Turkish Airlines is offering doctors 5,000 bonus miles after their first Turkish flight. You must be a Miles & Smiles member and complete an application to be eligible.
It’s not entirely clear to me whether only revenue tickets qualify, and also if you’re on a paid ticket whether you actually have to credit your miles to Turkish in order to qualify. Would be kind of funny to offer this only to doctors on revenue tickets!
Introduction
Brussels Airlines Check-in New York JFK
Brussels Airlines Business Class New York to Brussels
Brussels Airlines and SAS Business Class Lounges Brussels
Austrian Business Class Brussels to Vienna
Hotel Imperial Vienna
Austrian Senator Lounge Vienna
Austrian Business Class Vienna to Tokyo Narita
ANA Business Class Lounge Tokyo Narita
Turkish Business Class Tokyo Narita to Istanbul
Park Hyatt Istanbul
Turkish Business Class Lounge Istanbul
LOT Business Class Istanbul to Warsaw
Hotel Bristol Warsaw
LOT Business Class Lounge Warsaw
LOT Business Class Warsaw to Chicago
I arrived at Istanbul Airport at around 3PM after a 40 minute taxi ride from the Park Hyatt. I intentionally arrived a bit early since I was looking forward to visiting the Turkish lounge, which I had heard great things about.
Terminal exterior
Immediately inside the terminal was a security checkpoint where all bags were screened. That queue took about 15 minutes.
First screening checkpoint
Once inside the terminal I tried to find the LOT check-in counter, though the check-in monitor didn’t indicate where LOT check-in was located. So I walked around the terminal once looking for the counter, though couldn’t find it.
Check-in counters
After thinking I was going crazy for not being able to find the counter I went to the information desk, and they informed me they would use counter “C,” though it would only be opening at 3:45PM, which is only 1hr40min before departure. While I realize they only have one flight a day, I do find it rather odd that they open their check-in counter less than two hours before departure.
LOT check-in Read More…
Introduction
Brussels Airlines Check-in New York JFK
Brussels Airlines Business Class New York to Brussels
Brussels Airlines and SAS Business Class Lounges Brussels
Austrian Business Class Brussels to Vienna
Hotel Imperial Vienna
Austrian Senator Lounge Vienna
Austrian Business Class Vienna to Tokyo Narita
ANA Business Class Lounge Tokyo Narita
Turkish Business Class Tokyo Narita to Istanbul
Park Hyatt Istanbul
Turkish Business Class Lounge Istanbul
LOT Business Class Istanbul to Warsaw
Hotel Bristol Warsaw
LOT Business Class Lounge Warsaw
LOT Business Class Warsaw to Chicago
For a brief period a few years back Turkish leased some 777-300ER aircraft from Jet Airways, which featured fully enclosed suites in first class.
Turkish first class in the good old days
They released an unreal amount of award space and even so their first class cabins were almost always empty. I flew them with my brother from London to Istanbul and Istanbul to Hong Kong, and on both flights we were the only passengers in first class. Suffice to say it was a phenomenal experience. The food served aboard both flights was among the best I’ve had on any airline, not to mention the sheer quantity of food was ridiculous.
The highlight had to be the ground services in Istanbul, as they not only escorted you from the door of the plane past immigration, but also provided a complimentary chauffeur service into Istanbul for their first class passengers. And their lounge in Istanbul at the time was possibly the most exclusive airline lounge I’ve ever been to.
Unfortunately they terminated their lease of Jet Airways’ 777s as they took delivery of their own 777s, except instead of first, business, and economy class, they featured business, premium economy, and economy class. So I couldn’t wait to see how their business class product was years later, having only flown their first class.
As you start reading this report, be sure to turn on the “Turkish Airlines Globally Yours” music (whether you prefer the Ethiopia, Ramadan, Kobe Bryant, Manchester, or classic version — yes, what random themes) and join the support group.
Turkish 51
Tokyo (NRT) – Istanbul (IST)
Friday, February 1
Depart: 12:55PM
Arrive: 6:10PM
Duration: 12hr15min
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 4B (Business Class)
There were several flight attendants at the door as I boarded, though none made eye contact or said anything to me. I headed to my aisle seat in row four. The business class cabin is quite small at only 28 seats, with four rows in a 2-3-2 configuration.
Business class cabin
Business class cabin
Waiting at my seat were a large pillow and blanket.
