Back in the spring of 2017 I made arrangements for a Christmas holiday in Nepal. I was looking for a break at a lower cost than Christmas 2016’s trip to Oman.  It was also important to me to fly into and out of Kathmandu (“KTM”) in daylight, so that I could enjoy views of the Himalayas (and so the pilots could see where the mountains were too!).  Turkish Airlines (“TK”) had the lowest business class price (£2535 for two, one way) and the shortest journey time (despite transiting in Istanbul (“IST”), it got to KTM at 11am), and it left from Gatwick (“LGW”), my nearest London airport.  Turkish also had decent reviews online and a print advertising campaign starring Morgan Freeman, one of my favourite actors.

The first thing that bugged me was that I could only choose my seats twelve weeks before departure, so I had to do that on their website in late September, selecting 2A and 2B.  The Gatwick-Istanbul (“IST”) leg was to be a narrow-body Airbus A320, and IST-KTM an Airbus A330, one of the largest types to use the small airport at KTM.

Flight TK1998 was to depart LGW at 16:40, so we had lots of time to get ready and pack. We got to LGW before 3pm, to find a very quiet check in area. But we were allocated seats on different sides of the plane, not the two next to each other I had reserved. They’d changed the aircraft operating to a wide-body Airbus A330-200, and hadn’t bothered to tell me. And I did try to check in online first thing that morning, but there was a fault on their website.  And it’s not as if this was a last minute type change – by referencing Flightradar24.com I saw that they had been using the A330 on the route for several weeks. The check in agent wasn’t able to get us seats together. Very disappointing customer service!

After emmigration we headed for the lounge TK uses in Gatwick’s South Terminal. It turned out to be the     “Number One” lounge which is used by a few other airlines, Priority Pass members, and members of the general public who pay an entrance fee. It was quite full when we arrived, and admittance was being restricted, we couldn’t find comfy seats together, and there was an unwelcome smell of reheated food in the air.  So I decided to try to get into the British Airways lounge, which is just next door.  But alas my frequent flyer status only allowed me access if I was flying on a BA plane, so we returned with our tails between our legs to the Number One lounge.  There was a queue to enter, but I jumped it because I had already ‘entered’, and received a sharp word from the agent at the door!  But inside we found it less crowded this time, and we got soft seats near a window, at a table which wasn’t clean.  The windows, though, aren’t full length, so when seated you can’t see onto the apron.

The terms of use of the lounge are that you’re entitled to one main course food plate, plus use of some self-service snack items, like nuts. There’s an open bar, including Prosecco, but Champagne is an extra £6/glass.  I had a beetroot and goats cheese salad, which was delivered promptly, but was’t very good. Overall I found the lounge to be below the standard expected on a Business Class ticket. 2/10

 

 

Upon boarding Airbus A330-200 TC-JNE I asked a Flight Attendant if it would be possible to rearrange our seating, so we could be together. She asked a solo passenger in one of the middle seats if she would fancy swapping with my window seat and she agreed without any fuss. So Mr.A and I ended up together, but I had lost my preferred window seat.  The other FAs stood around chatting with each other in the galley, showing no intention of helping pax with their coats.  After a while one came round offering a choice of frighteningly colourful non alcoholic drinks, so none of the Champagne one gets with other airlines.  There were no amenity kits, socks, slippers, or sleepwear available.  But on the other hand, the cabin consisted of spacious flat bed/chairs in an intercontinental 2-2-2 layout, which is quite possibly the best business class hard product on offer for a flight within continental Europe.  The cabin appeared to have been recently refurbished and everything looked clean and in working order.  The safety briefing was delivered entirely by video screen. Usually FAs at least point out the nearest emergency exits. Doors closed exactly on time at 16:40, we pushed back from stand at 16:54 and were airborne at 17:10.

