hfly

Newflya, if you are that familiar with Turkey, obviously I am not despite living here for decades, you would also know that after last summers devaluations, etc that the government codified that the vast majority of things legally CANNOT be denominated in foreign currency, I thought that I had adequately referenced that, and while there are some foreign exceptions, I find it rich that a product which at least half assumed at Turks, if not more, is priced in that way.

Or you can go on making points about Turkish inflation, etc that are already a given and known to almost everyone in this board......

newflya

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newflya

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hfly

As you said, you are "no expert on the subject". Irrespective of what you think, or what is realistic, or what makes real economic sense, the Turkish government moved in early September of last year to BAN the use of foreign currencies in a host of uses domestically. There are loopholes for dealing with international trade and crucially, which is obviously where they are getting it from here, the use in international business.

As for what the yearly product is aimed towards, if not aimed at Turks, who is it aimed towards? Any big frequent flier would not bother with this product whether they are Turkish or foreign, as their status with most airlines would already cover most of these services that matter (namely all the fast track stuff). This product targets what I call "medium travelers", those that travel frequently enough that they might need the services, or those that fly lots of different airlines, and none enough to have status, and crucially those who are not already flying in Premium cabins, and are doing it for a long enough time, that they would think of getting the service after a long enough time. Furthermore perks such as parking are aimed towards Turks, as most expats living in IST would not normally leave their cars parked at the airport, as a matter of fact those having "Blue Plate" cars, (many expat workers for multinationals and consular personnel) would never do so.

Crucially, unlike TAVPassport, this service is ONLY for ISL, not a group of regional airports such as the TAVPASS (TAVpass also worked at a bunch of airports inside and outside of Turkey such as Ankara, Izmir, Bodrum, SAW, and even Tbilisi I believe) so it was a value prospect for Turkish frequent fliers, especially those who flew Turkish LCC's.

As for "menu costs", for the normal Turkish public, that is the way things have been for decades, and that is just the way it is. Lastly, the Turkish "worker" diaspora is NOT at all the market for this product, never has been, and never will be. The market for this product is notionally either the Turkish sales manager whose company sends him frequently all over the place on the cheapest possible ticket, whatever the carrier, and he feels that he can "treat" himself, or get the company to pay for it for that reason. At these costs, he/they ain't going to bite.

IAN-UK

I reckon it's simply not been well thought out. Somebody's plucked Euro denominated fees out of the air - converting them to TL gives a scary result!

Aiming the packages at single users is bizarre - after tax I'd be paying an eye-watering TL6,300 if I wanted a service allowing me to invite my far better half (or even random strangers) to join me in the lounge ... or on the buggy And (likely) it will cost at least 20% more next year.

ISTFlyer

The authorized shuttle transportation company for Istanbul Airport, Havaist, has announced that they would release the information of the new 20 routes and the timetables for these routes this Friday. Transportation to Istanbul Airport would be provided 7 days 24 hours a week. The current routes and the schedule for these routes would be in service until the end of Thursday, 4 April 2019.

For now, there is no information if İETT ( Municipality buses ) would continue to operate after the grand movement. Currently İETT buses run to Mecidiyeköy, to Halkalı High Speed Train Station via Mall of Istanbul shopping center & Atakent district and to Atatürk Airport via Başakşehir Metrokent.

mafaky

In the earlier days, the info provided was that the IETT (Municipality) routes will be served but only with a small number of bus fleet; cannot now remember the exact number. So, it should be that there still will be these Municipality Bus Services but with a more optimised frequencies. After all, there's no metro like public transport to ISL (for the time being), and there will be quite a number of people working in the Terminal who are not directly related/employed by IGA and/or airlines (the latter will benefit from Company provided locak transportation, by busses...). These employees cannot afford to pay twice 18+ TL Havaİst tickets every day.

ISTFlyer

According to this news article the FAA would visit Istanbul Airport at May 6-10. Also Canadian and French authorities would also visit the airport shortly after the movement. The British authorities would also visit the airport for the second time at 17-21 June.

hfly

So that means no flights to North America until after that? I had heard a rumor that they are seriously considering a back up plan to keep NA flights at Ataturk until they have approvals. That would be catastrophic. Or is this just the excuse that they are looking for to delay the opening at the last minute after the elections and blame it on the FAA/TSA? AFAIK, BA will suspend operations until the 26 violations identified in the last CAA inspection are rectified.

