Flights inside Turkey
 

Mrs TomTom7 and I are traveling to IST for a trip next April. We are thinking of taking a one or two day trip to Ephesus. Are the THY planes on that run very small as Mrs. TomTom7 does better on larger planes. She wouldn't be happy with puddle jumpers but a 737 sized plane would be fine.

Thanks for any info you have

If you fly in/out of Izmir it'll be 737's or A320's. Bodrum (farther) would be something like a Bae 146.

Thank you

I suggest using a lower cost carrier for your domestic trip rather than TK. There are several that fly out of Istanbul on domestic routes that may save you some $$$. My personal favorite is Atlas Jet, better customer service and have checked bags through to my long haul flight connection where Turkish Airlines never will unless you are using them on the long haul. They have numerous flights a day to Izmir from Istanbul.

According to OAG, ISTIZM:

Airbus 319
KK22, 4022
KK4020 Mo-Fr

Airbus 320
TK860, TK310

Boeing 738
TK312, 314, 316, 320, 324, 326 328 332, 334, 336, 340, 344, 356, 354

CR9
KK20, 24, 26 4024
KK4020 Sa

Atlasjet is definately an option. If you're spending time in Istanbul I believe that Pegasus also does the route from SAW with a 73.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into the other alternatives as well.

BA146 are no longer in the fleet.

IST down south will be on a 737 or A320/321. Do not rely too much on what the timetable says as TK changes planes aorund on a regular basis. The smallest is a 737 no props.

Atlas is better but do operate a fleet of regional jet which are small!

You can also take the boat overnight from IST to Izmir, rent a car from there as an alternative.

Izmir has direct flight to Europe with TK, LH, BA saving you a return to IST.

Bodrum specifically had a runway length problem which is why they flew the Bae's there. I am not sure what they are flying now on that specific route.

I just flew them last week and didn't have any issues checking stuff through to my long haul flight. I started out of ECN in Norther Cyprus with a connection in IST and then onto FRA - these two flights were on TK. After an overnight in FRA (< 24 hours) we connected onto the SQ flt to JFK. TK was able to check the bags all the way through to JFK even with the overnight in FRA.

We flew Onur Air from IST to Izmir last year. I do not know what type of plane it was, but it was a regular large plane. The flight took about one hour, and it was half as much as what Turkish Air wanted for the same flight. We usually always use the smaller domestic carriers for flights in Turkey. They are almost always cheaper than Turkish Air.

You do have to make arrangements to get from Izmir to Ephesus. It is about a one hour drive. We had a private car and driver, but there were five of us to share expenses. I think you can arrange a transfer with hotels near Ephesus. We stayed in Selcuk, and I know the hotel we used provided transfers between Izmir and Selcuk.

My experience is limited to domestic connections from Izmir to IST where TK refused to forward to my final destination even though they have an interline baggage agreement with the other carrier.

So when I connected to DL73 in the past I had to pick up bags and recheck, while if I had flown TK to the States (or connect in Europe using a TK flight as in your case) they forward on. If this has changed I'm glad to hear it, but I don't plan on flying TK unless I have to. TK refused to allow my wife to board a flight due to her being pregnant (we were connecting to DL73 in IST and had a letter from her doctor). Thankfully, Onur Air was more reasonable and we made our connection (barely)

Anyone use Izair (Pegasus)? They could be another domestic option, but I'll probably stick with Atlasjet as their timetable works best for my upcoming trip. As to the original post, be sure to wait to buy the tickets in Turkey as they will be considerably cheaper there.

I did not want to wait until we got to Istanbul to purchase our tickets to Izmir because I was concerned that (1) The plane might be sold out on the only dates we could travel that week and (2) The fare would go up significantly less than 7 days before departure.

So.....we asked the manager of our hotel to purchase our tickets. He also arranged our private car, private guide, hotel and meals for our trip to Ephesus. All of those things had been arranged and paid for before we ever left for Turkey. It worked very well for us. I believe that local travel agencies in Istanbul can do that as well. We have had good luck with Rina at Insight Travel. I'm not sure if Hakan Kocaturk is still doing this type of arrangement for visitors, but if he is he does a terrific job. You can find his email address on Tom's Turkey Planner or you can just google his name.

Pegasus is okay but mostly flies my from SAW.

hfly, your information is 15 years old. Bodrum has a long runway and can handle some charter flights on A330s and B767s.

To the original poster, if your intended destination is Ephesus, then go with Turkish. Also, Budget has a deal where you can rent a car for 60YTL (~45USD) which is really cheap if you show them your incoming boarding pass. You have to be comfortable with driving in Turkey though.

I have used Atlas in some occasions before.. Their flights are limited to 3 / day to Izmir and 99% you will get a CRJ900.