Aloha Everyone,
The inflight service of Turkish Airlines is superb, but it was at a leisurely, deliberate pace. I was able to get about 4 hours of sleep using the full reclining feature of my seat. It was not enough to make up for the lack of sleep from the past two nights.Istanbul Airport is massive. After getting off the taxi, J.J. and I asked a few Turkish Airlines employees for our check in counter. Navigating through the airport with our two luggage and backpacks with unclear directions was not my idea of how to spend our final morning in Istanbul.
Solution was to request for wheelchair assistance for the two of us. What we had were two motorized wheelchairs with two race car drivers who navigated through the maze of huge lobbies to narrow corridors. They did not use horns or flashing lights but somehow the drivers avoided hitting other travelers.
After getting through all official checkpoints, the two wheelchair drivers deposited us at the Turkish Airlines Business Class lounge where J.J. enjoyed his hearty breakfast. An hour later, two new wheelchair drivers came to take us to our departure gate. Getting wheelchair services was a brilliant solution. The four attendants were generously tipped.
We are safely back in California. Our direct flight from Istanbul to LAX took 12 hours and 15 minutes.
Aloha -- Cathi