Seats 4A & 4B
Blanket Read More…
Introduction
Brussels Airlines Check-in New York JFK
Brussels Airlines Business Class New York to Brussels
Brussels Airlines and SAS Business Class Lounges Brussels
Austrian Business Class Brussels to Vienna
Hotel Imperial Vienna
Austrian Senator Lounge Vienna
Austrian Business Class Vienna to Tokyo Narita
ANA Business Class Lounge Tokyo Narita
Turkish Business Class Tokyo Narita to Istanbul
Park Hyatt Istanbul
Turkish Business Class Lounge Istanbul
LOT Business Class Istanbul to Warsaw
Hotel Bristol Warsaw
LOT Business Class Lounge Warsaw
LOT Business Class Warsaw to Chicago
One of the very best values on any airline’s award chart is US Airways’ pricing between the US and North Asia, which costs just 90,000 miles roundtrip in business class. Best of all they let you route via Europe and even have a stopover there if you’d like. It’s funny because they charge 100,000 miles for business class between the US and Europe, so they’re essentially giving you a 10,000 mile discount for taking a further 10 hour roundtrip flight. I know to others that sounds torturous, but to me it sounds awesome.
One of the cardinal rules I live by when it comes to mileage is to earn and burn. Some people view miles as a retirement account of sorts, which I find crazy, given the rate at which they devalue. “Saving” miles is the equivalent of keeping the most volatile and easily inflated currencies in an account not collecting any interest.
And I also think that any especially good values are most likely to get devalued, so when I have the opportunity I take advantage of them. I had purchased quite a few US Airways miles through the 100% bonus share miles promotion offered last October, whereby you earned a 100% bonus when transferring miles between accounts, which was a way to indirectly purchase miles for a little over a penny each.
I didn’t have much time to take a trip given how many others I had planned around this one, so the main goal with this trip was to sample and review as many airlines in business class as possible. The 90,000 miles cost me about $1,000 to purchase, so I figured that was a great “investment” to experience four new longhaul business class products.
In this post I shared my thought process for booking the award, and in this post I outline how you can book a similar award.
In the end my 90,000 mile itinerary looked as follows, in business class the whole way:
1/29 Brussels 502 New York to Brussels departing 5:15PM arriving 6:40AM (+1 day)
1/30 Austrian 352 Brussels to Vienna departing 10:10AM arriving 12:00PM
1/31 Austrian 51 Vienna to Tokyo departing 1:10PM arriving 8:25AM (+1 day)
2/01 Turkish 51 Tokyo to Istanbul departing 12:55PM arriving 6:10PM
2/02 LOT 136 Istanbul to Warsaw departing 5:25PM arriving 7:00PM
2/03 LOT 1 Warsaw to Chicago departing 12:15PM arriving 3:15PM
As you can see the trip was a bit crazy in that it spanned only five days and I’d be doing a direct turn in Tokyo, flying from Vienna to Tokyo and then straight to Istanbul (hence the title for the report).
The taxes on the ticket were roughly $150, and since I’m a Dividend Miles Gold member I didn’t have to pay the $50 processing fee that’s usually charged. The fares between Seattle and New York on the outbound and Chicago and Seattle on the return were extremely reasonable, so I decided to book paid tickets on American to give me a headstart on status for the year.
For the outbound I was looking forward to trying Brussels Airlines’ new business class, which is fully flat and seems to be pretty readily available using miles.
Then I was especially excited to try Austrian’s new business class, which had literally just rolled out a couple of weeks prior.
Then on the return I would have the opportunity to try Turkish, which I quite enjoyed back when they still had a first class product, though now that they no longer have that I was curious to see how their business class was.
And the last segment is actually the one I was most excited about, at least initially. It was scheduled to be operated by a LOT 787 featuring their brand new business class product. I hadn’t yet flown LOT or the 787, so I was extremely excited. Unfortunately the 787 groundings happened a couple of weeks before my trip, so it ended up being operated by a 767, which was quite the experience.
I’d also get a night in Vienna, Istanbul, and Warsaw. Vienna and Istanbul are two of my favorite cities in Europe, while I hadn’t yet been to Warsaw, so was excited to add that to my list.
In Vienna I decided to book the Hotel Imperial, a Starwood Luxury Collection property. Last time I was in Vienna I stayed at the Le Meridien which I loved, though since it was a one night stay I decided to try something new. The Hotel Imperial was available on cash & points, and since it was a category six property it cost me 8,000 Starpoints plus $150 for the one-night stay. While that’s a bit pricey, I figured it was as cheap as it’ll ever get, and for a one-night stay it seems worth the cost to review.
In Istanbul I decided to book the Park Hyatt, which I had heard amazing things about. The Fine Hotels & Resorts rate was 200 Euros, and for that I’d get daily breakfast, guaranteed 4PM late check-out, a room upgrade based on availability, and an 85 Euros hotel credit. The first three benefits are redundant since I’m also a Gold Passport Diamond member, but the 85 Euros hotel credit was the icing on the cake given that the rate was so reasonable to begin with.
