Originally Posted by Gobus

I just flew BKK-LAX yesterday (or day before and yesterday). It's freaking long. IST was not a circus like I saw it in January, but it was still busy. I had a layover of 7 hours and I don't regret the longer layover since I've seen how busy it can get at IST. We did have to clear security again at IST.

I flew economy - I think Turkish is mostly average or even under-average in economy (considering international carriers, not US ones). Haven't flown them in business. I paid for lounge access at IST, which made it bearable, otherwise the airport is a horror show. I haven't used the Turkish lounge since I wasn't flying business and wasn't Star Alliance Gold - that's supposed to be real nice.

If you value the cheap ticket, then it might be worth it (I was going for collecting miles towards status, so actually paid more for a higher class ticket that got me miles). Otherwise, there's no reason to subject yourself through the ordeal :-)