Turkey Trot - Getting This Turkey Home

Turkey Trot - Overview
Turkey Trot - First Class
Turkey Trot - Are We There Yet?
Turkey Trot - Ephesus
Turkey Trot - Mary's House and Basilica of St. John
Turkey Trot - Swissotel Efes
Turkey Trot - Taking the Bus and Priene
Turkey Trot - Putting on the Ritz
Turkey Trot - The Blue Mosque
Turkey Trot - Topkapı Palace
Turkey Trot - Hagia Sophia
Turkey Trot - Carpets and Grand Bazaar
Turkey Trot - Dolmabahçe Palace and Taksim Square
Turkey Trot - Bosphorus Cruise
Turkey Trot - Turning Blu
Turkey Trot - Getting This Turkey Home

This is a very long post but it's the last one for this trip....

C and D were flying back to the US on British Airways and American Airlines and their flight left much earlier than mine, so they left early and I got to sleep an extra couple of hours.  Of course, I paid for it on the other end of the trip as I got home much later at night but I got to experience the Turkish Airlines Flagship Lounge as well as the reputed excellent service and catering aboard their planes.

A representative from Sea Song picked me up at the hotel and escorted me through the airport as far as he could, which was through the initial bag scan, the counter service and right up to the Turkish TSA equivalent.  The folks at Sea Song were fantastic and I'd highly recommend them if you'd like to visit Turkey.



Now that I was airside, it was time to check off one of the reasons I wanted to return on Turkish Airlines - the chance to visit their lounge.  If you've ever visited a domestic lounge in the US you're probably wondering why this is a big deal.  And that's because lounges in the US are generally not very good.  In fact, Ben over at One Mile At A Time recently compiled a list of the best lounges in the US and they're operated by foreign airlines, in an international terminal operated by an alliance or run by Amex.

Since Istanbul is Turkish Airlines' global HQ, it makes sense that their best lounge is here as well.  Surprisingly I had to do a bit of wandering to find the lounge.  If there were signs pointing to it, they weren't immediately apparent to me.  That probably means the signs had giant letters pointing the way and I just missed them.  I walked through the door, showed my boarding pass and was granted entry.

Entrance to the Turkish Airlines Lounge

This lounge is massive.  I'd read about it being crowded, and it was, but I also read the trick is to go downstairs since most people seem to stay on the main floor.  That proved to be good advice - but first I had to check out what was offered where I was.

One of the first rooms I passed was a library of sorts with a pool table.

Another part of the lounge featured a piano.

There were a number of different types of seating, including tables made for dining as well as lounging areas like this, with comfortable chairs and coffee tables.

I made my way to the staircase which features the Turkish Airlines logo hanging over stairs that are wide enough that bringing carry-on luggage down them is not an issue.

On both floors refrigerated coolers were scattered throughout the floor offering free juice, soft drinks, water, beer and who knows what else.  Each floor also had small buffets available and I know that downstairs (and maybe upstairs too, though I didn't see it) chefs were at work making hot dishes.  I sampled a few things but was still full from breakfast and was looking forward to the catering on the plane. (That's not something we typically say for US-owned airlines!)

Also downstairs is a golf simulator.  I was looking forward to seeing someone test it out, but unfortunately it was not working during my visit.

I was able to relax for awhile in the lounge then made my way to the gate, where we underwent yet another security screening because we were a US-bound flight.  This time we had to pull out our electronics and turn them on to prove they were working devices and not decoys.

The gate area was quite crowded so I was glad when we finally were able to board the plane via door 2L.

Turkish Airlines 33
Boeing 777
Seat 3K (business class)
Departs: 1305 EEST
Arrives: 1805 CDT (13 hours)

When I made my reservations in February, we weren't yet allowed to select our seats.  But when we were able to make our selections in June, I made sure to call in and reserve a window seat as I wanted to see the views of Istanbul as we departed.  Seating in business class is in a 2-3-2 combination but there's enough pitch (space between your seat and the one in front of you) that's it's not really a big deal to scoot past the person on the aisle.  If this had been a nighttime flight I might have opted for one of the aisle seats in the center section.

TK 33 Seat 3K

The seat reclined to the fully flat position and had intuitive seating controls.  Underneath the entertainment screen was an ottoman that had an open area that was a great place to put my shoes.  I really liked the slippers that were provided and kinda wish I'd hung on to them.  But my backpack was already quite full and I didn't want to try to cram something else in there.

We were also provided with Porsche-brand amenity kit.  It's quite sturdy and I'll keep it and use it for other things when I travel.  It had the standard amenities: socks, lotion, lip balm, toothbrush & toothpaste, a brush/comb and ear plugs.

We had several different pieces of bedding, including two different pillows, a mattress and a duvet (which matched the slippers).  I was amused that a "menu" of the bedding was included!

As a pre-departure treat we were served Limonata, a very lemonade-like drink, and a Godiva chocolate.  Both mysteriously disappeared very quickly from my tray.

It took awhile to get everyone settled, especially one family with two small children.  I don't know if they received upgrades or just didn't plan in advance but they caused quite the stir trying to get people to change seats so they could sit together.  Due to the configuration of the cabin (2-3-2 seating) they couldn't all sit exactly together anyway so I don't understand what difference it would make to have one parent and child sitting one place and the other parent and child sitting together elsewhere.  I also got frustrated that they didn't keep the older child buckled in, even when we went through a good bit of turbulence and the seatbelt sign came on.  My only disappointment with the cabin crew was that they were not more demanding that the parents keep the children buckled up.

Anyway, we finally went wheels up and I got my first aerial view of the city.

Farewell, Istanbul!

Other than what I mentioned above, the staff was great.  They were friendly and when I had an issue with my tray table they did their best to resolve the problem.  The catering by DO&CO was fantastic.

From the appetizers to the soup, the entree and the dessert, everything was wonderful.  We even had a little candle (not real, of course) to light our tray.

After the meal was cleared and the cabin lights were dimmed I watched movies non-stop, including baseball movies 42 and Million Dollar Arm.  By the end of the trip I was really starting to get tired - 13 hours in the air will do that to a body. I think I actually dozed off a bit during some episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  But finally, finally we landed in Houston.

Exiting the plane we were able to make our way quickly to Customs and, thanks to the Global Entry kiosks, zoomed through.  I'd noticed that my boarding pass did not have the TSA PreCheck logo on it.  I was not surprised because the same thing happened in April when I returned from Switzerland.  Since foreign carriers don't participate in PreCheck, they are not able to print that on the boarding passes.  While waiting for my luggage I thought I'd get the United folks to reprint my pass just in case the magic words would appear...but sadly they did not.  Fortunately my luggage came out pretty quickly and I only had a very short wait to go through scanners.  The hardest part was remembering what all had to be taken out of my carry-on (computer, tablet, etc) and removing my shoes - things I don't have to do in the PreCheck lane.

I made my way to the concourse for my flight back to Memphis - only to find that since it's a regional jet concourse, they only open it up very shortly before the flight is to leave, since there's nowhere to sit past a certain point.  So I wandered a bit, stretching my legs after the long flight.  Then we were finally allowed to go down to the gate...where we stood around for awhile only to find the plane had a mechanical issue.

Back up the escalator we went until they found us another plane in a different regional jet concourse.  My original flight was scheduled to land at 10:05 PM but it was about 10:50 PM before we finally touched down in Memphis.  But we got home safely and that's the main thing.

And so the Turkey successfully got home from Turkey.  It's a beautiful country and we had a great trip but it was good to be home.