Turkish Airlines 787-9 Economy Class Review [IST to ATL]

Airline: Turkish Airlines (TK)
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
Flight #: TK31
Route: Istanbul Airport (IST) to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
Date: December 13, 2024
Duration: 11 hours, 46 minutes
Cabin and Layout: Economy class, 3-3-3
Seat: 18H
Cost: $1,420.50 round-trip from Doha to Atlanta via Istanbul

I frequently travel internationally with my large family, and we don’t typically fly business class or even the most direct flight. As American expatriates living in Qatar, we try to fly the most economical routes with lean connections. Such was the case with our most recent flight to the U.S. for the winter holidays, when we found ourselves flying long-haul on Turkish Airlines for the first time.

Learn why and how we booked this flight and what we liked about our transfer and inflight experience. From cabin comfort to inflight entertainment to meal service, see how my family of 5 fared for 12 hours in Turkish Airlines economy class.

Booking Turkish Airlines Economy Class

Knowing I’d be traveling from my home in Doha, Qatar, to the southern U.S. over the winter holidays, I started tracking fares in the spring to a few airports via Google Flights. Flights on Qatar Airways were upwards of $1,800 round-trip, and since I needed 5 tickets and was not keen to drop $9,000 on airfare, I looked at a few options to reduce my costs.

I was able to book 3 round-trip award tickets for my husband and 2 of my 3 tweens on Turkish Airlines in economy from Doha (DOH) to Atlanta (ATL) via Istanbul (IST) via United MileagePlus for 88,000 United MileagePlus miles and $77 in taxes and fees each. I checked United’s award calendar pretty religiously for 4 months after booking and was never able to secure additional award tickets.

I ultimately booked a cash fare on the same flight through Capital One Travel for $1,394.97 after applying a $25.53 Capital One Travel credit. After booking, I called in to request a price match to the lowest price I found through a random online travel agency on Google Flights and received an $89 travel credit. I booked my remaining child ticket via Turkish’s student flight ticket discount and saved about 9% over the standard adult fare.

I paid the 2 cash fares using my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card*×Information collected independently. Not reviewed by Capital One.. My Capital One Travel airfare purchase earned 5x miles, and the direct student ticket earned 2x miles.

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Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the in's and out's of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

The Capital One Venture X card is an excellent option for travelers looking for an all-in-one premium credit card.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X card is an excellent option for travelers looking for an all-in-one premium credit card.

Welcome Offer

Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

75,000 miles

UP's Bonus Valuation*:

$1,350

Annual Fee

$395

APR

19.99% - 29.24% (Variable)

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^®Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit cardapplication.

Excellent (740-840)

Why We Like This Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is the premium Capital One travel rewards card on the block.

Points and miles fans will be surprised to see that the Capital One Venture X card packs quite the punch when it comes to bookings made through Capital One, all while offering the lowest annual fee among premium credit cards.

Depending on your travel goals and preferences, the Capital One Venture X card could very well end up being your go-to card in your wallet.

 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 10x miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars purchased through Capital One Travel
• 5x miles per $1 on flights and vacation rentals purchased through Capital One Travel
• 2x miles per $1 on all other purchases

Cons

• $395 annual fee (rates & fees)
• Does not offer bonus categories for flights or hotel purchases made directly with the airline or hotel group, the preferred booking method for those looking to earn elite status

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Card Highlights

• Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel
• Receive a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options
• Get 10,000 bonus miles (equal to $100 towards travel) every year, starting on your first anniversary
• Earn unlimited 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel
• Earn unlimited 2X miles on all other purchases
• Enjoy complimentary access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and the Partner Lounge Network
• Use your Venture X miles to easily cover travel expenses, including flights, hotels, rental cars and more—you can even transfer your miles to your choice of 15+ travel loyalty programs
• Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
• Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck^®

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 19.99% - 29.24% (Variable)
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

Capital One Miles

 

Hot Tip:

The Capital One Venture X card’s travel insurance has excellent coverage for trip cancellation and interruption, trip delay, and lost baggage.

I added my United MileagePlus number to the Turkish reservation but didn’t receive any miles because the flight had been booked in W class (which is ineligible to earn miles with United). I was retroactively able to earn 1,865 Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles for the flight and a 1,000-mile bonus for my first flight activity on the account.

Check-In

My family was booked across 3 separate reservations, so I suspected that seat selection would be a bit of a nightmare. Turkish does not have a family seating policy, and I figured as a worst-case scenario that my 3 kids would sit together and my husband and I could fend for ourselves elsewhere in the cabin. I was not able to convince a Turkish chat agent to put my solo son with me as a courtesy, though I could have paid to select seats.

I thought I might have more luck selecting free seats together at check-in, though I wasn’t able to check in the United award reservation tickets, and I didn’t have access to seat selection when checking in my son and myself. When I connected with chat again, I was told to try again within 6 hours of the flight, but this also proved fruitless.

