Nov 19

Nov 19 Istanbul to Bodrum - Turkish Airlines 737 flight review

“It’s worth spending the extra 10 dollars to fly a mostly seamless stress-free Turkish Airlines domestic flight instead of a low-cost carrier. ”

— Distant Points

Just before we get to my review of our epic 7-day stay at the Bodrum EDITION, I’m going to discuss our flight from Istanbul to Bodrum. Although we would have ideally flown directly from London to Bodrum, unfortunately, it was quite expensive (over $500 a few months out) to make that booking. Thus, we took a slight detour to Stockholm, along with a layover in Istanbul. If you’re looking to fly from Istanbul to Bodrum, the flag carrier of Turkey, Turkish Airlines is the best way to complete the 1 hour flight!

Flight: Turkish Airlines TK2526

Origin: Istanbul (IST)

Destination: Bodrum (BJV)

Operated by: Boeing 737-800

Class: Turkish Airlines Economy

Seat: 1D

Departure Time: 22:10

From Istanbul to Bodrum, we decided to “splurge” and fly on the flag carrier Turkish Airlines because I wanted to fly from the new Istanbul Airport. For the scheduled one and a half hour flight from Istanbul (IST) to Bodrum Milas airport, it was 650 Lira (~150 CAD, 113 USD, 102 Euro) for the two of us on the Boeing 737-800. As a full-service carrier, the ticket included one piece of checked luggage and a meal on board.

The booking process wasn’t entirely perfect though. A few weeks before our flight, there was a schedule change. Now a schedule change can be worked into your favour, like when switching an Aeroplan mRTW flight, but in this case, it didn’t work out in my favour as our departure time was pushed back by 1.5 hours, to 11:15.

The Flight

We left from the Istanbul Renaissance Hotel to the airport via Uber, which was a reasonable 102 Lira (23 CAD, 17 USD, 16 Euro). I had heard in the news that this airport was “next level big” and did it impress.

The area around the terminal was massive, you can clearly see that it is being built for the future. At Istanbul New Airport expect security, like many airports in the region you have to go through security before entering the building. Once through, the airport was quite empty (or it’s massive size made it seem that way) and we cruised through security. It’s after passing through security you realise how immense this airport truly is, as the airport breaks off into six different piers, with only one pier for domestic flights, the rest for international flights. Did you know that Turkish Airlines flies to more countries than any other airline in the world?

The airport is so big they have a map on their boarding passes

For a brand new airport, they did not do a great job of monetizing the area. It felt as though there wasn’t much to do in the domestic area, as there weren’t all that many shops.

Also, what’s with airports not providing reliable wifi? The wifi at Istanbul Airport kicked me off every ~20 minutes or so, I wouldn’t count on having it for a long layover. While there were some outlets, for charing your devices during your layover, they were not the international type and did not have USB chargers.

Furthermore, there no lounge that I could access with my priority pass. After exploring Istanbul New Airport’s domestic terminal, I can safely say that there is a lot of wasted space. While there are plenty of places to sit and lie down, there aren’t really many food options and tonnes of wasted space. I would keep that in mind when connecting at Istanbul New Airport as I reckon it could take a while, especially going from Domestic to International (Editors note: The minimum allowable connection times at Istanbul New Airport are significant, from International flights to Domestic flights it’s 90 minutes, from Domestic to International, and International to International it’s 75 minutes)

Boarding started on time for our 11:15 flight to Bodrum. The open setting of the airport meant that there was plenty of space to line up for the plan, we definitely weren’t feeling claustrophobic.

At least the wasted space meant that boarding wasn’t overly crowded

The plane was a pretty standard 737-800, but the seats were larger than a domestic North American flight.

There was also a personal TV, on a domestic flight, with plenty of Hollywood TV shows to keep you busy. Service was available right from gate to gate, which is great when you want to squeeze in a few episodes.

There was also a large tray table, that folded in half if you only wanted to put a drink on it.

We pushed off and had a long, 15-minute taxi out of the IST airport to get to our takeoff position. 15 minutes into the air, the seatbelt sign came off and they served FOOD, on a domestic flight! Although my pictures weren’t appetizing, the chicken panini was delicious. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any dairy free or lactose options for Kath.