Missing Seat Cushion on Turkish Airlines Flight... Turkish!

[Jamesc]

Turkish airlines...hmm...dangerous.

Terrorists could target that.

Be careful guys.

 

So which airlines is safe?

 

[Boringchap]

We didn't really spent a lot of time in Copenhagen.  The objective of going there was to board a cruise ship for a cruise to the Baltic seas.  The hotel we stayed in was called Hotel Bethel, a 2-star hotel at River Nyhavn - basic but clean and one of the least expensive options we could find.  We stayed one night. 

 

Since I have made the videos of the Hotel and surrounding scenes, let me share them here.  First is Hotel Bethel.

 

This next video shows you some scenes from Copenhagen, River Nyhavn, as we were walking around. 

 

Part 2 of scenes from Copenhagen.

 

Edited June 22, 2016 by Boringchap

[Kb27]

So which airlines is safe?

 

 

Well, I would avoid any ME airlines.

ISIS will be happy to target anyone of them given the opportunity.

EgyptAir just went down recently and many nervous people around.

[Boringchap]

Before I go back to continuing the flight reviews, I show you a video on taking public transport from the hotel to the cruise port in Copenhagen, Denmark, which is not difficult to do.  The important thing is to pack light and have luggages that you can drag (i.e. 4 wheelers or better still 8 wheelers).  My dear wife does most of the research and planning for the trip.  My kids and wife will drag the smaller bags.  I will drag the biggest bag.  My parents went with us for this trip so I got them to take the taxi since they are retired and they have earned it.  Taxi from Airport to Hotel was about 280DKK or $55 SGD.  Hotel to cruise port was about 200DKK or $40 SGD.   For my family, we bought a 24 hour ticket which cost 80DKK per adult which cost $16SGD and kids travel free on the public transport with an adult.  We could use this 24 hour ticket for our arrival into Copenhagen as well as the transfer to the cruise port the next day, as well as various bus rides in between. 

[Boringchap]

Ok, back to the flight reviews.  When we disembarked from the cruise ship in Copenhagen, we immediately made our way from the cruise port to the airport for a flight from Copenhagen to London.  Copenhagen airport was pretty nice, but we almost missed our flight because they put their passport control after all the restaurants and shops in the restricted area.  What happened was that after we got past security, we thought we had plenty of time.  So we went into a Priority Pass lounge and chilled out till about 25 minutes before flight departure, and then we made our way to the gates, only to be confronted by passport control!  And there were only 2 counters opened with a fairly long line.  Thankfully the lines cleared quickly and we still made it to the plane, even though boarding was well underway. Phew! 

 

Here are two videos, the first is the Aviator Lounge at the Copenhagen Airport, which is a Priority Pass lounge.  We had quite a lot of time to spare so rather than wander around the airport, I decided to just bring the entire family into the lounge to get some rest.   Nothing great in terms of food selection (as you can see in the video) but seats were comfortable and the coffee was good.  I also did some plane watching.

 

Again, thank God that we made the flight.  If you fly out from Copenhagen, beware the immigration counters!  Here is a video of the British Airways flight from Copenhagen to London Heathrow.  Somehow, when we fly between Europeans cities, we end up going with British Airways.  They are a bit more expensive than the low cost carriers, but I think we are happy with the product. On this flight, I asked for whiskey and coffee.  Never had this combination before, but there is always a first time.

 

We spent some days in London, just chilling out and having fun.  Some random videos of our time in London before I resume the Turkish flight back to Singapore.  

 

Foyles Bookshop, a very beautiful bookshop in London.  Enjoyed browsing. 

 

OKI Noodle and Sushi bar near Wimbledon Tube station.  Had lunch here after visting the Hampton Court Palace.

 

This building, which was a public library, looked a bit like the Sandcrawler from Star Wars. 

 

A visit to Harrods at Knightsbridge, and I spotted this decorated Sari cake.  Look at the price tag!

 

Some more food videos from our time in London.  This is from a restaurant in London Chinatown called Young Cheng which serves wonderful Lobster Noodles. Oh, so delicious!  We ate a lot of stuff and the bill was under 50 GBP.

