In light of the current mayor of the city of New York who apparently has a penchant of flying as a passenger with Turkish Airlines — which led to legal problems for him, among other things — I realized that I never did impart my first time as a passenger with Turkish Airlines from New York to Belgrade via Istanbul back in October of 2022.
My First Time As a Passenger With Turkish Airlines — and The Verdict Is…
“For nearly a decade, ADAMS has used his prominent positions in New York City government to obtain illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel”, according to this official press release from the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York. “ADAMS solicited and accepted these benefits from foreign nationals, businessmen, and others. ADAMS then pressured the New York City Fire Department to facilitate the opening of a foreign government’s Manhattan skyscraper that had not passed a fire inspection. To conceal this criminal conduct, ADAMS took steps to hide his receipt of improper benefits from the public and law enforcement.”
The “luxury travel” portion of that statement refers to Eric Adams traveling in the premium class cabins of airplanes that were operated by Turkish Airlines, of which I will now impart my experience with the latter — but in the economy class cabin and not the premium class cabin.
Booking a ticket with Turkish Airlines is generally the standard experience of booking a ticket with most other legacy airlines.
The amount of pitch between rows of seats in the economy class cabin — which is the distance between the back of your seat and the back of the seat in front of you — is 79 centimeters or 32 inches. The width of each seat is 45 centimeters or 18 inches. Seat recline is six inches. The colorful head rests of the cloth seats were separate and adjustable.
I had no complaints about the leg room. It was not restricting or confining to me. The seats were reasonably comfortable. Inside the seat pocket was a safety information card for the airplane.
I liked the ability to use the in-flight entertainment system to choose a camera to see what is going on in real time — although the sudden appearance of a truck and how close it seemed startled me for a split second.
Ahh…this view of Jamaica Bay is much better.
The tracking of the flight to Istanbul had numerous controls and views…
…as well as all sorts of information as to what was going on in real time — including the true airspeed, altitude of the aircraft, its pitch and roll, and its heading.
The one bit of information that was missing for Turkish Airlines Flight 4 from New York to Istanbul was the actual registration number of the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft — but tracking the flight kept me entertained for much of the duration of the flight.
I believe that the registration number of the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on which I was a passenger was TC-JJZ — which means that the airplane is currently 9.5 years old.
In 2022, passengers who were:
- Seated in the Business Class cabin can use up to one gigabyte of Wi-Fi at no additional cost
- Elite and Elite Plus members of the Miles & Smiles membership program can use up to 400 megabytes of Wi-Fi at no additional cost
- Classic and Classic Plus members of the Miles & Smiles membership program can use up to ten megabytes of Wi-Fi at no additional cost
The first hot meal arrived not too long after departure from New York.
One choice was a breast of chicken that was served with potatoes and vegetables — as well as cucumber salad, a salmon appetizer, a warm roll with butter, and a slice of cake.
The other meal choice was pasta shells in a tomato sauce with a slight amount of cheese and chunks of grilled eggplant. Both meals were very good. The tray table was of a typical size that is similar to those offered by other airlines; and it folds out in case only half of the tray is needed.
The lavatory was quite clean but nothing special. At least enough room was given to wash hands under the faucet without hitting anything.
I do wish more lavatories had the ability for a passenger to use his or her foot to open the waste flap, which was quite convenient and sanitary.
Between the sink and the toilet is a window whose shade was shut at the time this photograph was taken. A bar is available on the wall on the other side of the toilet to aid users in getting back up after using the toilet.
In addition to liquid soap, a dispenser of Eyüp Sabri Tuncer Aqua hand and body lotion was available. Both containers rested in a wooden base with the Turkish Airlines logo branded on it.
The economy class cabin contains 300 seats aboard the Boeing 777-300ER airplane.
Lights in the overhead control unit above can be controlled from the seat — but no air vents were included; so temperature could not be controlled.
The second meal was served not long before arrival into Istanbul.
The entree was scrambled eggs with chopped warm tomatoes and cooked spinach. Assorted cheeses, a bowl of fruit, and a warm roll with butter were served with it.
Plenty of room was available in the overhead storage bins.
The Flight Experience: Second Flight From Istanbul to Belgrade
The seats aboard this Boeing 737-800 aircraft were similar to those aboard the airplane for the first flight — except that these seats were leather instead of cloth — and the leg room was similar as well. The colorful head rests of the leather seats were separate and adjustable.
The design of the overhead control unit was markedly different than that of the one aboard the airplane during the flight from New York to Istanbul. At least it was equipped with air vents. The activation of the reading lights required reaching up to the overhead control unit.
I seemed to have at least as much leg room aboard this airplane as I did on the first flight — if not more so — and plenty of entertainment options were available via the in-flight entertainment system, which was equipped with a Universal Serial Bus or USB port.
Similar to the first flight, plenty of room was available in the overhead storage bins — which eventually filled up with baggage.
The meal was served. Breakfast included sliced turkey breast with kasar cheese, white cheese, sliced tomato, sliced cucumber, a black olive, and a green olive.
I did not particularly care for the turkey breast or the cheeses. I really liked the sour cherry jam.
I never needed to use the lavatory on the second flight; so I did not take photographs of it.
Final Boarding Call
Both flights were a pleasant experience, as virtually everything pertaining to these flights went well. I would certainly consider flying as a passenger on Turkish Airlines in the future.
The round trip itinerary cost a total of $612.77 in United States dollars — and it was an “open jaw” itinerary, which means that I traveled to Belgrade in Serbia but I returned from Tirana in Albania.
The only question is what happens when things go wrong, which thankfully did not occur with any of my flights…
All photographs ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
