Flights Insider: 2013-05-26

The B757-200 that took me from Beijing to Urumqi to Istanbul...

CZ 679 from Beijing to Istanbul/Ataturk (stopover in Urumqi)

DEP PEK 31 MAY 2013 17:45 CST

ARR URC 31 MAY 2013 22:00 CST

Flight Duration: 4:15

----stopover in URC----

DEP URC 31 MAY 2013 23:20 CST

ARR IST 31 MAY 2013 23:50 EET

Flight Duration: 6:30

Aircraft: B757-200

Courtesy of www.flightaware.com

Following the CZ 318 which took me from Seoul to Beijing <CZ 318 GMP-PEK Trip Report>, it was time to board flight CZ 679 to Istanbul.

I arrived back in Terminal 2 in Beijing Airport around one hour before departure time. Terminal 2 is exclusively used by Skyteam carriers and China Southern Airlines.

In front of Terminal 2 there were a lot of construction activities going on.

I first thought I had to come through domestic side for the Urumqi-bound CZ 679.

I thought wrong. The security personnel told me to go out and go toward the international side of the terminal (which you need to show passport to go into)

The passengers for CZ 679 are separated into two groups: domestic and international. They board separately with domestic group boarding first.

Here is CZ 679 written on the international side, but it's written Istanbul here.

I didn't know the gate number so I asked the agent for the number (good thing I did, since it was Gate 50, a special gate within Terminal 2 that is separate from all other international gates in the terminal.)

She kindly told me to go to Gate 50.

As you can see, Gate 50 in T2 is different from the other gates. The flights that depart from this gate are generally the international ones that travel out of China with a stopover in another Chinese city. There's really nothing inside this section of T2, so there's no need to be at this gate super-early for your flight. This gate has its own security checkpoint, so once you go in, there's no going back out.

This the waiting area for Gate 50.

There were passengers waiting for a China Eastern flight to Sydney with stopover in Shanghai.

My flight's boarding commenced at 16:20. At the end of the gate's boarding bridge was a door which led to the stairs down to the airport ramp. At the ramp there was a shuttle waiting for the passengers bound for CZ 679 flight. The gate agent, who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, was distributing International Boarding Pass Confirmation Cards to each passengers.

They told us not to lose the cards. Istanbul-bound passengers must present this card while boarding the plane. They collect it back when boarding the plane.

Here is the Sydney-bound A330.

The livery style is very similar to that of China Southern.

The B757 that would take me all the way to Istanbul. I believe on May 28th it was A330, but today it was B757.

To the far end you can see the terminal 2 building. The agents on the stairs were collecting the International Boarding cards that were issued to us.

Just like the A320 I took from Seoul/Gimpo to Beijing, the seat configuration was in 3-3.

It is my first time taking B757-200 ever. I've always taken B737 in USA.

The only empty window seat visible in this picture was my seat. No one ended up taking the middle seat in my row. Only 20-30 passengers on board were bound for Istanbul.

Cabin interior scene looking toward the front.

On the far end you can see Hainan Airlines' Terminal 1.

The seat covers were seriously worn out.

It seemed worse when I lowered the seat table.

After long taxing, we were ready for take-off.

The plane took off, and veered right away toward west.

It was about 17:40 local time. The flight from Beijing to Urumqi would be about 3 hour and 30 min, as been announced by the flight attendant. Other announcements I could not understand because of her bad English accent. There's no time difference between Beijing and Urumqi even thought they are thousands of miles apart horizontally. China adopted official one-time zone policy throughout the country. It was after 21:00 local time in Urumqi but the sun was still up.

The headphone I received after take-off. It looked more like a stethoscope.

We were flying over China's central mountains.

The plane was full of loud talking Chinese men.

Beverage service was started

And the long-waited China Southern domestic meal was served.

For the dinner service, a box was first given out by the male flight attendant while the female flight attendant distributed the hot noodle dish.

The meal was actually pretty good. The noodles were tasty and the box contents had food items such as bread, apple chips, vegetable mix, and pickled vegetable. I ended up eating everything here.

I especially enjoyed eating this chip. It's dried apples..

Since the plane was bound for a Muslim country, there were Halal meats.

Two hours after meal service the plane descended into Urumqi. It was local time 21:00.

China at its immense size..

That's Urumqi down there.

Not a small size city. It's comparable to size of Denver, CO in USA.

That over there is Urumqi Airport's new terminal.

Our plane arrived into Gate 23, which was at the end of the terminal. The reason why CZ 679 always uses Gate 23 is because it is closest to the passport control checkpoint that the Istanbul-bound passengers must go through.

Disembarking

The signs directing both Urumqi and Istanbul bound passengers.

This CZ 679 flight's cabin is now being prepped for Urumqi->Istanbul flight.

At the end of the passageway, the Istanbul-bound passengers turned left and Urumqi-bound passengers turned right. For the Istanbul-bound passengers, the Chinese border patrol guards were waiting around the corner. They check the passports here and attach stickers with '679' written on them onto the boarding pass.

Passport Control

The stickers on my boarding pass.

And we are back in the same gate that we got off at!

The boarding process for Istanbul-bound CZ 679 started. There was a free wifi in Urumqi so I was able to text my friends and families.

They took off one of the '679' stickers here.

On the boarding bridge.

China Southern Airlines is indeed a Skyteam member.

For this flight, each seats had pillows and blankets.

Amenity kits were also provided. Inside there were earplugs, socks, toothbrush/toothpaste.

There seemed to be many Turkish people on this flight. They probably transferred from other parts of China to Urumqi to make this flight.

At around 23:00 local time, the plane pushed back.

And the plane took off toward west about 10 minutes later.

The sun was still visible still at 23:00.

The meal service commenced not too long after take-off.

All of the meals here are halal, since we were bound for a Muslim country.

The noodles were a bit hard on some parts, but overall it was a good meal. There were crisp jujubes and pickled vegetables and roll bread. On the left had halal-prepared beef and beans.

Lights were completely turned off after the meal service. It was much more quiet than PEK-URC.

The flight attendants were passing out hot towels and snack.

Inside the sandwich were halal-prepared meat and cheese.

Istanbul night from above

You can see Sultanamet from here.

It took me almost 18 hours to get here from Korea. Had I taken a non-stop flight, it could've been a much comfortable, 10-hour flight...

At least I got here for a dirt cheap price^^

Turkish Airlines planes everywhere! I am now sure that I'm in Istanbul.

I got off the plane excited to explore Turkey for the first time.

I needed to first get the Visa on Arrival before going through arrival customs. The VoA counter on my side of the terminal was closed, so I went to the one near the immigration customs counters. The Visa on Arrival for Turkey is 20 USD (in 2013) for US Citizens.

This is the list of countries that need visa to enter Turkey.

Since it was late there weren't any people in line.

I got the visa sticker and a stamp.

Duty-free shops were everywhere in sight after passing through passport control.

My baggage already arrived when I got here.

This is the arrivals floor in Ataturk Airport Terminal. Not wanting my friend to drive late at night from far away, I told my friends that they could pick me up 8AM in the morning.

The best place to sleep in the airport is on the departures floor of the terminal. A lot of people were sleeping here. The airport police or janitors don't really bother anyone sleeping on benches or floors.