The comfortable and modern Business Class on Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 737 MAX 8. Photo by: Evan Berman

After a quick stop in the Turkish Airlines Business Class Lounge in Istanbul, I headed to my Turkish Airlines 737 MAX 8 Business Class flight to Budapest. This was exceptional for a short flight, as you will see!

This review of the Turkish Airlines Short-Haul Business Class flight is part of the Eastern European Experience. For more information on this trip, follow these links:

Intro

Flight: United Economy Class B737-800 CHS-ORD-SEA

6 Hours in Seattle

Centurion Lounge, The Club SEA, and United Club: SEA Lounges

Flight: Turkish Airlines Business Class B787-9 SEA-IST

Istanbul Airport’s Famous Turkish Airlines Business Class Lounge and IGA Pop Up Lounge

Flight: Turkish Airlines Business Class B737 MAX 8 IST-BUD (This Article)

2 Days in Budapest

Dining in Budapest

Hotel: Ramada by Wyndham Budapest City Center

SkyCourt Lounge, Plaza Premium SkyCourt, and Platinum Lounge (Schengen): BUD Lounges

Flight: Lufthansa Economy Class A320-200 BUD-MUC and A321-200 MUC-ZAG

24 Hours in Munich

Starkbierfest Munich

Hotel: H+ Munchen (Wyndham)

Lufthansa Business Class Lounge MUC

Flight: Croatian Airlines Economy Class Dash 8 and ATR 72-600 (Twin-Prop Plane) ZAG-SPU-ZAG-SJJ-ZAG-BEG

2 Days in Split, Croatia, the Beauty of the Adriatic

Delicious Food in Split

Hotel Vestibul Palace in Split, Croatia, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World (Hyatt)

Primeclass Lounge ZAG

6 Hours in Zagreb

Wine Tasting and Learning about Croatian Feelings

2 Days in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Restaurants in Sarajevo

Hotel Aziza Sarajevo (AABooking)

Business Lounge SJJ

Air Serbia Premium Lounge and Business Club: BEG Lounges

Flight: Swiss Airlines Economy Class Embraer E190-E2 and A220-300 BEG-ZRH-LJU

2 Amazing Days in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Food Scene in Ljubljana

Day Trip around Slovenia: Postojna Cave, Predjama Castle, Bled Castle, and Lake Bled

Hotel Emonec Ljubljana, Slovenia (Rocketmiles)

Flight: Air Serbia Economy Class ATR 72-600 and A319-100 LJU-BEG-SKP

1.5 Days in Belgrade, Serbia

Restaurants in Belgrade

Hotel: Hyatt Regency Belgrade (Hyatt)

3 Hours in Skopje, North Macedonia

Primeclass Lounge SKP

Flight: Wizz Air Economy Class A321-200 SKP-MXP

14 Hours in Milan and Monza, Italy

Hotel de la Ville Monza, Italy, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World (Hyatt)

Sala Montale and Emirates Lounge MXP

Flight: Emirates First Class A380-800 MXP-JFK

Conclusion

Flight: Air Serbia Economy Class ATR 72-600 and A319-100 LJU-BEG-SKP

1.5 Days in Belgrade, Serbia

Restaurants in Belgrade

Hotel: Hyatt Regency Belgrade (Hyatt)

3 Hours in Skopje, North Macedonia

Primeclass Lounge SKP

Flight: Wizz Air Economy Class A321-200 SKP-MXP

14 Hours in Milan and Monza, Italy

Hotel de la Ville Monza, Italy, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World (Hyatt)

Sala Montale and Emirates Lounge MXP

Flight: Emirates First Class A380-800 MXP-JFK

Conclusion

Flight Info:

Route: IST-BUD (Istanbul, Turkïye’s Istanbul International Airport to Budapest, Hungary’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport)

Date: Thursday, 3/16/2023

Flight: TK 1037 (Turkish Airlines)

Plane: Boeing 737 MAX 8 (TC-LCI)

