Turkish Flavours

Turkish Airlines is something else. It's hard to define. They are huge. 320 aircraft and claim to serve more global points than any other carrier. Istanbul's Ataturk Airport is a sea of red tails and the elderly terminal is swamped by oceans of transferring people. There is no sense of order and yet somehow it all seems to work. Having said that, after a creeping delay our flight to Dushanbe was eventually cancelled. No reasons were offered but it may have simply been the hub philosophy which says that once a departure is too late to return in time for its connections or to operate its next schedule it's best to bin it to protect the rest of the day. The result was an unscheduled nightstop without baggage. Our return from Almaty was also cancelled resulting in an unwelcome 0600 departure for Istanbul. Following the shooting at Istanbul airport some 10 days earlier we did toy with the idea of returning with Aeroflot or Air Astana but eventually stick to Plan A. After all, life goes on.

Fortunately our baggage stayed with us. Waiting at the carousel in Heathrow's impressive new Terminal 2 every single bag seems to have been transferred at Istanbul. The A330-300ER was 90% full. The Captain was British and the cabin crew all Turkish. They were quietly and attentively efficient with genuine smiles.

-John Williams.