For whatever reason (perhaps because 100+ college basketball teams have been flying all over the country this week so we can collectively be glued to our TVs), I have been thinking about air travel recently.
We will all probably admit that flying has become less and less fun as the ancillary fees, reduced service levels, packed planes, and less-than-competent TSA personnel and policies infest the industry. Despite that, airlines have reacted differently to these varied pressures and created divergent experiences for passengers. United is generally my preferred airline, primarily because of the rewards they gave me as I piled up miles shuttling between Ohio and Azerbaijan several years ago. But, those tidbits aside, I have come to admire Lufthansa for their operational efficiency, cleanliness, and dedication to duty.
Which brings me to Turkish Airlines, which I had never flown before using them recently to fly round trip between Washington, D.C. and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Each direction required a stopover in Istanbul to change planes (sidebar - if you ever have a layover at the Istanbul airport, bring plenty of cash and do not count on finding a functioning wifi). And there were enough nuances overall to help me form a love-hate relationship with the airline.
Taking the negative side first, their planes were some of the dirtiest I have ever encountered. Even beyond that, they were desperately in need of ventilation even before leaving the gate, and the stagnant air only got worse during the flights (two of my legs were about 6 hours each, and the other two about 13 hours each). And, none of the four long-hauls had movie options for passengers, making entertainment problematic in an era when there is no longer sufficient room between seat rows to comfortably accommodate firing up a laptop.
But Turkish Airlines did score spectacularly on one factor. International passengers transiting through Istanbul have to re-book their boarding passes and clear Turkish customs regardless of where they originated. On my trip to Dhaka this was accomplished professionally at the airline transit desk, leaving me with over 5 hours to kill before departure. On my return flight, landing in Istanbul about 3 a.m., the clerk at the transit desk remembered me from the first flight two weeks earlier (he probably didn't, but at the very least the airline's data systems flagged him accordingly as I was standing at his counter). Because this layover was over 11 hours, he offered me a hotel room in Istanbul, courtesy of the airline, and all it would cost me was $25 for a visa to get into Turkey.
Everything worked like clockwork - it took 2 minutes to purchase the visa, and there was about a 20-minute wait for the airport shuttle to take us into downtown Istanbul. We were each given a single room in the 3-star hotel, free breakfast, and transportation back to the airport at 10 the next morning. The hotel was clean, the breakfast delicious, and early-morning views of Istanbul on the (Friday) sabbath made me wish I had a couple of days to spare.
So thank you, Turkish Airlines, for making a not-so-simple gesture that totally distinguished you from any other airline on which I have flown. In the marketing game that I play, that makes all of the difference.
We will all probably admit that flying has become less and less fun as the ancillary fees, reduced service levels, packed planes, and less-than-competent TSA personnel and policies infest the industry. Despite that, airlines have reacted differently to these varied pressures and created divergent experiences for passengers. United is generally my preferred airline, primarily because of the rewards they gave me as I piled up miles shuttling between Ohio and Azerbaijan several years ago. But, those tidbits aside, I have come to admire Lufthansa for their operational efficiency, cleanliness, and dedication to duty.
Which brings me to Turkish Airlines, which I had never flown before using them recently to fly round trip between Washington, D.C. and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Each direction required a stopover in Istanbul to change planes (sidebar - if you ever have a layover at the Istanbul airport, bring plenty of cash and do not count on finding a functioning wifi). And there were enough nuances overall to help me form a love-hate relationship with the airline.
Taking the negative side first, their planes were some of the dirtiest I have ever encountered. Even beyond that, they were desperately in need of ventilation even before leaving the gate, and the stagnant air only got worse during the flights (two of my legs were about 6 hours each, and the other two about 13 hours each). And, none of the four long-hauls had movie options for passengers, making entertainment problematic in an era when there is no longer sufficient room between seat rows to comfortably accommodate firing up a laptop.
But Turkish Airlines did score spectacularly on one factor. International passengers transiting through Istanbul have to re-book their boarding passes and clear Turkish customs regardless of where they originated. On my trip to Dhaka this was accomplished professionally at the airline transit desk, leaving me with over 5 hours to kill before departure. On my return flight, landing in Istanbul about 3 a.m., the clerk at the transit desk remembered me from the first flight two weeks earlier (he probably didn't, but at the very least the airline's data systems flagged him accordingly as I was standing at his counter). Because this layover was over 11 hours, he offered me a hotel room in Istanbul, courtesy of the airline, and all it would cost me was $25 for a visa to get into Turkey.
Everything worked like clockwork - it took 2 minutes to purchase the visa, and there was about a 20-minute wait for the airport shuttle to take us into downtown Istanbul. We were each given a single room in the 3-star hotel, free breakfast, and transportation back to the airport at 10 the next morning. The hotel was clean, the breakfast delicious, and early-morning views of Istanbul on the (Friday) sabbath made me wish I had a couple of days to spare.
So thank you, Turkish Airlines, for making a not-so-simple gesture that totally distinguished you from any other airline on which I have flown. In the marketing game that I play, that makes all of the difference.
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