Sunday, 2 October 2016
Millennium Lounge — Atatürk International Airport, İstanbul — Turkey
Temps: HI 77F (25C) / LO 61F (16C) … in İstanbul
When I checked us in for today’s flights, I noticed that we no longer had the bulkhead seats we had selected for the IST-AMS segment … an equipment change dont’cha know. So, we decided to get to ADB early this morning in hopes of getting exit seats for that flight.
We bid mom and Aylin adieu for this year and left for the airport at 8:00a. No traffic to speak of on this quiet Sunday morning … Murat pulled up to the domestic terminal 20 mins later. The first level security to get into the departures terminal had been strengthened, and we actually had to take out our laptops to go through the checkpoint. I had boarding 
passes already, so once inside, we queued up at the baggage drop off counter where there were only two people ahead of us. Our early-arrival strategy worked … we walked away with exit row seats for both legs today.
By 9:00a we were past security and having breakfast at Tadında Anadolu, one of the airport restaurants. Nothing special … just a toasted simit sandwich. Afterward, we killed some of our wait time with a walk up and down the concourse. Boarding had commenced when we showed up at the gate … 20 minutes early … probably to accommodate the larger B777-300 ER aircraft put into service for this leg.
TK2313 pushed back on time at 10:55a. Ten minutes later we were wheels up. The captain announced our flight time as 50 minutes. The aircraft had not even reached cruising altitude when food and beverage service began — nothing fancy … just a warm ciabatta sandwich … but more than most airlines offer on short haul flights these days. Since we had already eaten, we skipped the sandwich, but accepted a beverage.
Landing at Atatürk Airport is often delayed. But due to an onboard medical emergency 30 minutes out from IST (hopefully nothing serious) — and perhaps also because it was Sunday — we didn’t have to circle around. In fact, we were on the ground 10 minutes early. We docked at a jetway at the international terminal, but since we had not gone through immigration at ADB, we deplaned onto the tarmac and were bussed to the domestic terminal. The two buildings are connected by a long walkway, so from there it was an easy walk back to international departures.
The immigration line was very short … both for Turkish and foreign passport holders. We opted for the Turkish line as it was the shorter of the two … US passports with Turkish IDs are accepted. In short order we were past that checkpoint, and going through security … no lines to speak of. With a layover of several hours, we immediately headed to the Millennium Lounge. Turns out İş Bankası no longer supports membership, but for TL80pp ($26) we were given access to relax, enjoy the buffet, and use the wi-fi. Not bad actually as we’d have had to pay for food and drinks somewhere else to get the wi-fi … and we wouldn’t have been nearly as comfortable.
Millennium Lounge … worth the price of admission for comfort and amenities.
And now, it’s almost 2:30p. We’re supposed to start boarding in 10 minutes … no gate assignment on the monitor, however. Still, it is time to pack up and get ready for the next segment of our travel day.
Wrapping Up from the Netherlands … from Hotel Park Plaza
It’s 10:00p … a few words about the second half of our travel day before I lay my head down to snooze.
After leaving the lounge at IST, our first order of business was to figure out our gate assignment. Turns out it was Gate 304 … lower level … no jetway. Not sure why we had to be bussed out to the A330-200/300 that was awaiting us on the tarmac when there were jetways available … a conundrum for sure. Anyway, we were on the second bus to the plane. Our seats for this segment were in the bulkhead exit row … 24F/G. Plenty of legroom. TK1953 pushed back 5 minutes late at 3:45p, but it took us another 40 minutes to get to the head of the long queue of aircraft awaiting take-off.
The flight was just under 3 hours in duration. I did a couple of puzzles and then tried to entertain myself by watching a movie-on-demand. The sound on the entertainment system stunk … to put it politely. I tried two movies before settling on Beyond Valkyrie: Dawn of the 4th Reich … with the Turkish subtitles on at least I got the gist of the plot.
Despite the delay taking off from IST, our flight landed at Schiphol on time at 6:20p. We quickly made our way through the airport to immigration. There were only two agents checking passports — one for EU members, another for all others. It took us over ½ hour to get to the head of the line … and that was only because Mui was quick to jump into the next queue when they finally opened up another kiosk. No hold-ups after that — and the silver lining was that our bags were already on the carousel when we finally got there.
Next on our agenda was to pick up some apples from the Albert Heijn shop at the airport and stop at Hertz to query the extra charge for our brief rental in the Netherlands back in July … a phone call to customer service will be necessary as the woman at the counter was at a loss to explain the charge. In the meantime, while Mui was handling that issue, I was checking whether our hotel offered shuttle service. Sure enough it did; and we just happened to be near the door leading to the shuttle stop. We had a 20-minute wait in the cold, damp night as the next shuttle wasn’t until 8:00p … good thing we had jackets in my carry-on.
The ride to the Park Plaza in Lijnden was about 10 minutes. Check in was prompt — we were assigned room 335. Spacious by European standards, it has all the amenities we need. The desk clerk had us down for two nights, but I had a pdf showing the original booking for one night, so it all worked out without any hassles.
Once we were settled in our room, I accompanied Mui to the hotel’s restaurant for a quick bite to eat. Turned out not to be such a quick bite after all as the staff seemed more than a little overwhelmed. Nonetheless, Mui said the goat cheese salad he ordered was quite tasty.
That’s it for today. Our flight tomorrow is at 11:10a. We have reservations for the 7:45a shuttle, which will get us to AMS by 8:00a. Arriving three hours before an international flight is fairly standard … even more important when there’s another layer of security for US-bound flights. So far there’s been no news on the BusinessFirst upgrade we purchased. I’m not too concerned as we have a daytime flight, and we do have excellent E+ exit seats. It would be nice to get the upgrade, but if not, we’ll get our money and miles back.
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