I’ve flown Turkish Airlines many, many times over the years, but now I finally get the chance to fly the 777-300 in business class.
Yesterday evening was a beautiful winter day in Los Angeles. It was brisk outside…like 52ºF. Nevertheless, I spent the afternoon in one of my favorite places: the terrace of the Star Alliance Lounge at LAX.
Aided by fire and heat lamps, I remained warm and enjoyed a productive afternoon.
Turkish Airlines actually does not have all that competitive of a business hard product. The lie-flat seat is widely regarded as the worst of all lie-flat variants (although that is sort of like complaining about the the how many macadamia nuts are in your pre-departure ramekin) and there are even middle seats in business class (2-3-2 config).
Nevertheless, Turkish Airlines has some of the best onboard catering, a great IFE system, and onboard wi-fi. I’m looking forward to the experience and hoping for an excellent crew.
My original plan was to spend the night in Istanbul. I even had the Grand Hyatt booked…but then the United States and Turkey decided to start fighting like school children. As of now, I cannot even enter Turkey since visas are not being issued for U.S. citizens who begin their journey in the USA.
Thus, my connection to Frankfurt will be quick. The connection is operated by an A321, which may have real business class seats or may not.
As usual, I’ll provide a preview after the flight followed by a full trip reports sometime after.
> Read More: Turkish Airlines 777-300 Economy Class from Istanbul to Los Angeles Review
> Read More: Frankfurt to Istanbul in Turkish Airlines A330 Business Class Review
Enjoy! I like their business class offering a lot for various reasons, some that you mentioned. I normally sleep pretty well on them (likely helped by staying up all night in the TK lounge 🙂
We just had our return trip to Europe messed up with TK cancelling the evening flights to our destination. That means overnight layover. While checking it out, i found out that if you are a US passport holder and have a permanent/resident permit for another country, you can get a Visa on Arrival. We may give that a shot.
Enjoy your flight!
Live update — TK10 is delayed three hours and I’ll be stuck overnight in Istanbul. Let’s see how this plays out. I’m not sure how long the e-visas are valid, but I last got one in April.
Disagree on these being the worst – I would take this seat (and have flown in it) every day over either the 2-4-2 PMUA or 2-2-2 PMCO seats. More storage + more importantly your feet aren’t encumbered at all by some pygmy-sized space. Plus look at the length of it – no issues stepping over the aisle if you are at the window.
I also disagree on complaints about the TK 77W hard product in business class, with one exception, if you are stuck in the middle of the theee-seat between the aisles section.
Otherwise, the TK seat is true lie-flat and, as UA-NYC pointed out, the foot bench at all business seats allows unencumbered foot room. To me, this is a huge advantage over business class products with cramped foot wells, which are far too common.