Nutty

This thread raised a question for me. I'm considering flying through Istanbul from Budapest to SFO. How long of a layover is necessary to be fairly certain I'll make the connection in Istanbul?

miamiflyer8

1.5 should cut it.

Almost 12 years a member and only now posted.

Welcome to FT and the TK forums.

PVDtoDEL

Going to the US, my personal minimum is 2 hours. When I have less than two hours, I make contingency plans based on the assumption that I will arrive a day late. Going elsewhere, 80 mins tends to be adequate.

SK AAR

If time is of the essence and you need to get to SFO in time, I would book elsewhere than TK (LH, LX, KL come into mind where you are more guaranteed to make the connection and arrive SFO in time. I deliberately left out BA and AF as connecting af LHR or CDG can be challenging).

YuropFlyer

LX? They grounded their SFO heading 777 a week ago deep inside Canada And LX regularely ranks among the least punctual airlines in Europe..

I would say 2hrs should give enough ease of mind for a Transfer in IST. But of course any major delay and you're late.. any airline flying more than once daily to SFO is probably best.

gr8pirate

I second the two-hour minimum rule of thumb, especially if you need to clear an extra security check at the US-bound gate. You may be just fine with a really short connection, but the extra wiggle room is nice when your inbound flight is kept waiting 10ft from the gate for for 20 minutes for no apparent reason.

silentbob1974

My family and I will be arriving on a Friday from TXL with checked luggage, not sure yet if it will be in the early or late evening. Flying on TK in coach, but I have *A Gold status. We then leave Saturday 6 am for IST-AMS-IAD on KL in business class.

So our layover will be somewhere between 6 and 12 hours. I have a few questions:

(1) What are the chances of being able to interline our bags from TK to KL so that we don't have to leave the secure area?

(2) If we have to leave the secure area to get and re-check our bags, even to return immediately, will we have to pay for a visa?

(3) What are our best lounge options overnight given my *A status on the inbound flight and the fact that we're flying business class on the outbound flight?

And if my questions are making improper assumptions about what's permissible at IST, please advise on that as well. Many thanks!

miamiflyer8

No interline

Your need for a visa depends on your citizenship, but I don't think they will make exceptions, you could however have only one person go thru the shuffle so that saves money on visas.

You could try to get your family in to the TK lounge overnight as it's open 24/7, but any other lounge at IST isn't great.

Best option is to use the airside hotel.

boosh

1. No interline agreement between TK and KL.


2. Depends on your nationality, European citizens (- UK) do not. And of course, if you all need to recheck bags you will all need to pass through immigration.


3. You will not have access to the TK lounge. Saying that, some people have reported success scanning their incoming BP for access but if you need to guest one that would not work, so your lounge option will be whatever KL offers.

There is the option of the TAV airside hotel but it is quite pricey from what I hear. There are lots of hotel options close to the airport, I usually use the Hilton Garden Inn, 10-20 min from the airport and around $30-50 a night. They also have a shuttle leaving every 30min.

duvin

Since when? At least Benelux, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Austrian citizens (out of EU) and UK and Norway (out of non-EU) need visas.

boosh

I had no idea, thanks for pointing that out. I was always under the impression that all EU countries minus Britain had visa free entry.

Nutty

Thanks - appreciate the advice!

Nutty

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated!

Nutty

Thanks! Appreciate the advice.

silentbob1974

We plan to travel with only two suitcases, so in theory only I need to exit and then re-check them at the counter.

That said, how would we get our boarding passes for the KLM flights upon arrival at IST? I went to the airport website and it talks about domestic-to-international transfers and international-to-domestic transfers, but not international-to-international. Arriving from TXL, is there a transfer desk that we can access upon arrival that would permit getting our AMS boarding passes without going through passport control, security, etc.?