TRIP REPORT | INDEX
Written by Atanas Alkov
1. Route: Lisbon to Skopje via Istanbul
2. Ticket: 4 tickets in economy paid 1.238EUR with child fare slightly cheaper. This was the cheapest option from Skopje to Lisbon and back, but there is a catch. From Skopje to Lisbon there is no single day connection and you cannot qualify for accommodation provided by Turkish Airlines, so I bought a multi segment ticket with 2 days layover in Istanbul as a starter to our vacation.
3.Lisbon Airport: overcrowded, especially in check-in areas, but I like it. Shops and food court are like a nice plaza. TAP Portugal dominates, all 3 major US airlines present, but on some flights with narrow body 757.
4. Equipment: A321 NEO and B737-700. My very first flight on NEO, very quiet particularly during takeoff roll. The Boeing to Skopje is the last 737-700 in THY's fleet.
5. IFE: most responsive screen I have ever seen on the NEO. No IFE on the Boeing.
6. Food on board: photos of standard meals can be seen on my trip report from Skopje to Nice from last year. Same on these flights. This time I gave the Hindu non vegetarian meal a try. I had just one bite because my wife liked it to the point she said she will choose Hindu meal on next flights whenever possible. To pair my meal I opted for Chateau de Lemonade from 2019.
7. Istanbul Airport: Huge. Incomparable to the old airport, so I would say Ataturk Airport is dead, long live Erdogan Airport.
8. Skopje Airport: what to say? The single escalator from arrival corridor to passport control was out of order. And Skopje is the only airport I have been where "nothing to declare" lane at customs is almost nonexistent. All but few passengers are told to put all their bags on x-ray scanner. When I once asked why is so, I was told that people coming back from work in american bases in Afghanistan and Iraq smuggle discarded tools. OMG what a crime!!??
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LIS airport was and has always been very busy because of its size.
ReplyDeleteVinci is supposed to increase the capacity of the existing one and build a new one in Montijo.
https://www.vinci-airports.com/en/news/ana-vinci-airports-signs-agreement-portuguese-government-finance-expansion-lisbon-s-airport
The airport itself has a slot problem as more and more airlines are willing to launch flights including TAP itself.
310€ RT ticket per passenger is not cheap, maybe you should have considered flying from SKG or fly non-stop from SOF to LIS instead with either W6 or FB. Schedule times are quite good.
Anyway, new IST airport looks super nice, especially those huge flight times display screens.
Regarding SKP security, well..this is part of their job and they just strictly follow the rules.
Btw, how was the LF in the 4 flights?
4x100% in economy,30-40% in business.
DeleteXray scan is made by customs not by security on entry in Macedonia.only in SKP
Impressive LF, it seems TK are doing quite well on the LIS routes.
DeleteThanks for the info!
Chateau de lemonade )))
ReplyDeleteThis comment made me laugh for a few minutes: Ataturk Airport is dead, long live Erdogan Airport.
ReplyDeletei stopped reading there
DeleteI traveled via IST in early June and I was really saddened by the low quality of the finishing materials. The floor tiles had a lot of cracks and the toilets were all quite dirty with appliances often broken or detached. And all this after just a few weeks of use. If the Turks are serious about the airport's prestigious status, they would have to start renovating it right away.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice quick points report.
ReplyDelete