First Look: Turkish Business Class Istanbul to Washington

After a long, Valentine’s Day weekend in Rome, my fiancé and I flew Turkish Airlines in business class back to Washington-Dulles via Istanbul.  While a full-fledged review is forthcoming, I wanted to share some initial pictures and thoughts of the long haul segment of Monday’s trip — from Istanbul to Washington on the Turkish Airlines A330-300.

I’d heard great things about Turkish Airlines’ catering, and boy — they sure didn’t disappoint, as this was some of the best catering I’ve experienced.  From the shorter, European flight, to the Turkish CIP Lounge at Istanbul, to the long haul flight from Istanbul to Washington, the catering — all day long — was simply fantastic, and first-rate.  I’ll let some of the pictures provide a good teaser for my review, which should be written in the next week or two…

The catering was amazing.  Simply some of the best I’ve ever had in business class, and even competitive or better than some international first class products that I’ve flown.  The attention to small, cute little details was also appreciated, and made certain aspects of this long flight quite enjoyable.

The business class seat on the A330-300 was a reasonably comfortable way to spend an almost 12-hour flight, but it certainly isn’t an industry-leading product by any stretch of the imagination.  I’ve heard mixed reviews about the service on Turkish, but I experienced completely friendly and accommodating service on this flight — though it wasn’t so much the most polished service I’ve had, it was certainly an enjoyable experience.  I’ll get into much, much more detail when I publish my full-fledged review of this flight from Istanbul to Washington in Turkish Business Class.