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Home  >  Flight Reviews • Turkish Airlines  >  Review: Turkish Airlines A330-200 Business Class Istanbul to Frankfurt
Flight ReviewsTurkish Airlines

Review: Turkish Airlines A330-200 Business Class Istanbul to Frankfurt

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 27, 2018June 2, 2020 10 Comments

Turkish Airlines offers a consistent, above-average product in its European business class. This flight demonstrated, once again, why I enjoy Turkish Airlines so much.

It wasn’t the A330 I thought it would be…I already addressed that in my initial thoughts on this flight. But Turkish Business Class combines the best three elements of a optimal European business class.

  1. Great Lounge in Istanbul – see my detailed review of the CIP Lounge in IST.
  2. Great Seat Onboard – while not true on every flight, the vast majority of flights offer a “real” business class seat instead of a coach seat with a blocked middle. Some flights even have fully lie-flat beds.
  3. Great Food Onboard – often the only difference between economy and business class in Europe is the meal. Turkish never disappoints, with an excellent meal even on shorter flights.

Boarding began one hour prior to takeoff. As I neared the gate, I was surprised to see an Iran Air sign for our flight–

Unfortunately, it was just a codeshare. I have to yet to fly the “Iran Air: The Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran” (it’s actual name).

Anyway, our aircraft was parked at a remote gate and so a bus was necessary to reach the aircraft. No special bus was offered for business class passengers (though perhaps one would have come later…)

I enjoyed the drive to our aircraft — it’s always fun to be so close to so many beautiful planes.

Turkish 1587
Istanbul (IST) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Wednesday, December 20
Depart: 9:15 AM
Arrive: 10:35 AM
Duration: 3hr, 20min
Aircraft: A330-200
Seat: 5A

Climbing the stairs, I found the business class did not feature lie-flat beds, but still featured seats similar to domestic first class in the USA. That would be fine for this relatively short morning flight to Frankfurt.

Excellent legroom:

Seats were adjustable by manual buttons and USB ports (plus ethernet), power plugs, and headphones jacks were present in the center console.

Upon sitting down, a FA greeted me and took my coat, returning with a drink tray. This morning I chose fresh raspberry juice, which was tremendous.

Newspapers and headphones were also offered. Headphones, by Philips, were noise-cancelling:

A comfortable pillow was already on the seat:

My seatmate, a large Ukrainian man who was having a lively conversation on his phone, settled in and snapped at the FA to bring him some water.

We took off late…as always out of Istanbul…but would make up all the time in the air.

Upon taking off, I checked out the IFE, which was identical to the Los Angeles to Istanbul flight I was connecting from. Kudos to Turkish for offering IFE on flights within Europe, something very few carriers do.

I noticed that The Ottoman Lieutenant was available, the Turkish response to The Promise in touching on the sensitive issue of the Armenian Genocide.

Breakfast is Served

Here’s the breakfast menu and bar card for the flight:

Breakfast service began with a huge tray of items including sliced chicken breast, cheese, peppers, cucumber salad, fresh fruit, and bread. Also on the tray: Turkish butter, honey, and Acuka (walnut and tomato spread).

That was more than enough, but next came the main course. The choices were a tomato and cheese omelet or a Gözleme, a grilled flat pastry stuffed with cheese. I love Gözleme, but feeling like I had a enough carbs with all the pide I had in the lounge, stuck with the omelet.

The food is delicious on Turkish. Always. I’ve never had a bad meal in business class.

With two hours left in the flight, I leaned back and attempted to sleep. The seat felt like it reclined about 20º which is enough to take a nap after working the entire night.

> Read More: Trapped in Istanbul Airport!

CONCLUSION

It is usually a good sign when your only disappointment on a flight is that the business class seat isn’t good enough. I’m happy to continue to fly Turkish and am already looking forward to my next trip with them.

> Read More: Turkish Airlines 777-300ER Business Class Los Angeles to Istanbul Review

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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10 Comments

  1. ron Reply
    January 27, 2018 at 2:08 pm

    Well, after the sushi drama this one would have turned me off as both main courses were stuffed with cheese. Impossible to get that through my throat.

  2. AirbusA343 Reply
    January 27, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Pedantic I know, but this is an A330-300. From what I can see, this is TC-LOG, an ex-Skymark A333 with the regional business class.

    • Matthew Reply
      January 27, 2018 at 3:18 pm

      Interesting. My PNR indicated 332 and I saw only Airbus A330 on the side.

      • Fernando Díaz Reply
        January 27, 2018 at 7:02 pm

        It definitely is a 343, per the number of windows than can be seen between doors 1 & 2 .

        • Fernando Díaz Reply
          January 27, 2018 at 7:04 pm

          Sorry, I meant 333.

  3. Oliver Reply
    January 27, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    So what was the “more Eastern” option offered onboard?

    • Matthew Reply
      January 27, 2018 at 5:41 pm

      ?

      • Oliver Reply
        January 27, 2018 at 6:58 pm

        What was the “Eastern” meal choice onboard TK’s IST–FRA flight?

  4. hbilbao Reply
    January 28, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    What are those Ethernet ports for?

  5. dz Reply
    October 12, 2022 at 5:35 pm

    Turkey. is. not. in. Europe.

    Iran Air is the name, the “Airline of IR of Iran” is the slogan, not all part of the actual name.
    And the aircraft is a 333

    and fuck ukraine

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