In Warsaw I decided to stay at Hotel Bristol, a Starwood Luxury Collection property (recently rebranded from Le Meridien). I booked that through Virtuoso, and the benefits were breakfast, a room upgrade on availability, and the added amenity was a one way airport transfer. My rate was about 130USD.
Anyway, it was quite the whirlwind five days, and I can’t wait to share all the details. I’m aiming to have one installment per day, as I have yet another trip I just completed that I’m excited to write about.
As always, all comments/questions are welcome!
Yesterday I flew from Tokyo to Istanbul on Turkish and while I found the food to be excellent, the service was anything but.
Today I flew LOT from Istanbul to Warsaw, which meant I had the opportunity to visit Turkish’s lounge in Istanbul. I’ve heard great things about the lounge, though I don’t think I fully had an appreciation for how awesome it is.
For one, it’s stunning architecturally, probably the most aesthetically appealing lounge I’ve been to (though I do love Lufthansa’s simplistic design). I think the pictures speak for themselves on that front.
The lounge has a business center, kids play area, quiet room with lounge chairs, billiards table, lockers, and more.
One of the most impressive aspects of the lounge was the DO & CO catering. The food was simply phenomenal. They had a buffet with cold Turkish specialties, all kinds of hot options, and an open bar.
Then there was a dessert station which was too tasty for anyone’s good. They had about a dozen different cakes. There was an espresso bar to complement it.
I’ll have more details with the trip report, though this is hands down the best business class lounge I’ve ever been to (with the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at London Heathrow being a close second).
And I’d actually say it ranks in my top five lounges worldwide, otherwise consisting of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, Thai First Class Lounge Bangkok, Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai, and Qantas First Class Lounge Melbourne (I realize the one in Sydney is nicer, though I haven’t been there yet).
Hello live from Turkish 51, somewhere between Tokyo and Istanbul! I was quite excited to try Turkish given that I haven’t flown them in years. The last time I flew them was when they still had 777s that they were leasing from Jet Airways, which featured first class suites (sadly these are long gone).
Anyway, this flight featured their new business class seats, which are pretty standard lie flat seats. They’re not fancy or anything, but they do the trick and are quite comfortable.
On the plus side, the food is phenomenal. Much like Austrian, Turkish has DO & CO catering, and the food is among the best in the sky.
The crew is a different story, though. They have the combined charm of a DMV on a public holiday. It’s not that they’re rude, per se, but rather just so uninterested and blank faced that I feel like they’d make great poker players.
The most interesting part of the flight had to be when the chef (a guy in his lower 20s) popped a zit before takeoff and then proceeded to walk around the cabin at least a handful of times while he was holding a bloody tissue to his face (and by bloody tissue I mean bloody tissue, not the British use of “bloody”… nevermind).
On the plus side the flight has wifi, and it’s free. How awesome is that? Unfortunately as expected we’ve crossed all of Russia in the time it took me to upload the above five pictures.
More details coming with the trip report, as usual, though if anyone has questions in the meantime I’m more than happy to answer.
Last week I shared my picks for the best and worst airline hold music. Among my picks for worst was Turkish Airlines, with their “we are Turkish Airlines, we are globally yours” tune. It’s both catchy and annoying, much like a One Direction song. I posted this link to the song to give those of you that have yet to call Turkish an idea of what I’m talking about:
Then just a few days I suggested we form a Turkish Airlines hold music support group, because this song is seriously haunting me, day and night.
Well, things just got worse, because reader Sloan forwarded me a link to Turkish Airlines’ press website, which has links to all their “tunes.” The bad news? The website has the “Globally Yours” song exactly as it’s played while on hold. Go to this page and scroll to the third song from the bottom, which reads “Globally Yours 30sec.” That’s exactly the 30 second clip they play on the phone, over and over and over.
And in case that doesn’t satisfy your cravings, that page also has the Ramadan, Ethiopian, Manchester, sport, and mystic versions of the “Globally Yours” song, among others. Yep, Turkish takes this $&^# seriously!
On the plus side, your week can only get better from here…
A couple of days ago I shared my picks for the best and worst airline hold music.
One of my picks for the worst hold music was Turkish Airlines, which has this music:
The thing is that on hold it’s not actually that “song,” but rather just 0:13-0:26 of that video over and over and over. “We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours. We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours. We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours. We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours.”
On the phone it’s much more low quality than the YouTube video. And I swear the lady’s voice is a lot whinier.
So what’s the problem? Well, I can’t get the song out of my head, to put it mildly. The second I wake up I chant the lyrics. When I’m stuck in traffic I do the same. And also when I’m in the shower. It’s literally all I do all day.
Today I was on the phone with my delightful mom in Florida and she asked me a question, to which I instinctively responded “we are Turkish Airlines, we are globally yours.”
