TRIP REPORT: Turkish Airlines, London - Shanghai - Dubrovnik

Written by Tarik Raljević

(Note: This report was completed later, this trip occurred in March 2024)

Having been to a good number of European countries, the idea of a trip further afield had been simmering in my mind for quite a while. Particularly motivated by the fact that Bosnian passport holders don’t need a visa to visit China, Shanghai had come up as one of the natural choices. When a friend from Shanghai offered to host me, it was time to start searching for possible itineraries.

As someone from the Balkans studying in England, and at a university with a particularly long Easter break, I wanted to also briefly visit home during that time. This led me to search for multi-city itineraries starting in London and finishing at either Split, Dubrovnik, or Sarajevo, via Shanghai in the middle. Turkish Airlines immediately emerged as the only practical option, to offering everything on one itinerary, and being much cheaper than the next available options. Before booking, I had gone through the slight hassle of verifying my status as a student, as Turkish Airlines offers a 10% discount and an increase in checked baggage from 30kg to 40kg—definitely worth it. With that done, I booked the ticket, potentially becoming the first person ever to book an LGW-IST-PVG-IST-DBV itinerary. I also opted for a particularly long layover—about 13 hours—on the PVG-IST-DBV, motivated by Turkish Airlines’ free TourIstanbul service for passengers with long layovers.

Now onto the flights themselves.

Flight 1: London Gatwick - Istanbul

I often joke that the best thing about Gatwick is that it’s not Luton, and today was no exception. Arriving early enough to be the only passenger at the Turkish Airlines check-in desks, I quickly checked in and headed off to security. As usual, the process was fairly chaotic but not too slow. However, I was pulled aside for an additional check for a rather strange reason. It seemed the security system malfunctioned, as my bag’s X-ray was linked to a photograph of a completely different bag. The understandably confused security attendant had to quickly find his supervisor before laughing it off and giving me the all-clear.

After navigating the long, winding corridor of the duty-free shop, I decided to grab a refreshment and just pass the time. Gatwick Airport is a standard British affair, its couple of pubs teeming with people eager for a few pre-departure beers, no matter the time of day. As a result, the cafes had plenty of empty seats. One overpriced iced tea purchase later, I settled in to wait for the gate announcement.

Departure information screen at Gatwick

My gate was a bit of a walk from the cafe, and after briefly getting stuck in an elevator, I had successfully made my way there. As I’ve come to expect, the boarding agent spent several minutes checking whether or not I can travel visa-free. This happens even with destinations much closer to home, such as any time I fly from the UK to Croatia.

Boarding was quite smooth, and we departed 10 minutes ahead of schedule. This leg of the itinerary was done on Turkish Airlines’ Airbus A321neo. I’d estimate the load factor of this flight to be at around 70%. However, I was quite lucky to have both the seats next to me free. As someone accustomed to European LCCs, I found the seats quite comfortable, and the legroom was sufficient to avoid severe knee pain.

The Airbus A321neo

Seats and legroom

Gatwick Airport from the air

Takeoff was quite smooth. After sitting through several unskippable Turkish tourism ads on the in-flight entertainment, I began to settle in and look for something to fill out the almost 4 hours scheduled for this leg. I managed to connect to the in-flight WiFi, which promised unlimited messaging but seemed to only work with WhatsApp. I can’t complain too much about that—the family members that only use Viber could wait. Food service was quite good, and the pasta was surprisingly high quality for an in-flight meal. Although the in-flight entertainment system had an app for displaying connecting gates, on this day this only ever showed a “Connecting gate information available 30 minutes before arrival” message. This was the case even during the promised 30-minute period. The landing was average, and after a particularly long taxi, I arrived at Istanbul Airport 25 minutes before midnight, and 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

A somewhat cloudy day so no views of the ground

The pasta option

Flight 2: Istanbul - Shanghai Pudong

For reasons unclear to me, I was allowed directly into the airside section of Istanbul airport upon disembarking, without additional security checks. I was relieved by this, as I was concerned that my 2-hour layover might not be enough if there were any delays or overly long queues. This was my first time at Istanbul Airport, and my initial impression was that it felt enormous, almost excessively so. Nevertheless, the long walk between gates was a welcome chance to stretch my legs before my first-ever long-haul journey.

The airport was understandably quiet at this hour. Arriving at my gate with an hour and a half to spare, I had the freedom to pick any seat I wanted. This flight, with the relatively low number TK26, is always operated with a Boeing 777-300ER. I couldn’t help but notice that the gate area seemed inadequate for the 349-passenger capacity of the aircraft.

