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TK in Istanbul Airport: Thread #2 - Lounges

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Old Apr 2, 2019, 3:31 am
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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.
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TK in Istanbul Airport: Thread #2 - Lounges

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Old Apr 2, 2019, 3:04 am
  #1  
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TK in Istanbul Airport: Thread #2 - Lounges

As there is a lot of discussion going about the lounges on in the TK ops from Istanbul Airport forum, and as all the discussion about which lounge offers what, the access requirements, and the future lounge openings ( Exclusive, Arrival ) would be useful for most of TK passengers so I had wanted to create a separate thread for this discussion.

Also, we all know that this forum would have hundreds of questions in the next few days about lounges so it would be really useful if you contribute the thread by sharing your experiences and share photos of the lounges if you have visited them.

I am creating a small WIKI for this thread as well and of course, you are welcome to edit the WIKI.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 8:09 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
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The great furniture move has begun


In case anyone was wondering if they are reusing old furniture
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 8:31 am
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Originally Posted by zbeebo

In case anyone was wondering if they are reusing old furniture
The two Pianos have been moved weeks ago ;-)
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 8:37 am
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I'll arrive Istambul for transit on April 4th, (local time 18:00)... will there be anything left on the lounge?
Also wondering about DutyFree shops, any Sale going on?

By the way, nice work ISTFlyer for your WIKI on ISL new airport!
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 8:51 am
  #5  
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Originally Posted by stevespam
I'll arrive Istambul for transit on April 4th, (local time 18:00)... will there be anything left on the lounge?
Also wondering about DutyFree shops, any Sale going on?

By the way, nice work ISTFlyer for your WIKI on ISL new airport!
It's not my WIKI, the WIKI belongs to the community.

At Atatürk Airport, sale is going on for duty free shops and don't worry in the 4th of April, some parts of the old lounge could be closed, however it would still have the necessary amount of seating, food areas, etc...
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 10:28 am
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by ISTFlyer
...however it would still have the necessary amount of seating, food areas, etc...
Since they won't need to cater for any lounge visitors after the 6th, the food will have to be eaten or thrown away. @stevespam - you need to help them avoid wasting that food
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 11:01 am
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Thanks for the wiki, ISTflyer!

reporting for duty: flying through IST April 8th/9th, will report on the lounge situation.

Am still hoping that E+ will eventually get a little more airport/lounge perks than what is apparent at the moment.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 11:11 am
  #8  
 
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Thumbs up

Originally Posted by ankomonkey
Since they won't need to cater for any lounge visitors after the 6th, the food will have to be eaten or thrown away. @stevespam - you need to help them avoid wasting that food
So I think I'll pass all on board meals during my flight lol.
I know a few lounges, IST is one of my favourite, nice selection of food/drinks.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 11:20 am
  #9  
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Anyone know what will be the differences between the different lounges besides that I would expect the more generic *A Gold lounge will be more crowded, but from facilities/food/service - any differences? I did not really catch any of these differences in the wiki/discussions.

Cheers!
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 12:55 pm
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Originally Posted by nldogbert
Anyone know what will be the differences between the different lounges besides that I would expect the more generic *A Gold lounge will be more crowded, but from facilities/food/service - any differences? I did not really catch any of these differences in the wiki/discussions.

Cheers!
There is some more Cheese on the mini pizzas and the orange juice is 4% more organic. That's all I remember after getting back to the present using my time machine.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 1:16 pm
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Very good to hear TK will have a lounge only for J. The old lounge was good until it was rush hour, after that it was terrible, no place to sit, 3h to have a shower etc.

Also hope the new airport has larger corridors than the old one, where reaching a gate is not the most pleasant experience.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 2:32 pm
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any word on the priority pass lounge on the new airport ? especially in the intl terminal ?
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 5:08 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by manuvns
any word on the priority pass lounge on the new airport ? especially in the intl terminal ?
There would be two contract lounges in Istanbul Airport; the IGA Lounge which would accept Business Class passengers of most non-*A passengers and also offer pay to entry for €59, and free access for IGAPass members. Also the SkyTeam alliance would have a lounge for its own member airlines and probably for pay-to-enter or lounge memberships as well similar to some of their other lounges. However, there is no information about the Priority Pass Lounges at the moment.

For photos of the IGA Lounge ( the contract one ) you could visit the Istanbul Airport Master Thread in the Europe Forum.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 5:10 pm
  #14  
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Originally Posted by nldogbert
Anyone know what will be the differences between the different lounges besides that I would expect the more generic *A Gold lounge will be more crowded, but from facilities/food/service - any differences? I did not really catch any of these differences in the wiki/discussions.

Cheers!
Unfortunately, nobody knows at the moment. TK has shared limited amount of photos of both lounges and none of the photos of the offerings at the lounge. Probably some discussions would refer to this next week after several FT members have tried both lounges.
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Old Apr 2, 2019, 6:42 pm
  #15  
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Originally Posted by amigoflyer
There is some more Cheese on the mini pizzas and the orange juice is 4% more organic. That's all I remember after getting back to the present using my time machine.
Thank you very much for the insight, it was truly most useful. Hopefully they will also be using organic pistachios for their baklavas.

Originally Posted by ISTFlyer
Unfortunately, nobody knows at the moment. TK has shared limited amount of photos of both lounges and none of the photos of the offerings at the lounge. Probably some discussions would refer to this next week after several FT members have tried both lounges.
Well, I do hope it will be something substantial - though it seems to be opposite of how LH and SAS operate their lounges, where non *A Gold pax in J-class are treated as sub-class passengers with only access to Business lounges while *A Gold members and their top-tier card holdes seems to have access to the better lounges.

Cheers!
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