Seat: Assigned 4A, sat in 4K (Business Window)

Upgrades: N/A, award flight, no First Class

Est. Departure: 7:25pm local time (12:25pm EDT)

Taxiing: 7:43pm local time (12:43pm EDT)

Takeoff: 7:52pm local time (12:52pm EDT)

Gate: E1 (E Gates, Main Terminal)

Est. Arrival: 7:30pm local time (2:30pm EDT)

Touchdown: 7:18pm local time (2:18pm EDT)

Arrived at Gate: 7:25pm local time (2:25pm EDT)

Gate: B11 (Terminal 2B, Non-Schengen)

Intro:

Why do you care about Business Class for a 1 hour 35 minute flight, one might ask and rightfully so. I covered the Business Class Lounge experience in the lounge review article and that is certainly a reason to fly business. However, the flight itself was excellent and significantly better than economy, as you will see.

Turkish Airlines, now that Aeroflot (a former SkyTeam member and one of the Russian airlines, along with oneworld’s suspended member S7) is no longer flying to any European city, the only two airlines that offer enhanced Business Class on European flights are Aegean and Turkish. British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, and all the other European airlines that offer decent to excellent intercontinental Business Class experiences offer worse Business Class experiences than US Domestic First (and that’s not a compliment!)

What does that mean? Well, the other carriers offer the same seats in Business as Economy (3-3 layout), just with the middle seat blocked off. So, you do not get extra legroom (except for the 1st row bulkhead) and have the same seat as you would for less in economy. Additionally, the meals are mildly better but most European carriers offer the same fare as US carriers do, which is to say not much! Keep this summary in mind for this review. And don’t even get me started on how a 50 minute Qatar Airways flight had a 3 course meal (plated at once) with Champagne and fine wine when I can’t get a decent meal on 3.5 hour flights in the US! Rant over. 😉

Pricing:

Flight: I booked this award flight through Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles. Turkish flies to the most countries in the world and a member of Star Alliance. The one-way business award cost 31,500 points and $267.60 in fees. (31,500 Capital One Venture Miles were transferred at a 1:1 ratio)

Earnings: None, award flight

Flight Info: Class I (Business), 6,705 miles– 6,071 miles for Seattle to Istanbul, 633 miles for Istanbul to Budapest

MQM, MQS, MQD: N/A

Booking:

As I mentioned, this flight was booked via Turkish Airlines. There were a few options for redemption: All Nippon Airlines, Avianca LifeMiles, Turkish Airlines, and United Airlines. ANA allows for booking Star Alliance flights for 88,000 miles roundtrip (44,000 miles each way, though you must book round-trip itineraries), Avianca LifeMiles would price the flight at 63,000 miles while United would have priced the flight at 77,000 miles (now 88,000 miles). The normal price of Star Alliance Business Class flights to Europe is 45,000 miles (a great deal in and of itself), but there are infrequent discounts such as this one where Turkish prices its own Business Class awards at lower prices.

This is by far the best deal in pricing for Business Class to Europe and a steal if you can find it!

As soon as I logged out and logged back into the Turkish Airlines site, I saw my balance was 31,500 miles. I immediately searched the flight again and paid the mileage and fees. For the fees, I used my AmEx Platinum card to earn 5x points since it codes as an airline purchase.

In case you’re curious, this flight retails for $4,137. This was a terrific redemption where I earned 12.28 cents per mile in value from my Capital One Miles (4,137-267.60)/31,500*100= 12.2838. I would not have paid the $4,137, in fact there were other Business Class options for $1,400-$2,000 from NYC to Budapest, but this is terrific value and well more than the 1.7 cents per mile at which I value the Capital One Miles.

Lounges:

As a Business Class passenger, I was able to visit the Turkish Business Class Lounge in Istanbul, which was exceptional. There are also Priority Pass Lounges in IST, though they were quite far from the E Gates and subject to large crowds! This article highlights my experience in the 2 lounges. Make sure you can get into the Turkish Business Class Lounge!

