Help with booking a stopover
 

--Resolved--

I am currently trying to book a flight on TK with a stopover in IST for this summer. ITA shows the fare as $960 since it prices as NYC-HEL with a stopover in IST, but when I tried to book with TK's website or any OTAs I have tried, I am getting a price around $1200. Every time I pull up the fare on an OTA, it tells me there was a price change or doesn't price properly. The best I have managed is $1146 with ebookers, and it seems as if no websites can price the stopover correctly.

Here is the itinerary I am looking at:

New York (JFK) to Istanbul (IST) - Wed, Aug 6
Turkish Airlines Inc. Turkish Airlines Inc. 4 Dep: 12:50PM Arr: 5:40AM 9h 50m Airbus A330 Economy (V)
Thu, Aug 7

Istanbul (IST) to Helsinki (HEL) - Mon, Aug 25
Turkish Airlines Inc. Turkish Airlines Inc. 1761 Dep: 8:40AM Arr: 12:05PM 3h 25m Airbus A321 Economy (V)


Helsinki (HEL) to New York (JFK) - Sat, Aug 30
Turkish Airlines Inc. Helsinki (HEL) to Istanbul (IST) - Sat, Aug 30
Turkish Airlines Inc. 1762 Dep: 1:05PM Arr: 4:30PM 3h 25m Airbus A321 Economy (V)
Layover in IST 14h 55m

Turkish Airlines Inc. Istanbul (IST) to New York (JFK) - Sun, Aug 31
Turkish Airlines Inc. 3 Dep: 7:25AM Arr: 11:20AM 10h 55m Airbus A330 Economy (V)

Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $959.10
Total cost for 1 passenger $959.10

In the fare rules for VHV3XPC NYC to HEL (same fare basis for both NYC-HEL and HEL-NYC) I see:
I am at a loss as to how to book this, and I figure some Flyertalkers probably have a lot more experience with this than I do. Any suggestions would be very helpful, and if it truly is unbookable, what did I miss that caused me to go on this wild goose chase?

Thanks!

On Orbitz I just searched and found your dates but with slightly different flights (IST-HEL is at 2pm instead of 8:40am and HEL-JFK is at 6:25pm arriving next-day in NY) for $944. The same itinerary except with the 1:05pm HEL-JFK (same day arrival at JFK) is $1015. Not sure why the 8:40am flight doubles the price if you saw that on ITA, but is the morning flight a necessity?

I just tried Orbitz again, modifying the dates and times as you suggested, but after clicking select, I get the dreaded "We're sorry, the fare for that itinerary is no longer available. The fare for that trip is now $1,145.10" message. Did you manage to get to the booking page?

My dates/times are quite flexible, but this was the best option I found on ITA.

I just found something in the TK forum regarding possible errors with their inventory on ITA, so I am beginning to think I am chasing my tail (although I really hope I am not!)

My bad - I didn't click through before. I see the same thing you do.

I think I finally figured out the problem: ITA and Orbitz both show phantom inventory in V-class on the IST-JFK flight which is causing the problem. I managed to get it as low as $928 by toying with the dates switching the return to IAD, and that looks bookable! :D