Good overall. Seat spacing a bit tight between IST and ISB.
They have adopted a crazy "no paper boarding passes at all cost policy". We spent half an our at the checkin stall – my elderly mother and her grandchildren were flying. She had no phone reception for some reason (besides being an inexperienced smartphone user), the kids had dumbphones, And they still won't issue a paper boarding pass. We had to do a lengthy dance with getting the boarding pass SMS on my phone and transferring them to her phone via WiFi. This was horrible, honestly. I can't imagine how they could manage it without me being there. Trees (and airline profits) should be less important than people.
Changed to older plane with old set-up in Business class.
I had issue with my boarding pass. When I arrived in London Gatwick Airport. My e-ticket wasn't scanning and had to do a lot of back and forth with Air Transit I order to board my flight, which I almost missed as a result of this.
Customer service was poor everywhere. In particular in business class lounge. Stewardess were however excellent. No ability to order more than one dietary restriction in food that created awkward situations when I was offered bulgur due to being diabetic as I was also gluten free
We were charged for checking in our bags! One bag per person was supposed to have been included in the ticket price, and yet Turkish Airlines charged us nearly $200 per bag!
Loved the food. No wheelchair was provided in Sofia even though wheelchair assistance was confirmed by Turkish Airlines
Chicago to Istanbul was a much better experience than I expected since I’m more accustomed to Qatar Airways business class. The business lounge in the Istanbul airport was amazing - loved the lockers and phone charging stations, and the bathroom was a spa experience in itself. The onward leg from Istanbul to Karachi was utterly disappointing. Terrible plane, and I felt like I was in economy - the seats don’t come near to lying flat and the food was mediocre. What a sad downgrade - it isn’t as though the ticket on that leg was cheaper. So, on that front, there’s no contest with Qatar airways.
My seat number was changed unilaterally after confirmed online checkin from widow to aisle. This applies to the Istanbul-Port louis flight. Seat was also changed for the Antalya-Istanbul flight but this was because of aircraft change, I was informed. That flight was delayed because of a technical problem with the original aircraft.
Overall it was good. Food was bad. I ordered gluten free vegetarian meal. But I got gluten free chicken for my long flight from Seattle to Istanbul. I don’t eat any kind of meat. Second meal I got eggplant with meat which I couldn’t eat. I don’t understand why we can’t get gluten free vegetarian meal for a 12 hour flight. I eat the bread and that was it.
