Apr 2, 2019, 3:31 am
Last edit by: starflyergold
Unlike like Atatürk Airport, at Istanbul Airport there is more than one international lounge. Eligibility depends on your travel of class and your frequent flyer card status. PLEASE READ THIS WIKI BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS.
For discussions and questions regarding outstation lounges ( Moscow, Nairobi, Washington DC ) and all other domestic lounges ( including SAW ) please refer to the respective forum.
For PriorityPass Lounges in Istanbul Airport (IST) please consult this thread in the Europe forum or the Istanbul Airport Master Thread for questions regarding contract lounges.
This thread covers TK Lounges at IST airport.
Chart of Eligibility for Lounges:
Thanks to DELLAS for sharing this chart.
International Lounges:
Miles&Smiles Lounge: This lounge is open to all Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Elite, Elite Plus card holders and Star Alliance Gold status holders along with one of their guests when flying Turkish Airlines or another Star Alliance member. Miles&Smiles Elite Plus members are also able to guest family members regardless of the number of people (spouse and children). Also Turkish Corporate Club members are allowed to access this lounge with one fellow guest who holds a valid boarding pass on Turkish Airlines.
To access this lounge take the elevators across gate C1 to the mezzanine level.
Business Lounge: This lounge would be open for all Business Class passengers on Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance partners. Unfortunately, no guests are allowed to this lounge.
To access this lounge take the elevators across gate E1 to the mezzanine level.
Both lounges are non-smoking. The nearest "terrace" (IST does not advertise smoking areas) is: For the business lounge: exit via the escalators, turn left and left again, past the public rest areas, and the terrace is on the right hand side. For the M&S lounge: exit via the escalators, turn right and right again, past the public rest areas, and the terrace is on the left hand side. In both cases a 3 minute walk.
Exclusive Lounge: No details, no plans as of yet
Arrivals Lounge: No details, no plans as of yet
Both the Business Lounge and the Miles&Smiles Lounge have showers, sleeping rooms and Turkish speciality food.
To use the sleeping rooms, you must have a connection time between 4h and 9h and the duration of one of your flights must be more than 8 hours. Unfortunately, Miles&Smiles Elite card holders and Star Alliance Gold card holders traveling in Economy Class are not eligible to use the sleeping room service. For sleeping room related issues please consult the this thread.
None of the international lounges have direct lounge access from the check-in hall; however, priority immigration and security checkpoint are available both for transfer passengers and passengers starting their journey in Istanbul.
Domestic Lounges:
The domestic lounge has two sections; one for Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Classic Plus and Elite card holders, Star Alliance Gold card holders and Turkish Corporate Club members (if they have a same day onward international connection); and the other one for Business Class passengers and Miles&Smiles Elite Plus card holders.
Miles&Smiles Elite passengers, Star Alliance Gold card holders and Turkish Corporate Club members can invite one guest into the lounge. Miles&Smiles Elite Plus passengers can also guest one passenger or their family members regardless of the number of people (spouse and children). Miles&Smiles Classic Plus card holders do not have the right to guest someone.
The lounge has a separate entrance and check-in lobby from the street, along with a special valet parking drop-off point. Transfer passengers and passengers who decide to use the main terminal building can also access this lounge by using the elevators across gates G6 and G7. Be aware that there are no lounge signs within the terminal so it's advised to follow signs for gates G6 and G7.
For discussions and questions regarding outstation lounges ( Moscow, Nairobi, Washington DC ) and all other domestic lounges ( including SAW ) please refer to the respective forum.
For PriorityPass Lounges in Istanbul Airport (IST) please consult this thread in the Europe forum or the Istanbul Airport Master Thread for questions regarding contract lounges.
This thread covers TK Lounges at IST airport.
Chart of Eligibility for Lounges:
Thanks to DELLAS for sharing this chart.
International Lounges:
Miles&Smiles Lounge: This lounge is open to all Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Elite, Elite Plus card holders and Star Alliance Gold status holders along with one of their guests when flying Turkish Airlines or another Star Alliance member. Miles&Smiles Elite Plus members are also able to guest family members regardless of the number of people (spouse and children). Also Turkish Corporate Club members are allowed to access this lounge with one fellow guest who holds a valid boarding pass on Turkish Airlines.
To access this lounge take the elevators across gate C1 to the mezzanine level.
Business Lounge: This lounge would be open for all Business Class passengers on Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance partners. Unfortunately, no guests are allowed to this lounge.
To access this lounge take the elevators across gate E1 to the mezzanine level.
Both lounges are non-smoking. The nearest "terrace" (IST does not advertise smoking areas) is: For the business lounge: exit via the escalators, turn left and left again, past the public rest areas, and the terrace is on the right hand side. For the M&S lounge: exit via the escalators, turn right and right again, past the public rest areas, and the terrace is on the left hand side. In both cases a 3 minute walk.
