Review: Turkish Airlines Business Class Airbus A321

On the Aerolopa website, you can find accurate seat maps detailing all the various Airbus A321 configurations in the Turkish Airlines fleet.

The plane that would fly me to Birmingham, an Airbus A321 with tail number TC-JRZ, was already 11 years old.

Although the cabin of this Turkish Airlines Airbus A321 was not the newest and showed some slight wear and tear, it still offers a great product for short or mid-haul flights.

In business class, the seats are arranged two abreast, whereas economy class features a standard 3-3 seating configuration.

I found the seat to be highly comfortable and spacious, and there was ample legroom as well.

As the last few passengers boarded the plane, a flight attendant came by with pre-departure drink options, including freshly squeezed orange juice, Turkish Airlines’ signature mint lemonade, and water.

I had initially assigned myself seat 2F, but upon noticing the empty bulkhead row, I opted to switch to 1F when the flight attendant announced that boarding was completed, as this way I wouldn’t disturb the passenger seated behind me in 3F when reclining my seat.

While breakfast is often the most disappointing meal when flying business class, this is rarely the case with Turkish Airlines.

Of course, much of this has to do with Turkey having a proper breakfast culture and some special dishes for this mealtime, so it’s unsurprising that Turkish Airlines has the ability to ace its breakfast service.

On my flight from Istanbul to Birmingham, the business class breakfast was indeed superb.

My tray featured some traditional Turkish breakfast specialties, including turkey breast, tomatoes, cucumbers, two types of cheese, marinated olives, sundried tomatoes, yogurt, butter, jam, as well as a bowl of fresh fruit.

From a bread basket, I selected a croissant and poğaça, a traditional Turkish pastry.

After finishing the breakfast starters, my main course arrived: A traditional omelette from the Black Sea region.

To drink, I indulged in some more fresh orange juice and a glass or two of champagne.

All combined, the meal was absolutely fantastic, as all the food tasted fresh and was of great quality.

In business class on the Turkish Airlines Airbus A321, your personal in-flight entertainment screen can be found in one of the armrests of your seat.

The screen is rather small and doesn’t have the best resolution, but given that you wouldn’t have your personal in-flight entertainment system with nearly every other European airline when flying on a narrow-body plane, it’s still nice to have it on such a mid-haul flight in Europe.

Due to the short night of sleep I had before, I was quite tired and slept for most of the way to Birmingham.

I asked the flight attendant if I could still have some Turkish coffee before landing, and she gladly obliged, even though she had to serve it in a carton cup instead of proper china due to health and safety rules.

Although the weather appeared cloudy as we flew over the south-east of England, the skies cleared up as we started our final descent towards Birmingham Airport.

As we descended towards Birmingham Airport, there were some gorgeous views over the West Midlands countryside.

To my great surprise, the weather was absolutely gorgeous on this summer morning in England, with clouds giving way to clear blue skies.

My Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Birmingham on the Airbus A321 once again demonstrated that the Turkish flag carrier offers the best overall business class product in Europe.

This is mostly down to the business class seat, as unlike nearly every other airline in Europe, Turkish Airlines has proper recliner seats on most of their narrow-body planes such as the Airbus A321.