Explosions And Gunfire at Istanbul Airport (28 June)

Tk thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...l#post26844444

AC waiver

I'll transfer via IST on Monday, oh boy, I see many cancelled flights already
Now I wonder if Aeroplan will let me re-route to avoid IST without $90 fee

RIP to those victims

UPDATE
on phone with Aeroplan, they read a AC waiver to change, from 6/28 to 7/5, to avoid IST airport
Date change is allowed, but other non-IST related changes aren't "free" @@ too bad I can't lump it in
http://www.aircanada.com/en/news/160628.html

so I'm changing my PRG-IST-PEK-HKG (TK) to PRG-ZRH-HKG (LX 777!)

The NYTimes / Associated Press is reporting up to 50 dead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/wo...T.nav=top-news

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Curious where all the inbound flights are diverted to. Anyone know of a good place to visualize it?

This BA flight for example looks like it went all the way back to LHR, was denied landing clearance, and is looking for somewhere to touch down in western Europe: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW680

The BA flight went back to London, but it's landing at LGW. AF went to SOF.

I'm ticketed to fly to IST on Saturday (7/2) via AC 810. While I'm not personally any more concerned about travel to a city that I've spent nearly half of the last two years in today than I was yesterday, my wife and her family are panicking and seem to want to cancel our trip (and my lectures about acceptable risk and probability and such are probably making things worse...). Given that I'm starting a new job later this summer, the earliest we could feasibly reschedule for is December. I'm obviously not going without them, so now we have to figure out what our practical options are with respect to ticketing.

I was surprised by how stingy the travel advisory just published by AC is, though perhaps I shouldn't have had high expectations. September 30th doesn't offer enough flexibility for us. We are on a Flex fare, so it's a $300 change or cancel fee per person, per direction. So - AC seems to be saying that if we want out of the trip, we're out $1200.

One thing I noticed is that we purchased the tickets with the Citi Prestige. I see on their trip cancellation insurance brochure that a covered reason for filing a claim is "A terrorist incident occurs in your destination city after you purchase your trip, and you�re scheduled to arrive within 30 days of the incident." Can anyone think of any caveats that would prevent us from having Citi cover the $1200 in fees from AC?

Twice as many died in Orlando a couple weeks ago. Would your family want to cancel a trip there?

There's a double standard when it comes to travel advisories for non North American countries.

100% agree; however, my insistence on making such arguments is putting more strain on our relationship than this trip may be worth...

BBC updated: A gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport has killed 36 people and injured more than 140, officials say.

Daesh is apparently claiming credit and Turkish authorities agree.

Since the cease fire with the PKK was overridden, both PKK and Daesh have been implicated in various bombings in Ankara, the capital, and Istanbul.

Previously when I have been diverted from IST (due to weather) we have gone to Bursa Yenişehir Airport (YEI), there is another airport.

Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) is closer and may have been used in preference.

Those are the two closest international airports.

One thing the TSA did as a result of the attacks at the IST terminal building entrance:

The TSA had put in a ban on flights going between Turkey and the US from flying into or out of the US. This TSA ban affected ten scheduled common carrier flights that were already in the air between the two countries, but it also hit cargo and private air traffic. That TSA ban has since been lifted (effective late last night DC/VA local time).

People have to travel naked and without luggage or ban large groups of people.

Completely agree - annoying AND dangerous.

I wonder if there is a way to check cars entering the airport area

There are many ways to do so, from the manual approach (often seen at Indian airports) to more automated process (such as those used by Eurotunnel). Of course, there's a good chance that by doing that, you're creating another bottleneck (and there is, of course, the metro as well...)

In this case it wasn't travelers who acted. What then?

It looks like the bulk of the discussion has shifted over to the thread on TK, but in case anyone else flying AC is wondering my question about Citi trip insurance for an AC ticket has been rendered moot - AC is now saying that they will do full refunds.

Still a shame that my in-laws are forcing us to cancel this long-awaited trip. Was really hoping that I could convince her family to put the risks in perspective, but no luck. (Anyone have tips for talking to risk-averse family members in these situations? My attempt to compare the risks of traveling to Istanbul with those faced in everyday American life apparently came across as belittling.)