REVIEW | Turkish Airlines Business Class Lounge Istanbul

As my boyfriend Sam happens to have a birthday every year, it was time again to have small trip as his birthday present. Being the cold month of February I first looked into travelling to a slightly warmer and sunnier destination like Morocco, but the only interesting flights being either on Ryanair or Transavia and way too expensive for what they were or a long layover on TAP in Lisbon. In the end I stumbled upon a good hotel price-quality with the Fairmont Quasar in Istanbul and fair flight prices and timings on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul.

Originally we were due to be flying back to Brussels on the 13^th of February, unfortunately due to a strike of the Belgian Air Traffic Controllers the entire Belgian airspace was closed and our Turkish Airlines return flight to Brussels was cancelled. We received a text and an email informing us of the cancellation with directing us to the app or call centre for a free rebooking.

As Sam had to work the next day, it would not be the most practical solution to fly back a day later as this would mean he had to miss a day of work (even though this is force majeure, and would not lose him a vacation day it still is better to avoid these type of situations whenever possible).

Luckily Turkish airlines allowed us to rebook the same day but flying to Amsterdam instead. This would then also be on Turkish Airlines’ flagship A350-900 instead of the more mundane A321. As we now had the option of booking a business class upgrade for €300 per person, Sam kept nagging about doing that until I relented.

To get back to Istanbul Airport we took the metro back to the airport, which was quite an uneventful trip. The low frequency of only a train every 20 minutes does mean they are always packed, this could be improved by a more frequent service.

After arrival in the airport we headed up to the departures level. As is customary in Turkish Airports we had a security check before entering the airport. After that we headed straight to the beautiful dedicated business class check-in.

There were some nice seating areas where you could go rest and wait for a check-in desk to become available. All tables also had a bunch of water containers to quench your thirst.

We however didn’t make use of any of that was we were through to check-in in no-time. Even though we were checked-in online using the app I still wished to have a paper boarding pass as flying business is always a bit special. The agent at the desk was very happy to hand us paper boarding passes and send us on our way.

As a Turkish Airlines business class passenger you can make use of the Star Gold fast pass emigration and security. Emigration was passed in no-time as there was no wait, while at security there was only a small wait compared to the huge lines of the normal security.

After Sam had fulfilled his need for duty-free browsing and shopping we headed up to the Turkish Airlines Business Class Lounge. This up the mezzanine at the right hand side of the airport when exiting security. At the bottom of the escalators up to the mezzanine is an agent checking whether you are eligible for entry, and she had to turn away quite some people before us.

People with frequent flyer status have to use the different miles and smiles lounge at the left hand side of the airport, the business class lounge is as the name implies only for business class passengers.

Once up at the mezzanine level there are automatic gates where you have to scan the barcode on your boarding pass for entry. Once inside the showers and lockers are to your left while the rest of the lounge is to the right. First we stored our items in the lockers so we didn’t have to lug them around the quite big lounge.

The lounge itself is divided into different areas.

Centrally there is the Turkish village market style dining area where there are different stands of live and fresh cooking with all different kinds of Turkish dishes. It’s nice to see them showcasing Turkish cuisine in this lounge. There is so much offer that is quite difficult to choose what you want.

There are different kinds of seating areas from dining table seats near the food stands, to more relaxing chairs near the terrace overlooking the shopping area below, or the more intimate library and tea house areas, you can pick an area most suited to you.

There is also a nice children play area at the far side of the lounge, so the noise doesn’t bother other passengers.

For the older people they also have some entertainment in the form of a golf simulator and a VR flight simulator. As there was no one queueing for the flight simulator we took the chance to have a flight. You have to climb up on it and wear some VR goggles. After which you make a flight over Cappadocia with all its magical views, a very fun experience.

While there were plenty of fridges with water and juices, a real coffee bar with made to order coffee and teas we weren’t able to find where they served the alcoholic beverages even though we saw plenty of people with glasses of wine. I guess we’ll have to come back another time to find that bar.

Another nice gimmick was that they had a small exhibition about the history of Turkish Airlines. I really liked the era specific plane models on show.

I still remember visiting the old lounge at the Ataturk airport with Michel, he thinks the new lounge doesn’t come near the old one. In my opinion the new lounge really isn’t bad and if I recall correctly the old lounge was one lounge for everyone while you now have a division in separate lounges for Business class and status members, as I felt it to be a quieter lounge this time.