Recap:

Boarding:

After a quick 20 minutes in the lounge, I walked downstairs where my gate E1 was conveniently located! As mentioned in the lounge review, IST is massive and the walk could have easily been 20 minutes, so make sure you know where your gate is before visiting! Thankfully, in this case, Turkish Airlines seems to always board and take off later than scheduled so I got a bit of lounge time before departing.

I assigned myself seat 4A, the last row of Business Class, on the left side of the aisle when facing forward. However, when I boarded there were two men who seemed to be bishops of some sort sitting in 4A and 4B. I instead opted for 4K, the other window which was thankfully empty. While I lost out on the empty seat next to mine at the time of check-in, I at least got my window seat and good people watching!

By bishops, I mean that they were wearing the typical red stole with long black cassock. I was not near enough to ascertain whether they were Turkish or Hungarian but they did appear to be Christian. Either way, it made for an interesting experience! Boarding was complete at 7:14pm local time, 11 minutes before the scheduled departure and only 25 minutes after it began. This was quite impressive for a Turkish flight!

Unlike the previous flight, there was no onboard chef– those are only present on long-haul flights. Additionally, the FAs and the purser did not introduce themselves. The takeoff was relatively quick for such a large and busy airport, especially as we had light rain as with the landing.

Meals:

I mentioned the rave reviews of the food that Turkish Airlines serves in the 787-9 SEA-IST flight review and how I found that my high expectations were met, if not surpassed. Well, the food on this short 1.5 hour flight was arguably better!

As we flew at night, dinner was the main meal served. The table was not set, rather there was just a napkin placed on the tray table before the tray. I started with a mint lemonade once again.

Dinner:

I ordered my drink, a Turkish red blend of Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon at 7:40pm local time. Everyone else was speaking either Turkish or Hungarian (I speak neither!) so when the FA came around, I figured she was taking dinner orders. I asked for the manti to which she replied she was just taking drink orders but that would be noted. I’m glad I misunderstood, as you will see shortly! Everything except for the manti arrived at the same time.

The wine bottle was actually glass on this flight. This was somewhat surprising given that it was a mini bottle not a regular sized one.

The food arrived at 8:25pm at the time of origin. The napkin that accompanied it was soaking wet!

The appetizer was terrific. The salmon was very tasty and the cheese course was tasty, albeit small. They were parmesan (great), brie (solid), and cheddar (ok). Unfortunately, the bread was fairly hard (as seen in the photo below).

For the entrée, I ordered the manti (Turkish ravioli). The manti in the lounge was incredible and I hoped for a repeat on this flight. As mentioned above, I requested the order with the drinks. When the meal orders occurred, at the 3rd row (the FAs went from front to back), there was no more manti, at least I surmised that anyway from the back and forth.

Had I not said something to the FA previously, I would not have gotten my preferred option. On single aisle planes (A320 family and Boeing 737 family, which includes the A321neo and Boeing 737 MAX), it may be prudent to ask your FA for your meal choice first as early as possible, lest you do not get your first choice.

The manti was good, though not excellent like the one in the lounge. Then, it was time for the star of the show, the mousse. As mentioned before, the Do & Co catering company is renowned for the quality of food on airplanes (and other catering situations), particularly in desserts. The mousse was so tasty that I would be pleased to receive it in a restaurant. That is, it would great in a restaurant! I was feeling full from having so much food and intended just to take a small bite but the mousse was so tasty, I had to finish it all!

Here are the food and wine and spirits menus:

Review:

From best to worst:

• Mousse was delicious. Wow. This dessert set the bar for every dessert in the future I will have on a plane. 11/10, Above and beyond.
• Salmon was quite good. The entire appetizer was solid, but it was nice to have fresh smoked salmon! 10/10, Excellent.
• Cheese was mostly great. The cheddar was a bit bland but otherwise the cheeses were quite good. 9/10, Great.
• Wine was good. While the blend was not the best wine I’ve ever had on a plane, it was quite pleasant. 9/10, Great
• Seasonal Salad was solid, especially for a plane. The vegetables were fresh and tasty, all you can ask for! 9/10, Great
• Manti was solid. While I had just tasted incredible manti, this was just good for an airplane. Recency bias may have a negative impact here, but I cannot rate higher than 8/10, Very Good.
• Bread was ok. While it was slightly hard, the taste was decent. 7/10, Above Average.
• Overall 9/10, Great. While the bread was not the best, everything else was terrific. I cannot stress enough how good this meal was, especially on a 1.5 hour flight in Europe!

