skyscanner

I've just booked a LAS-LAX-IST-OTP award flight with UA miles and the Chase Club cc. The LAS-LAX flight is on UA metal, the rest are on TK metal.

When I double checked my luggage allowance, the strangest thing popped up: 2 free bags up to IST, then $25 and $100 charges from IST to OTP. I do have a IST overnight layover.

1) I thought I could just enjoy the Star Alliance lounge facilities that night and thus remain airside. Do I actually have to clear immigration and go landside?

2) If answer to 1) is yes, do I need some kind of a visa if I have to use my US passport? I also have my Romanian passport with me, but always prefer to have my US one stamped instead.

Thank you.

ISTFlyer

1- No, your bags should be through checked. I am pretty sure TK would through check bags on overnight connections under 24 hours, however, I am not sure if the UA agent in LAS would through check your bags to OTA. If the UA agent in LAS refuses to through check your bags till OTP; ask to reclaim at LAX and recheck it over there.

2- Yes, however, it should be easy to get a visa on arrival from the visa desk at IST.

Often1

UA will not short check the bags to LAX and will either check to IST (overnight connection would mean baggage reclaim on UA) or OTP. There is a better chance that if your connection at LAX is long enough that TK will locale and retag your bags to OTP.

In any event, you will need to plan on claiming the bags at IST.

Please also double-check that you are booked on a single e-ticket in addition to PNR. If on a single e-ticket, your bag fees for the IST-OTP segment ought to be the same as those from LAS-IST (unless there is some class of service or other differential issue).

craigthemif

The "Chase Club cc" is entirely irrelevant, unless you used Chase points to book a separate ticket to your UA award ticket.

If everything is on a single e-ticket, you should be able to check through to OTP at no charge.

skyscanner

The travel day has arrived.

It was impossible to check my bags all the way through my final destination at LAS. The check-in agent said she could not override it and the best she could do was to check my bags to IST.

I refused and I asked to retrieve the bags at LAX. Had to push the bag cart from Terminal 7 to TB. Now waiting for the TK counter to open. Will they open at 3:30 PM, 3h before the flight?

I hope I don't get slapped with baggage fees for the 2 bags. The ticket was paid with the Chase Club cc and the 2 bags were free to check at LAS on UA.

ISTFlyer

TK tickets originating from the USA a standard of 2 checked baggages so I don't think you'll have a problem although your tickets were issued by UA.
In most long-haul outstations, check-in opens 3 hours before departure but keep an eye on the display screen at the TK counters. If I'm not wrong, at LAX, the display boards show when the counters would exactly open.

skyscanner

The TK counter at LAX opened at 2:30. I dropped my 2 bags with no issue, although the agent did tell me someone had entered in the reservation that I would be travelling with an infant 😆, so he had to go to the back room with my passport and have that note removed, which I found strange.

The Star Alliance lounge at TB is closed by red tape with the word "DANGER" on it, so I walked 30 minutes back to T7 through those claustrophobic inter-terminal corridors. At the United Club, you can not help yourself to the food , but you have to ask Manny to give it to you. This practice certainly deters food waste.

skyscanner

Today there were a dozen CBP agents waiting at the door of the plane at LAX. Got annoyed for fifteen minutes by an agent, officer Griffin, who took out every personal object I had in my backpack without even sanitizing his hands or changing his gloves. "Oh, you seem annoyed by my questions, what are you trying to hide?" My 4 passports also left him perplex. This would be so funny if I wasn't about to miss the flight. You are a US citizen, you have TSA Pre and Global Entry and no criminal record, yet they still make you feel like a criminal/ second rank U.S. citizen. "When is the first time you came to the U.S.? What kind if visa were you on?". I don't know what they are doing at LAX departures annoying departing U.S. citizens when obviously taxpayer money would be better spent by sending them to protect the border with Mexico. Just sayin'.

The 13h transatlantic flight in Y was uneventful, the crew was polite and cheerful, the food was good. The new IST looks huge and luxurious, when landing you see this huge purple red crescent flag and several mosques. I had a fork seized at security, apparently all metal cutlery is considered "a problem". The girls at the Miles and Smiles lounge had issues with my United Club Star Alliance lounge card, but eventually they let me in.
The lounge is a smaller replica of the one I was into several years ago at the old airport. They still have the self-playing piano music welcoming you. They have kofte, grilled chicken, tomatoes and green chilli peppers, humous, tzatziki, cheese, olives, pastries. Staff continuously clean the facility. A bunch of 50 roses in the luxurious marble bathroom. Showers and suites are closed, but you can at least wash your feet in the prayer room.

Time for a quick power nap before my last segment to OTP.

ISTFlyer

Thanks for reporting your experience.

The checks after scanning your boarding pass on USA->Turkey flights are nothing new. They were there for a long time. I had never been questioned since today on those checks but my carry-on and personal belongings were searched on multiple occasions by CBP officers before boarding a flight including some occasions at LAX. By the way, these checks also happen on QR flights departing from the USA, so definitely not TK specific but depends on the destination.

dtphonehome

Nice report. Are the sleeping rooms and showers closed for Covid-related reasons? Because I have a long layover coming up soon and was planning on making use of them. If they’re closed I’ll have to book a hotel room.

ISTFlyer

Yes, the showers and sleeping rooms in the TK Lounge are closed due to the pandemic ( at least that's what they say ).
The showers in the iGA Lounge should be open at this time.