Istanbul and Turkish Airlines

[pax britanica]

Planning a trip at end feb to Sri Lanka. V expensive or no PE on Sri Lankan. Turkish offer a much better deal but have no experience of them or interchange at new Istanbul airport.
Any views from Turkish users or avoiders?

PB

[davidjohnson6]

New Istanbul airport is a single terminal and enormous. Very nice environment, functions well and easy to navigate, but still enormous. Allow plenty of time between flights.

Shops and restaurants at the airport can be VERY expensive. A lot of shops and restaurants. But still REALLY expensive. Eat on the plane if you do not have lounge access at IST.

The city centre is a great place to visit if you have a long layover between flights... but it takes time to travel between new airport and city.

[PAXboy]

I only used them once: LGW-IST-JNB return in Biz in 2016.
The onboard service was very good indeed. When I had a problem at IST and missed my connection (my mistake) they were actively unhelpful.

[Mr Mac]

I have not used Turkish, but would echo davidjohnson6 comments on the size of the terminal. Others I know who have used them report favorably on the inflight service like PAXBoy. It is a very large terminal, so allow time for getting to the gate. I cant comment on the food costs as I had lounge access. The terminal compares well with those further East.

Cheers
Mr Mac

[pax britanica]

Many thanks for replies , at the moment Icannot get past their byzantine online booking system which seems impossible to enter return trip dates

PB

[davidjohnson6]

Many thanks for replies , at the moment Icannot get past their byzantine online booking system which seems impossible to enter return trip dates
PB
Turks sometimes get upset when being compared to Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire :) Go look it up if you don't know what I mean

[S.o.S.]

My experience at the old IST was not much fun. Airline OK.

[blind pew]

Fabulous airline .booked last week for business class return to Singapore with a 24 hour stop over in Istanbul. Did the same trip last year. One of the best business lounges in the world.
Airport huge..transfer on the way back from gate with wheelchair service took more than 50 mins.
Gave up on BA and KLM a long time ago.
Website last year was a pain but this time went well.. possibly depends on your operating system and broadband speed.

[ZFT]

THY is always a good experience. Use them Bangkok to Cologne via Istanbul about once a year and never disappointed

[rog747]

THY are very good, and you can always get good priced through fares from LGW or LHR to CMB via IST, on various Web booking engines in all Classes Y and J/C.
Sometimes the IST connection time is long, so you need to see what are the best days for quicker flight connections (check both ways - out and home).
Perhaps include an IST stopover?, although the new IST airport is a right old trek from the old City, the famous Pera Palace Hotel is very historic and central, and is a treat.

You may find good fares using Oman Air from London via MCT.
They are a good carrier.

Alternatively, you can get to CMB on a couple of Leisure airlines (seasonal charters) from ZRH with Edelweiss, and from MXP with Neos.
(Both have PE IIRC)

Of course there is always Emirates from LGW/LHR/STN via DXB.

[Mr Mac]

Rog747
I used Oman on a code share with Lufthansa from Munich to Muscat and they were fine and 50% cheaper than EK.

Cheers
Mr Mac

[pax britanica]

Very many thanks everyone, some very useful information. At the moment I am looking Qatar with a Biz class pp of £3300. The Turkish website still doesnt like me so I have asked my trav agent to check them out based on the responses her yesterday. I will also look at Oman air, we w ere originally going to Oman but had a change of heart .

DJ6, you are of course correct about empires but the Ottoman empire did operate ina rather Byzantine way '
tkas again and best wishes for New year

PB

[Expatblue]

As previously stated, it’s an enormous airport, a lot of walking required.
Everything in the airport is ridiculously expensive. Duty free is cheaper at home and a Burger King burger and chips costs around £20.

[davidjohnson6]

As previously stated, it’s an enormous airport, a lot of walking required.
Everything in the airport is ridiculously expensive. Duty free is cheaper at home and a Burger King burger and chips costs around £20.
To be fair... there is one thing that is not outrageously priced airside (at least as far as airports go) - you can pick up a 500 ml bottle of water for 55 Turkish lira or about £1.40. This is the only drink that is (semi-) reasonably priced. I suspect this price point has been chosen solely to avoid the (justifiable) criticism about the price of something that cannot be taken into an airport from outside and is a universal human need
If you want a 330ml can of Coke to take away however, you're looking at a minimum of 120 Turkish lira or £3.10

[rog747]

If the OP is choosing TK Biz Class then he will not have to pay out for food and drinks at IST during his stopover there - He will get Lounge access.

It's possible that my choice today would not be to fly Oman Air just due to the Region's hoo-hahs right now.

Have you booked yet pax britanica >?

