This was our first Turkish Airlines experience in twenty years. After reading other blogs and seeing very positive reviews on Turkish Business Class and Lounge experiences, we were really excited about our flights from Miami (MIA) to Istanbul (IST) and Istanbul to Rome's Leonardo da Vinci (FCO).
The In-flight experience lived up to expectations and set a new bar for our flying and lounge experiences en-route.
I wish the same could be said about the experience getting us into the air. After interacting with Turkish Airlines reservation centers and On-line tools for more than 6 months leading up to our flight, I think I can categorically state are the worst I have experienced. Generally speaking, the on-line tools listed as being available, either don't work, or don't work as expected. On-line check-in -- or more accurately my ability to check Valerie in, but not myself -- followed by the inability of two different Turkish Airlines National Call Center representatives to do it on my behalf before arriving at the airport -- brought needless stress and an earlier than planned departure from home to ensure I actually had a seat on both flights.
Added to this needless complication - which took 15 minutes of unscrewing by the Turkish Airlines agent at Miami International - with no explanation - was the complete inability of Turkish Airlines gate agents to consider allowing us to catch a different IST to FCO flight that was 50% of capacity in Business Class and would have cut our wait time in Istanbul by almost 4 hours. Now, as stated above the Lounge in Istanbul was the best we'd ever been in, but honestly, I'd rather have been to Rome 4 hours earlier. The lack of willingness to even try booking us on the earlier flight was a black mark in our book.
Have you ever wondered whether you will be fed on a Red-eye flight that departs at 9pm and despite your best efforts both on-line, on the phone, and at the airport, no one could tell you if you would have dinner service? So unable to verify we were actually going to be served dinner (breakfast and lunch seemed most likely based on flight time), we ate in the Miami departure lounge.
The shared Business Class/Star Alliance lounge in Miami -- hosted by Avianca - was crowded and noisy. The food and wine were acceptable; the free wifi was also good enough to catch up on email and FB before wheels up. Next time, we'll try the adjacent Premier Lounge in the hope for a more serene experience.
But once we aboard, "No" and "Incompetence" were replaced by "Yes" and complete professionalism.
Our lay flat seats were covered by our flight attendant with a seat "pad" analogous to a mattress pad to make the seat a more comfortable bed.
Menus with our names on them were provided as soon as we were wheels up putting to rest our question about dinner -- and making the appetizers we'd grazed on in the lounge feel like lumps of greasy fast food in our belly.
The experience just kept on rolling... Because in addition to our "By Name" menus, we were given an LED candle to add ambience to our upcoming dining experience which was delivered by elegantly outfitted carts and ordered from appropriately attired Sky Chefs (including Chef Hats) who asked us how we'd like our Filets cooked.
Having done Business/First on Singapore, Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic, United, Lufthansa, Air France, and Delta, I can categorically state this was the most unique and complete dining experience I've experienced aboard an airplane.
The Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul was the best we've experienced. The Singapore Airlines lounge at Changi Airport is wonderful; the Virgin Upper Class lounge at Heathrow is posh -- but neither of them compares to our 6 hour experience in Istanbul. First off, as Business/First passengers on a long layover, we could and did obtain a "Suite" which provided us a twin bed with fresh sheets, a TV, radio, hangers, and a locked door to rest in during our stay. When we got out of bed after a couple of hours, we left our bags in the suite and toddled out to get some food - including hand made tortellinis - and to try our hand on the fully up Golf simulator and adjacent slot car track. Valerie used the Lady's facility on the lower level and came back to grab her phone and take a picture -- it was that beautiful inside.
**** Travel Intelligence Tip ****
If you are traveling through Istanbul and use the Turkish Airlines lounge - head downstairs (it is a two story affair). Downstairs is newly completed and considerably quieter than the upper floor. Our main level Suite while an awesome experience was noisy due to increased foot traffic. There are suites on the lower floor in a much quieter corner of the room.
Our flight from IST to FCO went without a hitch -- and on the 3 hour flight, we were served another great dinner albeit with a little less ambience since we were on a single aisle Airbus.
On arrival in Rome, our bags were waiting for us as soon as we'd cleared passport control - in this instance, our "priority baggage handling" tags really worked. With nothing to declare, we strolled out and began trying to figure out how to walk to the Rome Airport Hilton - our tactical mistakes were two-fold. First, we went all the way out to the the curb looking for signs, then we compounded this error by asking a couple of taxi drivers for directions. The signs to the Hilton were all actually inside the terminal and, if you knew what you were looking for and where, right there on the left when you walked out of customs. And as for directions, taxi drivers are by definition, "Drivers" - they know how to get from Point A to Point B at the airport by auto - they aren't walking. So while we managed to get to the Hilton, we did so in the least efficient fashion and if it had been rainy (which fortunately it wasn't) we would have been soaked when we could have walked by sky bridge from our arrival terminal through the parking/rental garage and directly to the front entrance of the Hilton.
Oh well, live and learn, we were happy we'd picked the Rome Airport Hilton since we had our heads on the pillow 30 minutes after walking out of Customs.
