I still had more than ten days of annual leave left, so I figured I should use it. Since I’d never been to the Caucasus, I decided to start with Georgia and Baku! There aren’t many direct flights from London to the region – British Airways does fly to Tbilisi, but the schedule is absolutely awful, and I didn’t want to spend over £200 on easyJet. So in the end I booked an Avios ticket from London to Istanbul, then connected on Ajet from Istanbul to Tbilisi.
By “Istanbul” I don’t mean the new and fancy IST airport, but the smaller Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) in the Asia part. I’d never been there, and with nearly four hours for the connection, it was a good chance to squeeze in a half-day airport exploration.
Ajet is the low-cost subsidiary of Turkish Airlines. I’d never flown them before and was a bit nervous, but the recent on-time performance on this route looked good, so I went for it; plus the fare was cheap. And even their lowest fare includes a carry-on bag, which is surprisingly generous!
The issue was that I absolutely could not check in online, which always errored out on the final step. Fortunately everything worked out fine: after getting off my BA flight, the transfer area was just a few steps away, full of Ajet counters, and I managed to pick up my boarding pass with no hassle. Time to go lounge-hopping.
The international departure area at SAW has three lounges: the Kepler Club and two Plaza Premium lounges. I went to Kepler first. It’s not exactly a “lounge” – it’s more like a capsule hotel, which is quite fun. We all know that the Amex Priority Pass is nerfed, and oddly enough the Kepler in Riga is excluded, but this Istanbul one is still happy to accept it.
From the transfer zone, Kepler is on the right. If you’re coming from departures after security, it’s on the left, with the entrance upstairs.
After scanning in, you get three hours of access. The first thing you see is a changing room, which feels more like a gym or a bathhouse than an airport lounge.
You can then take a shower:
The Washlet smart toilet was definitely a surprising feature. Past the bathrooms, it finally starts to feel a bit like a traditional lounge.
It’s not large, but it’s bright and airy, with a clean, cute design reminiscent of a hostel.
Food-wise, though, there’s nothing except for some popcorn and soup. Now for the main attraction: the capsules.
Two rows of bunks and sixteen beds in total. At “check-in” your locker and bed are preassigned; mine was an upper bunk.
The space is fairly roomy, definitely enough for sleeping and turning over. There’s even ocean-wave white noise you can adjust.
If you don’t want to sleep, a TV is available and it supports screen-casting.
There’s basically no soundproofing, but everyone was quite considerate – just the occasional forgotten phone ringtone. Overall, if you’re transiting at SAW, Kepler is a pretty solid place to nap. Three hours is reasonably generous.
Kepler guests also get discounts at certain food outlts, but if I have to pay, forget it – better head to Plaza Premium instead! The two lounges are Bosphorus and Marmara, located close to each other. Based on online reviews, Bosphorus seemed slightly better, so I chose that one.
The interior is boxy and of moderate size.
Outside the window is a sea of yellow and blue – SAW is the main hub for Pegasus and Ajet, so you hardly see aircraft from other airlines.
A quick look at the buffet:
The hot dishes were stewed flat beans, Mexican-style grilled chicken, and pasta. They looked ordinary but tasted surprisingly good.
When I arrived around 3 pm., the lounge was fairly empty, but it got busier and busier. By 6pm both Plaza Premium lounges had long queues at the entrance. As for SAW airport itself: not tiny, but very old and worn-out, completely incomparable to the new Istanbul airport.
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