ISTFlyer

Unfortunately, it's not possible to book all routes online. To book your desired itinerary with 'X' or 'I' fare bucket availability, you would need to contact the hotline, find a willing agent to help you or you would need to contact a TK sales office.

I'm sad to say that there are no getaways with this issue without calling, emailing, or visiting an office in person.

flyguy6

Thanks. I was think I must have been doing something wrong because after trying ten's of domestic routes I could not find a single one. The only one I found involved IST. I have some citi point that expire soon and wanted to move them over for one of the get sweet spot awards to HI.

ISTFlyer

If you live near a TK city sales office that you could visit in person, you should transfer those Citi points to M&S, however, otherwise, it might be a pain trying to book a TK award remotely on the phone or via e-mail.

To avoid that pain, it might make sense to convert your Citi points to another FFP.

cheesedawg

Is the baggage allowance relevant at all when paying for a bicycle? My baggage allowance is 3 bags, so if I have 2 bags + bicycle or 3 bags + bicycle, will it matter, or will the fee always be the same?

ISTFlyer

If I'm not wrong, if the dimensions do exceed standard baggage allowance, you would need to pay for checking-in a bicycle.

On some routes, bicycles are free to carry.
https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-t...cle/index.html

On some others, you would need to pay the rates below.
https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-t...ecial-charges/

cheesedawg

I'm asking if these 2 scenarios matter for a 3 bag allowance:

1) 3 bags, 1 bicycle

2) 2 bags, 1 bicycle

Am I paying the same?

ISTFlyer

I'm not pretty sure about that.

WorldWideWolfie

I'm due to fly KUL > IST > LHR on the same ticket with TK. I have a ~13 hour long layover and would like to buy some gifts in Istanbul before continuing to LHR.

I can't find how baggage is currently being treated, however. Has anyone experienced whether TK will allow baggage to be checked to IST, collected then rechecked to the next destination?

Also read that no cabin baggage is allowed on board currently due to COVID. Can the cabin baggage that's checked in also be collected in IST, or will it have to be checked all the way through? I'd like some things from it in IST.

Thanks

ISTFlyer

I am not sure if the outstation ground handling team in KUL would allow it; however, it shouldn't be an issue to check some of your bags to IST and some others to your final destination LHR. The same thing applies to the cabin baggage as it's treated as regular checked baggage these days.

ovacikar

Hi Folks, What is wrong with TK 78 (MIA - IST) on 10/29/2020 ? It does not show any C/J , but same flight codeshare PK 5078 does show C&J available.

Edit : It appears TK77/78 is back to reduced 5x schedule.

zen100

Has anyone had any success with getting onto an earlier flight, by just turning up at LHR earlier. Here is my outbound itinerary

LHR 17:40 > IST 23:25
IST 00:50 > ECN 02:25.

I'm concerned about the 1hr 25m connection. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be that worried, because TK would just have to get us on the next flight. The problem is - there isn't a next flight - at all. All IST>ECN flights are fully booked all week.

There are earlier LHR>IST flights - leaves a much long connection at IST. But would rather have that, than risk missing this connection. Now there is huge availability on the earlier LHR flights, but can't seem to change the booking. Seems that the system tries to make a new end-to-end "flight" between LHR and ECN and then cut over - and because there is no availability on the IST>ECN leg, it can't do it, even though I don't need to change that leg.

So has anyone been able to arrive at LHR on the day and get on an earlier flight? I would pay a change fee if needed.

Last time I called up the call centre, they totally screwed up the booking, probably for similar reasons - cancelled the ECN leg, then couldn't rebook it. Had to buy a brand new ticket. With that in mind, it's probably less risky to chance the 1hr 25m connection, than getting the booking mangled again. But if turning up at the airport earlier has been known to work, we might try that.

Thanks in advance.

ISTFlyer

You might visit the airport ticketing counter. They should be able to perform the change with any fare difference paid.

TK's same-day policy is that you could show up at the airport no earlier than 4 hours before departure and if seats are available, you could change your flight to an earlier one if there is availability in the same cabin for free. Although, if the flight is close to full, the ticketing agents have the right to reject your claim or ask for the fare difference.

TRNC has restricted the number of flights arriving/departing to the country so that's why TRNC flights are fully booked. 2 daily flights from Turkey to TRNC are definitely under the demand.

zen100

Thanks - LHR/IST is virtually empty on all 3 flights that day. It's the IST/ECN flights that are rammed - probably oversold, as they had to consolidate 4 flights into 2.

It's how I can change the LHR/IST leg, without losing the precious IST/ECN leg. Don't trust the call centre not to totally #@&%$ it up again. Although I wonder if the ticketing agent on the day would have the same problem - that they can't rebook a single leg, without redoing the "LHR ECN flight". Might be worth a shot.

Is the 4 hours before departure, taken as 4 hours before the earlier departure?

ISTFlyer

So as your original flight is at 17:40, you would be allowed to change your flight for free after 13:40 to an earlier departure. As check-in closes 75 minutes before departure, technically the new LHR-IST flight should not be earlier than 14:55.

TK generally outsources their hotline agents from third party companies, however, generally ticketing agents at the airport are TK employees that has much more power than them. I am not sure about who operates the LHR desk, but if it's operated by TK employees, they should be able to override the situation.

By the way, ECN is down to 1 flight per day for TK with the other second flight being Pegasus from SAW.

zen100

Earlier flight is 11:40, so that's not going to work . Could they still do it at LHR (assuming they are TK employees), but for a fee?