I had always wanted to visit the historic and unique city of Istanbul, and fly on Turkish Airlines to experience their legendary in-flight dining experience. So, when I stumbled upon what seemed like an irresistible deal for a seat in business class, I seized the opportunity and booked the flight on a whim. Although I was expecting their new business class product, I had a pleasant surprise in store for me.

Booking the trip

I booked the flight directly on the Turkish Airlines (TK) website. TK flies from several U.S airports (LAX, ATL, JFK, etc.), but I wanted to experience their new hard product, so I sought a flight on their Airbus A350, which features the new business class. My best bet was Atlanta (ATL), so I booked a positioning flight to Atlanta from Tucson, Arizona, where I live. Side note: you can sometimes get fantastic deals by booking flights on different tickets (Google Flights is my favorite tool for searching for flights). But this might mean long layovers–I had a 7-hour layover in ATL–and you can’t check in luggage (I never check in luggage while traveling, so this was not an issue).

The beautiful Turkish Airlines Airbus A350.

My enthusiasm was further increased by the Turkish Airlines stopover program, although that turned out to be a bust. Initially, the offer of a complementary stay at a 5-star hotel seemed like a tempting proposition. However, I opted to turn it down in favor of staying in a hotel that better suited my tastes in terms of quality and location. To make the most of my long-haul trips, I like to visit multiple places, so I searched for the closest countries by air from Istanbul (using Google Flights). While Athens was the closest, I had only been there a few weeks prior, so I decided to visit Amsterdam, marking a much-anticipated return to the vibrant city after six years.

Ground experience

Check-in at the ATL airport was a breeze, largely thanks to the almost deserted TK business class check-in desk. I was invited to The Club Lounge at Atlanta, a perfectly lackluster lounge from which I was keen to make a swift exit for the jungle that is the ATL airport. Side note, despite being the world’s busiest airport, I actually do like ATL a lot and find it to be a highly efficient airport, in part, because you can walk through all the concourses (walking from end to end took me about 30 minutes at a brisk pace). Istanbul airport, on the other hand, was a more elegant experience with the exclusive business class entry and the exceptional Turkish Airlines Business Lounge in Istanbul. Although there were multiple layers of security at the Istanbul Airport–you had to go through security just to get into the airport and then two more security checks before the flight–the whole process was highly efficient and painless.

While we encountered a half-hour delay to the flight, the gate agents were highly efficient, keeping passengers well-informed about the ongoing preparations for the flight. When the aircraft was finally ready for departure, boarding unfolded smoothly and without a hitch, paving the way for the adventures that lay ahead.

Onboard experience

My first surprise as I boarded the aircraft was the cabin. While I was expecting their new semi-private cabin, the cabin turned out to be the fully private unadvertised cabin. For some context, the planes featuring these cabins were originally intended for Aeroflot Airlines, the Russian airline. However, due to Russia’s war in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russia, it became impractical for Aeroflot to take delivery of these planes, leading Turkish Airlines to acquire them. This cabin is not even advertised on the Turkish Airlines website, as only a few of their planes have it. While you may not be able to specifically select this cabin while booking, you can spot it using two clues: 28 seats in business class instead of the usual 32, and the presence of a premium economy cabin (note that the cabins are only currently available on the A350s).

The elusive and exceptional Turkish Airlines business class cabin.

As fate would have it, my return flight to Atlanta was in the same cabin, so there was not much to compare in terms of the hard product. The seats were spacious, the beds were quite comfortable for an airplane bed, complete with a sufficiently large foot well. At 6-feet tall, I had no difficulty comfortably sleeping on my side. As I show in the video below, I thoroughly enjoyed the flights. While the dining experience from Atlanta to Istanbul was great, the return trip from Istanbul to Atlanta truly took the cake, presenting not only a wider array of choices but also a fantastic dining experience, courtesy of the renowned Do & Co catering company. All the food was absolutely delicious. I also particularly liked the personal touch on the starters and desserts, which were plated at your seat, buffet-style. To round off the exceptional flying experience, the cabin crew was very professional and warm, though not overly friendly (which I was fine with), and ensured a comfortable and safe journey.

I review the flight in more detail in the video below.