Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Comfort Class to Istanbul

Our eventful trip through Southeast Asia came to an end after more than seven weeks. For our flight home, I had booked a ticket for the Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Comfort Class from Hong Kong to Istanbul. Find out whether the surcharge for Premium Economy class was worth it in the following trip report.

Getting from Macau to Hong Kong

After our furious Casino Night We slept until shortly before checkout at 12:00 PM. Then we took the shuttle bus to the Macau ferry terminal. A First Ferry catamaran took us across to Kowloon in an hour.

We had originally planned to take the cable car to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. Time was running out, and the weather was anything but ideal. At times, visibility was less than 100 meters. So we decided to spend the remaining hours in Hong Kong at a Starbucks at the Tung Chung subway station. We used the time to record the events of the past few days for the blog. Shortly before 6 p.m., we took the S1 bus to the airport.

Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Comfort Class – Boarding

For our flight home, I had gotten a cheap Turkish Airlines ticket to Istanbul in May. The ticket was a temporary pricing error on the Comfort Class route from Hong Kong via Istanbul to Los Angeles. This is a new cabin product from Turkish Airlines and sits between Economy and Business Class. Excited, but also with a little sadness about our vacation now ending, we boarded the Boeing 777-300ER (registration: TC-JJM "Marmara") at 10:35 PM.

Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Comfort Class – Cabin and Seat

I had already reserved seats 12A & B for us by phone. It was truly amazing how good the seats were. They were more than wide enough and had an adjustable footrest and backrest. The pitch was so large that even Bodo could leave his seat without me having to get up. The entertainment system is located in the armrest. The touchscreen monitor allows you to access various videos, mostly older material in our case, and music. Bodo also tried out the various games, which can be played with the controller in the armrest. One of our criticisms was the temperature in the cabin. It was either far too warm or far too cold.

Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Comfort Class – Service

The service was very friendly, although communication in English was a bit halting at times. Immediately after takeoff, canapés of shrimp and cocktail tomatoes on mozzarella were served. They came with a bowl of hazelnuts, and for me, a Turkish white wine and a Sprite.

Shortly before we flew around the Himalayas, dinner was served. I thought it was wonderful that it, like all the other dishes, was served on porcelain dishes. There was a mixed salad with olive oil, wild salmon with broccoli and curry rice, and a meat salad. A variety of warm rolls were also served.

After the main course, there was a mixed fruit salad, delicious chocolate and lemon cake, and a cheese platter. Since the Turkish white wine wasn't quite my taste, I switched to Chardonnay.

I think it would be nice if they handed out little menus before the meal. Since the taste on airplanes isn't always that great, you'd know exactly what you've just eaten. It would also have been great if we had our own chef on board, so they could simply introduce themselves.

The cabin lighting, or rather the LED mood light installed here, was then dimmed to allow the passengers to sleep. Meanwhile, our plane snaked its way north past the Himalayan Mountains. The scattered villages were astonishing; we could clearly see them despite an altitude of approximately 10 kilometers. Although there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, making visibility very clear, civilization could have been no more than 4-5 kilometers below us in these places. Since the moon was very bright, I also spotted a few snow-covered mountain ranges. It must have looked incredibly interesting in daylight.

Turkish Airlines Boeing 777-300ER Comfort Class – Breakfast

After a bit of sleep and two movies, we had breakfast roughly over the Caspian Sea. It consisted of scrambled eggs and a sandwich. In addition to the orange juice, I would have liked a traditional Turkish coffee, but the filter coffee will do in a pinch.

After 11 hours and 15 minutes, we landed in Istanbul. We faced a wait of nearly nine hours before our connecting Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt at 1:55 p.m.

Lufthansa flight from Istanbul to Frankfurt

This flight went without incident! It was nice to have a German crew again after 17 flights. For the sake of completeness, I'd like to mention that a hot lunch was provided for the three-hour flight. We were served chicken with carrots and zucchini with rice and a chocolate bar.

Since Bodo has already said goodbye to his vacation with yesterday's blog post, I'd like to do the same with this one. The seven weeks in Southeast Asia were incredibly eventful, interesting, and definitely an experience of a lifetime. I'm glad that, apart from a few minor details, everything went as planned during the months of preparation, and that none of us got seriously ill. I'm pleased that so many people have followed us here on the blog, which was primarily intended to remind us of some things later on. A heartfelt thank you for that! I'd especially like to take this opportunity to thank our proofreader, who did an excellent job back home in Ilmenau. ("You're welcome.")

I'd be delighted if some of my readers would stop by again in the future. By mid-April next year at the latest, when another trip to the western United States is planned.

Christian

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