Turkish Airlines TK1981 from Istanbul to London Gatwick South Terminal by Airbus A321neo Flight Review

Continuing on my journey to London, I had about 2 hours to hop to my next flight, Turkish Airlines TK1981 from Istanbul to London Gatwick. As all my check-in procedures were already done in Singapore, I simply followed the arrival path in Istanbul Airport to international transfers first to connect with my next flight. I was advised that Istanbul Airport is huge, so I made sure to quickly clear security to figure out my way around.

Istanbul Airport

I arrived at Istanbul Airport by Turkish Airlines TK55 from Singapore. With the early arrival, I got to the gate just around scheduled arrival time after taxiing around the big airport.

International Transfers

International Transfers is just down the escalator from the arrivals path. The space is huge, and it looks like Istanbul Airport is designed for heavy international transfer passenger traffic. There are many lanes for security screening even in the early morning at 6am, which was a breeze.

My boarding pass for my Turkish Airlines TK1981 flight from Istanbul to London Gatwick, retrieved upon check-in in Singapore.

After security, the path continues to international departures.

Heading up the heavily-used escalators to international departures.

International Departures Transit Area

Once up, there is a huge departure board where everyone checks for their flights.

My Turkish Airlines TK1981 flight will be departing from Gate F1A.

I now had about 1 hour before the gate opens, but I didn’t explore the departure transit area much as I will need to factor in time to get to my gate.

Free WiFi

As my transit in Istanbul was short, I didn’t bother with getting a mobile data plan. Instead, I used the airport’s free WiFi.

The process for free WiFi at Istanbul Airport is slightly inconvenient as registration is needed. You can either get a password from one of the WiFi kiosks around by scanning your passport, or get a code by SMS.

My WiFi password ticket from the WiFi kiosk. Each sign-in method gets you up to only 1 hour of free WiFi. If you require more than 1 + 1 hours of free WiFi, you have to buy something from one of the registered shops for another 2 hours or unlimited WiFi.

The shopping area at Istanbul Airport is huge, but with lots of space for walking too.

Continuing to the F gates.

At the end of the shopping area, the escalator heads down to the departure gates level.

This side allows me a peek at the domestic section of Istanbul Airport too.

Gate F1A

I was lucky to get Gate F1A which is the very first gate at the pier. No further walking needed.

Security was very tight, with a secondary screening after checking my boarding pass when entering the gate hold room. The manual checks of my bag and swabs were very thorough as well, before I was allowed into the gate hold room.

TC-LTA will be flying me from Istanbul to London Gatwick.

Turkish Airlines operate a wide variety of aircraft in their fleet, including narrow-bodies. It’s quite interesting to see a full-service airline using an A319 here.

It was a light load, and boarding was done in queues based on row numbers.

Heading down the aerobridge.

Turkish Airlines TK1981

Boarding TC-LTA.

The interior of Turkish Airlines’ Airbus A321neo.

On first look, there are already no amenities laid out on my seat, in stark contrast to my flight from Singapore to Istanbul overflowing with frills.

The black leather seat covering in the narrowbody plane also makes it feel like a low-cost carrier.

Nevertheless, the legroom felt more generous. Having an empty seat beside me also helped with my comfort and space. Since I’m in Europe now, this is pretty much Business Class already.

The in-flight entertainment (IFE) screen was big, taking up almost the entire width of the seat back in front. Headphone jacks and a USB power socket is also available on the bottom left. Notably, there are no physical buttons to adjust the volume, reading light, and call button, with controls in the IFE screen interface itself instead.

To start, tap the language you want the IFE to be in.

The main menu of the Turkish Airlines IFE screen on board the Airbus A321neo.

The route map of my Turkish Airlines TK1981 flight from Istanbul to London Gatwick.

The headset handed out was a simple 1-jack earbud, instead of the cushier overhead type on my flight from Singapore.

The safety video is played during pushback. The Turkish version is played first, followed by the English version.

Türk Hava Yolları Uçuş Emniyet Videosu

Turkish Airlines Safety Video

My Turkish Airlines TK55 flight departed from Singapore at 8.29am – 19 minutes late.

My flight was just about half-full, with plenty of empty rows behind, and many passengers had already claimed the “flatbeds”.

The Turkish Airlines Airbus A321neo toilets are basic with no amenities aside from soap from the in-built dispenser and paper towels. This is effectively the same as a Jetstar Asia toilet.

In contrast, my incoming TK55 flight had a separate bottle of soap and a cologne spray.

Egg Soufflé (?)

There was just 1 choice of breakfast, with no menu card provided. As such, service was quite fast.

Breakfast looks like a baked egg soufflé with cheese, ham, and tomato slice. This comes with a side salad of cucumber, tomato, olive, and feta cheese, and a cup of oatmeal. For drinks, I ordered a black coffee and sour cherry juice.

The egg soufflé was tasty with the cheese blending well. It certainly tastes leaps and bounds better than my previous egg omelette breakfast on TK55.

After the breakfast service, I asked the crew if wine was available on this flight. To my surprise, it was, and he brought a bottle to me after clearing the trays.

The bottle of 187ml was a Kavaklidere Cankaya Turkish white wine which complimented my egg breakfast well.

London Gatwick Airport South Terminal

My Turkish Airlines TK1981 flight landed in London Gatwick at 9.11am – 19 minutes early.

Heading up the escalator to the arrivals level.

Thank you, TC-LTA for the flight! Also, seems like passengers in the back can also deplane by the mobile stairs via the tarmac.

It was quite a long walk to immigration at the South Terminal.

Artworks of Queen Elizabeth II are on display along the path to immigration.

Immigration

While Singapore passport holders are allowed to use the eGates, I went via the manned counters anyway as I wanted a stamp in my passport. The queue was very quick, just 10 people ahead of me with 3 counters serving the EEA section, which Singapore passport holders are allowed to use.

London Gatwick might be London’s premier airport with its speed and efficiency.

Immigration

Baggage reclaim was also very quick, with my bags out within 1 minute of me arriving at the belt after immigration.

The international arrival hall at London Gatwick Airport South Terminal.

Gatwick Airport South Terminal is directly connected to Gatwick Airport Railway Station, so I was on my way very quickly as the link to the station is just after international arrivals.

Heading into Gatwick Airport Railway Station.

There are many trains from here heading into London at high frequencies, with Southern trains going to East Croydon, Clapham Junction, and London Victoria, and Thameslink trains going to East Croydon, London Bridge, London Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon, and London St Pancras International.

Don’t worry about the premium Gatwick Express as the regular Southern and Thameslink trains run at a similar limited-stop speed too, with just 1 additional stop at East Croydon, at much cheaper prices when paying with contactless (credit cards), and cheaper again when breaking your journey at East Croydon.

For the best fares to Central London or around the TfL fare zones, simply ignore the ticket machines and touch in with a contactless (card or device) or Oyster card to pay as you go for travel. There are no premium add-on fares when travelling on regular trains from Gatwick, unlike at Heathrow.

Buying a ticket from the ticket machines will usually result in a higher fare.

Here, I got the Thameslink to London.

Conclusion

As compared with my previous flight on TK55 from Singapore, this narrow-body shorter hop feels rather basic with just 1 meal option, a lower standard of headphones, and no amenities in the toilets aside from soap. However, the light load also means more space around, and it was certainly comfortable with the middle seat empty for me