Turkish Airlines A350 Business Class Review, Sydney to Istanbul

Turkish Airlines launched their first Australian service in March 2024, opening up a direct flight from Melbourne to their Istanbul hub, with a technical stop in Singapore. While I missed out on that inaugural, just eight months later services from Sydney were launched, and naturally, I booked myself on the very first flight.

But a month out from that date, and in a bizarre twist for airline scheduling, Turkish decided to kick things off a week earlier. At first, I considered adjusting my plans to snag the new inaugural, but as this would be operated by the Boeing 777 with an awful 2-3-2 Business Class layout, I quickly decided that the fourth Sydney service was good enough for me.

At just over 22 hours, the journey from Sydney to Istanbul is currently Turkish Airlines’ longest direct service. While the seat itself was never intended for such a marathon journey, the soft product is where Turkish really set themselves apart.

How I Booked Turkish Airlines Business Class

This trip was booked as part of an Aeroplan Stopover Award, which when done right, can be one of the best ways to spend your Aeroplan Points. Those points came as part of a purchase I made in July 2024, when Aeroplan was offering a huge 125% bonus on purchased points.

I purchased 180,000 Aeroplan Points for $3,050 and then redeemed 120,000 of those points on this booking. Including the taxes for my redemption, which came to $329 (as $300 CAD), I paid a total of $2,362 AUD for Business Class from Australia to New York, with a week stopover in Europe. The one downside to my redemption was that my first from Hobart to Sydney was only available in Economy, but that was hardly an issue for the two-hour hop.

Although I wouldn’t go as far as saying this was ‘dirt cheap’ - it’s certinaly a steal, especially when you consider the best price from Australia to New York, without a stopover, is regularly $7,000 to $10,000.

Sydney Ground Experience & Lounge

Check-in at Sydney was pretty slow, but I was happy to excuse that considering ground staff were still getting their heads around Turkish’s system. After reaching the end of the red carpet, I was told there had been a few teething issues but was promptly handed my boarding pass.

In Sydney, Business and First passengers have access to fast-track passport control and security screening, and somehow I was through in less than five minutes.

Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge, Sydney

Because Turkish Airlines is a Star Alliance member, and I had three hours to burn in Sydney, I first visited the Singapore Airlines Lounge, which was bound to be quiet this Thursday afternoon. At the door, I was quickly told “Turkish uses the NZ Lounge, not this one,” and after I insisted that everyone was Star Alliance friends, “Well we close in 30 minutes so you will need to leave soon,”. Two minutes later the same lady made a delay announcement over the lounge PA, mentioning that the Singapore Airlines flight was delayed and in fact hadn’t even landed yet.

Once inside, the Singapore Airlines lounge is essentially one large rectangle full of cream leather armchairs. The buffet is limited but serves up quality dishes one might expect from Singapore Airlines.

The free-pour bar had an impressive range, and was on the premium side of town in terms of wine.

I enjoyed the semi-enclosed work pods to fire off a few emails, before retiring to the hidden row of barstools with airport views.

Air New Zealand Lounge, Sydney

After the SilverKris lounge actually ends up closing, I venture to the Air New Zealand lounge next door. Turkish provides passengers with a separate lounge pass for access, but this doesn’t do anything as Air NZ uses boarding pass scanners for entry.

Of the two Star Alliance lounges in Sydney, Air New Zealand easily offers the better option, but with that comes regular crowding. The lounge is divided into several zones with high tables that boast built in charging, and relaxed seating further on. My preference was the wingback armchairs that face Sydney’s crossing runway.

As well as a small buffet with wraps, sandwiches, salad and sweets, there is a live cooking station servicing serving up a variety of Asian dishes during my visit. There is also a manned bar, and despite for once being spoilt for drinks choice at an airport lounge, I order a bloody marry.

Turkish Airlines A350 Business Class Seat

For those with a foot in the Star or Velocity camp, the Turkish Airlines A350 Business seat will be quite familiar. It’s the same Stelia Aerospace Symphony product that Singapore Airlines uses on some of its regional jets, including those that operate to Australia. On the whole, it’s a solid product with modern touches and Turkish certainly hasn’t skimped on adding premium fittings. Still, this isn’t a product that excels or was designed for the ultra-long-haul flights Turkish operates it on.

I do love the premium feel of Turkish Airlines’ chosen charcoal and concrete colour scheme, with golden seatbelts and stitching. I’m right up the front in 1K, a bulkhead seat with a larger foot cubby and added space to the side for a bassinet. For me, this was a great place to keep my bag within reach, without throwing it on the floor.

The small console has space for headphones and a combination lockable compartment, with a single universal AC plug and USB-A for charging. There is pull-out mirror of decent size, but being low and perpendicular to the seat, it isn’t useful for any serious facial reconstruction. Below are the seat controls, which do their job of moving the seat but offer little customisation beyond the presets.

Immediately after the first meal service, four separate cabin crew asked if I’d like my bed made up. I passed with the aim of converting to European time, but attempted some rest later on in the flight. As I mentioned earlier, these seats are not made for crazy long flights where sleep is a priority. It’s quite narrow at the shoulders and your feet go in a small box, plus on my flight, the cabin temperature was close enough to a sauna that I considered breaking out my boardshorts.

One final thing I will mention is the extreme length of the seatbelt. Even for passengers that are literally wider than the seat, there is way too much material which I found bothersome.

Turkish Airlines Business Class Amenities

Waiting at my seat was a large and plush pillow, seat protector, warm quilted blanket plus another thin blanket. Turkish Airlines doesn’t offer pyjamas in Business Class, which is a huge letdown given the quality of their soft product and number of long flights they operate. Luckily the crew enjoyed my preparation when I emerged in a Qantas First Class set.

