Originally Posted by
Gogie
Here's the deal. When I search for the flights I'm looking for, I get a pretty good fare for business class for one person but if I try to book a pair of tickets for Mrs. Gogie and me the price increases by ~$1000 per ticket. Obviously there's only one seat left at the lower fare class and when I try to book 2 tickets I'm automatically bumped to the higher fare class for both tickets. Would it make any difference if I booked my ticket on its own to get the lower fare class and then booked Mrs. Gogie separately at the higher fare class, presumably saving ~$1000 in total on the two tickets? Can I link the two tickets after the fact so the airline knows we're travelling together? Does it really matter?
For most airlines, the PNRs can be manually linked but given TK's somewhat poor reputation for customer service I have to question whether that would do anything in the case of IRROPS. I would suggest you avoid IST altogether as it can be a gong show even if there are no issues(unless you speak the language) and everyone has heard the horror stories during severe weather.
Unless you're deadset on doing a layover somewhere else in Europe, I would recommend just taking the direct YYZ-ATH. I know it'd been on Rouge and everyone has their own opinion on that but you can't beat the convenience/time savings. Even though the aircraft may be old and the crew young, the Premium Rouge product is just fine compared to other airlines' PY offering. I would even go so far to say that service is better on PR than on other airline's PY as you're in the highest cabin class on the plane.
Edit: If you're heading to the Greek islands, you could also consider BA as they have a daily flight to Santorini. Besides that, I'm sure Ryanair et al serves the island through many other European cities.