Check out this 4K Trip Report & Honest Unsponsored Review on board a Turkish Airlines A321 from Istanbul to Rome.
Hi there! My name is Kevin and today we are going to take a look at the full Turkish Airlines economy experience. Join me as we check out the Istanbul Airport transit experience, look through the busy concourses and do a bit of plane spotting, relax a bit in the Miles & Smiles Lounge, take a deep dive into the on board experience, taste the food on offer and of course we will wrap it all up with The Flip Flop Score.
💎 Join my PATREON!: https://www.bit.ly/tfft_patreon
💰 VENMO Tip Jar: @kevin_tfft
🧳 Shop ALL of my Gear on AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/shop/theflipfloptraveller
My Other Channels
🛫 ROAM ABOVE (Extended Inflight Videos): https://www.bit.ly/tfft_RA
🚶♂️ ROAM (Walking Videos & Slow TV) https://www.bit.ly/tfft_R
💰 Flight Fare
Fare: $375.82 USD
Route: IST-FCO
Class: Economy
Inclusions: 1+1 Carry On, 1 Checked Bags, On Board Meal
📽 Next 5 Videos
⇢ 31 Dec: Hotel Chapter Roma (a Design Hotel) Rome, Italy
⇢ 05 Jan: Ethiopian Airlines Business Class A350 Rome to Addis Ababa
⇢ 07 Jan: Ethiopian Airlines Business Class 777 Addis Ababa to Johannesburg
⇢ 12 Jan: South African Airways A320 Economy Class Johannesburg to Cape Town
⇢ 14 Jan: Gorgeous George Hotel (a Design Hotel) Cape Town, South Africa
⏰ Videos posted at:
8:00 (New York), 14:00 (London), 20:00 (VN), 23:00 (Sydney)
—Video Chapters—
0:00 Flight Preview
00:23 Intro
00:34 Welcome to Istanbul
01:00 Transiting w/o a Visa…?
01:20 Crazy Busy Concourse
02:20 Finding the Miles & Smiles Lounge
02:40 Miles & Smiles Lounge Tour
04:19 Walking to The Gate
04:50 Turkish Route Map
05:19 Plane Spotting
05:52 Our Aircraft Arrives
06:30 Today’s Flight Stats
06:50 Boarding a Turkish A321
07:15 First Impressions On Board
07:35 My Extra Legroom Seat
07:45 Seat Tour & Features
08:20 Pushback & Safety Video
08:38 Taxi to Runway
08:54 Iran Air A310 Taking Off
09:08 Our Departure Route
09:20 Spool up & Take off
09:55 Beautiful Airport Overview
10:11 IFE Movies On Offer
10:22 Incredible Meal Service
11:00 Crossing Italy’s West Coast
11:12 Our Approach Route
11:18 Turkish Airlines’ Business Model?
11:50 Final Approach & Views
12:20 Landing & Taxi to Gate
12:53 Deplaning
13:13 The Flip Flop Score
Music featured in this video is licensed under an Artlist Unlimited License.
This is NOT a promotional video. I pay for all of my flights and hotels (and I always tell you how much!) so I can be as honest and impartial as possible. I do not receive any special treatment that wouldn’t otherwise be publicly accessible, in fact, the hotels and airlines have no idea about my visit and that’s the way I like it!
#turkishairlines #flightreview #tripreport
38 Comments
Nice review!
Wow – you've packed on nearly 2k subscribers over the past few days.
I did a double-take on your visa comments. Just the other day I saw an online review from someone who had been denied a check-in for not having a visa, even though he was eligible to get a visa on arrival at the destination, like so many of us do.
Turkish is one of those airlines I would consider for a one-stop long-haul – as long as baggage-handling is up to scratch and the connection time generous.
Anyways, thanks for entertaining me over the past year. The stand-out features of your work remain the quality of your scripting and the breezy narration. Your frequent use of the 'community' feature on the channel is also a nice touch.
Happy New Year.
I watched a lot of Turkish airlines’ business review videos, including yours, before flying one myself last month to Bogota from Bangkok and oh boy, i totally agree with you. The crews and food were hit-or-miss coz the crews from Bangkok to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Bogota were lovely and food was great but on the flights back, it felt very rushed despite we had 12 hrs on air!
Totally agree with you about the lounge at IGA. It's a bit underwhelming. I sometimes miss the old lounge at Ataturk.
Great trip report. IMO Turkish has a great reputation, especially in economy. So, I’m guessing your poor business class experience was pretty rare. The new hub at Istanbul, however does get mixed reviews.
1:36 Bruh just wait till you see DEL(Delhi, India) there has been a notification of excess crowds in the airport and people are advised to reach at least 5-6 hrs before their takeoff time.
