Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Heathrow gets the newest Turkish Airlines aircraft and business class seat

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Turkish Airlines recently began to took delivery of its Boeing 787-9 aircraft.  There are thirty on order, arriving by 2023.  The airline has now chosen to put one into service on the busy Heathrow-Istanbul route.

This is particularly good news because it features the airline’s new business class seat, which looks significantly better than its existing hard product.

Turkish Airlines new business class seat on 787

There are 30 seats in the business class cabin in a 1-2-1 configuration with direct aisle access.  It appears to provide far more privacy than the legacy seat.

The new seat is based upon the Aurora seat manufactured by Stelia Aerospace. It is very similar to the business class seats on the Emirates A380, Singapore Airlines 787-10 and Iberia A350 (review here).

From Heathrow the 787 is on TK1986 which departs at 4:30pm. From Istanbul it is on TK1985, with a 1pm departure. You can book it on the Turkish Airlines website here, and frankly you’d be crazy if you booked British Airways Club Europe instead of this.


How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

Comments (62)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • rob says:

    Worth mentioning that Garuda are still running their c.1300 fares LHR-DPS and I’ve recently read reports that this is being upgraded to a a330-900. Will presumably feature their 777 seats.

    Great news for anyone currently booked on this flight.

  • Nick says:

    I am pricing up some Avios economy flights to the US next year.
    1 adult; 1 child

    Why do the taxes/charges on a return, not equal the combined taxes/charges on an outbound and inbound flights, if bought separately?

    For example – return taxes £380.
    outbound taxes £253
    inbound taxes £167
    total = £420, instead of £380?

    Thinking re flexibility of booking flights separately.

    • Lumma says:

      It’s far worse booking two business class one ways than a return

    • Rob says:

      Because BA wants to charge US residents more to offset the ease of earning Avios in the US.

      • Spaghetti Town says:

        I’m not shocked with the crazy sign up bonuses and crazy transfer bonuses.

  • John says:

    Anyone received a second / third bonus from Tesco conversion to BA executive club (shell points) ?

  • AJA says:

    OT I just had my final Shell points convert to Avios post to my BAEC. The email I got from Shell indicated that I had received 37 Avios but looking at the account today only 30 Avios have posted backdated to 30 June. I won’t bother querying as it’s only 7 Avios but I’m wondering if anyone else received less Avios than Shell said they would?

  • Shoestring says:

    American Express Spend £20 or more, get £5 back @ Just Eat

  • 3742 says:

    OT is it correct that the Grain Store is not accessible if flying from the North terminal please?

  • paulm says:

    For NFL fans, Marriott now have Wembley tickets/packages available with points

  • Jonathan says:

    I was in Brazil earlier on this year, and used GOL airlines right before the start of the carnival. I had a return flight from Rio’s GIG airport to Salvador, both flights were single flights at first, but then for the flight to Salvador, they decided to reroute it via Brasilia, and to put it simply, they couldn’t have made any more screwups if they tried. And almost certainly lost themselves loads of money in process, by someone thinking up a ‘clever’ idea. Apart from that, the airline was ok, if they hadn’t made such huge shambles of everything for me (and a few other people in the exact same position as me) I’d have said they’re great.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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