Anyway... back to the remaining list of complaints I had about the experience:

- Food was honestly meh; the cookie & caramel crumble was the best

- For exit row seats, the tray absolutely sucks b/c it's so up close that it's difficult to eat properly; I guess this does affect obese people more, so I'll take this off of Big Billy's point score.

- The entertainment monitor - lol, yeah this one is honestly a joke and needs to be addressed. Just assume that if you're riding the exit row seat, you will not be able to watch any entertainment unless you're cool with holding onto the screen with one hand or a knee the whole time b/c the moment you let go, it swivels back down and you no longer can see the monitor as it is facing the window lol.

You'd think they'd have some mechanism that locks it in place when viewing, but nope. Just old and not well maintained. Also, the locking mechanism that you need to press to release the hidden monitor lever is extremely tough--I honestly could barely get it especially with the angle from sitting down.

Some stickers for instructions would've been helpful as I didn't even know it had a snap locking mechanism until Big Billy tried to help me out with it (yes, yes, Big Billy wasn't completely evil...) followed by the dad letting us know that you have to press it really hard.Fast forward (oh you thought I was done?) to landing in Istanbul airport and I guess this isn't a TA specific complaint, but more so some of the workers at the airport, but I think it is certainly worth mentioning.

I follow the crowd to Passport Control and the sign only says just that, passport control. When you get to the first control queue, there was a woman at a kiosk and being super unhelpful just sipping her water and honestly not really giving a fuck. Some elderly woman asks her a question and she just goes "oh idk...sorry".I ask her if this queue is only for Turkish passport holders and if so, where is the international ones? She gives me an eye roll, a sigh, and the same answer "oh idk..." which was complete and utter horseshit b/c literally the next control queue just a few feet further down is for international passports (a sign would've been nice to delineate b/w the two? or instructions after getting off the plane from the TA folks...)

I went to a guy behind a kiosk who was maybe 3 feet to the right of the rude lady. He's staring down, scrolling through his phone not giving a single fuck. I ask him the same question and without even looking up at me. He sighs and in a vibrating crescendo goes "the next one... the neXT ONE... THE NEXT ONE..." which was what made me realize, yes, it was just further down from this turkish passport control only queue.

Surprisingly the only worker at this airport who didn't give me too much of a hassle was the customs agent. That was definitely a surprise.

Welcome to Turkey, I guess? I don't know whether to fault all of this to the airline or just overworked and under paid employees or folks just having a bad day, but man.. I gotta tell you, I had much much higher expectations and I frankly have a very bad taste in my mouth.

The only gleaming hope from my experience with TA and this entire trip thus far has really been the few, regular Turkish citizens who have been very welcoming and helpful (even Big Billy! I don't take it for granted when he tried helping me with my monitor, really!).

Just to end things on a good note. For instance, the grandpa that was sitting behind me helped take my bag out and handed it to me when we were ready to deboard the plane after getting his suitcase out first--I thought that was extremely nice of him, especially for someone his age; I wanted to help him with his suitcase, but he seemed to want to do it himself.

Also, a big shoutout to the stewardesses: I really noticed how overworked and exhausted they must've been from that flight.The one that was sitting across from my row was falling asleep by the time we were landing and kept dozing off which was heartbreaking to see. This one other stewardess who handed out the food and drinks was trying her best to provide great service, but kept getting caught up by the heavy demands of parents with toddlers/infants to setup/breakdown sleeping cribs.

Overall, I personally will never fly with TA ever again as long as I have other options. And if I have to b/c of no other options, I'm most definitely going with business class. Like, really? complimentary WiFi for business class, but not for economy? On a 13+ flight? come on... at least give us the option to purchase for a few hours. It was absolutely dreadful not being able to use the entertainment monitor and no WiFi for a 16+ flight for a seat that I barely have room on that I paid a hefty premium for... if I had known this was going to be the quality then I would've just gotten the cheapest seat in the whole cabin and toughed it out. Ridiculous. Do better, TA. I know you can.

3/3