This is no laughing matter. I honestly can’t get the song out of my head. Whenever I have a spare second I actually call up Turkish just to hear the hold music.
But the thing is that I really hate the music. It’s horrible. But it’s addictively horrible.
I don’t want to cause anyone else to become addicted, though please, for the love of God, someone tell me they’re suffering from the same? Someone tell me the slogan is the first thing they think about in the morning, the last thing they think about before they go to sleep, and all they think about inbetween.
Is there a support group or any level of counseling that can solve this?
I spend a lot of time on hold with airlines. Possibly close to half my life. That means I get to listen to lots of music — not the quality stuff I’d like to listen to, like the Biebs, but instead inane advertisements and chanting music.
I usually love airlines that have hold music and not advertisements, like US Airways, which advertises pet medication, minibars at low-end Mexico hotels, and their “anything but ordinary” onboard snack menu, with delicacies such as Chex Mix and almonds.
But of the airlines with hold music I think there are some that deserve a big pat on the back, and others that deserve a big kick in the a&@.
Let’s start on a positive note. My favorite airline for hold music must be Thai.
I totally feel like an 11 year old girl for liking this song given how cheesy it is, but damn, it’s mildly addicting and severely uplifting, especially after a two hour geography lesson phone call with MistyJoMarie at US Airways.
Then I also love ANA’s hold music, which is super-classy and relaxing.
Unfortunately that’s where the good hold music ends. On the other end of the spectrum you have Turkish.
They simply repeat “We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours.” Over. And over. And over. And over. And over. And over.
Maybe if they say it often enough we’ll believe it?
And then, my friends, there’s LOT. Words can’t do justice to how horrible their hold music is. Do yourself a favor and pick up your phone and call them. Have the agent put you on hold and enjoy the torture (and this doesn’t even begin to address the fact that the phone quality and training of the agents suggests that their call center is run out of the basement of a brothel in Bratislava). Can’t actually find the music online, though if anyone can find a link I’d be simultaneously delighted (so I can play it at night to scare off intruders) and horrified.
Did I miss any good/bad ones?
In late November of last year I asked you guys to decide where I should fly. At the time the option was between a Virgin Australia trip using Delta SkyMiles and a trip to Asia via Europe sampling several Star Alliance products using US Airways miles. The latter trip won by a landslide and I built an itinerary that would maximize the number of products I could try. I wanted to be sure to include Austrian’s new business class in the trip, since it’s one of the products I was most excited to try.
The problem is that there was a delay with Austrian’s new business class, so I kept pushing back my trip until Austrian actually had a reconfigured plane in service, ready to book on a moment’s notice. The problem is that they still don’t have a reconfigured plane flying, and I’ve decided that I’ve put this trip off for too long.
Austrian’s new business class
January will be a month of new airline products for me. Not only will I have an Airbus 380 extravaganza in a couple of weeks, but I also just ticketed a 90,000 mile US Airways business class award to Asia via Europe. Below is a small teaser of what you can expect (because after all the only way to route from Vienna to Istanbul is via Tokyo, right?).
In the end I decided to pull the trigger in part because I live in constant fear of US Airways devaluing their award chart. I was able to find a spiffy award which includes LOT’s new business class on their brand-spanking-new 787, Turkish’s new business class (I hear their lounge in Istanbul is one of the best business class lounges in the world — I’ve only visited their first class lounge back when they still had the product), Brussels’ new business class, and a flight that’s scheduled to be operated by Austrian’s reconfigured 777. Now, it’s anyone’s guess whether my flight will actually have Austrian’s new business class since the first reconfigured plane still isn’t flying, though I’ll continue to be hopelessly optimistic. Austrian is an airline I’ve always wanted to try even if it’s in their old business class, given that they have an onboard chef and iced coffee on the menu. What more could one possibly want?
LOT’s new business class
There’s no such thing as a perfect award and as much as I had hoped to squeeze in more airlines, I’ve realized that trying most Star Alliance business class products will require at least two awards.
As usual the booking process with US Airways was especially fun, given that the rates desk had to manually calculate the taxes. I have Gold status with US Airways, so when it came time to issue the ticket the agent tried to charge me the Dividend Miles processing fee, which is waived for Gold members and above. When I reminded her of this she confidently told me that wasn’t the case. I asked her to check with her support desk, at which point she came back and said “well I ain’t used to talking to our loyal Gold members such as yo’self, you should’ve called the Gold line. How was I supposed to know not to charge the fee?”
Right…
Anyway, January should be a fun month full of pajamas and jetlag, so stay tuned! And until further notice you’ve gotta love US Airways. They charge 100,000 miles to travel from the US to Europe in business class, and 90,000 miles to travel from the US to Asia via Europe (with a stopover) in business class. That’s my kind of airline.
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