You may not have heard of SunExpress. I hadn’t, so before I made my first booking with the airline, I did a bit of research. SunExpress has actually been around since 1989 and is a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Germany’s Lufthansa. So it has the pedigree if not the profile.
Well-connected
SunExpress serves 11 airports in the UK alone, among them Bristol, Glasgow and Leeds Bradford. It flies from no fewer than three London airports: Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Popular destinations from Gatwick include a number of Turkish resorts, including Dalaman, Antalya and İzmir, as well as more far-flung destinations, such as Dubai, Beirut and Tbilisi.
Fare classes
SunExpress is a budget airline, so you will probably be picking your fare class with cost rather than luxury in mind. There are three types of fares: SunLight, SunEco, SunClassic and Premium.
SunLight
SunLight is available on some international flights and would work for a city break – or if you are planning just to pack a couple of your favourite bikinis! It does offer travellers the option of adding checked luggage and other benefits at a later stage in the booking process, however.
SunEco
Next is SunEco. Its free baggage allowance extends to 30kg on international flights other than to Antalya, Bodrum, and Dalaman (20kg). Passengers flying within Turkey qualify for 15kg of free baggage with a SunEco ticket.
SunClassic
One step up is the SunClassic fare, with a free 35kg baggage allowance on international flights, 25kg to Antalya, Bodrum, and Dalaman, and 20kg on domestic flights. I found 25kg of luggage more than enough for a fortnight by the coast in the summer. SunClassic includes a standard seat reservation, and SunFlex 7, enabling passengers to rebook up to seven days before departure, free of charge. This fare includes still water and a snack box.
SunPremium
SunExpress’s most expensive fare option is SunPremium. Again, it offers an increased free baggage allowance: 40kg on international flights, 30kg to Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, and 25kg on domestic flights. Passengers have the choice of a standard seat and one with extra legroom. A pre-ordered ‘Premium Meal’ and one non-alcoholic drink is included, as is SunFlex 3, which enables passengers to rebook up to 3 days before departure free of charge. The meal option applies to both domestic and international flights.
Check-in
SunExpress offers online check-in and boarding passes via its app. Possibly due to Turkish regulations (I experienced this with Turkish Airlines too), I was unable to access an online boarding pass and had to queue to check in at the airport, despite already having done so online. It’s worth factoring this in when deciding how early you should be at the airport.
It’s also worth noting that SunExpress charges an extra fee per passenger if you have chosen not to check in online, opting for the in-person experience instead. I have not heard of any other airline doing this and it doesn’t sit well with me. Not everyone has access to the internet and not everyone is confident carrying out tasks like this online.
I think SunExpress still has work to do on its online offering. Other budget airlines have very slick, user-friendly, apps and websites. SunExpress is not quite there yet. For instance, when you select the English language option on its website, you will find that the drop-down list of routes gives country names in Turkish only. Thanks to Google Translate, I now know that United Kingdom in Turkish is Birleşik Krallık, but glitches like this can be offputting.
At the gate
My first experience of SunExpress involved a significant delay and a degree of chaos, although I should note that the airline was not at fault. I was flying the day after bad storms had forced large-scale cancellations of flights, with the inevitable knock-on effects. The airport was packed, and it being early autumn, there were a number of pre-school age children at the gate. Top travel tip: never leave home without your headphones!
There was not a great deal of communication with the airline during this delay, but this seemed to be the case with other airlines too and was more a reflection of the situation than SunExpress. Fellow passengers who had switched from other airlines due to cancellations seemed – like us – to be new to SunExpress, but delighted to discover a new option.
Space on board
My partner is 6ft 4in and was happy with the standard seat – this isn’t always the case when we fly with budget airlines. He was relatively comfortable flying between the UK and Turkey, although it might be a different story on a longer flight – four hours, he says, is pretty much his limit without extra legroom.
Amenities
They say you get what you pay for and at the risk of repeating myself, SunExpress is a budget airline. My experiences were positive but I use budget airlines all the time, so I wasn’t expecting any frills. And I didn’t get them!
On a return flight from Dalaman to London Gatwick, I sat next to a young couple. He watched a film on his phone while his girlfriend just sat there for four hours staring into space. My big tip – and this isn’t anything new or revolutionary – is to bring something to read, watch, or listen to. If you need to be distracted, or you don’t want to spend hours twiddling your thumbs, you will have to entertain yourself.
On-board catering
We tend to pre-order our food when flying with SunExpress, knowing from experience that arriving at night will make it harder to find somewhere to eat. It’s just one fewer thing to worry about on arrival, and worked out especially well on our first, delayed, SunExpress flight.
We have been more than happy with the SunLight snack boxes provided, not least that they were delivered to us in our seats, labelled with our names – there was something delightfully old-fashioned about it. The snacks were good quality, among them the cake-type biscuits so popular in Turkey. Our only quibble with the food is that the water came in a little foil-sealed plastic pot which, once opened, could not be resealed. It was also perhaps on the small size, given the length of the flight.
SunExpress offers a comprehensive range of pre-ordered meals options. I am yet to try it but am delighted to see that they have a vegan option. I consider this on the pricier side, but my experience of Turkey has been that it is difficult to find vegan food away from resorts and major cities, so it might make sense to eat en route.
Cabin crew
Preferring to pre-ordering refreshments means that my interaction with SunExpress cabin crew has been minimal, but I have been happy with any dealings I have had with them. Then again, as long as I am fed and watered, have my earphones and something good to read, I like being left to my own devices!
On my much-delayed first flight with SunExpress, the crew ushered us on board quickly and efficiently, obviously keen to make up lost time.
Loyalty programmes
The ‘Sun Express your benefits’ loyalty programme has been revamped. Originally a “Fly 10 times and get 1 free flight” offering, the new programme awards 1 point for every €1 spent. These can be redeemed against SunExpress flights and other services and products. The more often you fly, the better the benefits, and points remain valid for 24 months after they are credited.
There are three types of membership: Welcome, Silver, and Gold. Upgrades depend on how often you fly within a certain period. For instance, flying with SunExpress more than four times in 18 months will bump you from Welcome to Silver status. Reaching the dizzying heights of Gold Status will take a further 10 flights over 18 months.
Is it worth it? Of course it depends how regularly you fly with the airline. If you are heading to Turkey on a regular basis, for work, or to visit family, even to your second home, by all means sign up. If you are a casual visitor, you may find this is just another loyalty scheme that you neither need nor use and just end up leaving years later, without ever having seen the benefits.
Unexpected offerings
It’s worth noting that SunExpress offers a golf package from all flights to and from Antalya. This package includes a reserved seat and a golf bag weighing up to 23kg. The package can be booked with the SunEco fare up to 36 hours before departure. Antalya Airport is just 30km from Belek, considered one of the best golfing destinations on the Mediterranean (with beaches and thermal spas for family members less keen to spend their holiday on the greens). SunExpress has an extra charge to carry other sports equipment.
This KAYAK-commissioned article is presented as-is, for general informational purposes only, and may not be up to date. The opinions contained in the article are original to the author and reflect their authentic experience, which may vary significantly from the experience of others. Find more perspectives in our user reviews below.
