mew traveller

Hi guys,

Hope you can help me in this 24 hours remaining for me.We are departing from lyon, France tomorrow toward Iran (layoff in Istanbul) for one month with my 2 French young children (5 month, 5 y.o). I’m Persian & American. It’s is a round ticket bought directly from Turkish airlines. I would like to cancel this flight and get the refund. Here are the latest condition on coronavirus:

Turkey has closed all land borders with Iran and only flights to Iran are possible from Feb23rd. In the announce, they say that it’s temporary and they don’t mention any date.

Can I use any way (bought ticket with a gold Master card which comes travel insurance) to be refunded?

If my children get sick over there, I believe that French repatriation is not easily possible.
what should i do?

ISTFlyer

If your flight from IST to Iran has been canceled, you are entitled to a full refund.
If we have your flight number, we would be able to help further.

craigthemif

Unless your government has advised against travel to Iran, any insurance is unlikely to be helpful. You should call TK personally and ask whether they are waiving cancellation fees for Iran travel. I wouldn't expect much.

I know it doesn't help... but coronavirus is arriving to Europe, so there's not much to be done about it. As near as I can tell, European doctors are no more likely to cure you of coronavirus than any other medical services in the world. Your main concern is probably being stranded in Iran and not being allowed to return to France as a non-national. In which case just don't get on the plane and don't worry about the sunk cost you spent on plane tickets...

ISTFlyer

By the way, TK has canceled all of their Iran flights except for Tehran-IKA. Tehran flights are reduced to twice daily.
Onward to Iran, passengers despite their nationality would be allowed to board the aircraft. However, on the return leg to Istanbul TK would not accept any other nationality other than Turkish citizens.

lonelycrowd

In regard to options for returning should you decide to go, my understanding of the current situation is that air travel from IKA to IST/SAW is still possible, but requires transit through one of a shrinking number of potential third countries (and therefore not on TK). Per Timatic, I do not believe that Turkey is imposing a blanket restriction on individuals with Iranian nationality or travel history at this moment in time. Yesterday I was seeing connections still possible and reasonably priced ($<300 ow) via Doha, Oman, Russia and Azerbaijan; however, they are now all astronomically priced for the next few days. I imagine that IKA must be chaotic at the moment.

Fearful of losing a long-planned family reunion in Turkey next month, I successfully cajoled my in-laws yesterday to leave immediately. Somehow, they managed to get out of IKA minutes before the 5pm cutoff time. Turkey greeted them with a thorough health screening, but I was somewhat surprised that the authorities at IST didn't collect any contact information or addresses regarding their travel plans in Turkey (as the US and other countries have been doing for individuals arriving from China).

anaidross

Are there any general fee waiver policy (changes and cancellation) implemented by TK due to Coronavirus, to places like China, Iran, Singapore and South Korea?

ISTFlyer

Only China and Iran. Not other countries

https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-t...eak/index.html