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Turkish Airlines business class review – Boeing 787-9 from London to Istanbul

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This is our review of business class on a Turkish Airlines Boeing 787-9 from London Heathrow to Istanbul.

Whilst the majority of Turkish Airlines’ seven daily London flights are operated by narrowbodies, once or twice a day you can normally find a widebody long haul aircraft plying the route. This comes complete with lie-flat seats in business class and nose-to-tail in-flight entertainment.

If you’re really lucky, you get one of Turkish’s new 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, introduced in 2019, with their next generation business class seat. This is a significant upgrade over the older Boeing 777s which have 2-3-2 seating and therefore do not offer direct aisle access to all passengers.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

The new 787s feature a new seat from French seatmaker Stelia Aerospace which Turkish Airlines calls its ‘Aurora’ seat. This is the same seat that Indian airline Vistara flies on its 787 fleet and that Singapore Airlines uses for its regional aircraft, but which I hadn’t flown on before.

As I was flying from London to Istanbul – with a flight time of just over three hours – I didn’t get the full long haul experience. (Turkish provided the flight so that I could attend the launch on their new food service in Istanbul). I did get to take a good look at the seat and the service you get on Turkish Airlines which is consistently ranked as one of Europe’s top airlines. Can it live up to the hype?!

As I checked in online and had no luggage to check in, I quickly proceeded through security before settling down in the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2 (review here). This is one of four lounges you can visit, along with the Lufthansa Business Class lounge (in the main terminal) and the Singapore SilverKris lounge and United Club, both in the satellite.

Although it doesn’t have a particularly impressive food offering, I find the Maple Leaf lounge to be quieter than the others. It is also, in my opinion, the most stylish.

Turkish Airlines’ new business class cabin

I managed to board first, so I was able to get some good shots of the empty business class cabin.

There are 30 business class seats on Turkish Airline’s Boeing 787-9s, all of which are located in a single cabin between the first and second doors of the aircraft.

The cabin features a staggered layout, which isn’t usually my favourite, but which I think works well here. That means that window seats alternate between being closer to the window or aisle. Seats in even-numbered rows are closer to the window and therefore more private, with a 30cm wide console table protecting you from any passers-by in the aisle.

You can see the staggered layout here:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

I was lucky enough to get the last window seat in 4K:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Despite having no door, these seats do offer a lot of privacy thanks to their winged design. This adds a layer of protection even if you’re on the aisle. This was the view from my seat:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

The only problem with this design is that is is unnecessary in the window seats and ends up blocking an entire window:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Other benefits of the seat include a vast, 30cm deep console table. This can be used as a place to store items, or you can put a laptop on it during the meal services.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Next to the console table is a small storage cupboard which can be closed. Inside were a set of headphones as well as a charging port with universal socket and USB-A connection. A hook for hanging your headphones is next to it. There is also a pull out mirror:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Just underneath you’ll find the seat controls (these light up when you touch them) as well as the aux port for the headphones in the common two-pronged design.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

The seat itself was very comfortable. The wrap-around ‘wing’ was in a sort of grey suede with wavelike stitching, which was comfortable and helped to dampen sound.

The seat itself is in a darker grey and features flecks of gold thread that glint in the light – a subtle but effective touch. The cushion and three-point seat belt are in a golden sand colour, which was very stylish against the rest of the seat which is otherwise very dark grey.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

On both sides of the seat are retractable armrests that can move up and down, depending on your preference.

In front of the seat you have an 18″ HD screen. Beneath it is the latch for the bifold tray table which folds out to create a very big space:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Underneath this is the typical foot coffin with some storage space underneath perfect for shoes. I’d say the cubby hole is mid-sized, being neither the biggest I’ve used or the tightest.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

In fact, the biggest issue I have with the seat is not the foot cubby hole, which these days is pretty standard, but the overall length of the seat. I popped it into bed mode to give it a go. At 6’2″ (188cm) found I was touching the bottom with my feet and the top with my head when fully stretched out.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

This is one of the few times I’ve ever had this problem, as most business class seats tend to be around 200cm long. This one needed just a few more inches to make it comfortable, although I could have made it work as I normally sleep curled up on my side.

