Turkish Airlines' Economy Was Fine - Until I Got to Istanbul!

After a surprise turn of events, I booked a Turkish Airlines ticket with just ten days' noticed and jetted off from Dulles Airport on what would become the greatest trip of my lifetime. But before the parts that made the trip great, I had to deal with Istanbul Airport. Which was a bit of a mess...

Classy Whale - at-least-weekly misadventures with trains and transit!

[cartographer]

🎶 "Why they changed it, I can't say. People just liked it better that way!" 🎶

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

That...was such a beautiful ending. The music, the genuine shock of finally being there, the hug, all the emotions, I could feel it through the screen. This video is one of your best works because of that ending. Kudos to Turkish Airlines for accessibility when it comes to having a special video for those with disabilities on top of sign language! And kudos to you for doing the menu shot jingle in Turkish, that was a nice touch! Ah yes, Milestafa Kemal Taylor. Turkey may be known for their coffee, but black tea is the way of life for their culture. Turkey has the highest per capita tea consumption in the world with an annual total consumption of over 3 kilograms per person!

Fun fact: The bird was named after the country because of the guineafowl, which looks similar to a turkey but are in different families (though used to be in the same family Phasianidae; guineafowl is now in the family Numididae). Guineafowls are native across Sub-Saharan Africa and was imported to Europe through the Ottoman Empire. Once imported, Europeans came to call the guinea fowl the turkey-hen because the bird came from the Turks.

[ChristopherDazey]

What a delightful plot twist. Congratulations to the two of you! May you have a bright and happy future together.

[susanwhitehurst]

I flew Turkish Airlines last year and I can honestly say they were the nicest team on our way from Atlanta to Istanbul. The crew to our final destination Tel-Aviv were awesome. We were not long in the terminal, but we did see some handicapped transport vehicles.

[DoraKarakaya]

Turkish airlines is one of the best airlines this types of problems you can see even in emirates, luftansa or singapore airlines as a person i flew with lots of different airlines and i can say surely if we look all the things Turkish airlines is one of the best airlines.

[TheHungryTransitFan]

The ending reveal is so wholesome, so very happy for you two ❤

[capchemist]

So very happy you got to meet the family Caleb!

[Somali]

Perhaps they thought you were Turkish.

[KennethLovgrenIV]

“Any Carrier of this magnitude needs a magnificent hug to maintain its worldwide operations” we need to buy Caleb a mansion in the Bay Area because he is a YouTuber of magnitude with worldwide operations and needs a magnificent hub

[Andrew-rdpf]

To avoid sleeping through meal service wear an eye mask with "Wake me up for meals" printed on it. I got mine from one of the holiday airlines and it has proved very useful. You can even wear it as an armband on the arm that faces the aisle.

[crowmob-yory]

I recently visited Istanbul, and its airport seriously needs a people mover. It was a 45min walk to go to McDonald's, which would be fine if I wasn't carrying a heavy backpack and suitcase.

[richardavsmith]

I had a long layover here back in 2019, before the metro link opened. It was a real headache getting to the city, with a few chaotic coach routes not loaded into online planner, so very hard to make the full use of the layover without worrying about being late getting back.

And yeah, the airport is absurdly large not to have any internal transit.

[Thom-TRA]

Vid was worth the suspense. Super stoked for Istanbul content, and Ethiopia ofc.

[saniya]

I'll be flying this November and I have a connecting flight from Istanbul! It will be my first time traveling with Turkish airlines. Hopefully they don't lose my luggage.

[milesaxlerod]

On the screen there is a do not disturb option, next to it, there is an option which sais wake up for food.

[mohamedgoldstein]

I loved IST. Easy to transit. Easy to spend even 6 hours at the terminal.

[Token_Nerd]

Dude finally comes out with the juice. Congrats Caleb!

[asirisjoy]

great video. I've been living in Istanbul for about 1.5 years and often fly from Istanbul airport and, well, when I flew the first time - it was difficult to navigate, but after Incheon airport in Seoul, Istanbul airport seemed very clear

[emon]

I flew Turkish last year. Great business class experience but Istanbul airport is not up to the standard in my opinion. Flight details are not accurate on the display and beside language barrier, theres not many help desk around where you can ask for directions. Had to spend more than 20 mins to finally connect to the airport wifi. Nice looking airport but lack of resources and communication support. Not trying to bash Istanbul airport but when people are flying in internationally, airport like that supposed to have resources and clear instructions for all passengers. They got lovely food though

[JeffTaylor-trmy]

I totally ship Calidan. Like we couldn't tell you were a couple.