Flying Experience With Turkish Airlines This 2021 Pandemic
Travel at your own risk!!!
Turkish Air (TK) has always been one of my favorite airlines. I have flown with them several times and one time I was even upgraded into the business class. Last 5 January 2021, I flew with Turkish Airlines again going to Antalya, Turkey. Some of you might be thinking, “Why Antalya? Why did you skip Istanbul?”. Well, I had a four-hour layover in Istanbul Airport (IST) and the reason why I skipped Istanbul is because I have been to Istanbul twice and I have never been to other cities in Turkey. Also, I happen to know a travel hack that saved me $$$.
Let me tell you, flying directly to Istanbul is more expensive than flying to Antalya. The direct flight from Manila to Istanbul will cost me about US$ 735 one-way. Meanwhile, I only paid US $733 for my Manila-Antalya (with IST layover) then Antalya-Ankara — YES! I booked a multi-city flights and it saved me a lot since I was bringing a 30kg baggage with me.
I am sharing with you my experience in flying with Turkish Airlines during pandemic.
- You can get a hygiene kit before boarding – mask, wipes, sanitizer.
You can get this before you enter the aircraft. They replaced the vanity kit with this. - Blanket is still provided.
You are going to need a blanket of a 13-hour flight. - Face shields not mandatory in the aircraft.
You can remove that annoying face shield on board. It is only mandatory in the Philippines. - Only 2-4 pax per row. Middle seats are empty.
You will probably end up sitting alone. It is a total dream. - Food is served in a single used disposable bags/box. In a 12-13hr flight they served 1 cold meal and 1 cold snack both sandwiches. No hot meals and alcohol provided in the economy class, just juice and water inside the pack.
I am very disappointed with TK’s catering services. I hope they fix this soon. - Last time I flew with TK was 2019, and the lavatory was just standard, now it has a has a Japanese style bidet, Airbus 350-900.
There was a bidet! A BIDET!!! - Disembarking still the same.
There was no social distancing at all.
Overall, I felt very safe flying with Turkish Airlines during this pandemic. I actually like it more than before. You know for sure that the aircraft is cleaned and sanitized, there are less people on board, and there was an upgrade with the lavatory. However, I was disappointed by their catering services. Imagine not having hot meals on board, being served two cold, not-so-tasty sandwiches, and the worst of all, they only served us water and juice. There were no alcoholic beverages to choose from. I was expecting more from them, to be honest.