No bedding is provided on this short flight, and I didn’t ask for any.

I don’t normally write about airline toilets …. but in this case it is worth mentioning, as the toilets were the nicest-smelling plane toilets I’ve ever encountered! Molton Brown toiletries are provided.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

In-flight entertainment and wifi

Although not 4K, the IFE system was very responsive and clear on my flight. You aren’t going to run out of entertainment as it was stocked with 659 films, not to mention countless TV shows and other entertainment. There were plenty of new releases as well as a vast back catalogue of favourites, with plenty of choice for families.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

The headphones are a fairly basic but comfortable model from Audio-Technica. The sound quality was good, although I found they didn’t go very loud when I gave them a go.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

The aircraft also features two onboard cameras, so you can watch the view in front or beneath you.

I was impressed by the wifi. All business class passengers get a free allowance of 1gb. To put this into perspective, British Airways only gives First Class passengers free wifi whilst Aer Lingus (review here) only offers 700mb of free wifi on its transatlantic flights which are significantly longer. 1gb was more than enough to last me the short flight. It was fairly fast throughout, and only dropped out for a 10 minute period midway through.

Although this was (mostly) a day flight, the cabin crew were very aggressive in dimming lights and windows. Fortunately, I still had full control of my own but the windows were all dimmed long before the sun set outside, which feels very early.

Food and service onboard Turkish Airlines

One thing that particularly stood out to me on this Turkish Airlines flight was both the food and service. It is a night and day difference to what you can expect on other European carriers.

Turkish Airlines is famous for its flying chefs – specially trained members of crew who are genuine chefs and oversea the preparation and presentation of the meal service. Unfortunately in-flight chefs are only onboard flights of eight hours or more, so I didn’t get to see one in action.

Whilst both Turkish Airlines and British Airways both use the prestigious DO&CO catering firm, Turkish clearly gives them a much bigger budget.

Juice was offered shortly after boarding, with a choice of orange, raspberry or lemon-mint. I opted for the latter, which I love:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Crew also came through with hot towels and menus for the flight, with a choice of three main courses:

  • Islim kebab with slow roasted tomato sauce and buttered rice
  • Grilled fillet of salmon with oven roasted cherry tomatoes, black olives, spinach and pan-fried zucchini in olive oil
  • Homemade mozerella mezzelune with parmesan tomato sauce and cherry tomatoes

Lunch was served in two halves. First up came the sides and starter of Turkish mezze, which consisted of an artichoke dish, pastrami on a bed of yoghurt pistachios and something else I couldn’t identify but which was delicious.

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

Bread rolls are also offered. Sides consisted of a salad with beluga lentils and labneh, plus a selection of cheese.

I chose the salmon for my main course, which was delicious:

Review: Turkish Airlines business class Boeing 787-9

The whole thing was rounded off with double chocolate cake.

To drink I tried the Ayran yoghurt drink as well as a glass of (unnamed) champagne.

Overall, the quality and quantity of the food was impressive, given this was a three hour flight. It was better than many long haul business class meals I’ve had.

Conclusion

Overall, I was impressed both with Turkish Airline’s new business class seat but also the food and service.

The seat was comfortable, private and spacious and avoids the beige-grey curse that some airlines inflict on their cabins. PriestmanGoode, the design agency, have done a good job here with dark grey plastic surrounds with sand-coloured accents. Whilst it’s an off-the-shelf seat, it looks and feels custom. That said, the short bed is frustrating for those of us who are taller.

The crew were excellent throughout the flight. Whilst only a main meal service was offered, they were quick to attend the call bell when I requested top-ups, always addressing me by name. Portion size and quality of the food was also great, and I can see why Turkish Airlines has such a strong reputation.

Frankly, if you are heading to Istanbul and you are able to book Business Class, you would be insane to book British Airways Club Europe when this is the alternative.


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Comments (60)

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

  • No longer Entitled says:

    HfP paid their own way for this review, or Turkish covered the cost on the way to review their new food offering?

    • Rob says:

      They gave us the flight to attend their event. I will clarify that though as if you didn’t read the earlier piece you wouldn’t know that.

