Turkish Airlines

The literature states that this place has a capacity for 331 people. There must be at least twice that many here. No seats no food no power sockets. This cannot be called 'business' as it is impossible to do any. All I wanted in my three hour stop over was to charge my laptop send some emails and have something to eat. Impossible. Never using Turkish again to fly on business travel. In summary - overcrowded noisy access to basic facilities that the business traveller needs non-existent and a surly overworked team of staff.

Huge sprawling open-plan lounge rammed full of people with a very random and disorganised lay-out. Also not one real quiet area with groups of people sitting around shouting people listening to iPads laptops on speaker - just very chaotic and not a nice place to wait for a flight.

I travel frequently from IST but typically don't use Turkish Airlines for business so this was my first time in the new lounge. I didn't use the showers nor many of the other amenities but the one's I tried to take advantage of didn't instil confidence. I wasn't impressed with the lounge: I thought they might be having an "off" day so I asked to speak to someone in charge. It took nearly a half an hour to find someone. the excuse for not having an available manager in the lounge was that it wasn't a busy time of the day despite it being 3:30 in the afternoon on a Friday and packed. It was far too busy and loud. If indeed the mornings are busier I would hate to see it. After sorting through the piles of newspapers that seemed to be tossed haphazardly on the tables - they don't use magazine racks - I found that there were no English newspapers in the lounge. According to the lounge manager they "have them but they typically run out in the morning". Knowing that the idea of having some more for the afternoon passengers hadn't occurred to her. Food quality seemed good but accessing catering was very chaotic. For example there are two chefs working in tandem; rather than create a staggered system where some food is constantly coming out of the oven the two of them prepare food together load the ovens together then stand around until they take everything out then start the process again. Of course by the time each batch is ready there is a hoard of people are lined up and instantly they run out until another batch is made. Lockers were an excellent touch and the library was nice though I think that it's more for show than actual use in that it is as exposed and equally noisy as everywhere else in the lounge. A lot of people seemed to be highly irritated with the service on the day I was there and although each one of us seemed to be complaining about smallish problems I got the overall sense that things were simply not up to standard.

I was looking forward to visiting this lounge but my experience was bad. We arrived at 6am from a long Hong Kong flight and had about 90 minutes to rest before the next leg. The lounge was crowded and there were no seats! We wanted coffee and just to relax but there was no place to sit we wandered around for almost 20 minutes before finally grabbing an open seat. All the lockers were also full so nowhere to stash our carryon bags we had to lug them around the lounge too. And to make matters worse the showers were all full for an entire hour. We felt like we were at the Grand Bazaar pushing and shoving our way just to find a seat and a cup of coffee. In a word it was stressful not relaxing at all.

From dedicated baggage screening luggage lock boxes baristas preparing a la carte coffee drinks Apple Computer Stations luxurious bathrooms well furnished and decorated lounges to cordial and helpful staff wife and I were thoroughly impressed with Business Class Lounge. Turkish Airways single Airport Club to serve every category of premium ticket holding passenger or frequent flyer may not be for those seeking exclusivity or tiered service areas yet it worked well for us. Accounting for quality and quantity of food when flying long-haul business class we found food selection and portions appropriate for a lay-over stay in lounge. We were also not expecting nor did we avail ourselves of a private sleeper rooms in Business Class Lounge. I disagree with reviewer stating that Turkish custom of allowing Police officers to eat/drink for free must be stop. I did not observe police coming in and drinking tea/coffee. People in their role as citizens or public or private policy role of any given country that treat those who provide service whether public service / infrastructure or service industry as second class citizens have much to learn from Turkish way if not Turkish Airways! I found it a pleasant surprise when observing Turkish hotel employees eating from breakfast buffet.

Lounge is expansive and nicely furnished with a lot of options for how to spend your time. It can get quite crowded though and while there are lots of drinks on offer the food is limited and more snack based. The reception staff had a smile which ticks that box and the rest seemed very pleasant though they were just picking up cups. Overall nice place to spend time though worth exploring it to find a quiet corner when busy.

Wonderful lounge excellent food and nice drinks. Beside the chefs the TGS ground staff had poor English and provided a very cold and impersonal service.

They offer full selection of hot and cold food wines spirits every sort of soft drink and dessert bar. Showers and suites are available. Wifi is available. Movie room especially handy for children. Prayer rooms available and massage therapist roams giving free chair massages that were amazing.

Excellent catering delicious cakes lots of space for reading relaxing. Wonderful showers and toilets very good internet PC. Like the arabic touch in some areas very clean and state-or-the-art design. Staff must improve in all areas especially at the entrance and waiters.

Pleasantly surprised when I visited after an absence of 10 months. Much bigger and nicer than the old lounge. Lots of food and drinks choices. Washrooms are nicer. I am not sure I like the "minaret" style. Too Arabic for my liking. Must point out the interesting acoustic trait the minarets have caused. If you start hearing random people speaking and there is no one around you don't worry you haven't lost the plot or turned schizophrenic. The minarets carry and bounce voices around much like the whispering gallery at St Paul's cathedral. I could hear some talking a good 40 meters away around a 90 degree bend. The Turkish custom of allowing Police officers to eat/drink for free must also stop. They kept on coming in and drinking tea/coffee. Didn't interact that much with the staff so can't really comment.