Flip flop a question if i may, what do u do for a living and monthly income?
I wonder if Turkish Airlines’ long haul Economy class is better or at least equal to Emirates’ or Qatar Airways’.
Thank you to inform about the possibility of a visum problem when traveling on different airlines.
But…
There is another issue , not concerning your flight: connecting from IST to/ from SAW ( European or Asian side) . Ticket search engines often show such cheap flights. But you need a transit visum . Double ( go/return)
This past year, I flew Turkish in economy Phuket-Istanbul, Istanbul-Maldives and 2 sets of return domestic: Dalaman-Istanbul and all of them were good. Great food, efficient crew, amenity kits on the long hauls, and even hot sandwiches on the short domestic flights. Airlines like Qatar, Emirates have always made sure you know how wonderful they are, but Turkish Airlines seems to just get on with it in an almost low key way. Most people have no idea what a huge airline TK is. I really hope they keep up the good work. I think their product is good! 🙂
I'm enjoying your videos. I'm wondering, are you travelling solo? I'm thinking about doing some more travelling, but i wonder how much fun solo travelling will actually be?
The crews on my flights were absolutely superb, best flying experience so far.
Turkish Airlines Have Great Food Aboard.Great Work
Aw man. I wish we could hear about the history of turkish airlines. I love kevin story time👉🏻👈🏻
Great video as always!
Bro love these videos and thanks for your honest and quality reviews
Wao
How can you say food at TK lounges in Istanbul is hit or miss man?! They probably have the best food an airline lounge can offer (maybe with Qatar Airways). The buffet salad itself is truly impressive.
Good trip video. Liked as always informative & entertaining.
Thanks
Brilliant service when I visited Islamabad couple of years back but they seem to got more expensive recently
Hey mate, I recently came across this channel, and I must say, you have very high quality reports. You really detail all the pros and cons and that’s what a great report needs. Anyways, other than that, I hope you have a great new year!
Guess the passenger’s language sounds like a fun game! I’m going to try TK for the first time in March. Your business class experience has me a little worried. I’m hoping to hit a time in their lounge that gets me some decent food. Sad to see your camera pulling away before the pizza got baked. I recently came across your videos and really enjoy them! I’ll be interested to see how your channel grows and if you will synthesize your vast travel knowledge even more, a little like how you compared business class and economy. Also, really helpful graphics. Thx!
Hey Kevin
Merry christmas kevin, Wish you a happy new year Can you make an video of Mövenpick BDMS Wellness Resort bangkok? 😊
Fantastic !
THANK YOU
Nice! Would love to try it 👍🏻
TK is recently my favorite. For years was AirFrance/KLM Platinum before the C in 2020 made travel through Europe (from E. Africa to USA) practically impossible to miserable. So in early 2021 I switched to TK on my frequent flights from E.Africa to Houston. Have made 15 round trips in their business class on the route so far. Never had anything less than a top notch experience. Even flown economy from Africa to Zürich on a few flights when B class was sold out and it was also excellent. Food better than many other carriers, great IFE, and mostly friendly crew in both classes. Took them a while to get their operational act together with the Istanbul New Airport (at first, a few misconnects). TK still gets my vote.
Hi new subscriber happy new year almost lol
Planning to fly Emirates business class out of Orlando,Fl next summer have any reviews on it.?
Hey Kevin
I really love your honest, unbiased, comical and informative reviews!
I always look forward to your trip reports, keep up the great work.
Cheers & take care.
I've tried TA few times , the best thing that worth mentioning is thier meals , other things wasn't ok
I'm retired now but flew Turkish BC I don't know how many times – never had a bad experience – great crew, food and clean aircraft. Great to see they're still doing in right. Take note other airlines, this is how you do it!
I have always been confused with all the hype around Turkish business …….Having flown with them in business a few times from Sing to Dallas (I know but , i love transiting and checking out lounges). The old business style seating from Sing to IST is stepping back into the dark ages……..But i must admit i got some amazing prices towards the ending of the lock downs. Recently I have been the long hop in JAL , perfect every time.
Finally , thank you for your great reports , I find them such a help in planning future trips. The one thing that i find a pain, is how when you watch on a TV you can't see the cost of the flight / hotel…..Would you consider put the cost on the boarding pass , so the TV watchers can see it ……without having to drag the laptop out .
Hey Kevin, happy new year! I was wondering how tall you were since you grabbed a seat with extra legroom?
I miss seeing those Alitalia planes. Took many a trip on them going to see my family in Sicily
In August 2021 I flew Turkish Airlines Houston-Ist-Riga for $554 r/t. This included two free nights at an Istanbul hotel during the layover. How is this price possible? I bought the ticket in March 2020 during COVID and it took 17 months to be able to use the ticket.