      • AJA says:

        While you’re amending the article you may wish to correct this typo and substitute two for to :
        “aircraft also features to onboard cameras”

    • James says:

      Who cares.

      • AJA says:

        Not sure if you are dismissing the comment made by No longer Entitled or mine?

        In the same vein why bother to reply “who cares” to either comment?

        Seriously though, the distinction is that a review of a product where the reviewer is given the flight for free is quite often more complimentary than one where the reviewer paid for the privelege and is therefore likely to be more critical. And it is good for openness and transparency for the reader to be made aware of the fact.

        As for my comment the English language has these nuances and they make a difference in meaning otherwise they’d have disappeared from usage long ago. Not correcting an error is not correcting an error.

        To put an airline spin on it think about in the context of who cares if you get substandard service on board? If you don’t make the airline aware of an issue they won’t know and won’t make any attempt to rectify the issue meaning future passengers may also experience the same.

        • Rhys says:

          People wouldn’t trust us if every free trip we got was reviewed in glowing tones, which is why we don’t do it.

          • TGLoyalty says:

            Tbf it’s still good to be transparent

            The product does look excellent still wonder how long the traditional European flag carriers can get away with blocked middle seat for flights

        • Rob says:

          You’re taking a very narrow view though.

          Let’s assume we had paid for the flight, as we pay for a lot of the hotel rooms we cover on HfP. You still wouldn’t know:

          *if the airline involved had just booked £20,000 of advertising
          *if the airline involved had just offered us a free flight somewhere else
          *if the airline involved had just given us free tickets to the tennis / Grand Prix / O2 etc
          *if the airline involved was one who we had on our ‘priority’ list of potential advertisers and who we may want to get ‘on side’

          If anything, disclosure is a smoke screen. Notice, for example, that you’ll never see a fashion photo shoot in a glossy magazine featuring clothes which don’t come from a regular advertiser. There is a travel mag which, we are told, only shortlists advertisers for its annual awards. We could go on.

          The only thing you really need to know is that HfP only ‘works’ as a business if we have the trust of the readers in what we write. We aren’t going to risk 11 years of building goodwill just to avoid annoying an airline that has never spent any money with us and probably never will.

          • babyg says:

            Im happy to give an honest review *if the airline involved had just given us free tickets to the Grand Prix …

          • PH says:

            *mic drop*

  • AJA says:

    I agree I would definitely take a wide body plane with a lie flat seat over an A320 with the standard empty middle seat however you do pay TK a lot for the privelege, they are often far more expensive than BA . I would only do so if I was guaranteed the wide body plane and would be very cross if they swapped the plane for an A320. Unfortunately they don’t guarantee the wide body is what you’ll get.

  • Paul says:

    Agreed TK v BA only has one winner in terms of quality.

    The problem is the price with TK vastly more expensive.

    Where it scores is when using IST as transit point and I imagine most LHR IST passengers are transmitting IST while BA passengers are point to point

    • tony says:

      I doubt BA traffic is mostly point to point on LHR-IST, as otherwise it would be in T3. It’ll largely be connecting from points across the Atlantic.

      And the price point argument is silly, given we all moan about how crap BA CE is. TK can’t match BA on price but give you 3x the space and 3x the quality of food.

      • Rich says:

        He surely means that unlike TK, BA passengers are generally not transiting through IST.

        • tony says:

          No, because “point to point” has a very explicit meaning in terms of the passenger only travelling from A to B.

      • Chris W says:

        TK operate narrow body aircraft on most of their UK flights.

      • Mark says:

        But 5 years ago TK were cheaper than BA, even when taking a wide-body. It’s only been about the last 3 or 4 years that they have jacked up their prices.

  • TimM says:

    Turkish Airlines were proud to announce they were the first Turkish airline to employ a male member of cabin crew just a few years back – a job in Turkey culturally associated with women. How is the mix now?

    • mvcvz says:

      Seriously, why would any passenger care about this?

      • TimM says:

        Because I was astonished that there had not been a male member of cabin crew in Turkey before. THY were promoting how modern they were, at the time. It seemed 40 years late.

