A traveller's reflection: 19 Turkey/K Lumpur: The overbooked Turkish Air Flight...

My Travel Journal

"There isn't much I haven't shared with you along the road and through it all there'd always be tomorrow's episode" - Elton John

I started traveling around the world since early 80s when I had the opportunity to combine business trips with vacations. Then later when my rezeki is in abundance, there were numerous other trips along the way for vacations, most of the time with hubby and the kids when the timing is right. I have also started to compile the journal and photo-pages covering almost more than 45 years of world wide travel. Some destinations I visited just once, others many times. Many of those places are the obvious famous places people would like to visit but some, the casual traveler doesn't even think to try. I have placed links to my travel at the side bar of my personal page, My Life Reflections, and will be updating them from time to time.

My wish is to continue my travel and complete circumnavigate the globe, insyaAllah…

Friday, 20 June 2025

19 Turkey/K Lumpur: The overbooked Turkish Air Flight...

"No matter how clearly you express yourself, the other person isn’t listening to understand - they’re listening to react..."

(A mosque by the Bosphorus on a tiled wall)

Day 19: 07/07/25 (Monday)

Flight: TK174 IST 1550/KUL 0705+1 (Turkish Air)
Route: Istanbul, Turkey - Kuala Lumpur

Breakfast was at the 8th floor Restaurant of The Oran Hotel. We had omelettes and bread with cappuccino and hot chocolate. Plus the usual array of fruits and salads.

(A clear view of the Bosphorus from the dining hall)

(A heavy breakfast for two)

We checked out early. The hotel had arranged for a transport to send us to the airport. The van for our airport transfer picked us around 11.30 am.

(Lounge area of Hotel Oran)

(The cocktail bar)

(Dining area on ground floor)

We arrived at the Istanbul International Airport at Arnavutköy early. We already had our boarding passes but the boarding gate for our flight was yet to be confirmed.

(Arriving at the airport)

( A beautiful landscape in the airport)

After clearing border control and security checks, we performed our jamak prayers at one of the many mushollas of the Istanbul International Airport.

(There are many prayer areas in the boarding lounge)

(Ablution area within the musholla)

(Prayer time in Istanbul)

(The prayer hall)

(All set to go to the boarding gate)

(Our plane has long docked, ready to load passengers)

Boarded our Turkish Airlines flight TK174 bound for Sydney via KLIA at Gate D9. It was a full flight since KLIA was a layover for the final destination in Sydney, Australia. We learned later that two Malaysian passengers had to be denied boarding following Turkish Airlines overbooking of the TK174 flight. Apparently, this is a very common practise for them as this happened often. Basically, these two Malaysian, one of them was our travel buddy and another a young student studying in France, were requested to volunteer to fly the next available flight on the following day. They were supposed to be compensated with an overnight stay in a 5-star hotel and 600 euros due to them. I hope it was worth the agony and anxiety!

Flight TK 174 bound for KL was delayed more than an hour before take off.

(Full house on the overbooked Flight TK174)

We had an early dinner of lamb Shawarma with pilaf rice on board. The rest of the time on board was spent napping and listening to the in-flight music.