Basar

It's snowing pretty heavy at the moment in Istanbul. I doubt TK will manage to get back to normal operations until the weekend.

johan rebel

Total chaos reigns, is my impression.

Here, as an example, is today's TK1957:

Jan 9 11:27 AM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 12:05 PM To 01/09/17 12:05 PM

Jan 9 11:39 AM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 12:05 PM To 01/09/17 01:05 PM

Jan 9 11:39 AM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 01:05 PM To 01/09/17 12:05 PM

Jan 9 11:45 AM Gate Adjustment •Tail Number Changed From TC-JMJ To TC-JTL

Jan 9 11:54 AM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 12:05 PM To 01/09/17 01:05 PM

Jan 9 12:41 PM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 01:05 PM To 01/09/17 01:05 PM

Jan 9 12:49 PM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 01:05 PM To 01/09/17 02:05 PM

Jan 9 2:19 PM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 02:05 PM To 01/09/17 02:30 PM

Jan 9 2:27 PM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 02:30 PM To 01/09/17 02:40 PM

Jan 9 2:49 PM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 02:40 PM To 01/09/17 03:40 PM

Jan 9 4:23 PM STATUS-Cancelled •Status Changed From Scheduled To Cancelled

Jan 9 5:06 PM STATUS-Scheduled •Status Changed From Cancelled To Scheduled

Jan 9 5:06 PM Time Adjustment •Estimated Gate Departure Changed From 01/09/17 03:40 PM To 01/09/17 06:00 PM

If this flight will take off at all, and if so when, is anybody's guess.

Edit: canceled for the second time

Jan 9 6:49 PM STATUS-Cancelled •Status Changed From Scheduled To Cancelled

Johan

tuchop

where do you get this info from?

johan rebel

Flightstats.com

Search for the flight you are looking for, then click on the "Event Timeline" tab.

Johan

Fruth

You can see an update for all cancelled flights from TK here:
http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-in...n-istanbul-852

starflyergold

Keep in mind that of course there are zero announcements for pax or information on the monitors at IST. Chaos indeed.

tuchop

Thanks!

My flight says its on time, yet the inbound flight from IST should have departed 10+ hours ago. Status says: "Unknown" and it's not in that list of cancelled flights --> TK16

EK788

There's an interesting video showing protests by some passengers who are stuck at the airport.

gr8pirate

I'm wondering what the lounge is looking like right now?!

SK AAR

TK15 IST-GRU 09JAN has not left IST yet.

Interuptions seem severe now. TK65 from BKK was very close to landing but aborted (it has safely landed just now). TK longhaul flights are circling around just south of the airport waiting to land.

Added: Many flights to the US are scheduled to depart around 11PM (local time) tonight, so apparently TK is expecting to operate some longhaul flights from IST later today.

tuchop

My Amex Travel Agent (bought tickets through them) JUST confirmed that everyone was on the plane now and the plane was about to depart! (her source is TK)

SK AAR

Yes, TK15 is no longer at the gate; seem to line up waiting to take off.

dera

Right now, like a third world refugee camp.
Can't leave the airport either. Taxi line is 4 hours.
75% of flights are cancelled, 20% are delayed by 4-8 hours, but TK5306 to Medina is showing on time (only TK flight that is on time right now...)

What's even funnier is, that I arrived from SFO (which was around 3 hours late to the gate). Agents at SFO couldn't check my bags through and said just go landside and they will put you in a hotel (my connection qual's for transfer hotel).

Obviously that's not what happened, but I still got to enjoy 2 hours of passport control. (in and straight back out).

Forrest Bump

Try to walk as far from the airport you can.
You might have better chances to catch some random taxi further away from the line.
Or at the very least using a shuttle bus operated by airport hotels, and pretending to check-in unreserved.
Once there, booking a taxi should be easier.

Good luck anyway, I can't imagine a more miserable experience of TK service attitude mixed with IST airport chaos.

airoli

@:-) There is a metro station right at the airport. Experience from previous snow storms suggests that the trains run reliably. Take the metro to any of the downtown stops and find a taxi there.