I don’t get it. Why do people like the Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul?

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• William Avery says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:05

  Always appreciate your brazen honesty and the photos always tell the story. I love the quote about it being bigger than some airport – so what?? Infant that is a major put off. How does being bigger make one’s experience better?

  Now I see the QR lounge in Doha winning awards and im thinking just the same. Utterly uninspiring, 3* hotel food and crammed to the rafters for a la carte.

  The lounges are the biggest disappointment for one’s entry into business travel. Usually overcrowded, worse than a c80p 3* hotel breakfast buffet and no experience of exclusivity. Save for QR @ T4 which is still a wonderful experience.

  Will

  • Raffles says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:25

    Was in the Qatar J lounge on Tuesday in Doha and I still like it despite the loss of Krug.

    Last night I ended up in the Priority Pass lounge in Doha (Al Maha) – now that was a chaotic mess.

  • Brian says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:11

    Agree about lounges – one expects more and doesn’t usually get it. Better than sitting in departures, but still…
    I’d say the only exception in my experience is Virgin.

  • Lady London says:

    4 Mar4 March 16:57

    Was just in the J lounge at Doha. It’s nicely done but soulless. Packed to the rafters. I don’t think it would improve much if less packed, actually. Absolutely nothing wrong with it though.

    I did snag some Krug, but it was so overchilled it actually tasted like a cheap champagne. A major error. (I know, First World problem.) Even for regular white wines the fridge the Krug came out of was at such a low temperature it would only have suited Coke or Pepsi – nothing else would have had any unique taste at all. Shower was OK though.

    • harry says:

      4 Mar4 March 17:17

      A lot of people make this fundamental error with Champagnes, Proseccos, sparkling white wines in general. They seem to think that chilling them to one or two degrees above freezing is a brilliant demonstration of connoisseurship, just like sticking the vodka in the freezer 🙂

      I’ll allow for personal preference but anybody who thinks like that is wasting their money. Put it this way: if you can only afford paintstripper sparkling whites, do exactly that, ie chill them to 1-2 degrees – it will hide the awful taste.

• Chris says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:20

  Raffles, not sure why you mention the Concorde Room negatively. Far and away the best lounge I’ve visited. Could be because I love champagne, cocktails and views of aircraft though.

  • Raffles says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:22

    I was talking about design and style, which it lacks in my view.

    • CV3V says:

      4 Mar4 March 08:52

      BA probably refer to the design of the Concorde lounge as typically British ‘understatement’, as they do with their cabins. Sets them apart from the bling bling of Emirates and the fun fun of Virgin!

      I quite enjoyed the Concorde Lounge, however we were the first pax in it just of the arriving KUL flight, the staff didn’t seem…awake, and after eating on the flight all we had was toast and champagne! Not the most demanding of passengers but still seemed a hassle to the staff.

      • The_Real_A says:

        4 Mar4 March 10:04

        It does appear that the service is consistantly called out as poor

• Dannyrado says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:26

  Agree 100% with the review of the lounge and the flight. I have no desire to revisit the lounge, the airport, or fly Turkish again. I don’t understand why people like the city either.

  • rossmacd says:

    4 Mar4 March 07:41

    Istanbul is a fabulous city to visit – agree, you have to stay away from Taksim, but other areas of the city are a fabulous mecca of a number of worlds colliding. Everyone has different viewpoints which they are very much entitled to, which I guess makes the internet an interesting place 🙂

    • Susan says:

      4 Mar4 March 12:33

      Agree re Istanbul. IMHO it’s a stonking place to visit. And even TK -what other European carrier gives a full meal in Economy on a sub 3 hour flight?

      • John says:

        4 Mar4 March 15:11

        Aegean

        • Gavin says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:15

          And pretty good I understand – flying Y from Paris to Larnaca in 3 weeks. Their food in J was really good last month (and surprisingly their wine was OK)

  • Anthony Dunn says:

    4 Mar4 March 13:01

    Whoa! Istanbul has to be one of the most fascinating places that I have either visited or am ever likely to visit. Any place that has had three place names (Byzantium, Constantinople and now Istanbul) is rather more than knee-deep in history and antiquity. My recommendation, if you wish to see more of what makes Istanbul so fascinating, is that you get yourself a copy of “Istanbul: the ultimate guide” by Saffet EMRE and Pat YALE, published by BOYUT, Istanbul (ISBN 978-975-23-0734-6). It is slightly bulky but as guides go, it is right up there.

    Beyond that, my last flight on TK (from Izmir via SAW to STN) involved several hours enduring the stench of inflight projectile vomiting that had not been properly cleaned up. Not impressive.

