FLIGHTS

Cruise news: The MSC Opera's 13 - 23 May cruise from Southampton to St Petersburg, hosts a series of chocolate classes during its 4 days at sea.

The Purple shall rule! "I've flown from and to Cape Town 4 times within a 6 months period, and I have to say during almost all of those flights Turkish Airline was beyond expectations. I understand the frustration of some of the previous comments - and I agree with a few of them as well - but guys, don't only judge the empty 1/2 of their service, forgetting the full-lovely 1/2. For any airline there are unlimited Pros and Cons, and for Turkish Airlines specifically, their pros by far are bigger and wider than the cons.

To me;
Cons: 
1/ Istanbul Airport: is very down, and that's one of the thing that explains why many people are so frustrated with Turkish Airlines' services, simply because - as human - we'll judge the whole service and Istanbul Airport as part of Turkish Airlines,
2/ Delayed miles&smiles; services: If you  look and evaluated the whole promotion, you would never expect delay for such an important facility (Miles issue) especially for regular travellers, and I am sure the miles&smiles team will come-up with new services when the registration and the card delivery are accelerated. I personally applied for my card in Sep 2009 and immediately received a temporary card and membership No. although it took up to the following Feb 2010 for my Cards to be delivered to me, but at that time I had received both the Classical and the Classical plus ones (since my m&m; status was upgraded)
3/ Local offices: it is very frustrating not to receive a reply to your call, and I've been through that whole circle for many times, but when I have discussed this issue with the worker at TK station CPT airport, I have witnessed the work load , which is the reason why some of our calls can't find a quick answer, and I am sure the TK team will upgrade that, PLEASE guys: if the No. ending with 0 is not answering, there are other numbers.

Pros:
1/ Great Time management,
2/ Great services aboard,
3/ Friendly and homey crew,
4/ Good quality food,
5/ Good baggage size (30Kg plus 7Kg aboard),
6/ Quick upgrade miles to my own membership (takes 24 - 72 hrs max),
7/ Friendly TK office staff and very polite (Cape Town desk)
8/ Great selection of entertainment programmes and deserts.

Note: for those who felt down because of their miles&smiles registration and miles calculation, you have to email back the miles&smiles team at: milesandsmiles@thy.com and send them a copy of your ID plus the tickets and also you have to frequently upgrade your details at Miles & Smiles. You should memorise your PIN code (which will be sent to you immediately after registration / or you'll be asked to choose one "4 digits")"

Views expressed here aren't necessarily those of SouthAfrica.TO's. If you would like to get your opinions published, please email them to cheapflights@southafrica.to

The Bottom Line: It's not just the South African government who choose to subsidise their flying class - Air Botswana was subsidised P54m in its last financial year, an increase on the P45m in the previous year.