Booking Turkish Airlines as Greek Cypriot
Oct 15, 2018, 2:47 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 2
Booking Turkish Airlines as Greek Cypriot
Hi all,
I need to fly to Istanbul IST from Cyprus. Flying from Larnaca or Paphos is ridiculous because of the stopover in Athens or Beirut, too expensive and time-consuming.
Ercan has daily flights with Pegasus and Turkish Airlines. Pegasus flies to SAW and I would rather not go all the way there.
I cannot book Turkish Airlines online because they will nit accept a credit card from Bank of Cyprus - Cyprus doesn't show up on the list of countries. It also doesn't show up on the countries to input a phone number or even to send them feedback on their official form.
Does anyone have any experience with booking a Turkish Airlines flight as a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus, or is it simply impossible?
Thank you very much!
I need to fly to Istanbul IST from Cyprus. Flying from Larnaca or Paphos is ridiculous because of the stopover in Athens or Beirut, too expensive and time-consuming.
Ercan has daily flights with Pegasus and Turkish Airlines. Pegasus flies to SAW and I would rather not go all the way there.
I cannot book Turkish Airlines online because they will nit accept a credit card from Bank of Cyprus - Cyprus doesn't show up on the list of countries. It also doesn't show up on the countries to input a phone number or even to send them feedback on their official form.
Does anyone have any experience with booking a Turkish Airlines flight as a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus, or is it simply impossible?
Thank you very much!
Oct 15, 2018, 3:27 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: TK*G (E+), IHG Plat Ambassador
Posts: 7,884
How about checking on aggregators like kayak.com (and then being redirected to OTA - Online Travel Agency) or going straight to Orbitz or Expedia. If you go to e.g. Orbitz tickets will be issued in US POS (Point of Sale) and I am sure they will gladly accept your Cypriot credit card.
Oct 15, 2018, 4:13 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,033
I think I saw a thread where somebody couldn't sign up for Miles & Smiles because of a Cyprus address.
Try an OTA.
Try an OTA.
Oct 15, 2018, 11:05 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 2
Thank you for the advice! Unfortunately, Ercan being in an unrecognised state (Turkish Republic of North Cyprus) means it is not listed on any OTA I know of. Expedia and Orbitz don't have it, for example. It's all a geopolitical mess... Weird that a Star Alliance airline would outright delete an EU country from their website.
Oct 16, 2018, 1:48 am
#6
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: TK*G (E+), IHG Plat Ambassador
Posts: 7,884
kayak.com is redirecting me to kiwi.com, that prices the route and shows available flights (TK, Pegasus). I can go up to the Payment page on kiwi.com what suggests that the transaction might be successful (if your credit card is positively authorized).
Other OTA's kayak is proposing are CheapOair, Gotogate, One Travel.
I have no experience with any of these OTA's.
Other OTA's kayak is proposing are CheapOair, Gotogate, One Travel.
I have no experience with any of these OTA's.
Oct 16, 2018, 4:22 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: HEL
Programs: *G, used to be with TK but left due to their corruption and political ties
Posts: 4,404
Unfortunately many businesses comply with authorian governments in cases like this. Many Star Alliance (and other) airlines list Taipei as part of Taiwan, China due to Chinese preassure.
Oct 16, 2018, 11:56 am
#8
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,763
Cheapoair does seem to have the flights listed - I've used them before and haven't had a problem. Standard OTA caveats apply though.
Alternatively, you can go to an TK ticketing office (for example, at the airport) and try to pay there.
TK is partially owned by the Turkish government, so the government doesn't need to do much pressuring at all. See, for example, the name of the CIP lounge.
Alternatively, you can go to an TK ticketing office (for example, at the airport) and try to pay there.
TK is partially owned by the Turkish government, so the government doesn't need to do much pressuring at all. See, for example, the name of the CIP lounge.
Oct 17, 2018, 12:39 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: LAS, SMF
Programs: Marriott Plat, Global Entry
Posts: 184
I know this is a TK thread. But the easiest way to fly from Cyprus to IST is on AtlasGlobal, which flies A320s 3x daily. TK and Pegasus service on this route is much more irregular.
Oct 18, 2018, 3:05 pm
#11
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYZ, IST
Programs: TK*G
Posts: 122
TK's domestic and ECN flights are sometimes very expensive on foreign OTAs, like 5 times the original price. So it might be a better idea to use a Turkish OTA like ucuzabilet.com. Skyscanner can also lead you to another one. I checked and you can use +357 phone numbers for booking, you can try if the credit card works there.
Jan 8, 2020, 11:48 am
#13
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Cyprus
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, TK*G E+, ALL/Accor Plat
Posts: 644
I live in the Republic of Cyprus and hold a TK E+ card while using only BOC and Alpha Bank cards to book tickets. For my E+ card, I use a friend's German address since TK resolutely refuse to recognise the ROC as a country - they even refuse to use 'South Cyprus' as a country field. To book tickets, I have found that most OTAs listed from Skyscanner searches (like Vayama) will allow bookings from Ercan/ECN and the prices are invariably somewhat cheaper than on the official TK website. This means that ROC credit cards can easily be used.
It is true that the TK website will accept Greece for the country field for Cyprus. However, this is not the case with ROC credit cards. The best option is thus to use an OTA or to cross the border (on a cheap petrol run) and use the excellent TK office in North Nicosia. What is interesting is that Aegean Airlines actually allow redemption bookings from ECN, despite pressure from the ROC against this, and I have brought this to the attention of TK but to no avail. I have also on several occasions managed to get travel agencies in major ROC towns to book TK tickets and pay by credit card.
It is true that the TK website will accept Greece for the country field for Cyprus. However, this is not the case with ROC credit cards. The best option is thus to use an OTA or to cross the border (on a cheap petrol run) and use the excellent TK office in North Nicosia. What is interesting is that Aegean Airlines actually allow redemption bookings from ECN, despite pressure from the ROC against this, and I have brought this to the attention of TK but to no avail. I have also on several occasions managed to get travel agencies in major ROC towns to book TK tickets and pay by credit card.