Fortunately, the check-in agent in Doha was able to put all 5 tickets on back-to-back rows for both flights without any issues, so crisis averted!

Istanbul Airport

After arriving on an Airbus A321 from Doha to Istanbul around 11:30 a.m., we set out to find the IGA Lounge. When transferring, we didn’t have to pass through passport control but did have to go through a security scan.

IGA Lounge

I wasn’t sure where the lounge was, and we were unable to find it on the information kiosk screens. I attempted to find it by connecting to Wi-Fi, but unfortunately, similar to my experience at Plaza Premium Marmara Lounge at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW), the Wi-Fi access at IST was difficult to connect to. You need to log in with a mobile number or by scanning your passport at a kiosk for an access code, and for a transiting passenger, this isn’t quick or easy.

We wandered a bit and finally saw signs pointing us toward the lounge.

After taking the escalators to the second floor, we had a short wait before presenting our Priority Pass memberships to enter the lounge. (Complimentary lounge access is another great benefit of the Capital One Venture X card.)

Paid access is €85 (around $89) with children 7 to 12 at half-price. The lounge also has over 30 airline partners and participates in other lounge membership programs such as Diners Club, DragonPass, Lounge Pass, and LoungeKey.

From my colleague Ryan Smith’s detailed review of the IGA Lounge at IST, I knew it was expansive, and that was evident the minute we walked in.

Seating

The lounge had a central buffet area with a multitude of seating areas branching from it.

An area off of the dining room had long tables, ideal for solo travelers or those needing to work.

My family anchored in a seating area with multiple loungers, though we found 5 seats together on a banquette that had seats subdivided with a table armrest between them.

Additional seats were available on 2 terraces that extended into the terminal or in the area near the bar.

Complimentary massages were purportedly available, but no staff was on hand during my visit.

Food and Beverages

The lounge had 2 buffet islands, with identical offerings on each side of the buffet. One featured desserts, and the other had a cold salad bar.

Desserts included lokma, which are fried dough balls soaked in syrup and topped with pistachios.

The salad bar included cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, baba ganoush, and hummus.

Several employees staffed a buffet line of hot items such as bulgur pilaf, moussaka, and falafel.

The most popular station was the freshly made pide (cheese bread).

Canned beverages were plentiful in coolers throughout the lounge, along with coffee-making stations.

Restrooms

The restrooms closest to my seat were divided into prayer rooms with ablution stations (for cleansing before prayer) and traditional restrooms with showers. While I admired the aesthetic of the female restrooms, my husband was less impressed with the male restrooms, as he observed a man washing his feet in the sink (instead of at the ablution stations across the hall).

This restroom had showers, though it was unclear how to access them or obtain towels or toiletries for them.

Though my kids were too old for this pint-size bathroom, I appreciated the thought that went into ensuring that guests of all ages were considered when designing the lounge.

Additional restrooms and showers were also near the entrance.

Boarding

Departure boards in the lounge advised a 9-to-15-minute walk to the D gates, so we headed to gate D7 when the board listed “GO TO GATE.” It was easy to navigate through the massive airport to the D gates.

Unlike other times when I’ve connected internationally to the U.S., there was no secondary security screening. We had to check our documents at the gate, and my husband was selected for a random bag search.

When we arrived, the flight was actively boarding, so we jumped in the main queue to board and presented our documents for a third time at the gate.

Had we arrived earlier, we would have queued based on row.

Walking toward the jet bridge, I caught a glimpse of the 787-9 aircraft that we would be taking to Atlanta.

On Board Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 787-9

Turkish Airlines’ 787-9 Dreamliner has 270 economy seats across 2 cabins in a 3-3-3 configuration and 30 lie-flat business seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The economy seats have a pitch of 31 inches, a width of 17.4 inches, and a recline of 6 inches.

Though boarding was active when we arrived at the gate, the plane was still relatively empty when we arrived. Our seats were in rows 18 and 19 on the starboard side in the first section of economy.

Upon arrival, the seats were presented with a red pillow, a blanket wrapped in plastic, and a set of headphones wrapped in plastic.

I was pleased to see a huge inflight entertainment (IFE) screen and knew my kids would easily find a way to stay entertained on the 12-hour flight.

The seats featured an adjustable headrest that moved up and down for height. The sides could also be folded toward your head for comfort when sleeping.

A standard tray table was below the IFE screen, above the seatback pocket. This pocket had 2 smaller outer pockets ideal for a phone or small bits of trash.

The tray table could extend toward you, and while it fit the dining meal tray fine, I wasn’t about to risk setting up my large 15.6-inch laptop (especially considering that the passenger in front of me reclined for most of the flight).

Above the seat were reading lights (controlled by the IFE) and manually adjustable vents. The temperature was comfortable throughout the flight, and I did not need to adjust the air or use the blanket.