Exclusive Lounge: No details, no plans as of yet
Arrivals Lounge: No details, no plans as of yet
Both the Business Lounge and the Miles&Smiles Lounge have showers, sleeping rooms and Turkish speciality food.
To use the sleeping rooms, you must have a connection time between 4h and 9h and the duration of one of your flights must be more than 8 hours. Unfortunately, Miles&Smiles Elite card holders and Star Alliance Gold card holders traveling in Economy Class are not eligible to use the sleeping room service. For sleeping room related issues please consult the this thread.
None of the international lounges have direct lounge access from the check-in hall; however, priority immigration and security checkpoint are available both for transfer passengers and passengers starting their journey in Istanbul.
Domestic Lounges:
The domestic lounge has two sections; one for Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Classic Plus and Elite card holders, Star Alliance Gold card holders and Turkish Corporate Club members (if they have a same day onward international connection); and the other one for Business Class passengers and Miles&Smiles Elite Plus card holders.
Miles&Smiles Elite passengers, Star Alliance Gold card holders and Turkish Corporate Club members can invite one guest into the lounge. Miles&Smiles Elite Plus passengers can also guest one passenger or their family members regardless of the number of people (spouse and children). Miles&Smiles Classic Plus card holders do not have the right to guest someone.
The lounge has a separate entrance and check-in lobby from the street, along with a special valet parking drop-off point. Transfer passengers and passengers who decide to use the main terminal building can also access this lounge by using the elevators across gates G6 and G7. Be aware that there are no lounge signs within the terminal so it's advised to follow signs for gates G6 and G7.
TK in Istanbul Airport: Thread #2 - Lounges
Jun 14, 2019, 3:50 pm
#226
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 115
Having now been through the airport and both lounges many times, I have a different opinion. Other than one or two meaningless things (such as the art gallery) these lounges (M&S and Business) are identical. I actually think that they should be available to passengers depending on where their flight is. Right now, if you were Elite plus and leaving from F for example (not flying Business) you go through security and take a 2-4 minute walk left, and then when you leave have to walk roughly 5/8 of the way across the airport to get to "F" and then maybe anywhere from another 2-10 minutes to get to your gate. Similarly, a Business lounge user flying from B, also has to do all this extra walking, I think it would be far more efficient if the lounges were based on where you were flying from. As for the "Prestige" lounge, let's see if its "all that". The rumor that I have heard is that they are trying to get Do&Co to mimic LH HONS/First lounges............we'll see.
Jun 14, 2019, 5:29 pm
#227
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 239
Jun 16, 2019, 2:40 pm
#229
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
At the time that I have flown those flights, that area was being planned to use as the Classic Plus & Elite & Star Gold section.
Unfortunately, I don't have reports of the current Classic Plus & Elite & Star Gold section.
Jun 21, 2019, 3:36 pm
#230
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,553
Thanks for adding me to the wiki thread. Not sure why I didn't see it (!?!).
We're not flying until June but are trying to make a decision now if we want to get a hotel room or just tough it out in the lounge. I'm hoping left luggage will be up and going by then. Will monitor these threads/wikis. Good news about the lounge access and re-entry though.
Thanks for the reminder tips, particularly about the difficulty it may be to depart the airport from international airside. I previously encountered a somewhat similar situation in Seoul where a screening agent had to reverse flow me though some areas to get me to the immigration desks.
We're not flying until June but are trying to make a decision now if we want to get a hotel room or just tough it out in the lounge. I'm hoping left luggage will be up and going by then. Will monitor these threads/wikis. Good news about the lounge access and re-entry though.
Thanks for the reminder tips, particularly about the difficulty it may be to depart the airport from international airside. I previously encountered a somewhat similar situation in Seoul where a screening agent had to reverse flow me though some areas to get me to the immigration desks.
We were able to check our luggage through from SIN to CDG; though we did hang around the luggage carousel for a bit just to confirm that it wasn't going to accidentally show up in IST.
Left luggage is now open so we dumped my backpack with my laptop there while we bused it into the city for the day. Needless to say, we didn't attempt to go to the lounge first to store my backpack there first because we couldn't figure out how we'd be able to go through immigration to exit the airport from there as previously identified.
As an aside, the business class check in for our TK flight was an adventure. While we were issued a boarding pass in SIN for our onward leg from IST to CDG, we went to the TK check-in area to see if we could get our boarding passes re-issued on "TK cardstock". The person manning the TK biz class check-in told us to go see the airport information desk who directed us right back to the TK check-in. At the TK check-in counter, the clerk had to pull over a supervisor to say, "No we do not need an updated boarding pass and yes, we can access the lounge." Of course, when we presented our boarding pass to the person manning the escalators to the lounge, they were a bit confused initially and then just waived us through. Then a the lounge check-in, that clerk was also confused by our boarding passes. After a bit of consulting with her coworkers, she re-issued our boarding passes under TK cardstock and away we went.