After take-off there was no bar round; we were just asked what we would like to drink with our meal. For wine, there was a choice of “French or Turkish” and “red or white”. The French red I chose (Calvet Syrah) was rubbish, and the Turkish red I switched to was just as bad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner’s starter was ‘Best of Turkish Meze’ and ‘Tabbouleh & hummus’ confusingly listed and served in a separate bowl (I thought they were a part of a meze). Each element was pretty poor; this was the worst meze I’d ever had the displeasure to eat!  The main course was a so called kebab of lamb shank wrapped in aubergine, with a very bland tomato sauce and buttered rice. Not good.  There was a derisory rubber cheese offering. The item with the best flavour in the meal was the ‘Turkish style oven baked rice pudding’, served cold.  Afterwards there was a tea and coffee service from a trolley, but no peppermint tea and only instant/filter coffees. We also had a glass of ‘Baker’s Field’, a complete rip-off copy of Bailey’s.   Overall this was a very poor business class meal, which I score 2/10. There was an FA dressed as a chef who occasionally came into the cabin, but I’ve no idea what his purpose was, as he certainly wasn’t cooking, and he didn’t seem to plate things up in an attractive and appetising way; a waste of space, IMHO.  I’m completely unable to explain how or why TK was awarded “Best Business Class catering 2017” by Skytrax.  They didn’t even offer water with the meal, so I had to request some to take my meds with; I got one glass of still water, and that was it. No other passenger got water, and there wasn’t another drinks round in the rest of the flight.

The seat was reasonably comfortable, but it didn’t have pre-set buttons to press for recline positions, such as the popular “lazy Z” position. And one had to hold ones finger on the recline button until one got the desired position, rather than the more convenient ‘single push’ functionality.  I didn’t do the ‘full’ flat recline, as I didn’t want to sleep on this 3 hour flight.  But note that not all TK’s A300-200s have flat beds – some are still configured with an older angle-flat seat.

My total score for this LGW-IST sector is 2.5/10, which gives a small recognition for the lowish fare.

Our transit experience at IST was no better. Signage was poor and there were no TK staff around, so it took us ages to find the Business Class lounge. It was full, and appeared to allow anyone access if they paid a fee – certainly not one single person appeared or dressed anything like a “businessman” – everyone was very casually dressed (read ‘scruffy’), there were kids running around, and it took a lot of effort to find two seats together. Scattered around the large two floors of the space were some ‘fast food’ style help yourself food stations and some truly pathetic self service ‘bars’ which had a few spirits (but not many mixers to go with them), real Bailey’s, beers and only horrible Turkish wines (nothing sparkling).  Unusually, and interestingly, there was an area with a pool table, and downstairs, a large skelextric set and a golf simulator, both of which were broken.  The lounge was too warm, too crowded a bit dirty, and not at all relaxing. 2/10 Luckily we only had to endure it for an hour or so.

When we set off for our gate for the IST-KTM sector, and found that we were to be bussed to the aircraft. That’s always a disappointment, but on a freezing cold and windy night it was terribly uncomfortable waiting for the bus to fill sufficiently for the driver to close the doors and drive off to the plane. There was no separate Business Class bus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got off the bus there was no one and no signs telling pax where to board, but, as I knew my seat 2K was at the pointy end, I walked over to the front steps to door 2L of Airbus A330-300 TC-JOA. Onboard I saw that the hard product was only very slightly different to the earlier flight; still a 2-2-2 layout of the seats, again they reclined to fully flat. In another show of deja-vu the crew stood chatting in the galley until one of them decided to offer us the same brightly coloured pre-take off soft drinks, and once again there was no amenity kit, socks, slippers, or PJs.  I declined the offer of ‘something to drink with my breakfast’ (why do they call a meal breakfast, when it’s two in the morning?!) because I wanted to try to sleep more than I wanted to try another TK meal.  The Scheduled Time of Departure was 01:45. We pushed back at 01:55 and landed in a sunny KTM a little ahead of schedule at 11:10.  I did actually manage to get four or five hours sleep, and self-woke half an hour before landing at KTM.

They did manage to give me a filter coffee and a horrible piece of cake. But that was it – all I’d had from this flight was a sleep and a cup of coffee. Again, no water was offered.  3/10 is generous, reflecting the fact I did get some sleep, on a flat bed. But really this was not a good first experience of TK Business Class, and I doubt I’ll give them another chance.

Be aware – Immigration at KTM is confusing and chaotic. There aren’t any clear signs or instructions what to do. Amongst the bank of passport control desks are some with a sign saying “Foreigners without visa”.  We joined that queue, but were told by the passport agent to go away to “apply” for a visa at a row of machines that looked like ATMs; each with their own queue. After inputting your details, the machine (if it’s working, several weren’t) then gives you a piece of paper saying you had successfully applied for a visa. Then you join another long queue to pay £20 in cash (other major currencies are accepted too) for the visa. And then we rejoined the queue labelled “Foreigners without visa” and were eventually allowed to enter Nepal.  Then there was another very long queue to go through a security screening of bags and person, before finally making it into the baggage hall to reclaim our luggage.  It took us 1 hour 30 minutes to get through this process!