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Turkish Business Class 787-9 Athens to Istanbul
If you’re looking to see what it’s like to fly Turkish Business Class on their gorgeous 787-9 business class…look no further. We’re going to break down how we booked, the in flight experience including the hard and soft products + you can watch a quick video review we featured on TikTok and Instagram.
I have wanted to experience Turkish Business Class on one of their Dreamliners for years. I’ve had multiple trips booked and canceled ( including the beginning of this adventure ) and finally the stars aligned and I got to fly it with my buddy Dave.
The worst part of this flight is that it was only 90 minutes.
Let’s dig into this bad mammajamma and why I think it’s a wonderful business class that gives you that “experience” we all look for in a premium cabin.
Table of Contents
Details:
- When: January
- Where: Athens to Istanbul
- Cabin: Business
- Seat: 7E
- Payment: 11,300 Turkish Miles + 77 Euros
- Status: None
Booking:
Turkish is a very under-utilized program to say the least, and I wanted to highlight the value of the program with a long haul flight to Europe for just 45k miles to start the trip, but if you read my Lufthansa A340 biz review, you’ll know I had to cancel that.
Programs that transfer to Turkish:
- Bilt Rewards
- Capital One
- Citi
When the opportunity popped up to try the 787-9 out on a short hop from Athens to Istanbul for 11,300 miles I had to pull the trigger.
The most annoying aspect of the Turkish program is their website. While it’s relatively straight forward booking Turkish flights, if you want to book, change, etc anything touching a partner there is a convoluted subsite you need to populate.
Cahmon Turkish…fully integrate please.
Quick Instagram/TikTok Review:
View this post on Instagram
Check-In
No one was there. In all honesty, it didn’t really matter if we were in the business queue or not, we wouldn’t have waited long in either line.
The Lounge – GoldAir Handling
We had access to the GoldAir Handling lounge which was quite modern and nice. I didn’t really fancy any of the food that they offered but there was several hot and cold selections + cold/hot drinks. We hopped on the WiFi, had some coffee and water and saved our appetites for the Turkish catergin onboard.
The Business Class Cabin
Stunning. A beautiful 1-2-1 configured cabin with all aisle access decorated in soothing mix of neutrals featuring seats with leather highlights that feels luxurious and elevated.
We chose seats 7E and F at the back of the cabin. I didn’t notice much noise from the galley behind us, and the back of the plane is usually much easier to film since I can highlight the cabin without showing faces.
Where to sit?
- Couples: I would select odd rows that set in from the aisle vs the even rows which are set apart
- Singles: I would choose the odd rows which are set further from the aisle offering more privacy than the even rows which sit right on the aisle.
Note that those in business class also get 1G of free WiFi.
The Seat:
The seats are fully flat with plenty of footwell space to fit my size 12 feet. In addition to that they are quite long, and Dave, at 6’2” had no problem being completely flat and not feeling crammed on either end.
The IFE is sleek featuring handheld and touch screen controls with a crystal clear high def screen. The selection was surprisingly good and I started an excellent World War 2 movie called Operation Mincemeat featuring Colin Firth.
The storage is secure and has a plug inside the cabinet. This is a nice feature if you want to stow your phone away and charge is simultaneously.
The Food and Service
You really feel like you’re being served onboard Turkish. Immediately after boarding you’ll receive a refreshing fruit spritzer.
The crew was excellent and offered a full meal service complete with a white table cloth on just a 90 minute flight. How about that, huh?! The food is very good as well. Turkish is known for great catering and we enjoyed a great Arabic Mezze with smoked salmon, a refreshing fruit spritzer, a cheesy scrambled egg dish, and a bread basket.
Of course, no meal would be complete without a Turkish coffee.
Overall:
I look forward to flying business class aboard a Turkish 787 or A350 in the future. This is a very good business class that combines a beautiful hard product ( seat, cabin, etc ) with food and service that makes you feel special ( soft product ).
One thing I will note…most if not all 777s that Turkish operate feature an old 2-3-2 cabin that I would avoid. Sure, the food/service will be great, but who wants to step over someone in business class? Focus on the 787s and you won’t regret using your points to fly this badmammajamma.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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