Turkish Air

Are you planning to fly economy or business class? In business you sometimes
have the option of selecting a time to be served, or to have everything served all
at once.

If you have elite status or are in business class and can access the lounge beforehand,
then you can eat before you get on the plane and just forgo the entire meal service.

If you really need to know this information before you book, you might try reading or
posting your question on flyertalk, which has a much higher chance of reaching folks
who have experience with queries like yours. Having said that, no matter what previous
flight services have been like, there is no guarantee yours would be the same.

I took a flight on Air France that left at 11:30 pm. They served dinner, according to my husband as soon as they could safely. I would not know because I was asleep. My approach was to wash my face and brush my teeth ect while waiting to board the plane. Then I got comfortable and went to sleep.

No one will wake you up to eat.

I slept reasonably well for seat in economy and felt good the day of arrival. The only problem was I was awake until 2 am the first night.

I personally like later flights as I can sleep on them. I don’t like to arrive at 8 am because it is like 1 am.

The flight details should tell you what meals they serve on each flight. Usually on a late hour flight the food is served rather quickly after takeoff. But as has been noted, no one will wake you up to eat - put on eyeshades and the flight attendants will not disturb you (unless you aren't buckled in during a bit of turbulence - buckle over your blanket). If you are traveling alone, it may be more difficult if you have a seatmate that is eating right next to you.

I don't sleep well on a plane regardless of departure time. On my last trip I used the TimeShifter app to adjust my pre-flight schedule several days ahead of departure to minimize jet lag - it calculates adjustments based on your actual flight times. It definitely helped me, but YMMV.

I think you are missing a larger issue.

How long is your flight from JKF to IST? I think you are going to have plenty of time on that plane for sleeping (if you can), as well as a meal or two, watching movies, pondering life’s mysteries and more.

To your specific question: they’ll try and serve the first meal as soon as they can. There will be another meal later. There may be a “snack” served on top of that (I’ve only flown TK in business class, and there’s a firehose of food pointed at you anytime you’re not out cold). Even in coach, I don’t think you'll go hungry. If you prefer to just sleep while others are chowing down, just ask the flight attendants or your seat mates (before you sleep) to let you snooze. It’s a long way to Istanbul. There will be plenty of time to catch the next meal when it drives by, and accomplish all your other in-flight needs.

Thank you all so much for your quick responses. We are flying business class and really just want to be able to sleep at least for the first flight. We fly to Istanbul, have a 2+ hour layover, and then go on to Thessanoliki. Never having flown business class before, I wasn't quite sure if we'd be able to just let the flight attendant know that we don't want to eat and try to sleep. So it's a learning experience for us. I figured that they'd most likely serve food because that's what they do on these long flights and from my experience in economy, the shuffling around, noise, and brightness of when food is being served really doesn't make for a pleasant snooze while so much is going on. I guess we'll be a bit more sheltered in business class; and I suppose no one bothers a person who is lying down covered with a blanket, lol! I am really looking forward to the business class experience.

Thanks, too, to CL regarding the Time Shifter app. It sounds like something to explore. I've tried various ways to ease jet lag; some worked, most didn't. So this is very interesting to me.

Flights attendants will gladly honor a request to allow you to sleep.

In business class, exactly how “sheltered” you will be/feel depends on the aircraft type. The 777 cabin is more open compared to the 787 and A350 cabins. All are great for sleeping. If on the 777, be sure to grab window+aisle seats (the 777 middle section is 3 seats across so there’s a dreaded “middle seat” that most try to avoid). In any case they’re all great for sleeping.

If this is your first business class experience, you are in for a real treat. Enjoy the twinkling candlelights during dinner. I recommend the fresh mint lemonade pre-departure drink.

You’ll never be able to fly coach again.