Turkish Airlines A321neo Business Class Review

On June 5, 2024, AviationSource experienced Turkish Airlines’ Airbus A321neo in Business Class. Here is the review.

Contents

Turkish A321neo: Istanbul to Manchester Turkish Airlines On Board Service The Seat Overall

This article will cover the details surrounding the review of Turkish Airlines’ Airbus A321neo Business Class product.

Turkish A321neo: Istanbul to Manchester

Photo Credit: Riik@mctr, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s review takes us on board Turkish Airlines flight TK1915. Departing from Istanbul (IST) to Manchester (MAN).

This flight is on board one of Turkish’s Airbus A321neos, at the time, their newest in the fleet, TC-LPD. After only being delivered on April 18, 2024 according to Planespotters.

Currently, Turkish operates 44 Airbus A321neos with a further 185 on order.

We departed Istanbul at approx. 8.05 p.m. and arrived into Manchester at approx. 9.55 p.m. after a near four hour flight. Cruising at initially 34,000 feet before step climbing to 36,000 feet over Germany.

Departure from Istanbul was on runway 36 and arrival into Manchester was on runway 23R.

Turkish Airlines On Board Service

Upon boarding, I was offered a drink of choice between the following –

Water.
Fresh orange juice.
Lemon and lime juice.

For this flight I opted for the fresh orange juice. This was certainly a refreshing start to the flight.

Following departure, we were then given a menu to choose our evening meal and drink for the flight. They also handed out the same set of headphones that I got on the other Turkish Airlines flight we did to Istanbul the day before.

Turkish Airlines’ evening food menu consisted of the following –

Grilled Beef Cutlet, with aubergine and tomato ragout, and buttered rice and green pepper.
Grilled Chicken Breast, with corn mousseline, ratatouille and thyme jus.
Baked Romaine Gnocchi, with beluga lentil ragout.
Selection of cheese.
“Trilece”, Tres De Leches cake and caramel glaze.
Selection of oven fresh breads.

Turkish Airlines’ evening drink menu consisted of the following –

Various fresh juices, including orange and homemade lemonade.
Various soft drinks, including cola, mineral water and homemade ayran.
Various hot drinks, including black tea from Rize, green tea, Turkish coffee and hot chocolate.
Wellness teas, Relaxing (rooibos, melissa, sage), Energizer (green tea, mate, ginger) and Digestive (fennel, ginger, anise).
Champagne.
Spirits, including Blended Whisky, Bourbon Whisky, Gin, Vodka and Raki.
White Wines (Kavaklidere Egeo Sauvignon Blanc or Torres Vina Sol Parellada).
Red Wines (Kavaklidere Egeo Blend or Calvet Varietals Syrah).
Beer (Efes or Heineken).

For this return flight I opted for the Grilled Beef Cutlet which come with a prawn cocktail salad starter. I also opted for their other white wine, Torres Vina Sol Parellada.

Overall the food tasted great, and it was quite well presented too. A strong competitive product to other European carriers.

The Seat

You could certainly tell that the aircraft was new. Although the pictures don’t do it justice, there is plenty of leg room and the seat has a good amount of recline. You can also pull out the footrest to get comfortable.

It is worth noting that the seat is not electrically operated like the one in the Airbus A330-200. You use the push buttons at the side and you have to move the seat yourself.

The table pulls out from the right hand side armrest and can be used as a half table or a full table that covers the width of the seat.

The IFE (In-Flight Entertainment) was the same as the Airbus A330-200, however, what I did really like was the remote. The remote has a full touch screen to operate the IFE system, as well as doubling as a second screen.

You do also get a universal plug socket, USB-A slot and headphone jack to use your personal devices during the flight.

I found the seat comfortable with a good amount of cushioning, certainly good enough for the medium haul services that Turkish Airlines use their Airbus A321neos on.

Overall

All in all, I found Turkish’s Airbus A321neo Business Class product a strong contender, that certainly gives other European carriers a run. The fact that the cabin is also not the standard “Euro Business” that you’d get where just the middle seat is blocked off is also a huge positive.

The flight was comfortable, friendly cabin crew and very enjoyable. I’d be keen to try out Turkish Airlines’ Business Class on its long haul routes to see how it compares to flights that are longer than four hours.