Blessings

mil

To all

AlanS

Since our Delta flights were cancelled, that is who I was planning to fly with with to J&E in March 2021- if the tour goes. Atlanta doesn't show in that article, but shows as a valid Turkish Air destination on their website- just for the aircraft, I planned to depart the US from ATL, but return to JFK (we are between the two, so need a connecting flight regardless.) Things could change between now and then so I've not booked anything yet.

Portolan

We had Turkish Airlines business class booked from IAD-IST-AMM for our J&E next April which we have moved to September. Have flown them before and the hard and soft products were very nice. Also an amazing lounge at the old Istanbul airport...presumably replicated or enhanced at the new airport. Of course, that was all per-COVID so I expect the experience has necessarily suffered. I'll be looking for the same flights when they can be booked in October.

AlanS

Thanks. I read an article about the new IST and it sounds fantastic. I guess it will still be there in 2022 if it comes to that.

Smiling Sam

Portolan - The business class lounge at the new Istanbul airport is fabulous. Some of the attractions, pre-covid (not sure now and going forward) include: approximately 6 cook stations where different types of food are prepared, large amounts of seating, a half dozen beds (kind of like day beds for lounging/laying down), various bars, refrigerated racks for water, soft drinks, etc that is self serve, a golf simulator, a kids play area, ...

Needless to say I'm a fan. It made a nine hour layover there on the way home from the Israel and Jordan tour fly by. I could have had only a 2.5 hour layover, but it would have been ~$1000 more per person. With the new lounge, I'm glad I made the choice to save the money.

Our routing was Toronto - Istanbul - Tel Aviv on the way and Amman - Istanbul - Toronto on the way home. The legs to Tel Aviv and from Amman where fairly short flights (perhaps like a Raleigh/JFK flight). Even though they were short the flight to Tel Aviv had lie flat seats (could have just been lucky). The legs to/from Toronto had lie flat seats. The service on all of the Turkish Airline flights was super.

One oddity about the flight from Toronto to Istanbul. When we landed in Istanbul we had a very long taxi to get to our gate. The new airport hadn't been open that long so perhaps they were still working out some kinks. If you would have plotted our taxi route for that flight it would have made you dizzy. None of my other flights leaving or arriving in Istanbul had this issue.

Portolan

Thanks for the updates on the Turkish Airlines lounge at the new Istanbul Airport. While the former one was great this one looks absolutely wonderful! We hope to enjoy it (and, of course, J&E) next October.