Review: Turkish Airlines business class on an A321neo from Istanbul to London

This is our review of business class on a Turkish Airlines Airbus A321neo from Istanbul to London Heathrow.

After enjoying the comforts of Turkish Airline’s long haul product on a Boeing 787-9 (click for our review) on the way there, it was time to come back on a short-haul A321neo.

This is the aircraft that Turkish operates on the majority of its flights between Heathrow and Istanbul, so it is more representative of the experience most passengers get. The 787 operates once a day at most, whilst a handful of 777s also ply the route.

Unfortunately there are no lie-flat beds here, but the Turkish Airlines A321 fleet still features an impressive business class cabin. As you will see, it is far better than what you can expect flying short haul on other European carriers, and closer to the domestic First you’d find in the United States.

Turkish Airlines provided my flight as part of an invitation to visit its catering facilities and meet the Chairman of the airline in Istanbul.

Check-in at Istanbul Airport

Like many other airlines, Turkish has a dedicated wing for its business class passengers at its home airport in Istanbul:

Before you can enter the terminal building you need to go through a brief security check. It is less stringent than the ones you do later, so don’t worry about removing laptops or liquids from bags.

The business class wing is fairly discreet on the outside:

On the inside, you’ll find a plethora of (unused) seating, with a row of staffed counters on the right. There were only a couple of other families around and probably about 5-10 staff.

Annoyingly, due to UK law, I first had to do a ‘security check’ at a separate counter where my passport was checked to make sure I wasn’t on MI6’s hitlist.

After that I was quickly checked in and issued a boarding pass. Fast-track security was a breeze, with latest generation CT scanners so that I could leave my laptops and liquids inside the bag.

Turkish Airlines’ A321neo business class cabin

The A321neo features 20 business class seats in a 2-2 layout.

However, unlike ‘Euro business’ cabins such as the ones you’d find on British Airways or Lufthansa, this is ‘real’ 2-2, without a blocked middle seat:

The seats are proper business class seats, closer to what you’d find in long haul premium economy cabins or domestic First Class on Delta, United or American. That means they are wider than your average economy seat, and they also feature reams of legroom:

The seat is upholstered in a dark grey leather (not sure if it’s real or not) with some gold sand coloured accents around the headrest and seatbelt. In general, there is less character to it than the seats on the 787, although there’s less you can customise anyway.

They also come with these small privacy wings, which are like a mini version of the ones found on the 787:

Fed up of your neighbour? Fear not, because you can extend the wing…..by 3cm:

I’m not really sure what the point of that is, as it has literally no effect on your level of privacy. The seatmakers could’ve saved themselves the effort (and weight) and foregone it entirely.

The centre armrest feature a small cocktail table, cleverly divided with a diagonal line that makes it clear you have to share with your neighbour.

Flipping up the armrest reveals a decent storage area with charging ports which fully charged my almost-empty iPhone 13 Pro Max very quickly. There’s also an in-flight entertainment remote in here with a second screen.

Seat controls are on the side and operate the recline and legrest. I was hoping the legrest extends up fully to create a larger seat area, but unfortunately it only moves about 30 degrees.

The tray table is located in the other armrest and extends as a bifold. This was more than big enough for my 13″ MacBook:

All of Turkish’s A321neos are fitted with nose-to-tail in-flight entertainment systems. In business class, you get a 13″ screen whilst economy also gets a large 12″ screen. It was very fast and responsive and featured a very large catalogue of films.

Headphones are the AudioTechnica ones as supplied on the 787, which are actually decent for short haul flights.

Short haul business class food and service on Turkish Airlines

Service is identical on this route, regardless of what aircraft you’re flying on. This means you get a welcome drink of orange juice, lemon-mint or raspberry on boarding:

This time I went for the orange juice which was fresh – a real treat to have on board when most airlines serve from concentrate. A hot towel and menu is also provided.

After takeoff, crew came round asking what we wanted to drink, which they brought out with the starters and side. I went for a glass of (unnamed) champagne which came with the prawn cocktail starter:

This was actually one of the starters I saw at the catering launch earlier that day, and it was impressive to see it presented just as well as it was on the ground at the event. Sides included a selection of cheese and a stir-fry local greens with ‘red fruit’.

For mains, there was a choice of:

• “Kulbasti” fillet of veal with aubergine and tomato ragout, buttered rice and green pepper
• Grilled chicken breast with corn mousseline, ratatouille, thyme jus
• Beluga lentil ragout and baked romaine gnocchi

For my main course I had the veal. Although it was tasty, this was by far the worst of all the meals I had with Turkish Airlines and it was difficult to cut the meat with the blunt in-flight cutlery. The presentation wasn’t going to win any awards:

Dessert was a tres de leche cake with caramel glaze – absolutely delicious. After dinner, the crew brought round a bag of hazelnuts:

There was no other formal drinks rounds, although the crew were always exceptionally responsive when I pinged the call bell and asked for a drink. I did think that on a 3+ hour flight like this they could have been a bit more proactive offering drinks – there’s no real reason just to stick to one.

Conclusion

Whilst it’s not a flat bed, Turkish Airlines’ shorthaul A321neo is still an excellent experience with a business class cabin that is far, far better than what you would find on most other European airlines. Exceptionally spacious leg-room was a real highlight for me with my long legs!

This is matched by the same generous meal service, although on this flight the presentation and suitability of the meal to the cutlery fell slightly short! Overall, however, it was still an enjoyable meal. As per my last flight, the crew were very efficient and polite – a real selling point.

The fact that you get in-flight entertainment screens will obviously also be a big selling point for many, although at just over 3 hours long you can just squeeze in a film.

Thanks to the Turkish Airlines team for inviting us to Istanbul. You can see my Boeing 787 Turkish Airlines business class review here.