I must mention the terrible WiFi policy of Istanbul Airport. After four attempts, I finally received an access code via SMS for my one hour of free WiFi. For an airport that markets itself as the 'World’s Best' to offer only one hour of free WiFi (and €6 per hour afterwards) is inexcusable. While this might be acceptable for smaller European airports where passengers typically stay for around an hour, it’s unacceptable for a major intercontinental hub.

Airside at Istanbul Airport

Gate D11

Boarding was somewhat chaotic but proceeded efficiently enough, and we departed only 10 minutes behind schedule. From what I could see, the plane was completely full, and a large majority of the passengers were Chinese nationals returning home from their trips. The legroom was insufficient for me (189cm tall), as I struggled to find a comfortable position for my knees.

Service was quite slow to start. After discovering that the headphones I was provided didn’t work, it took over 20 minutes to get the cabin crew’s attention. On this occasion, no menus were provided. Instead, the cabin crew offered the option between a ‘chicken’ meal and a ‘beef’ meal. I opted for the beef but soon wondered if I had made the wrong choice, as the food was quite dry and tasteless. The chocolate mousse was the highlight of the meal, though I was kinda surprised by the lack of creativity. Turkey offers a rich variety of desserts beyond just a simple chocolate mousse.

It is a somewhat well-known aviation quirk that flights over China often follow unusual flight paths. This flight was no exception, tracing out a winding route above northern China. This might have offered spectacular views, but my window seat was of little value, as the shutters were down for most of the flight.

After watching a couple of movies and enduring a less-than-comfortable nap later, it was time to begin ‘morning’ procedures. Being served breakfast at 3 pm local time didn’t help with adjusting to the new timezone, especially since the omelette was cold and possibly undercooked. However, I have to give some praise to the cabin crew for keeping the lavatories in a nice condition throughout the flight.

Dinner

The long and winding flight path

Breakfast

The Boeing 777-300ER

The landing was on the bumpier side, however, not the worst I had ever experienced. The process of entering China was long but mostly straightforward: a form to fill out and a fingerprint scan before proceeding to a border control officer. Upon picking up my bag, I discovered that it was damaged in transit, which kicked off a nearly 2-hour long process of trying to submit a claim for damages. Once this was all done, it was finally time to begin my exploration of Shanghai.

Flight 3: Shanghai - Istanbul

546m above Shanghai

After two amazing weeks in Shanghai and the surrounding area, it was time to head homewards. My flight back to Istanbul was scheduled for 23:05 local time. Arriving well in time, I slowly navigated the vast expanse of Pudong Airport. Security here is much tighter than in European airports, with an immediate check before even entering the terminal area. The process was fairly efficient, and I proceeded to the Turkish Airlines check-in desks.

Check-in took a fair bit of time, but nothing too concerning. After a quick trip through passport control and security, it was time to settle down and await boarding. It was too late in the day to explore the terminal, aside from a quick visit to a duty-free shop, so I decided to make myself comfortable in the first empty seats I found. A short while later, boarding commenced and after a long queue, I found myself back inside Turkish Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER.

Inside Pudong Airport

Long way home

For this flight, I used miles accrued from the first two flights to book myself seat 51J. The economy class configuration on this aircraft is 3-3-3, except for the last three rows (51 to 53), which are 2-3-2. Being an aisle seat in the rightmost section, 51J seemed like it would resolve my legroom issues—something I was eagerly anticipating. When I reached my seat, I saw my hopes were justified—I had plenty of legroom to work with.

The seat

Legroom!

After a somewhat bumpy takeoff and shaky ascent, we were finally in the air, and I began to settle down for the night. However, despite the late evening departure, we were soon being presented with menus. This time, it was a choice between a chicken and a fish option. I chose the chicken but I wasn’t too thrilled—the mousse was, once again, the highlight.

The extra legroom worked to my advantage, allowing me to get a few decent hours of sleep—a vast improvement over last time. When I woke up somewhere over Kazakhstan, there was still plenty of time before the breakfast service. I took a quick trip to the galley to stock up on refreshments. Thankfully, the friendly cabin crew didn’t mind that I loitered there for a bit to stretch—the sleeping position was still uncomfortable, despite the extra legroom.

Menu for the flight

The chicken option

Quite the place to wake up in

After watching a movie on the in-flight entertainment system, it was time for breakfast. Even though this was the same breakfast meal as on the flight to Shanghai, it was much better this time, and I particularly liked the cheeses.

It was also interesting to note how accommodating Turkish Airlines is towards Chinese passengers. Before landing, in addition to the non-skippable Turkish tourism ads on the in-flight entertainment system, there was a further announcement informing passengers about Istanbul Airport’s services for Chinese passengers. The highlights included WeChat Pay being accepted at the airport and the availability of Chinese-speaking staff. These efforts clearly show that Turkish Airlines sees China as a market with significant potential for further expansion.

