I am a big fan of Turkish Airlines – both in business class and in economy class. They are one of the only major world carriers that do not have a first class cabin and a couple of years ago, they also dropped their premium economy cabin (which had some pretty nice seats). So, it is only business or coach. However, it appears that there business class cabin is going to get a radical change on their planes, starting next year.
Turkish Airlines To Roll Out New Business Class Suites
Turkish Airlines’ current business class seats
I Love Flying Turkish Airlines Business Class
I have flown Turkish Airlines in business class a ton! I have flown them mostly between Europe and JFK but have also flown them to/from Washington, DC, Chicago, Toronto, Houston, and San Francisco. This means I have flown both cabin configurations ( the 2/2/2 seating configuration and 2/3/2 seating configuration) and even though the cabins are not as good as some carriers, Turkish has been very steady with their performance over the years.
It may sound strange since I have flown many other business class cabins but I really do like the Turkish Airlines business class. The seats are comfortable, the meals are great, and the storage is very good as well. Sure, the seats could use an upgrade – especially on some planes – but I still love flying with them.
New Turkish Airlines Business Class = Private Suites!
However, according to a story from Australian Business Times, the new planes that Turkish will be receiving (starting in 2019) will be equipped with a new business class. Not only will it be new, but they will be introducing business class suites! To be honest, the sliding door is a nice touch but it is not a necessity for me. Instead, I like the configuration that these allow, going with a 1/2/1 configuration. This means more space and it should mean much nicer seats.
My typical favorite route from Europe to the US – Turkish Airlines in their business class
“High privacy is our priority,” Olmuştur stresses, which could see the seats fashioned more like a suite with sliding doors. “We are still working on with our design partner for many different features such as individual enclosed storage areas and 44-inch knee distance.” This is what Turkish Airlines’ Chief Marketing Officer Ahmet Olmuştur told Australian Business Traveler.
Older Plane Configurations?
This new cabin will be exclusive to their new 787 and A350 aircraft which means that their current 777 and A330s will not be receiving these seats. For the US, I would imagine that means these older aircraft would stay on such routes as Orlando, Houston, and others. However, Turkish does say they will be having a different retrofit for those planes so we shall see what that means.
They will be receiving these new business class suites on their new 787 and A350 aircraft. They have ordered 50 total for sure with an option for 10 more (split 50/50 with both manufacturers). The rollout is scheduled as follows:
- 6 in 2019
- 14 in 2020
- 10 in 2021
- 12 in 2022
- 11 in 2023
- 7 in 2024
I would imagine that the first aircraft would be used for some of their more popular routes. For the US, that would mean putting it on one of their JFK schedules (they have 2 year round with a seasonal 3rd flight out of JFK).
Turkish will also be getting a new lounge as well. While their current lounge is definitely one of the best and largest business class lounges in the world, it definitely could use more space. Since I fly Turkish Airlines at least a few times each year, I will definitely be flying and reviewing these new seats and the new lounge when they open!
This is a very timely post for me. Thank you!
I will be coming back from Turkey in early September of next year, I have a stash of UA miles I need to burn, and I very much want to use them for business class on TK’s IST-MIA flight (for which they use a 777). Though the UA calendar isn’t yet open for the date(s) I want, it will be soon, so I started researching, to see if there are certain days of the week that would be better than others, or other patterns I could detect, so I could be prepared when my date becomes live. I literally couldn’t find any availability for the entire year on that flight. A little research on their other flights to the East Coast and Midwest found only a few flights with availability — to JFK — and then only on an A330.
So, I have two questions:
1 – I recently read a review that said the A330 soft product (specifically the food) isn’t all that great.
2 – Is there a trick to finding TK availability I don’t know about (like using a call center, etc.)?
With thanks for your fun and constantly informative posts,
Tom (A former runner, whose Achilles gave out, but who still likes reading about your exploits.)
Oops…Question 1 turned out not to be a question. I meant to add: Is that your experience as well? Also, please forgive the run-on sentence.
Hi, Tom – Turkish has much better availability during non-peak seasons and they occasionally will do award dumps (they did one in August that opened up like 12 dates for JFK<->IST when there previously had been none).
I have enjoyed the food on just about all my Turkish flights, even in economy. You will almost always have better food when it is catered out of the base airport but even ex-US, it has still been good.
The best routes I have found availability on included JFK (because of the 3 daily flights) and Houston (quite a bit of good availability there). I sometimes see Atlanta and Orlando also. Unfortunately, no tricks – just set an alert with ExpertFlyer and maybe look with flexible dates sometimes to see what might pop up.
So sorry about the Achilles! I had to deal with my first and only episode of plantar fasciitis this year and the downtime was not fun so I do feel for you! Thanks for reading and for the kind words!