Jun 21, 2019, 3:43 pm
#231
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
I would have a follow-up question for you.
What stock was your boarding pass issued in SIN? I am pretty sure that SIN is one of the destinations that TK uses their own system for their own flights.
This is clearly stated. Pass transfer security, enter the lounge, leave the lounge, use the non-signposted exits next to the escalators leading to concourse B or concourse F, clear passport control and leave the airport.
What stock was your boarding pass issued in SIN? I am pretty sure that SIN is one of the destinations that TK uses their own system for their own flights.
This is clearly stated. Pass transfer security, enter the lounge, leave the lounge, use the non-signposted exits next to the escalators leading to concourse B or concourse F, clear passport control and leave the airport.
Jun 21, 2019, 3:57 pm
#232
Join Date: May 2016
Location: SFO, DUS
Programs: BA Gold (OW Emer), TK ELPL (*G), Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, IHG Gold
Posts: 528
I think Jay previously mentioned that his flight from SIN to IST was operated by SQ, so I guess SQ issued the boarding pass. Not sure why this would lead to any issues entering the lounge, let alone boarding the aircraft (to CGD).
Jun 21, 2019, 8:41 pm
#233
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,553
Flight from SIN to IST was on SQ and I was issued a boarding pass with SQ branding (and blue stripe across the top) on it when I initially checked-in in SIN with SQ agent. They also issued the onward boarding pass from IST to CDG on TK but that boarding pass was plain b&w. The flight details were pretty clear but I don't recall the second boarding card stating business class anywhere (I can't check again because the lounge clerk trashed it when she reissued a the new boarding pass to me), hence why I thought there might be value getting a new boarding pass issued by the TK check-in agent.
Good to know about the route out after accessing the lounge for next time.
Good to know about the route out after accessing the lounge for next time.
Jun 28, 2019, 2:42 pm
#234
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Russia - Israel
Programs: SU Gold, A3 Gold
Posts: 86
Although TK has a very strange arrangement of not issuing a boarding pass in kiosks if one was already issued via either kiosk or desk.
Last edited by Eurocity; Jun 28, 2019 at 3:55 pm
Jun 28, 2019, 2:56 pm
#235
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: YTZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Asia Miles
Posts: 81
I have a 14h layover in IST arriving at 7am on a J class reward ticket. After clearing immigration, can I immediately check myself in again, drop off my just-picked-up luggage (assuming it doesn't get checked through), go through immigration again to be on airside and make use of the lounge (shower, mainly), then exit immigration again to see the town? Will this raise issue with immigration?
Jun 28, 2019, 3:05 pm
#236
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: LAX
Programs: TK M&S, LH MM, Global Entry, Hertz Gold, Sixt Platinum
Posts: 1,087
I have a 14h layover in IST arriving at 7am on a J class reward ticket. After clearing immigration, can I immediately check myself in again, drop off my just-picked-up luggage (assuming it doesn't get checked through), go through immigration again to be on airside and make use of the lounge (shower, mainly), then exit immigration again to see the town? Will this raise issue with immigration?
If you have a mobile BP for your onward connection AND the exit-from-international transfer area leads past the baggage belts (idk if it does), you could just go to transfer area, lounge/shower, and pick up your bag 30 mins later when you exit.
Jul 1, 2019, 6:11 am
#237
Ambassador: World of Hyatt
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: UK - the nearest airport is named after a motorway !
Posts: 4,235
I have a 14h layover in IST arriving at 7am on a J class reward ticket. After clearing immigration, can I immediately check myself in again, drop off my just-picked-up luggage (assuming it doesn't get checked through), go through immigration again to be on airside and make use of the lounge (shower, mainly), then exit immigration again to see the town? Will this raise issue with immigration?
So it's not an insurmountable problem, but be ready to spend a little time wandering between immigration and the TK transit desk.
Jul 1, 2019, 7:11 am
#238
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Programs: TK Elite Plus,BAEC GGL,ITA Executive, AFKL Gold,QR Gold,HH Diamond,Bonvoy Gold,ALL Gold
Posts: 14,186
I have a 14h layover in IST arriving at 7am on a J class reward ticket. After clearing immigration, can I immediately check myself in again, drop off my just-picked-up luggage (assuming it doesn't get checked through), go through immigration again to be on airside and make use of the lounge (shower, mainly), then exit immigration again to see the town? Will this raise issue with immigration?
In addition, if you need to purchase an e-visa or an embassy issued visa be sure that you could use that visa twice. Otherwise, you might need to purchase a second one to re-enter Turkey after using the lounge.
Also after your arrival, you could directly head to the lounge by clearing transfer security, then exit the airside and clear immigration, claim your bags at the carousel and re-check them and directly head to the city.
In addition, depending on your travel date the Arrivals Lounge may be open and you could have a shower over there with your incoming J class ticket.