Turkish Airlines Comfort Class in the Boeing 777-300ER to Los Angeles

The flight with Turkish Airlines Comfort Class on a Boeing 777-300ER was one of my first error fares. Thanks to this pricing error, I flew from Istanbul to Los Angeles in comfortable Turkish Airlines Premium Economy. Find out whether the detour to Istanbul was worth it in the following trip report.

Flight to Frankfurt

My flight from Leipzig to Frankfurt was uneventful. I only had some crackers and a drink to satisfy my hunger. With a flight time of 45 minutes, that's not so bad.

I arrived in Frankfurt at Terminal 1, in area A (Gate A26). From there, I walked through the airport's catacombs (aka "Tunnel of Horror") to departure area B. There, at Gate B20, I met my fellow traveler Bodo, who had arrived in Frankfurt by train. With a slight delay, we took off after 10 p.m. in an almost new A321-200 (registration number D-AIDN) for Istanbul.

Flight to Istanbul

A hot meal was served on board. It was beef goulash "Puerto Rico" with rice, peas, and carrots. We also got a chocolate bar and finally something to drink – two cold beers!

A night at Istanbul airport

The night in Istanbul was long and not very restful. After arriving, we were surprised by the number of people at the airport at that hour. After a while, we found out it was due to delays caused by a nuclear conference in Istanbul. We tried to get some sleep in a café, but it didn't really work. So around 7 a.m., we decided on an energy-packed breakfast/dinner/whatever meal at Burger King. I really don't need another Whopper meal at that hour!

Around 10 a.m., after an eight-hour wait, we were finally able to check in. Passport control was very thorough and asked us what felt like a hundred questions about our entry into America. Annoying! They couldn't quite grasp why we were flying to LA via Istanbul when it's so much shorter from Germany.

Turkish Airlines Comfort Class on the Boeing 777-300ER – Boarding and Takeoff

Flight TK 009 (Turkish Airlines) to Los Angeles was scheduled to depart at 12:45 PM. However, the plane hadn't even arrived by then. We weren't able to leave the gate until around 2:20 PM, only to find ourselves stuck in a massive traffic jam. At least 25 aircraft were lined up ahead of us on the way to the runway. Our pilot needed 1 hour and 25 minutes to navigate the following 2-kilometer line of planes – until we finally received takeoff clearance at 3:45 PM. By then, our delay had already grown to three hours. The pilot suggested we could make up about an hour on our northern route over Norway, Greenland, and Canada, reducing the total flight time to just 12 hours and 30 minutes.

Turkish Airlines Comfort Class on the Boeing 777-300ER – Service

Shortly after takeoff, a menu was distributed. Three meals are planned in Comfort Class: a main course (plus canapés), a snack, and a second course, either hot or cold, before landing. After I had eaten the canapés and drunk a Turkish beer, a call came for a doctor. A passenger in Economy Class seemed to be unwell. Fortunately, it wasn't too serious, so we didn't have to make an emergency landing.

The rest of the flight proceeded without incident – offering some fantastic views of Greenland and the seemingly endless ice of Canada.

We arrived in Los Angeles at 6:30 p.m. (local time) and picked up our rental car. We were able to choose an SUV from a selection of vehicles and opted for a white Ford Escape. I can recommend the travel agency billiger-mietwagen.de for booking the rental car. Their prices and available rates are presented very transparently.

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