• Jermyn says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:31

  From what you’ve shown, this lounge looks far preferable to any BA Lounge. Chronic overcrowding is a hallmark of BA lounges, after all.

  There is no hot food in the afternoon before 6pm in BA lounges. How did TK’s food offering compare?

  My favourite J class lounge in the world is VS at LHR. I think that QR’s lounge at DOH is great too (shame the Krug is gone though). I also love JL J at NRT, it has a beautiful design aesthetic, abundant runway views and highly polished bar staff, well versed in how to mix a drink.

  What J lounges top your list?

  • Lady London says:

    4 Mar4 March 17:04

    The Krug ain’t gone I just had some. Far far too cold though. Would have put me off Krug if I’d never had it before.

• Chris says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:31

  As someone who has used Ataturk (and various lounges) extensively over the past year – my thoughts;

  Pro’s

  *Dedicated Security & Immigration link directly into the lounge! This on its own makes the lounge a god send!
  *Food choice is good with a reasonable quality.
  *Excellent Drinks selection – especially for someone who is trying to have a year off the booze!
  *Much better than other Lounge offering in the airport (the only exception being the Emirates lounge which I really like). Prime Class, Comfort, TTNet, HSBC, Millenium, Sky Team Lounges are all woeful – believe me I have tried them all!
  *Great for people watching, but the whole airport is good for that. You do get all sorts!

  Con’s

  *Wifi is AWFUL – slow, slow, slow…
  *Newspaper selection & display is poor – especially as a Brit looking to read a UK newspaper.
  *Magazine selection & display is non existent.
  *Can get very overcrowded at times, but it is an airport over capacity issue generally. The Emirates lounge doesn’t suffer this, but they only have 11 flights per week to cater for.
  *Lounge staff are not particularly friendly. My faviroute station is the Turkish Coffee & cake station, it can take a little while for the coffee to be made and it is virtually impossible to get a conversation out of the staff making the coffee. Maybe its just me…
  *There doesn’t seem to be adequate toilet facilities in the lounge. Always seems to be a queue in the Gents…

  Just my thoughts…

  • chris says:

    4 Mar4 March 11:05

    “it is virtually impossible to get a conversation out of the staff making the coffee. Maybe its just me…”

    LOL, i chuckled at this! I’m guessing you’re not a spring chicken any longer and were trying to make small talk with the young (female) staff! Always a fun sight, and who can blame them !

• rossmacd says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:38

  I think you went into this lounge with the idea that you wouldn’t like it, hence the review.

  Chronic overcrowding and terrible states of repair are hallmarks of BA home lounges (GC T5 North anyone?). Therefore comparing the 2 Business lounges at home bases (GC T5 North and TK CIP lounges), I know which one I would much rather be in!

  Sorry, but I my view this review lacks credibility.

  • Rob says:

    4 Mar4 March 10:07

    No, I went there thinking it would be world class based on feedback I seen from other people.

    If the general opinion was that it was rubbish I would have written a different article. Actually, I wouldn’t have gone in the first place.

    I try to make this an aspirational site. I promise you, there is no way that I would leave my wife and my little kids for 2 nights if I hadn’t been expecting something good. There is a good reason why you don’t see coverage of 2nd or 3rd division airlines or hotels on here and that is because I’ve got to an age where I’m not prepared to do stuff that isn’t, on the face of it, life affirming. I’d rather stay at home and read bedtime stories to my 4 year old.

• Greg says:

  4 Mar4 March 07:46

  OOOOH a bit unfair Rob.

  Golf simulator, billiards, car racing track, good kids room, video games – what about the banks of TVs with wireless headphones to watch whichever one you want. the “freshly” cooked food, by real people as opposed to plastic wrapped sandwiches. Just because your kids weren’t with you and you are too old to play Skeletrix (or maybe you were by yourself so you didn’t play Skeletrix 🙂 ) doesn’t mean they are bad facilities. While I don’t travel as much as you, apart from the Emerates first class lounge at Dubai, it really does have more to offer than any other lounge I have been to.

  As for choosing THY over BA from Heathrow, when you combine the lounge with the seats, with the fast track at both ends, with the ease of spending your hard earned miles – its Turkish for me every time.

  • DV says:

    4 Mar4 March 08:35

    But you’ll be a bit annoyed when Vladimir Putin shoots your aircraft down.

• Jon says:

  4 Mar4 March 08:33

  Some of us like those lampshade horses at T5!!!

  • Rob says:

    4 Mar4 March 10:03

    I like them! You can buy them from Moooi if you want one.

    • Ryan says:

      4 Mar4 March 19:34

      Or see one in the Mercure Elcot Park. Had a double take!

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