At 2:35am, the safety video was played as we pushed-back at the same time. We had a long taxi and at 2:54am, we were airborne.

Immigration Forms

Minutes after take off, the cabin crew began distributing Arrival Cards for non-Filipino passengers. We were also reminded to wear our face mask on this flight to Manila.

Hot towels were also offered.

Turn-Down Service

As is always the case on long haul (night) flights, the cabin crew offered to do the turn-down service before the meal service.

Turn down service

A bottle of water was also distributed.

Dining

Menu card and wine list

Menu card

Beverage list

Wine list

The champagne on board could have been Taittinger Brut Reserve but .....

Dinner was started by serving mixed nuts plus a choice of drink, in which case I ordered a glass of apple juice.

The inflight chef had taken the meal orders before take off, where I ordered soup, and the pasta which I had pre-ordered on their website.

The sweet pumpkin soup was very tasty 😋

Bread was also offered and I chose a plain roll.

The Jumbo Prawn Tagliatelle with lobster sauce unfortunately was a bit salty.

Mike had the fish which he thought was okay but nothing special.

For dessert, I chose the Double Chocolate Nougat with Raspberry Sauce which was very good 😋

Mike´s apple strudel was very good.

To end the meal service, hot towels were offered. Interestingly, although champagne was listed on the wine list, Mike was told that they did not have it on the flight 👎

Entertainment

From the movie selection, I ended up watching the continuation of Nomadland and then started watching The Matrix Resurrections.

There was also live TV.

You can also pair your device.

And lastly, there was free wifi although it was unavailable most of the time I tried to use it.

Airshow

Airshow enroute to Manila

Snacks

I was able to sleep for a few hours after dinner and when I woke up found a dental kit and a movie bar menu card on my table. Apparently, they had stopped with the Anytime Snacks display in the galley and had started with the Movie Bar menu.

Another dental kit was offered this time interestingly. 

The last time I flew with them in April, nothing was included in the amenity kit and I had to ask for a dental kit from the flight attendant.

From the snacks menu, I had some chip and chocolates plus a glass of apple juice.

Breakfast

A bit more than 2 hours before landing, breakfast was served. The usual cold cuts, yogurt, etc. was served on a tray.

For drinks, I had a cup of chamomile tea and apple juice.

Between the Turkish pastry and scrambled eggs, I chose the latter although as usual, I only ate the mushroom and tomato 😉

Landing in Manila, NAIA

At 6:40pm, the captain was back on the PA giving us some updated flight information including the current temperature in Manila which was 28 degrees and that we would be landing in 30 minutes.

I used the live camera on the screen to watch our landing since it was dark outside. We landed at 7:17pm and reached our gate 12 minutes later.

Our luggage had priority bag tags so we were among the first ones to collect them although considering the number of business class passengers and status holders on this flight and how many bags each of these passengers had, it took awhile in the end 😉 And yes, there were already Christmas decorations at the airport 🎍

CONCLUSION

I think that Turkish Airlines is doing a good job in general when it comes to business class offering especially with the A350 as all passengers have aisle access (the Boeing 777 is a different story though). The seats are nice and modern, there is free wifi, they have nice amenity kits and the meals they serve are really good although for one who has been flying with them often, it would seem that the menu has not changed in years. They could actually change the pre-departure drinks offering and offer some champagne like other airlines do and have some variations on the breakfast offering. The crew were also okay but not the same level as the crew from Emirates or Qatar Airways. On this flight, I thought there were a couple of things they can improve on. The inflight chef did not check that I pre-ordered the dinner and breakfast meal until he took my orders and I told him about it. Also, the cabin manager came to my seat and asked for my choice of breakfast, when I think she should be the first person to know that I had a pre-ordered meal. The other thing is that they did not have champagne on board when it is probably one of the most common drink passengers ask for when flying in business class. Overall, the flight was very nice and since I paid for this flight using miles, I can not complain 😉

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