    • Chris W says:

      They’ve had male cabin crew members for many years

    • Rhys says:

      Predominantly female on my flight, but we did have a female first officer 🙂

    • Wanderlust says:

      4 TK legs recently in J- both short haul flights had only female cabin crew but the two long haul flights were probably about a 50/50 split.

    • John says:

      If you want a “sexist” airline look at Aegean, I have only ever seen 1 male cabin crew on all my flights.

      I haven’t flown with Turkish that much and not since 2018, but my impression was that there were around 20-25% men.

      I don’t know what BAs figures are but again my impression is that it’s around 35-40% men

      • TimM says:

        Greece and Turkey are two sides of the same coin. Only religion (and size) separates them.

        • Mohammed Bikuz says:

          And politics, ethnically, culturally, so basically not the same.

  • Greenpen says:

    The window side wing of the seat is very odd! Blocks the view from the seat which would not please me as I really like looking at the world from above. Is it anything to do with standardising the seats?

    It is great to have wide bodied aeroplanes on short haul flights. For both IST and MAD I search them out. A recent article said they were used by AY to HEL as well but I’ve not flown that route very often.

    • Rob says:

      Finnair does it for the same reason as IB – cargo sent via London.

    • Rhys says:

      Yes, it’s because all the seats are standardised. The same window seat in row K is also used in row A – where the wing protects from the aisle.

      • Dubious says:

        From the image of the cain in the article it looks like the A seats are mirror images of the K seats.
        Are you sure they don’t block the windows in the same way on *both* sides of the cabin?

        • Dubious says:

          *cabin

          • Rhys says:

            It’s a staggered layout, so odd and even numbered rows are different. But fundamentally there are two seat types – those with a wing on the left, and those with one on the right. The seat behind me (5K) would have had the wing on the aisle side.

      • Dubious says:

        Thank you Rhys. I understand you now – essentially no escape if you want a seat closest to the fuselage, but ok if you’re willing to swap it with (lean over) the console tray.

  • Mike says:

    I have had one of these seats on a Singapore Airlines A350 from Sydney to Singapore and it was a severe downgrade by Singapore Airlines over their previous seats and vastly inferior to the new BA Suite seats. It is shorter than other seats, it feels narrower than other seats and it has that unnecessary part which blocks out the second window. All in all it felt claustrophobic sitting in the “window” seat. Thank you for letting me know as I was looking at Turkish Airlines for future flights to Australia, but not with this seat.

    • Rhys says:

      I agree that the shortness is an issue, but it doesn’t feel claustrophobic to me.

    • Yan says:

      Having flown both products (TK very recently) I fully agree with the assessment of the seat inferiority. It is undoubtedly the best option for intra-European business class flights. However, when it comes to long-haul journeys, it lacks the competitive edge to be considered a Tier-1 product. The same can be said for the lounge and soft product offerings.

  • Chris W says:

    I’m sure BA will love reading you call their passengers “insane”.

    • Cats are best says:

      I recall a rammed flight IST-LHR years ago where BA didn’t block the middle seats in CE, not sure why, maybe an aircraft change meant it was that or cancel.

      Not been to IST for a while now, but even in proper CE config I found it consistently the poorest BA experience of the routes I fly.

  • Hardpack says:

    It’s not being a narrow body plane that’s the problem for me, it’s the seat you put in business that’s the big difference. IST AMM CAI etc all so-called Club Europe in a standard seat for 5 hours with naff catering is the problem. But if people keep paying for it BA keep doing it

    • Rhys says:

      Got a review of Turkish’s A321neos coming up…nice ‘proper’ short haul business class seats!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      If aer lingus can do it ..

      • Thegasman says:

        Aer Lingus only do it as their long haul network is significantly smaller so the A321LR’s would otherwise be sat on the tarmac. It’s not a conscious business decision to offer flatbeds on SH.

        • QFFlyer says:

          Exactly this. QF sometimes/regularly (respectively) run B787/A330 on routes as short as MEL-SYD, and I’ve flown a B747 on the same route – it’s definitely not for the benefit of the pax!

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