ISTFlyer

I thought the same thing as you; this means no flights to USA or Canada and even Latin America as USA would close their airspace to flights departing from a non FAA approved airport ( Istanbul Airport ). I wish the rumor is not true but there is a high possibility. BA would probably suspend their operations and offer their passengers to be booked to DLM or offer free cancellation. I hope they switch to SAW until the inspection. I literally have a XXX-LHR-IST ticket on May and don't know what to do if my flight is cancelled. I have used the first leg of my trip so a one-way ticket would cost 6 times more than I paid BA. Probably in a situation like this, I would ask them to book me to one of the ATH flights and then buy a one-way A3 ticket to IST as I have bought the BA ticket at November for a very reasonable price.

A delay of the movement would cause catastrophic consequences both for the country and both for Turkish Airlines so I hope that doesn't happen. Maybe this could occur as a strategic plan to decrease the value of TK shares and sell them to a friend for a cheaper price.

northsideguy

ISTFlyer

All of the routes of the Havaist lines ( shuttles buses ) and their schedule has been released at HAVA?ST - ?stanbul Havaliman?'na Yolculuk. All these routes would be in service 7/24 so this means that no more mandatory taxi or private vehicle for overnight and early morning flights.
However, only schedules from first stops has been shared for now on and there are no info about pick-up or drop-off points on the road.

The new lines would be;

Format:
- First Stop - Istanbul Airport Intervals during the day Intervals during the night - The intervals are the maximum intervals

- Alibeyköy Coach Station - Istanbul Airport 40 min 1 hour
- Arnavutköy - Istanbul Airport 30 min 1 hour 10 min
- Bahçeşehir - Istanbul Airport 30 min 1 hour 10 min
- Bakırköy - Istanbul Airport 20/30 min 50 min
- Başakşehir - Istanbul Airport 30 min 1 hour 10 min
- Beşiktaş - Istanbul Airport 15/20 min 30 min
- Hacıosman - Istanbul Airport 30 min 1 hour
- Halkalı Train Station - Istanbul Airport 30 min 30 min ( However, no service between 04:00 and 05:00 )
- Kadıköy - Istanbul Airport 30 min 30 min
- Kemerburgaz - Istanbul Airport 40 min 1 hour
- Mahmutbey Metro - Istanbul Airport 30 min 1 hour
- Mecidiyeköy - Istanbul Airport 15 min 45 min
- Esenler Coach Station - Istanbul Airport 20/35 min 50 min
- Pendik - Istanbul Airport 40 min 1 hour
- Sancaktepe - Istanbul Airport 40 min 1 hour
- Sarıyer - Istanbul Airport 40 min 1 hour
- Sultanahmet - Istanbul Airport 30 min 30 min ( However, no service between 04:10 and 05:10 )
- Taksim - Istanbul Airport 15 min 30/50 min
- TÜYAP - Istanbul Airport 30 min 1 hour
- Yenikapı - Istanbul Airport 20 min 40 min/1 hour

Sinter

I'm almost half curious what would happen for domestic connections from US flights in that scenario. I'm not flying in to IST until June 1, and likely would be flying down to Izmir the same day, having to transfer airports would certainly complicate that plan just a little.

SFOTraveler1984

Yep, that's gonna be interesting... I am flying US-IST-EU on April 9th. I have a night layover in Istanbul anyway, so it wouldn't be the end of the world to fly into Atatürk and out of ISL, but still... what a mess :-D
I'll be watching this forum closely next week ... Thanks to the local experts here who keep us all updated

ISTFlyer

I don't think anyone ( in public ) would have the necessary information until the elections are completed.

********

By the way; Royal Air Maroc, Etihad, Emirates ( in addition to their existing SAW flights ), Saudia, Kuwait Airlines, Azerbaijan Airlines and Nouvelair Tunisia would operate from Sabiha Gökçen Airport during the transition period ( 5-6 April ). Qatar Airways has changed the aircraft types of all existing SAW flights to a 777-300ER and have scheduled daily additional flights to/from Doha on 5 and 6 April which would be operated by Airbus A321 aircraft.

For the British side, I have an information that could be good news for the 26 violations that should be fixed. British Airways would operate their A321neo on 4, 7 and 8 April for their BA676/BA677 service. The aircraft type for BA680/BA675 remains unchanged for those dates and would still be operated by an Airbus A320. They wouldn't increase capacity if there was a risk at Istanbul Airport for British Airways or any UK carrier.

On 7 Apr, Asiana would operate 777-300ER aircraft on their OZ551/OZ552 rotation instead of 777-200ER aircraft.

On 7 Apr, Tunisair would operate A330-200 instead of A320's on their TU214/TU215 rotation.

On 7 Apr, Egyptair would operate A330-300 aircraft on both of their Cairo rotations instead of Boeing 737-800 aircraft ( MS735/MS736 and MS737/MS738 )