It appears that Turkish Airlines is seriously considering the return of premium economy to its longhaul aircraft, a welcome move that brings back fond memories of “Comfort Class.”
Turkish Airlines Considering Bringing Back Premium Economy
Turkish was one of the original carriers to introduce premium economy and back in the day (dating back 15 years), I flew it often. It was branded “Comfort Class” and offered larger recliner seats in a 2-3-2 configuration on the Boeing 777-300ER.
Here are some pictures I took of the seat, meals, and amenities:
In 2013, Turkish announced it was removing Comfort Class due to “insufficient demand.” Even today, I highly question that narrative and think the real reason was that Turkish was a victim of its own success…the upgraded service and comfort in Comfort Class at a much more reasonable price point, came at the real expense of people booking away from business class, which at the time was magnitudes more expensive than premium economy.
When asked by Skift in 2024 why Turkish eliminated Comfort Class, Turkish Airlines Chairman Ahmet Bolat explained:
“You might remember in the old days we had premium economy on our Boeing 777s. It was meant for business travelers who couldn’t afford business class seats. However, nowadays the price we set for our business class is very affordable, so there is no need really for a premium economy.”
Whatever the reason may be, airlines have broadly found great success in premium economy class over the last decade and more often find that it encourages passengers to spend more to move up from economy class to premium economy class rather than cannibalize business class.
2PAXFly notes that Turkish sent its Miles&Smiles loyalty passengers a survey at the end of 2025 that included many questions on premium economy:
The survey asked passengers to rank priority features in a potential premium economy cabin, what would influence their decision to buy a premium economy ticket, how meals should be served in that cabin, and how much extra they would be willing to pay for more legroom and wider seating on flights of various lengths, from 2.5 up to more than 8 hours.
At the very least, this shows that Turkish is considering premium economy once again.
Turkish offers excellent cuisine in all cabins of service, but I absolutely think there is room for a premium product that offers a wider seat with more recline and more refined dining. Priced right, this could be a viable option for many passengers who are willing to pay more, but not pay for business class (sometimes dictated by corporate travel policy).
It has been noted that some ex-Aeroflot Airbus A350-900s already have premium seats onboard, which Turkish already sells at a premium. That’s a starting point, but one other problem Turkish ran into with its former Comfort Class was that only a limited subfleet of 777-300ER had premium economy seats installed, which made aircraft swaps and connections (when passengers were downgraded to economy class) difficult.
CONCLUSION
Turkish Airlines is considering premium economy again and I think that makes a lot of sense. As Turkish Airlines expands further around the globe and concentrates on ultra-longhaul service like nonstops to Australia, a premium economy cabin would be a passenger-pleaser and also good for the carrier’s bottom line.
never should have got rid of it
And they also should see their front cabin on their narrowbodies as comfort class, not business class, as they do not have flat beds, but merely recliners
The TK shorthaul fleet doesn’t operate routes beyond Europe, north Africa and the near East meaning sectors of up to four hours. I can’t think of a carrier that routinely offers full flat seats on sectors like that. The shorthaul business class offering is better than anything else in Europe so there’s no need to do any better.
And even sometimes to Europe ans MENA you csn get a widebody with a lieflat seat.
Matthew a year or two did a review where there was a 7 hour flight on a TK narrowbody
That should be sold as comfort class, not business
If there is no flat bed, it is premium economy, not business class
and their issue before was selling it too cheap. Instead of removing comfort class, they simply should have raised the price
I think all airlines should attempt a premium economy class for long-haul, wide-body aircraft, where applicable. Seems like a good idea.
Since Turkish Airlines is a state-owned airline, I might add, please, do not appease authoritarian Erdogan by referring to the English name of that country as anything other than Turkey; also, release İmamoğlu; also, also, it’s overdue for Turkey to formally recognize its genocide against Armenians and Greeks in the 1910s/1920s.
It is formally overdue for the US to impeach Trump, stop funding Israeli genocide, apologize for the Native American genocide and pay reparations to African Americans for slavery and segregation.