After a smooth landing, I arrived back at Istanbul Airport at 5:45 am, a full thirty minutes ahead of schedule. It was time to find the TourIstanbul desks.

Breakfast

Back in Istanbul

Layover and tour of Istanbul

At the time, the TourIstanbul website stated that free tours could be booked either at the airside Turkish Airlines transfer desks or the specialized landside TourIstanbul desks. After waiting for my turn at the transfer desks, I was informed that this wasn’t the case and that I should head to the TourIstanbul desks instead. Entering Turkey was fairly quick, as there weren’t many passengers at this hour. After a bit of wandering (the TourIstanbul desks are located at the very end of the terminal), I finally reached my destination. On the walk over, I was mildly pestered by workers from other tour operators trying to divert tourists to their paid tours, but I wasn’t in the mood to spend more money during this layover.

To my slight dismay, of the six or so desks open at that time, only one was handling tour bookings, while the other five were focused on hotel stays for passengers using the stopover service. This seemed like an odd choice, given that most of the demand was for tours, which resulted in a sizable queue. After a wait, it was finally my turn, and I was offered a choice between the full-day and half-day tour. The full-day tour was scheduled to return to the airport just an hour and 45 minutes before my flight, which felt a bit too risky, so I opted for the half-day tour instead.

A while later, our tour guide arrived, and to my delight, the tour set off on time. During the bus ride to Istanbul, we were treated to a history lesson mixed with a comedy show from the tour guide. While not everyone’s cup of tea, I found it enjoyable. We were also informed that our tour wouldn’t resemble what was advertised online, as we were presented with a whole new schedule.

The first point on that schedule: breakfast. It was fairly light, and distinctly Turkish. I appreciated it mostly for the chance to stretch my legs after the cramped bus ride and for the opportunity to meet some fellow travellers. This is where a group of four of us formed, and we ended up spending the rest of the day together.

After we arrived at the Obelisk of Theodosius, the guide outlined the plan for the rest of the day. The plan included a brief history lesson at the Obelisk, a quick visit to the front courtyard of the Blue Mosque, a walk past the Hagia Sophia—so far, this was still relatively close to the original plan. However, we were then to be allowed free time to explore the Topkapi Palace, which hadn’t been mentioned in the original plan.

Since the tour was free, and tickets to the Topkapi Palace can be quite pricy, I had no reason to complain about the change in plans. However, the one hour of free time wasn’t enough to fully explore the Palace, and we needed to rush through some of the major sights towards the end of the hour.

It was a nice tour all in all

Flight 4: Istanbul - Dubrovnik

After a quick lunch, we were bussed back to Istanbul Airport, arriving half an hour ahead of schedule. With about four hours before my flight and having cleared security and passport checks quickly, I needed to find a way to pass the time. The group of friends I had made on the tour was still together, and one of them mentioned something I hadn't known about—despite thinking I was well-prepared!

That special something was the fact that Turkish Airlines offers free food vouchers to people on long (5+ hours) layovers. Given how overpriced the food at Istanbul Airport was, this felt like an absolute godsend. Although I had doubts because I had never seen this advertised online, it turned out to be true and saved me around €20.

Massive airport

After spending some time exploring the airport, it was time to bid farewell to the friends I had made that day and head to my gate. Or at least, what I thought to be my gate, as it got changed sometime during the long walk. After another trek across the airport, I finally reached my actual gate and was able to relax, since I was greeted by an announcement that boarding would be slightly delayed. Despite the delay and the slow boarding process, we managed to stay on schedule.

The aircraft for this final leg was Turkish Airlines’ Airbus A320, a jet I had become quite familiar with from my intra-European travels. I estimated the load factor for this flight at about 80%, with most passengers being transfer passengers from other destinations. Business class on this flight comprised the first three rows, and since I had chosen seat 4C, I noted that there was little demand for business class on this flight, with only 3 of the 12 seats occupied.

The differences between this flight and the previous three were quite apparent. Given the shorter route, there was no onboard WiFi except for use with in-flight entertainment, which was accessed via personal devices rather than in-seat screens, but Turkish Airlines’ full entertainment catalogue was still available.

Another difference was the food service: we were served a cold sandwich, a tomato and mozzarella salad, and a marble cake. The meal was a bit bland overall, but it was satisfactory.

The flight was pretty smooth and uneventful, with my curiosity piqued by the fact that this flight seemed to allow for ‘time travel’. We departed at 19:42 local time, and were scheduled to arrive at 19:35 local time, eventually arriving a few minutes ahead of schedule.

The Airbus A320

Dinner

Since it was still March, Dubrovnik Airport was not very busy yet, and I managed to get through passport control quite quickly. Then it was time for the two-hour drive back home, and the long-awaited reunion with my cat.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!