 

We tried the one Michelin Star Yauatcha restaurant's taster menu called 'Taste of Yauatcha' in London SOHO.  The cost was 30 pounds for 2 pax, before taxes.  It is a taster menu, so you get one piece each of the following: Har gau, Crystal dumpling wrap with pumpkin, Baked venison puff, Prawn shui mai with chicken, Mushroom spring roll with black truffle, Garden Dumpling, Prawn and beancurd cheung fun and Sticky rice in lotus leaf with chicken and dried shrimp and choice of Chinese tea. 

Alright, after that distraction, it was back to air travel.  First, we had to get ourselves to London Gatwick.  At first, we thought of the Gatwick Express, but after some research realised that there were cheaper options that cost much less and took just as fast.  So here is the thing - the train station at London Gatwick is a common station that is used by several train companies, and it is not monopolized by the Gatwick Express, unlike the Heathrow Express at Heathrow. So we ended up buying tickets for Southern Railway, one day in advance, for off-peak travel for the four of us.  Cost about 32 pounds for the 4 of us, which was fine.  However, the train was jammed packed!  Reason was that many earlier trains were cancelled.  So we had to squeeze into the train. Thankfully the journey was very smooth and after 30 minutes of standing, we got to Gatwick in very good time.  Video footage of some clips onboard the train. 

 

Some scenes from London Gatwick airport. Checking in for Turkish Airlines was easy enough as there were no lines when we arrived.  We got into the restricted area fairly quickly and had some time to spare.  Here are some scenes from the check in and restricted area. 

[Boringchap]

Very surreal to read about the attackers and suicide bombers in Turkey's airport.  We were just there a few weeks ago.  Condolences to all the deceased and hope the injured pull through.  A reminder that the terror threat is very real. 

 

I continue with the flight reviews.

 

Soon it was time for our flight.  Hanging around in the Gatwick restricted area wasn't too bad.  We quickly found our way to the gates for the London Gatwick to Istanbul service on Turkish Airways.  I think they fly thrice a day, and ours was the third flight of the day, flight TK1998.  It was a single aisle Airbus A321 aircraft. We were seated one row behind the emergency row seats and the legroom in that row was awesome.  Not sure how to get those seats, maybe you got to pay more. The flight was about 3 hours and a hot meal was served - some Turkish minced meat on rice.  Taste was not bad.  After the meal, I settled down to get some rest.

 

We arrived at Istanbul airport in good time.  Our next flight (Istanbul to Singapore) was scheduled to depart at 0150hrs and we had arrived before 2300hrs the night before.  So we decided to look for the same Primeclass CIP Lounge and hang around there for a couple of hours, just to chill.  This first video shows us walking to look for the Primeclass CIP Lounge, which is also a Priority Pass lounge.  The lounge was located at one corner of the airport, below a food court.

 

 

[Dleodleo]

Well, I would avoid any ME airlines.

ISIS will be happy to target anyone of them given the opportunity.

EgyptAir just went down recently and many nervous people around.

 

So is Qatar Air and Emirates considered ME airlines?  I love taking Emirates.  Hmmmmm.... perhaps I should reconsider.

 

[Boringchap]

Well, the lounge didn't serve burgers and my kids wanted some burgers.  So the easiest way to get them was to step outside to buy some burgers from Burger King.  Truth be told, the airport felt very different outside the lounge. It was crowded! Not sure why there was only one counter opened when there were so many people and the crowds looked to get a bit out of control, but things soon settled down. Anyway, I got my burgers and brought them back to the lounge.  Definitely not cheap, but hey, this was an airport after all. 

 

Soon, it was time to head to the gate.  This video shows you some footage of the walk to Gate 228A where Turkish Airlines Flight TK 54 would depart.  Now, when I googled Gate 228A, I couldn't find it!  It looked as if there were no gates beyond 226 based on the map of the airport, at the Istanbul Airport website.  But the screen clearly said 228A, so perhaps the website was not yet updated.  That turned out to be true.  We walked and past Gates 225, 226, and then that area of the airport looked new.  It must be a new wing of the airport, so Istabul Airport was expanding.  Business must be pretty good!  