You likely were being sarcastic, but, all valid, one way or another. Accountability isn’t easy, but it is necessary.
Trump has already been impeached twice. It’s overdue for a third (on many, many violations of our laws and Constitution) and to actually remove him this time.
Yes, slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, the Trail of Tears, etc. are all bad, have been recognized, and probably not enough has been done to ‘make it right,’ still.
Add a few more disgraceful acts committed by our government, historically and more recently: Internment of Japanese Americans in the 1940s; Tuskegee syphilis study; forced sterilization programs; murdering civilians via drone strikes; basically, all the war crimes the Philippines (Samar campaign, 1900), Hiroshima and Nagasaki (albeit, to end the war, some debate its necessity), Vietnam (My Lai, 1968), Laos (all the ordinance, still there), torture, Guantanamo. And that’s before we even get to more Trump-era stuff.
Still, it’s a false equivalence when discussing Turkey, because the USA has done more good than bad, lifted more people out of poverty, defended freedoms at home and abroad, and we’re able to openly discuss the ‘bad’ and fight for remedies were possible, unlike other regimes, who deny their own problems, preferring to engage in whataboutisms and totalitarian lies instead.
Says the guy who patronizes the ME3+. How do you spell hypocrisy or kafala?
Nice whataboutisms you got there.
By all means, please, stop human rights violations everywhere. As for the US, we have our fair share of H-1B abuses by employers as well. No, not South Asians in Dubai construction-level bad, but, problems.
However, that doesn’t mean that you boycott all entities associated with UAE or US, etc. Otherwise, you’ll need to become a hermit. Are you a hermit?
No, but I don’t repeatedly pontificate about Turkey’s atrocities. But hey, that kind of inanity is par for your course of posts.
If we don’t speak-up about the things we care about, then, what are we even doing here?
Doing 2-3-2 on a 777 is impressive. Industry norm is 2-4-2 on 777s and 350s (which is what they use today). As a perpetual solo traveler, I’d prefer the standard 2-3-2 found on 787s and 330s, because I’d grab an aisle in the “3” section. If the other two are traveling together, middle seat person is usually not the wider one (if one is wide and one is not) and normally goes over/past their partner for lav breaks. At least, that was my experience with Y in 767s. In a 2-4-2 arrangement an aisle “4” seat often puts you next to a solo pax with a couple on the other side who is often ticked to be in the middle. Or, at least that was my world flying Y on 330s.
Of course the best PE, I imagine, is the 2-2-2 on the 767. The middle two seats give you aisle access and no need to get up to let someone out. While I’m committed to J on international travel, I’d seriously consider flying PE if the 767 was the only option. I never want J in a DL 767 again (and only had that because of late arriving first flight). UA seems to have thought it through better.
That’s a good point (about 2-3-2 vs. 2-4-2) on the 777.
And, how thoughtful of you to not want to interrupt the couples with your own seat selection (until there’s a family of 3 or 4 that wants the whole middle-section of PE.. uh oh… no good deeds go unpunished!)
Bringing up politics on a site about Airlines? Mad at Trump and Erdogan? Irrelevant. So I took a Turkish Airlines flight from Newark to Istanbul last year. It was the most comfortable flight I was ever on. I did not buy an expensive seat yet got all kinds of amenities . The aircraft was a new Airbus model. Very comfortable. I would use this airline again. Not sure what Trump and Erdogan have to do with this. I suppose Erdogan is in charge. I didn’t go to Istanbul to argue with Erdogan. Oddly enough the Airline called my seat “premium” yet it was cheap.
Stuart, the ‘no politics’ retort is cute. If it deals with people, money, power, culture, travel, you’d bet it intersects with politics. That said, glad you had a nice flight. I’ve flown TK, too. No future plans, but, maybe again, someday. I still use their Versace amenity kit as my toiletries bag. Ooh lala. Take that Erdogan.. LOL.
I AM FLYING WITH KLM TO USA BECAUSE THY HAVE NO COMFORT ECONOMY.
IF THY STARTS AGAIN WITH COMFORT ECONOMY, I WOULD SWITCH TO THY.