Through its connecting hub in Istanbul, Turkey, Turkish Airlines provides connecting flights throughout Europe and the Middle East. If you chose carefully, you can find a wide body aircraft configuration with a fully flat business class seat. The majority of the time, its rivals offer business class with an economy class seat that is usually blocked in the middle. How would our medium-distance trip within Europe compare on this wide body experience?

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Jordan, Israel and France during the end of the pandemic. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class B777-300 ER, Ben Gurion International Airport Tel Aviv – Istanbul International Airport

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When I booked these series of flights, I deliberately routed us onto their wide body Turkish Airlines products. Todays flight would have us on their Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300 ER Business Class product.

We’ve previously flown Turkish Airlines Business Class Boeing 777-300 ER on Turkish Airlines Business Class Toronto – Istanbul, and Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Toronto. This flight would mark just as comfortable an experience.

This flight was booked directly online using the Turkish Airlines website. We would end up crediting these flights to Air Canada’s Aeroplan frequent flier program, allowing us to earn 110% Redeemable Qualifying Miles.

Boarding Turkish Airlines Business Class:

We checked into Turkish Airlines Business Class at Ben Gurion International Airport and spent some time in The Dan Lounge Tel Aviv Concourse C. Access to The Dan Lounge lounge was included with our ticket.

We left the lounge and headed up to our departure gate D6. The gates at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv are easy to find, with easy access through moving escalators.

Unfortunately, much like many of our past Turkish Airlines experiences, there wasn’t a lot of line management going on today. After a twenty minute rolling delay, boarding was called without any line management. We had a crush at the gate to get on.

Turkish Airlines    

TK 785  – Business Class (J)

TLV – IST (Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport – Istanbul International Airport)

October 22, 2022

10:30 AM – 12:15 PM (scheduled)

10:47 AM – 1:00 PM (actual)

Booked: Boeing 777-300ER

Flown: Boeing 777-300ER

On Board Turkish Airlines Business Class:

Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 777-300 ER is their flagship long range aircraft with their highest seating capacity. Despite the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft being their long range aircraft, their Turkish Airlines Boeing 787-8 aircraft actually features more state of the art business class seating.

Turkish Airlines Business Class on their Boeing 777-300 offers seating in a 2 – 3 -2 configuration. The outer seats offer a fully lie flat seating experience, and offer plenty of room to navigate in and out of the seat pod.

There is a small foot rest pad at the base of each seat compartment. The seat pad also has integrated storage for purses and shoes.

The center bank of three seats is a different story. While a two person configuration is great for those on the outer seats, there is one unlucky passenger that may get stuck in the center bank of three seats with no direct aisle access.

The Turkish Airlines Business Class cabin views were pretty reasonable. The cabin was bright and airy, despite having overhead lockers in the centre cabin.

I settled in and explored some of the features of the Turkish Airlines Business Class seat on this particular aircraft. The seat controls have a multi directional lumbar support, head support and leg support along with a massage feature. The massage feature was great to test out once, but something that you’re not likely to engage with during your whole flight.

Our seat also had direct USB power, a two prong headphone jack, and Empower power port available for laptop charging.

The seat ottoman featured a storage container. While it wasn’t large enough to fit laptop bags, it was large enough for shoes, slippers and other loose items.

The Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300 featured individual lights but didn’t feature individual air nozzles. I really miss the ability to adjust my own air flow when it isn’t there.

Overall, the seats were exceptionally comfortable for a three hour flight. While the cabin wasn’t the most state of the art in terms of modern day conveniences, it was comfortable enough for a medium or the occasional long haul flight.

Pre Departure Services:

We had a pre-departure offer of orange juice, water or the usual terrific lemon mint beverage. I stuck with tradition and went with the lemon and mint.

Being a short haul flight, there was no offer of an amenity kit or other amenity bag.

Departing Tel Aviv Internatonal Airport:

We had a smooth departure from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport. With spotting of El Al aircraft on the ground, we were underway quite quickly.

Our flight track took us out on a westward track outwards over the Mediterranean Sea. We had a terrific coast line view of Tel Aviv as we climbed to altitude.

The views left me with a great impression of Tel Aviv, Israel and I hope to visit again on way.

The Meal: A Breakfast

After we got to cruise altitude a towel service was offered. Turkish Airlines headphones were also distributed in a dual pin format with an eco friendly plastic bag.

As a breakfast flight, we were offered a breakfast menu. The menu has a darker look and matches the darker seat decor of the Turkish Airlines Business Class cabin.

I ended up getting the last Kasar Cheese Omelette, whereas MrsWT73 went with a continental offering. The breakfast was the right mix between a European breakfast with olives and a western offering (which I was craving by this time).

Much like my last regional meal, it was a full meal course, although the breakfast portions were not overly huge.

While the sand passed through the hourglass, and I was snacking on my meal, I watched the flight pass by using the flight information screen.

Landing at Istanbul, Turkey:

Our arrival into Turkey had us arriving to the new Istanbul International Airport. It was a beautiful day arriving into Istanbul, and we had terrific views of Istanbul and a harbour that was fully packed with ships.

We also had a short “view from the wing” walk down memory lane as we over flew over the old Istanbul Atatürk International Airport that previously served the city. I was intrigued to see a few aircraft parked at the gates there as we passed overhead.

We arrived on the ground parked next to another Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300 ER. We headed off into the Istanbul International Airport. Given that we arrived from a country outside of the European Union, we were loaded onto an international arrivals concourse as we headed to arrivals.

We located our international transfers connection portal, and were able to locate a fast track screening area for business class passengers. This would be among the first priority services we’d actually receive as Turkish Airlines Business Class passengers.

After a visit to the Turkish Airlines Lounge Business Istanbul, we’d continue with our next connecting flight on Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Paris.

My Thoughts on Turkish Airlines Business Class:

Our Turkish Airlines Business Class experience on the Boeing 777-300 ER was much better than flying a narrow body aircraft between Europe and the Middle East.

While the aircraft was solid and offered a terrific fully flat seat, the priority services at the out post station of Tel Aviv were pretty non existent. Being swarmed at the gate isn’t something that speaks exclusivity, even if it is a wholly first world problem.

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If you flown Turkish Airlines within Europe, how do you find it’s regional services surrounding Turkey ?

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