On my latest trip I flew from Athens to Heathrow T5 with British Airways and returned from Heathrow T2 to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. This gave me a perfect opportunity to compare two national carriers. The cost was almost the same with THY coming out a bit cheaper per mile. Both included hold baggage of 23kgs. Both terminals at Heathrow were free of queues and I got from plane to car park at terminal 5 in less than 20 minutes. A good reason to steer clear of flights to Gatwick as the passport queue there is always a truly long and winding road. On board BA the friendly confident voice of the pilot always reassures but after that Turkish Airlines won hands down. BA has abandoned its inflight food provision and serves drinks and snacks from a trolley at a price, and an important factor now laptops and iPads are banned into the UK from certain countries - BA had no inflight entertainment. THY served drinks and food; either köfte or a vegetarian pasta choice if you hadn't prebooked, I had chosen a veggie/fruit meal on booking at no extra cost. There was an impressive choice of films and music available on THY throughout the flight and it was also available during takeoff and landing which should keep anyone missing their tablet happy and each seat had a charging point for phones. My battery is always on its last legs when I get back to Turkey, so this was appreciated.
In view of the electronics restriction, Turkish airlines are accepting laptops etc at departure; bubble wrapping, labelling and storing in a hard case (similar to those used for musical equipment) and say they guarantee their safe return. Easy Jet have also announced a similar policy. BA hasn't made a press announcement yet on how it is dealing with this ban so I welcome comments from anyone who has flown from one of the restricted countries in the last week.
one wonders how long the ban will last as 'foreign' operators get their collective acts together. BA has become a dull shadow of its former self.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame, flying with BA used to be a treat
DeleteThere were no restrictions on our flight last week from Cyprus with Turkish Freebird, but I don't take a laptop with me when away.
ReplyDeleteGone are the days of travel when we used to eat a meal on the plane with proper cutlery, and be handed a hot flannel to wipe hands and face at the end.
Cyprus is not considered a threat, which is strange when you look at its position.
DeleteWe had proper cutlery on Turkish Airways and a nice bottle of wine.
I read a news article about this recently which included the fact that there will soon be two extra rows of seats. It's sad to see BA heading downmarket like this. :( I don't fly often, but have had 3 trips to Prague with BA, the last in September last year, and have always had a good experience. Sigh...
ReplyDeleteThey should realise that a lot of us are prepared to pay a bit more for a comfortable flight
DeleteIt sounds like Turkish Airlines is doing the better job.
ReplyDeleteLong may it continue
DeleteAh, the glory days of BA...
ReplyDeleteThe Trolly Dollies are all getting on a bit now.
DeleteHuge thumbs up for THY from me too; I flew with them to Istanbul, fabulous service. Do hope the laptop ban won't be a blow to them, they do such a great job. xx Ozlem
ReplyDelete