The 787-9 typically excels in overhead space, and there was ample room above our seats for my entire family’s luggage.

The flight took off around 3:45 p.m., and we began our nearly 12-hour journey to Atlanta.

Food and Beverages

The menu was available online prior to the flight, and a flight attendant also passed out a physical menu at the start of the flight.

The initial dinner service was köfte (Turkish meatloaf) or rigatoni (served around 5 p.m. Türkiye time), and the meal before landing was a cheese lasagna (served around 1:30 a.m. Türkiye time).

The drink service featured juices, Pepsi soft drinks, tea, coffee, wine, and beer. Our neighbor was served an entire can of Efes (a Turkish beer), but the flight attendants poured sodas from a large bottle.

The köfte meal was quite possibly one of the best meals I’ve ever had on an airplane. Though I didn’t stop in Istanbul on this trip, I’ve visited Türkiye before and love Turkish food — this meal was a trip down memory lane.

The köfte and bulgur were savory and flavorful, and the grilled vegetables were perfectly tender. The eggplant salad with peppers and yogurt was delicious, and the fig and nougat mousse was delicate and tasty.

The only negative aspects of the meal were the hard and crusty roll and the lack of dressing for the salad.

My daughter, who typically never touches a meal on a long-haul flight, ordered the rigatoni and nearly licked her plate clean.

For the second meal service, all passengers were served a cheese lasagna with a cup of coleslaw and a slice of chicken breast, the same stale bread from the first service, and dessert. While the menu said this dessert was tres leches, it was more like a semolina cake. The lasagna was acceptable, though it did have peas, for some reason!

Amenities

When I arrived, a pair of plastic-wrapped adjustable headphones were on the seat. These became uncomfortable quickly, so consider bringing your favorite pair of noise-canceling headphones from home.

A red pillow and a blanket were also on the seat. I found the cabin temperate quite comfortable, so I never used the blanket.

Amenity Kit

Midflight, a flight attendant came down the aisle to pass out amenity kits to those who wanted one.

The kit featured an eye mask, slippers, socks, earplugs, and a toothbrush and toothpaste set.

Inflight Entertainment

I was most impressed with the 11.6-inch touchscreen display. The IFE had hundreds of movies, TV shows (including live news and sports), music options, games, audiobooks, podcasts, and more. It also had a ton of cool features that made it fun to explore.

The screen pulled out a bit, though it was still uncomfortably angled when the seat in front of me was reclined. A little more give would have allowed me to have a better viewing angle.

The screen had headphone jacks and USB-C and USB-A inputs.

When browsing the movies and TV shows, I liked that I could star my favorites to create an abbreviated list that I could easily refer back to.

I also liked that you could assign a parental block for the seat to exclude content based on ratings. I’ll be doing this on my return flight so I don’t have to keep swaying my kids from “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

For those who enjoy watching the flight map, it contained many details about the flight (though the flight number was incorrect) and 2 live camera angles.

Hot Tip:

Passengers can pair their personal devices with the IFE, though this requires the Companion Entertainment app (iOS, Android).

Wi-Fi

Miles&Smiles members get unlimited complimentary messaging, but this requires that you have your login details easily accessible. Mine were stored on my laptop instead of my phone, so I wasn’t able to log in to test this functionality. Note that if you are not a Miles&Smiles member, you can sign up on the initial Wi-Fi screen.

Paid internet was egregious at $35 for the entire flight or as low as $8 for 100 MB.

Lavatory

The lavatory was expectedly small, with barely enough room to turn around. It had a changing table.

The sink had hot and cold motion-activated water with a manual soap pump. I liked that the waste bin had a step pedal to operate it if you didn’t want to touch it.

I used another lavatory during the flight, and that one had bottles of Blue Voyage cologne and lotion from Turkish brand Eyüp Sabri Tuncer.

Service

I was impressed by how the crew conducted the meal service. After each meal, the trays didn’t linger long before the team brought through a secondary coffee and tea service and picked up trash. This meant it was easier to get to sleep or hit the lavatory without having to wait an extended period for clean-up.

Arrival

Upon early arrival in Atlanta around 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (around 3:30 a.m. in Türkiye), we quickly transited from the gate using Global Entry (another benefit of my Capital One Venture X card). We had a slightly extended wait for our checked luggage, but we were soon on our way via bus to the rental car center.

Final Thoughts

My first long-haul flight on Turkish Airlines left a great first impression. The condition of the cabin felt new and fresh, and the IFE was a stunner, with a huge screen and a large selection of options. The köfte meal was fantastic, and we noticed and appreciated the speedy service to clean up the cabin after meals.

That said, 12 hours in any economy seat is never super comfortable, but since this flight was primarily during the daytime, I prioritized entertainment over sleep.

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