Review: Turkish Airlines A321neo business class Dublin to Istanbul

Since I now buy my airline tickets solely based on cost as opposed to what I’ll earn in a particular frequent flyer programme, it means I get to try new airlines. This would be my first time in Turkish Airlines business class and I was looking forward to trying it.

Dublin Airport is currently renovating their main lounge and I received a text alerting me to this fact before travel. As there was no reason to arrive early, I got to check-in around 90 minutes before departure.

Check-In

There was no wait at the business class counter, so I was immediately seen by an agent. She was employed by Swissport, a third party handler, and was absolutely delightful. I enquired about seat changes, and we had some fun banter back and forth before I was issued with my three boarding passes.

Fast-Track security was as advertised and I headed up to the gates to wait for boarding. In all honesty, I could have arrived even later and still had plenty of time to chill. Eventually boarding was called and I was one of the first on the plane.

TK1978 – Dublin to Istanbul (DUB-IST)
6 March 2026
Airbus A321neo – TC-LSO – Alanya
Seat: Business Class 1F
Departure: 16:30 Arrival: 00:05+1

There are five rows of two by two business class seats on this aircraft. I quickly stowed my cabin bag and waited while all the other passengers boarded.

Turkish Airlines Business Class

Seats are very spacious and all feature individual inflight entertainment screens. They have a nifty privacy divider which pulls out by a number of centimeters to hide your face from your neighbour.

The crew came around and distributed menus and welcome drinks, which were of the non-alcoholic variety. Mine was very refreshing, particularly with the strawberry in it.

Safety and Menu

While waiting I had a look at the menu, which is large and presented on high quality card with colour printing. No expense spared here, it seems!

I immediately knew I was going to select the “Islim” Kebab, with the Grilled fillet of salmon as Plan B. While waiting I also decided to have a look at the safety card. That was quite busy compared to some of the cards I’ve seen, but I guess they are cramming a lot of information onto two sides. Once everyone was on board, we received the video demonstration and then took to the sky, setting course for Istanbul.

Dinner Time

The crew came by once in the air asking for drinks orders. Both me and the guy beside me asked for Champagne and that was delivered a short while later. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but it was fine – and popular, many others also went for that.

Next it was time for the starter, which is a Selection of Turkish meze. It also came with the Garden fresh seasonal salad, plus both the dessert (Double chocolate cake) and cheese course were on the tray as well. All of that was quite lovely, and once devoured, the starter plate is removed and your main course comes along. The flight attendant asked my seat mate and I if we would like to drink Ayran with the kebab. Both of us had no idea what she was on about until we just agreed to save further embarrassment. Apparently Ayran is made from yoghurt, salt and water and I must say it was a delicious accompaniment to the kebeb. Well done Turkish Airlines business class crew for “making us” have it. Yum! The kebab was lovely too, as was the cake and cheese for dessert.

Flying Along

Once the meal was cleared away, I asked for more Champagne and was told there was none left. Wow! After one glass? TK, what are you doing to me? Instead I elected to have a white wine.

The remainder of the flight passed uneventfully. I didn’t really watch anything on the screen, I just enjoyed relaxing after a busy final day at work, having gone from the office straight to the airport. We landed in Istanbul on time.

Overall Thoughts

Turkish Airlines business class is quite fine on a four hour European sector. Service was fine and the food was decent enough, even if they did run out of Champagne.

Seating is comfortable enough for the sector length and I thought the menu itself was quite nice. There is a good selection of entertainment but I discovered that on the next flight to Kuala Lumpur.

What do you think of Turkish Airlines business class? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Jeroen Stroes Aviation Photography via Wikimedia Commons.