I loved the adorable salt and pepper shakers on the long haul flight, but alas this flight just used plastic ones. While still attractive, they were not as memorable as the other ones.

Amenity Kit:

There was no amenity kit nor slippers on this short flight.

Electronics:

The entertainment screen was crisp and moderately sized at 18″. Turkish Airlines’ selection was decent. They had 3-5 episodes of most TV shows, though there are few great options. I recognized almost no movies, but there was a good mix of films in various languages. This flight was so short that I had no need to use the entertainment.

Headphones:

Unlike the previous flight, which had quality Denon headphones, these were cheap. They did cancel most noise, but the fit was awkward and they were overall uncomfortable.

Wi-Fi:

All Business Class Passengers on Turkish Airlines get 1GB of free Wifi. On a short flight such as this, that is well more than you need! That sounds great and is quite generous, but what’s the point if it doesn’t work? I tried several times to get the Wifi to load but I was unable to the entire flight. The photo above shows what happens if you do not enter your name and seat number. As such, if you were not in Business Class and tried to access the wi-fi, it would not work. At one point, I was finally able to load an internet speed test and found the culprit, the speed was under 3Mbps:

Seat:

The seats are not lie-flat on Turkish Airlines’ 787-9s in Business Class, though the recline is pretty good. The layout is a 2-2 setup, with a 3-3 layout in economy. These seats are far superior to the domestic US seats in terms of comfort and the armrests are much bigger than the ones with which you may be familiar.

As is typical with Business Class seats, there is ample legroom and it is easy to get comfortable while sitting.

The seats overall were in excellent shape, though there is some evidence of wear and tear. This is a bit concerning, given this plane was delivered in July of 2019, just 3.5 years ago! It’s worth noting that these planes do not fly nearly as far as the Dreamliners, such as the one that I flew from Seattle to Istanbul so it should be no surprise that it is in such good condition.

Sleep:

I did not need to sleep on this flight as I had got plenty on the long-haul flight. These seats, while not lie-flat, have to be as comfortable as you can get without lie-flats!

Experience:

We took off in rain, just before the sunset. Unfortunately, despite flying west, the weather meant that there was no sunset. This was an easy flight of just 1.5 hours, with no turbulence. I was happy to be in Business Class for the excellent meal and Business Class access. Despite leaving late, we touched down in the darkness in Budapest.

Between the solid meals and sleep, this lengthy flight went by fairly quickly! While the service was lacking, the overall experience was solid (especially the food) and I would quickly fly Turkish Airlines to Europe or the Middle East again soon!

Customs:

Budapest is a decent sized airport, but nowhere near as big as some others. Flying Business Class normally allows you to gain access to a fast track lane, which can be needed to avoid 30+ minute lines. In this case, there was no line for Premium Cabin passengers, but it did not matter as I was through in just 2 minutes. Most everyone went into the EU line, which meant that the other nationalities line was quite short.

Baggage:

My baggage was tagged as priority at SEA. I appreciated it as my bag was the 10th to arrive off the belt. It was a quick task to grab it and head to the taxi stand and into Budapest!

Recap:

The first leg of the trip to Europe was under way. I flew Turkish Airlines to Budapest via Istanbul. This section covered the excellent short-haul Turkish Airlines 737 MAX 8 Business Class product. This was an excellent product, especially for a European Business Class! Next up: my time in Budapest, Hungary! Have you ever flown Turkish? How does this compare to other Premium Cabins that you have flown?