Istanbul in august
 

I am planning a trip from NYC to Istanbul in August and trying to either use my AA miles for a business class ticket to a gateway city in Europe or, trying to locate a business class fare to a gateway city in Eurpoe, realizing it is a relatively short flight from most of those cities to IST.

There is a direct flight from JFK to IST on Delta which I am considering but am curious about the level of service on Delta in business class - they do not appear to have lay flat seats.

Any thoughts for this newbie to Ftalk would be greatly appreciated and thanks.

You will find very cheap flights from Germany to Istanbul, but keep in mind that August is a very busy month in Istanbul, where most of the Turks working in Germany and Western Europe will go home to visit relatives.

Istanbul is very hot in August, best months to visit are actually May-June and September-October, when temperatures will be milder.

Hi Walter,
Welcome to FT.

Couple of thoughts.

1st - DL will be switching from the 767-300 to the 767-400 for JFK-IST (DL72/73) starting on June 1st.

I'm not sure that all of the 764s (welcome to FT.. this is how we talk here ;) ) are lie flat, but some are.

The bigger problem will be finding Biz class award availability in August, which as was pointed out above is high season.

You can get into the DL forum here, and/or seatguru.com to learn about the seating/services offered.

2nd - the gateway idea is not bad, but keep in mind the limitations.
If you buy the tix separately and there is a problem, the other airline won't really care or do much to help you should a delay on the other airline delay you.

also, there is a baggage problem. The low cost carriers will own your first-born if you try to bring TATL (transatlantic) biz-class type luggage onto the connecting flight.

Finally, keep in mind that while DL is inferior to some other options across the pond in biz, your connecting flight will be in intra-Europe-style biz, which means 2.5-4 hours in a narrow body with the middle seat blocked off. Hardly luxury.

Me? I'd do the DL if it was available.

Good luck,

R

Istanbul Decision
 

Decided to go with DL Biz- class for the reasons mentioned about luggage, intra Europe flight/connections and in hopes that current or future eruptions will not affect the direct route as the gateway city scenario might otherwise.
Would welcome thoughts on keeping up to date on fare sales on the JFK/IST route other than through Kayak and/or Airfare Watch Dog.
Thanks to you and the others who have posted and taken the time to resp.