The amenity kit by Lanvin comes in a nice case, with super fluffy socks and a premium eye mask as well as hand cream, lip balm, earplugs and a dental set. Denon headphones are another nice touch, and premium by the standard of other airlines, but still not good enough for me to give up my own noise-cancelling pair.

Turkish Airlines Entertainment & WiFi

There’s a good selection of movies and TV shows to keep entertained, including a number of Western options and new releases. Live sport and news channels are also loaded into the seatback, and on the A350, there are three inflight cameras.

As it should be, Turkish Airlines WiFi is free for Business Class passengers. On both flights, I found the connection fine for the first hour, then completely unusable until we began to descend. I’m not sure if that related to my specific aircraft, as in the following week I took three Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 flights, with the connection working well on two of those.

Turkish Airlines Business Class Dining

Turkish Airlines is well known for its onboard chefs who work alongside cabin crew to prepare Business Class meals on longer flights. Also renowned is catering provider Do & Co, who are often considered the best when it comes to airline food.

Before takeoff, there was a choice of water or three fruit juices - orange, raspberry and lemon-mint. I chose raspberry but later discovered how refreshing the lemon-mint option is. Turkish doesn’t seem to serve alcohol on the ground, which for me is hardly an issue given the quality of pre-departure drinks. Each came served with a labelled stirrer and fresh fruit.

Meal orders were proactively taken on the ground for both flights, with a prompt hot towel service and warm nuts shortly after takeoff.

Sydney to Kuala Lumpur

Despite being nearly a nine-hour flight, it's a single tray offering after departure for leg one, although I guess this does speed up the meal service for those wanting to sleep. A selection of cheese, garden salad, mezze, bread and coconut raspberry mouse on offer.

I then enjoyed the lamb chops with herb butter, served on couscous with cranberries, pine nuts, ratatouille and asparagus. This was ridiculously flavourful for an inflight meal, a huge step up from the starter, and a great offering for this Australian departure.

There was another light meal offered around two hours prior to landing, which I and most of the cabin skipped as was 3am Sydney time.

Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul

After a terrible layover in Malaysia (more on that below), I went with an express starter plate after departure, followed by a solid rest. Muesli, grilled chicken breast, cheese and fruit were simple but acceptable given the departure time.

The second meal service on flight two was where Turkish Airlines really wooed me. It was a full table service, complete with a flickering LED candle and impressive dinnerware. Starters were served from a trolley wheeled down the aisle, which for me was very exciting and a lot like what Business Class used to look like. Despite having first dibs from row one and the trolley being beautifully presented, the onboard chef told me to delete my photos. For some weird reason, he came back after the service and said I could have taken a photo with my phone, but not my camera. That would’ve been great to know when the trolly was full.

There were at least six options on the trolley, with my selection being asparagus with yogurt, smoked duck on coleslaw salad, and mushroom soup. The duck was certainly a highlight and executed well, plus it’s not too common to find a duck option onboard.

Next up was my ordered main, chicken brochette with mash and sauteed vegetables. This was definitely a cut above, but not phenomenal.

Turkish coffee and Turkish delight were served a little later in the flight to finish off.

Kuala Lumpur Transfer Experience

It was a Turkish trainwreck on the ground in Kuala Lumpur, but to be fair part of that was caused by my lack of sleep, which worked perfectly for converting to Istanbul time, but not at all for a two-hour layover at 2am local time. Immediately after disembarking, all passengers are directed to clear gate security and wait in the holding pen.

On the topic of gate security, I’m still not convinced that it speeds things up and I’m also not a fan of arriving at the gate hugely early. As you might imagine, the line is insanely long as every passenger headed to Istanbul arrives at the gate as soon as they disembark.

In Kuala Lumpur, Turkish Airlines utilises the Plaza Premium First Lounge. I’ve visited a few times and it’s actually a nice space with good views and made-to-order food. While it’s open 24 hours, my problem was going to be catching the bus between the Satelite and Contact Pier Terminals, and then returning with enough time to clear gate security and board. It would make so much more sense if Turkish switched to one of the two contract lounges within the Satelite Terminal, which are also quite nice.

Once boarding does commence, priority is called in the same sentence as general boarding, which leads to the aerobridge backing up and boarding being paused for a good five minutes. We also end up departing late, which is pretty embarrassing for the ground crew, who had every passenger arrive at the gate two hours before departure.

Turkish Airlines Business Class Service

When boarding my first flight, the Purser momentarily directed me down the left aisle instead of the right, and quickly came back with “Sorry it’s my first day…But don’t worry it’s the pilot’s second day,”. He also mentioned I should keep my guard up if taking a taxi into town, as non-Turkish speakers can get ripped off in Istanbul.

I’m glad Turkish allows its staff to show some personality unlike other airlines from the region, and while the rest of my crew were more reserved, they were still diligent and friendly. Service is certainly a focus, and I noted the forward-thinking of one flight attendant who automatically opened the bathroom door as soon as I entered the forward galley.

Summing Up: Turkish Airlines A350 Business Class

My flight with Turkish Airlines on the Airbus A350 was a pleasant experience, especially in terms of service from the crew and the premium feeling of the cabin. The onboard chef adds a fun touch, with food quality that is easily above that of most airlines departing Australia.

The seat feels private and is quite comfortable for lounging, but sleeping on what is scheduled as 20h5m in the air is another story. I was lucky to secure the bulkhead row with a larger footwell, which still felt narrow. On top of that, the cabin temperature on the first flight was possibly the hottest I have ever experienced.

While I would jump at the chance to fly Turkish Airlines’ A350 Business Class again, I would certainly look at other options between Sydney and Istanbul. Especially considering Emirates and Singapore Airlines both offer a quicker journey with more manageable layovers.