 

When we go to the gate, there were many passengers waiting, however it was not yet time to board.  Once boarded started, it was quite smooth and we got onboard the aircraft and settled into our seats.  It was the Airbus A330, similar model we flew on a couple of weeks back on the Singapore to Istanbul leg, with a 2-4-2 configuration.  This video shows you the interior of the aircraft and the meals service.  The food was very similar to what we had on the earlier London to Istanbul leg, so I didn't eat much.  Overall, it was a smooth flight and we landed at Singapore Changi safely.  Thank God for safe travels and thanks for watching!

 

 

[Thaiyotakamli]

So which airlines is safe?

 

MAS

Cos terrorist dont want to go missing lol

[Jamesc]

MAS

Cos terrorist dont want to go missing lol

 

Yeah or get shot down by the Russians

 

then how to claim credit for blowing the

 

plane up. 

 

[Thaiyotakamli]

Yeah or get shot down by the Russians

 

then how to claim credit for blowing the

 

plane up.

 

Worse went missing cannot find its way to 72 virgins lol

[Boringchap]

Epilogue

A video of the collection of kiddy and other stuff we got from the Turkish Airlines flight from Singapore to Europe and back.  On one leg, the cabin crew gave a nice teddy bear to just one of my kid and not the other.  Check it out!

[Yhn]

lol,

 

this first time i hear,

 

btw, do the cabin crews speak or understand English ?

 

 

Ever boarded a plane to fly off and be confronted with a metal chair and a missing seat cushion? I admit this has never happened to me until our recent experience on Turkish Airlines.  We were flying from Singapore to Istanbul and onward to Copenhagen.  This was on the Istanbul to Copenhagen leg.  We had to take an airport bus to board the plane.  It was a nice and sunny morning.  We got on board, walked to our seats, and were confronted with a dirty detached seat cushion on a metal seat. 

 

Not a great way to start a flight, I reckon.  I first alerted a male cabin crew, who didn't seem too surprised.  But he disappeared.  Really!  Then I alerted a female cabin crew, who said she will help sort this out.  True enough, she came back within a few minutes with a new cushion and fitted it. Well done! Here is a short video clip of the dirty cushion experience. 

 

To be fair, the rest of the flight and also the earlier leg was pretty good. We were on a holiday and headed to Copenhagen.  Originally we planned to book SQ for the 4 of us, but the option of Turkish Airlines came along and we could save almost $2K for the 4 of us.  So we decided to give Turkish a try.  Here are the videos of our experience.

 

At Changi Airport, when we checked in, I was informed by the check-in staff that I could use the SATS Premier Lounge (even though I was flying in Economy) because I was Star Alliance Gold status.  Well, I recently turned Star Gold and I don't even have my card yet, so I wasn't expecting this.  Anyway, it was great, though I could only bring one guest.  At the lounge entrance, I asked nicely if I could bring both my kids and the reception staff kindly agreed.  My wife stayed outside though, she went shopping.  Later on, I found out that SATS Premier Lounges were also Priority Pass lounges, so we could have used the lounge, albeit for a fee.

 

Here is the video of the lounge, which is used by a good number of airlines.  I guess this is called a contract lounge.  They had a decent hot food selection, not as good as the SilverKris, but good enough for most.  There was the signature laksa, which tasted good.  Also they had 3 OSIM massage chairs at one corner.  Cool!

 

 

[Boringchap]

lol,

 

this first time i hear,

 

btw, do the cabin crews speak or understand English ?

 

yes, their English is ok. 

[1fast1]

I quited my job many years ago because too much flying. I was given all kind of alliance cards, but I seldom use the lounges. If I use, it is mostly to make conference calls and not for the food. I am sick of the food and even more sick of seeing an airport.

 

Trust me, it is no fun because end of it all, being close with your love ones is the most important of all.

 

I hate flying too. I can't tell you the number of free conferences and trips I've turned down because I just don't wanna fly.

 

I don't mind long-distance driving, provided the safety considerations are reasonable.

 

Going by cruise ship is still novel enough that I'll contemplate it, though.

[Boringchap]

Watching this, I now have serious doubts about flying with Turkish again.  What in the world?? How can be so cartoon???