TURKISH AIRLINES   Passenger Reviews and Passenger Trip Reports an official 4-Star Airline   Add your Turkish Airlines review   Turkish Airlines official 4 Star ranking   Airline Reviews : A-Z Index   2009 Quality Approval Status ? Turkish Airlines Customer Reviews = 191

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  3 July 2009 by Frank Umberman   (Austria)

AMS-IST in business class. Turkish flies this particular flight with an A340. Boarding area complete chaos with rude staff, boarding started without announcement. Cabin very nice with 2 rows of first class seats full flat, configured 2x2x2 and about 3 rows of old style business class seats also 2x2x2. Since this flight was only operated in two classes, passengers seated in the first class section got C service. Lots of upgrades in F and C area, because flight was full, but why upgrade so many families with children? Crew looked tired and not able to welcome, assist or smile. No pre-departure drinks. About the worst inflight safety demonstration I have seen and I counted at least 10 safety violations during take off and landing. Inflight service started with drinks. Couldnt believe that their wine in Business class is in individual style small bottles, great for economy but tacky in C-class. I ordered champagne that was fetched from the galley, and was completely off in temperature. Meal service offered a choice of three dishes. At this point I got that the aircraft had been catered as a narrow body jet, that they use on the other flights. So table cloth was too small, meal tray small and all courses served at the same time. Food okay, but included a small salad with no dressing. Crew seemed to not be able to raise a smile, disappeared and not seen until after landing. This plane was equipped with a full inflight entertainment system, but only offered one movie on one channel and the flightpath channel.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  2 July 2009 by Michael Asher   (Turkey)

Bangkok-Istanbul Economy Class. The trouble with TK these days on long haul is that you never know what to expect. A modern B777 with all the bells and whistles and informative Captains, or an old A340 with mumbling and miserable crew and no video entertainment. My flight was one of the latter. Push-back ten minutes early. As no individual video monitors throughout the aircraft, the safety video was shown on the bulkhead mounted screens in the different cabins. In the main cabin it was not working at all, and trying to watch a small side monitor from six rows away is not easy. Added to which the sound varied constantly between completely silent; crackly and inaudible; and blaring loud. Bizarrely, the briefing before take off and again before landing, advised us to stow all video monitors…. After take-off the main concern was for us to complete and return the Health Declaration forms. Hence although we had been served drinks (crew simply saying “Drink” to non Turkish speaking passengers), it was 1 hour 50 minutes before they started to serve dinner in the main cabin. Meal was excellent although the starter was not as stated on the Menu cards. With no video and poor sound, thereafter nothing to do but sleep. Seat comfortable and pitch good. Two hours before landing a hot breakfast served which was also very good. Prior to landing, but after we had been told to return to our seats, a female passenger could be seen constantly wandering around the Business Class cabin and in the Galley, even after the Captain had told the crew to sit for landing. She also got up again and went in the galley after landing but before we had come on stand. The crew appeared to let her do this without reprimand, so possibly she was off-duty crew, but surely when travelling as a passenger they should behave as passengers. Very soft landing and on stand about 50 minutes early. Overall five points; had any of the crew smiled at least once during the 9.5 hour flight it could have been more.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  26 June 2009 by Robert Phillips   (Belgium)

BRU-IST-BRU. A319/320 with plenty of legroom in economy. Good quality meal/drinks offered. Both flights on time - overall a pleasant and comfortable experience and will use them again.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  17 June 2009 : by P McCarthy   (UK)

LHR to IST, Business Class. If you are do some homework, it is possible to get a superb level of service on this route. Outbound a Boeing 777 operated in co-operation with Jet Airways, inbound I got the Airbus 330. On both aircraft, the cabin is far above anything seen on European routes in business class and makes the competition and their shabby planes a very poor cousin. Note that they fly a variety of different planes between London and Istanbul and taking a narrow-body plane could not come close in terms of comfort, but prices are the same. Pick Carefully! Planes aside, the service onboard was excellent in both directions. The crew were well turned out and in large supply. Cabin presence continuous and most requests met with a gracious smile; some crew's lack of good English made them shy. Newspapers in Turkish and English wheeled through the cabin and tasty four course meals also served by trolley. Impressively, I was at the back on the outbound flight but the crew supplied all three entrees on a tray for me to choose from, unasked. Wasteful, but Luxurious! Drinks selection extensive and of high quality, however, the wines were fine but not a highlight. AVOD both ways. IFE is better on the 777 than the Airbus, but both have large screens and a reasonable international choice of films. So, onboard, a truly excellent experience for such a flight and fantastic value for money. On the ground, handling was rather disinterested at check-in, but both the Heathrow SAS lounge and the THY lounge in Istanbul were good, better than expected. I would recommend Turkish Airlines to anyone wishing to travel to Istanbul.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  14 June 2009 : by Nigel Chism   (UK)

LHR-IST-LHR. What a difference an aircraft makes. Out on A320 with seats that are very cramped (and I'm no giant) and barely acceptable for what is a 4 hour experience. Back on the B777 with very generous proportions and very comfortable - with AVOD too. Catering good both ways.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  13 June 2009 : by David Norwood   (UK)

BHX-IST-BHX and both trips were faultless. Punctuality was fine, meals and drinks were among the best that my group of ten had experienced. Planes were comfortable, crew were helpful and very efficient. I was delighted with the whole experience and would't hesitate to recommend this airline to anybody.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  10 June 2009 : by Richard Matos   (Portugal)

Lisbon to Istanbul. Flight was pleasant, crew friendly and food was great. The seats should be more comfortable, comparing example with TAP seats.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  4 June 2009 : by E Simeone   (Belgium)

Bru-Ist-Bod-Bru C class. Good international services with excellent premium cabin seating. However disaster service for domestics routes. All in all they deserve the 4 star ranking. But be aware of boarding and disembarking when flying domestic. It is a mess and they rapidly loose the plot. Check in agents badly trained but onboard cabin staff well trained. Lounges at Ist airport simply not up to standards.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  18 May 2009 : by G Barin   (Hong Kong)

I think the only problem about Turkish airlines flights is the way cabin crew handles the passengers. Yes they are polite but you can always get the impression that they are being forced to do this job, but not willing to. Cabins are pretty good, meals excellent, fares are inexpensive, timing is generally good, general passenger profile good. English level of the staff is not bad but they have to teach them how to smile if they really want to make people feel like a star as in their commercial ads.

TURKISH AIRLINES review :  13 May 2009 : by Aaron Hugens   (USA)

Istanbul-Moscow-Istanbul. Staff unfriendly and unprofessional. Food was OK but coffee was awful. They are also unaware of the Moscow airport and custom procedures so just dont bother and ask one of your fellow passengers.