Mini Review: Detroit To Istanbul Turkish Airlines Business Class

Detroit to Istanbul Business Class Flight Review

I flew Turkish Airlines Business Class for the first time a few days ago and figured I would share a couple of thoughts about my experience. I’ll go over how we booked, what I thought of the hard and soft product, and anything else that comes to mind in this Detroit to Istanbul business class flight review.

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Booking

Our end destination was Dublin for St Paddy’s day, but we were okay flying to pretty much anywhere in Europe to start the journey. The goal was to hopefully fly somewhere new, or fly something new. We hit two birds with one stone on this booking.

I was able to find award space on Air Canada Aeroplan for the Detroit to Istanbul business class flight. This route was added a few years back and I had been meaning to try it out. There are not a lot of non-stop flights out of DTW that don’t start with Delta, so this was a nice addition to have.

The cost of the booking was 70,000 Aeroplan miles. I couldn’t get the award to come up via LifeMiles, so I feared it was phantom space. The phone agent struggled to book it as well. After two hours of attempts she was able to force it through somehow though, much to my surprise.

Turkish Technology Problems

It seems like this is a known issue, but it was new to me as a first time Turkish Airlines flyer. Checking in for your flight is a pain in the butt. Even after reaching out to Air Canada to get the Turkish booking reference code I could still not pick seats or complete the check in.

It seems like the best way to get around this is to just call Turkish. The app is supposed to work a bit better than on a laptop too. However, I tried them both multiple times without luck. The issue was likely that they require the ticket number too, and Turkish must have changed that since the time of booking or something.

We were able to get checked in at the airport. I had booked a connecting flight with United miles to Warsaw, Poland (8,000 United miles) that I needed to have them check me in for at the Detroit airport as well. We didn’t book it as one ticket because we pivoted off a few days in Istanbul with all of the instability in the area. After about 15 minutes she was able to print both boarding passes for us and we were on our way.

DTW To IST In Turkish Airlines Business: Hard Product

We flew on the A350-900 and I really loved the layout and seat. I know that your thoughts on a Turkish Airlines business class flight experience may be based on which product you fly. We were on a newer plane and the set up was in the 1-2-1 configuration.

The seat was similar to others I have flown, but I will say it felt a little more padded. It could be because I didn’t sleep well the night before, but it was the best sleep I have ever had on an airplane. The cabin did get a little warm after dinner, but nothing my trusty travel fan couldn’t handle.

The one negative I would say is that there is almost no storage in the seating area. I had placed some inexpensive ear buds that I love to use while sleeping on the plane on the tray area. They flew off during the landing when the pilot threw down some hard brakes and one fell out of the case under the seat. As the earbuds were only like $30, and I only use them to sleep on planes, it wasn’t the biggest deal. If I had some storage it wouldn’t have happened though.

Detroit to Istanbul Business Class Flight Review: Soft Product

We really enjoyed the crew and food offered on the flight. The service started pretty promptly with some nuts and finger foods. The hors d’oeuvre were not my favorite, but my buddy enjoyed them.

The world’s oldest bread, which came in a small bag, was next – and maybe the highlight of the experience for me. I know that is strange to say, but it was some of the best bread I have had anywhere. They even gave us some oil and spices to dip it in to go along with butter. I liked that they added a little candle for some ambience too, which was a nice touch.

I ordered the steak and cheesy potatoes with ratatouille. The steak was a little chewy, and not what I would call a filet, but it was decent. The cheesy potatoes were really good though. I had the strawberry ice cream for desert, which was a mistake. The presentation was a bit off, since it was two small scoops of ice cream on a plate. Not the easiest way to eat ice cream. Really not sure what they were thinking there.

My buddy had the cod filet with potatoes. He said it was his favorite airline meal he has ever had. He decided on the cheesecake for dessert, which is what I would get if I did it again.

Overall we really enjoyed the food and service. The only complaint I would have is that dinner service was kind of slow and ran almost 3 hours. I was pretty tired at midnight by the time everything was removed.

Istanbul Airport

We had a four hour layover in the Istanbul airport before jumping on another Turkish flight to Warsaw. It is a really beautiful airport and not a bad place to have a layover after a long flight. They had in terminal hotel room rentals, plenty of lounges and a ton of shopping and dining.

We didn’t have access to the Turkish Airlines lounge because we were in economy to Poland with our last minute changes. We did go to two different Priority Pass lounges though. The first was in the terminal where we landed. It was pretty horrible and we left almost immediately.

The other Priority Pass lounge in the middle of all of the shopping was amazing. It had a ton of space, food and even a bar on the balcony overlooking the terminal. We hung out there and had some Turkish coffee while we tried to catch our breath.

We were able to stay airside after landing too just by showing our next boarding pass to an agent. That made the connection even easier.

Detroit to Istanbul Business Class Flight Review

All in all, we had a great business class flight with Turkish Airlines. The plane was nice, the seat was comfortable and the service was really good. We had some of the better airline food we have had on the flight as well. I will be monitoring this route going forward whenever it makes sense for our future travels because I enjoyed it that much.

Let me know what you have thought about Turkish business class down below or in the MTM Facebook Group. Have you ever flown the Detroit to Istanbul route? Did you have a similar experience?