samzone12

Good Day,

I am flying with Turkish Airline first time. I like to know what things to do? Going to toronto to IST and IST to lahore. Its pretty long haul flight. I was looking to get points card but I was wondering when I am able to get physical card? Also, any best things to do at IST airport I have almost 5 hour stay? I am economy class seat can I access any lounge in IST.
Small tips and your experience will be great to make journey better. Thanks
Sam

gilbertaue

Unless you are top tier (where you get lounge access), having the physical card isn't necessary. So go ahead and apply for the Frequent Flyer (FF) Card online on the TK site and it will give you your membership number. When you book your tickets, key in that number.
If you already have booked your tickets, give the check in staff your FF number every time you check in. (Make sure the number appears on all the boarding passes they hand to you).
In a couple of weeks/months you should receive the physical card.
Note though, that certain super cheap booking classes dont give you a lot of points. You can check that on the ticket and also on the TK website.

As an economy class passenger with no FF elite status you can't access the lounge.

IST is a big airport with quite a number of shops.

Enjoy your flight. The food is great and you should be ok.

chris19992

You can pay to enter these lounges.
Click

TPJ

Try to have your seats assigned in advance - you cannot do it yourself on their 1990's turkishairlines.com web site you might have to call them. If you wait until check-in you might be left only with middle seats grrr...

Guy Betsy

If you have a HSBC Premier or Advantage account, you can use the HSBC lounge. Here you need to show them your card.

The airport is quite big with lots of shops and restaurants. 5 hours will go by quite quickly.

As others have said, you do not need the physical card to get your miles (points).

Go here and join Miles & Smiles : http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-ca/

Then when you get your number, call your travel agent and give them the number to put on your reservation. Also ask what booking code you are booked on. This is because some fares , you will only get 25% of the miles and not full miles.

Oh and welcome to FlyerTalk !