After a lovely time in Oman, it was time to start the journey back to the United States. Of course my goal was to review something new, so I decided to build an itinerary that included Turkish Airlines’ A321neo and 737 8 MAX business class, as well as SAS’ A350-900 business class.
So, how was Turkish Airlines’ business class experience? Fantastic, though at the same time it’s hard to judge an airline on a route like this, given how competitive airlines to & from the Middle East are.
How I booked my Turkish Airlines business class ticket
I booked the return itinerary through Air Canada Aeroplan, and managed to ticket the following in business class for 105,000 Aeroplan points plus $55.25 in taxes and fees:
02/27 TK775 Muscat to Istanbul departing 1:20AM arriving 6:05AM
02/27 TK1781 Istanbul to Copenhagen departing 11:50AM arriving 1:10PM
03/01 SK953 Copenhagen to Miami departing 9:35AM arriving 2:05PM
One of the awesome things about Aeroplan is that you can add a stopover to a one-way award for just 5,000 points one-way, so I was able to add one of those here, so I could spend a couple of days in Copenhagen.
Turkish Airlines business class boarding
In the last installment I reviewed the Primeclass Lounge Muscat, which is the contract lounge that Turkish Airlines uses at the airport. Boarding for the flight was scheduled to start at 12:50AM, 30 minutes prior to departure, so we headed to the gate at around 12:30AM. The flight was departing from gate C7, a roughly five minute walk from the lounge.
At Muscat Airport your boarding pass is scanned as you enter the gate area, so at that point you’re already considered to be onboard, for all practical purposes.
I was happy to see that the crew was arriving at the gate a few moments after us. I had wondered whether the crews for this flight did a same day turn or had a layover, so I was glad that the crew had a layover (and therefore…