vicarious_MR'er

is there any method to determining which flights park at the jetways at IST and which park on the apron and shuttle the pax into the terminal?

MarriottHotelsFan

For next July, do you guys think 1 hr 15 min would be enough time, transferring on Turkish from Thessaloniki to Budapest? Thanks.

LP101

Hi all, I have a few questions about connecting in IST.

I will be flying JFK-IST-ATH in May on TK, all on one itinerary/PNR. My flight from JFK gets into IST at 11:40 AM, and my flight to ATH departs at 12:40 PM. That leaves me with an hour to connect. As I understand it, I can probably get my boarding pass for my ATH flight in JFK, and my bags should be checked all the way through to ATH. I also assume that since it is a sell-able ticket, that the connection should be sufficient.

However, reading this forum, I am getting a bit worried. Will an hour be enough time to connect? Also from my understanding, I will not have to go through customs or get a visa since I will remain in the transit area, right? What is security like in IST, where do I pass it? Some mixed reports about that on here.

And finally, will TK wait for me (and any other connecting pax) if there is a delay from the JFK flight? I know LH does this in MUC/FRA, and even meet pax with tight connections at the gate, rushing them through security.

geewhy

We'll be visiting Turkey in April and return flight is Izmir > IST > LAX > SFO. A couple of questions:

1. Izmir > IST > LAX both are with TK, and LAX > SFO is with UA. Will we get our boarding passes all the way to SFO? Is transfer time of 1 hour 35 mins sufficient to transfer in IST? I assume we need to exit customer and transfer from domestic terminal to international terminal. There's another flight from Izmir to IST which is 2 hours earlier.

2. Transfer time in LAX is 2 hours and 25 mins, is that enough for us to collect luggage, pass immigration, drop off luggage and transfer from international terminal to domestic terminal? There're two later flights LAX-SFO that evening.

Thanks!

ellyse

I've just gone through transit at Istanbul. Yes, luggage is generally checked through to your final destination if both flights are international. I don't know what time your flights are, but generally I take less than half an hour to get from the incoming flight to the lounge, so 1 hour is enough if your incoming flight isn't delayed, though it's tight. I've managed 1-hour connections before with no problem.

kazuwox

I take TK flights in March having 7hrs layover in IST (VIE-IST-NRT).
Arr 1750, Dept 2450
This is good enough to go to city centre by public transportation and back, right ?
I believe the baggage should be thru-checked to the final destination and boarding pass
will be provided at VIE.

flyerhog

You're looking at 2hrs+ leaving the airport to beat istanbul rush hour traffic....better to take a private cab to the center.

shuly

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

One hour is tricky. If all goes well you'll make your connection, but if your incoming flight is late you risk missing it. TK will only delay the Athens flight if it deems it profitable (I don't think LH does it differently), so you have no way to know in advance.

Typically, you have to go through security upon arrival in IST. Lines may be long, although the situation has improved recently. If you find yourself in a long queue, talk to an agent, show your boarding card for the next flight and ask to be moved to the front. It may or may not work. You won't have to go through immigration at IST.

On a recent connection my inbound flight was significantly delayed (some 40 minutes I think). Connecting passengers with a boarding card for a connecting flight were allowed to go directly to their gate, not having to pass through security. It's the first time I saw this happening.

Finally, if you miss your connection, TK will put you on the next available flight. Check the schedules to know what this means.

You can check in online 24 hours before your flight, and in most cases you will get two boarding cards for your two segments. You should also be able to check luggage through to ATH.

Good luck,

Shuly

LP101

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully it all goes well. I will be sure to post my experience after the flights for future users.

One more question. I read earlier in this thread something about separate security lines for domestic and international flights. Something about it not being marked clearly? Any info on that?

emcampbe

Wow - that's impressive. I arrived some 3+ hours late from YYZ connecting to BOM (one of those winter storm things in NA). We parked at the gate next door to the BOM flight, and there were 10 or 12 of us connecting. We could see through the glass door right next to us folks boarding the BOM flight. I was impressed they had an agent that was able to take us through security and held the flight a few minutes for us, but they definitely didn't bring us right through to board next door (though I was kind of hoping they would, realized there was a security procedure involved). Instead, we had to trek most of the way through the length of the airport to security, then all the way back past where we were, basically. Wonder how from a procedure perspective the pax on your flight were exempt from it.

shuly

There were 3-4 people at the gate (actually, at the jetway); they could have been airport security personnel or police officers, I'm not sure. They asked each disembarking passenger to show a boarding pass for a connecting flight, and directed those who had one to the right hand side, where the jetway simply opened up to the transit area. All other passengers were directed to the left, presumably to the security control or the exit, as usual. I was among the first to leave the aircraft, I can only suppose this was the procedure used for everyone.

Shuly

exs2

Just arrived from ARN to IST on my way to BKK and there was a man who asked for those with international connection to show boarding pass to go through a doorway that led to gates directly so it didn't take long to get myself into lounge.

Hopefully this trend will continue

steveo

All,

I'm making a trip based out of ORD, heading to Budapest, overland to Zagreb, then to Venice.

To fly from Zagreb to Venice, the cheapest flight I have found is with turkish airways, with a 55 minute layover in istanbul. As I recall last time heading through istanbul I had to go through an extra security check. Is that still the case for a europe to europe flight?

Also anyone know if turkish has ever gotten economy comfort for the ORD to istanbul flight?

thanks,

vincewy

JFK-IST flights tend to be there a little earlier (30 min) than scheduled so you might have more than 1 hour, even those delayed for less than 40 minutes they tend to arrive at IST half hour earlier. Worst case scenario, if you miss TK1849 they'll put you in the flight in the evening TK1843 but there's also A3 flight in between those 2, try to ask TK to put you on this flight (A3 993).

In any of the scenarios above no visa will be required. Just enjoy the lounge if you miss the flight.

vincewy

In April, I'll be arriving at IST 4:45 pm and the next realistic TK connection is TK2018 at 8:50 pm, obviously more than enough time.

There's also AtlasJet KK74 leaving at 6 pm. AFAIK, it's possible for me to arrive at IST before 4:45 pm, has anyone ever made it to the domestic check-in counter within 45 minutes? Assuming you have E+ and your visa is ready to be stamped. KK will require you to be at check-in desk by 5:30 pm with boarding pass printed to drop off bag.

I'm tempted to book KK flight as well and ready to cancel the TK one if I make it (you get 30% of the fares back with flexible fares within 12 hours before departure).