Midnight arrivals put a premium on rapid and hassle free transition from flying to lights out.
Rome Airport Hilton
The In-flight experience lived up to expectations and set a new bar for our flying and lounge experiences en-route.
I wish the same could be said about the experience getting us into the air. After interacting with Turkish Airlines reservation centers and On-line tools for more than 6 months leading up to our flight, I think I can categorically state are the worst I have experienced. Generally speaking, the on-line tools listed as being available, either don't work, or don't work as expected. On-line check-in -- or more accurately my ability to check Valerie in, but not myself -- followed by the inability of two different Turkish Airlines National Call Center representatives to do it on my behalf before arriving at the airport -- brought needless stress and an earlier than planned departure from home to ensure I actually had a seat on both flights.
Added to this needless complication - which took 15 minutes of unscrewing by the Turkish Airlines agent at Miami International - with no explanation - was the complete inability of Turkish Airlines gate agents to consider allowing us to catch a different IST to FCO flight that was 50% of capacity in Business Class and would have cut our wait time in Istanbul by almost 4 hours. Now, as stated above the Lounge in Istanbul was the best we'd ever been in, but honestly, I'd rather have been to Rome 4 hours earlier. The lack of willingness to even try booking us on the earlier flight was a black mark in our book.
Have you ever wondered whether you will be fed on a Red-eye flight that departs at 9pm and despite your best efforts both on-line, on the phone, and at the airport, no one could tell you if you would have dinner service? So unable to verify we were actually going to be served dinner (breakfast and lunch seemed most likely based on flight time), we ate in the Miami departure lounge.
The shared Business Class/Star Alliance lounge in Miami -- hosted by Avianca - was crowded and noisy. The food and wine were acceptable; the free wifi was also good enough to catch up on email and FB before wheels up. Next time, we'll try the adjacent Premier Lounge in the hope for a more serene experience.
But once we aboard, "No" and "Incompetence" were replaced by "Yes" and complete professionalism.
Our lay flat seats were covered by our flight attendant with a seat "pad" analogous to a mattress pad to make the seat a more comfortable bed.
Menus with our names on them were provided as soon as we were wheels up putting to rest our question about dinner -- and making the appetizers we'd grazed on in the lounge feel like lumps of greasy fast food in our belly.
Having done Business/First on Singapore, Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic, United, Lufthansa, Air France, and Delta, I can categorically state this was the most unique and complete dining experience I've experienced aboard an airplane.
The Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul was the best we've experienced. The Singapore Airlines lounge at Changi Airport is wonderful; the Virgin Upper Class lounge at Heathrow is posh -- but neither of them compares to our 6 hour experience in Istanbul. First off, as Business/First passengers on a long layover, we could and did obtain a "Suite" which provided us a twin bed with fresh sheets, a TV, radio, hangers, and a locked door to rest in during our stay. When we got out of bed after a couple of hours, we left our bags in the suite and toddled out to get some food - including hand made tortellinis - and to try our hand on the fully up Golf simulator and adjacent slot car track. Valerie used the Lady's facility on the lower level and came back to grab her phone and take a picture -- it was that beautiful inside.
**** Travel Intelligence Tip ****
If you are traveling through Istanbul and use the Turkish Airlines lounge - head downstairs (it is a two story affair). Downstairs is newly completed and considerably quieter than the upper floor. Our main level Suite while an awesome experience was noisy due to increased foot traffic. There are suites on the lower floor in a much quieter corner of the room.
Our flight from IST to FCO went without a hitch -- and on the 3 hour flight, we were served another great dinner albeit with a little less ambience since we were on a single aisle Airbus.
On arrival in Rome, our bags were waiting for us as soon as we'd cleared passport control - in this instance, our "priority baggage handling" tags really worked. With nothing to declare, we strolled out and began trying to figure out how to walk to the Rome Airport Hilton - our tactical mistakes were two-fold. First, we went all the way out to the the curb looking for signs, then we compounded this error by asking a couple of taxi drivers for directions. The signs to the Hilton were all actually inside the terminal and, if you knew what you were looking for and where, right there on the left when you walked out of customs. And as for directions, taxi drivers are by definition, "Drivers" - they know how to get from Point A to Point B at the airport by auto - they aren't walking. So while we managed to get to the Hilton, we did so in the least efficient fashion and if it had been rainy (which fortunately it wasn't) we would have been soaked when we could have walked by sky bridge from our arrival terminal through the parking/rental garage and directly to the front entrance of the Hilton.
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| Rental Car Offices |
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| Hilton Hotel Icon is top left - start looking on left when you exit Customs and you'll see them |
Oh well, live and learn, we were happy we'd picked the Rome Airport Hilton since we had our heads on the pillow 30 minutes after walking out of Customs.
Midnight arrivals put a premium on rapid and hassle free transition from flying to lights out.
Rome Airport Hilton
It sounds like an interesting tip.Enjoy the rest of it.
ReplyDeletePhyllis