[SpringHeeledJack]

Just out of curiosity, why would the prices of services/food/drink be SO expensive in the terminals at the airport ? As in so out of kilter with Turkish prices outside the airport ? I appreciate that airports are shopping centres with runways and that a mark-up should be expected, but it just seems too much. What sort of % of the users will be transit opposed to domestic/international Turkish resident users ?

[davidjohnson6]

Prices in the domestic departures area at IST are significantly cheaper than international departures.
Prices for those flying internationally are not intended to be remotely comparable to what you would pay in Istanbul or any Turkish town or city. IST as a new airport is far from any real town if you do not have a car - it is very time consuming for intl transfer pax to access food/drink sold by independent vendors who are far from the airport. You may see many different branded shops airside at IST - but a single company will operate many brands under licence and co-ordinate prices (ie keep prices high) amongst each of those branded outlets. The pricing policy is about maximising profit from a captive audience. Non-managerial staff at IST are fully aware that many pax are surprised at the high retail prices - they have conversations with pax about this on a regular basis.

[pax britanica]

Well once again thanks to people for their comments on ehre

We did in the end change our minds and go back to Sri Lanka but LK Biz class are very very expensive so it QR via Doha.

PB

[SpringHeeledJack]

Prices in the domestic departures area at IST are significantly cheaper than international departures.
Prices for those flying internationally are not intended to be remotely comparable to what you would pay in Istanbul or any Turkish town or city. IST as a new airport is far from any real town if you do not have a car - it is very time consuming for intl transfer pax to access food/drink sold by independent vendors who are far from the airport. You may see many different branded shops airside at IST - but a single company will operate many brands under licence and co-ordinate prices (ie keep prices high) amongst each of those branded outlets. The pricing policy is about maximising profit from a captive audience. Non-managerial staff at IST are fully aware that many pax are surprised at the high retail prices - they have conversations with pax about this on a regular basis.

​​​​​​​Thank you for the comprehensive explanation.

[PAXboy]

This all confirms that I shall never touch IST or TK, ever again.

[FUMR]

My few experiences with THY were in Business Class and the service was excellent. I only used the old airport though. One thing which was very handy was a dedicated Business Class immigration lane for ARRIVING passengers. I went straight through bypassing the extensively long lines for the other passengers. Probably saved me an hour or two! Does anyone know if they have the same at the new airport?

[pax britanica]

Hello to all the helpful contributors and commentors on here

Well this was not the best holiday i ahve ever had since after only 5 days a dire emergency back hom emeant we had to return to the UK after only 5 full days .

Some comments on the airlines and some possible issues to wath out for if you ever end up ina simialr situation

Outbaound QR10 LHR to Doha business class on Qatar airways upper deck 380. Fantastic , lovelycalm environment, excellent seat/mini cabin affair good service and good food. Quick transit through Doha, I paid for th escorted transit which wasworth it not knowing the airport and witha tight -80 minuted transit. Onwards to Colombo Q suite 777. I am not a fan of the triple and this was noisy and suffered from their generlly slight wallowing motion. Rear facing Q suite cabin was rather dull, too much QR mauve. But very nice attentive crew , decent food so no complaints.

After having been their 3 days crisis -we have to go back to Uk . My ticket was non refundable on QR but did say it could be changed but fees would apply. Well QR couldnt get me out of CMB for 48 hours and at a price of GBP8000 ,which was more than the price of the two return tickets. The only think Ican say in their favor was that the agent did shop around and try and find us a beter deal, there was a slightly cheaper on but that way Economy comfort from Doha to London GATWICK after 9 hour layover.

So I decided if it was going to be that costly mightas well go direct on Sri LAnka for seven grand ( they had quoted me 9grand return for the original flight. UL used a A330-300 which is an aircraft I like . seating and cabin fittings a bit worn but not taty , a nice layout and comfy lie flat seat with reasonable entertainment and pretty good food.. A very very bumpy ride with seat belt sign on for 20 minutes out of the hour for the full 11 hour trip , captain had explained we had to cross a lot of jetstreams and the like and he wasnt wrong. So not much of a holiday.

As for other remarks about the trip trying to rebook flights was a nightmare, using mobile phone as a normal phone is very expensive (how a call from Sri Lanka to London can cost five times more in 2024 than it did in 1985 I cannot imagine, wellIcan but its akin to theft. This eats up your network providers spend or data cap or both . Now you cannot make any more calls nor can your receive any. tried to top up my bill payment to restore cap levels didnt work for nearly two days rather than the 30 minutes specified -few companies use whatsapp and so an old fashioned phone call is r equired which results ina big bill and no service.

Thanks once again for your comments etc, just to highlight the small world we live in today; while in the lounge at Columbo watched an Azur air 767 depart for Novosiberisk , what a trip Columbo, Temp 30 degrees at 0800 and landing 8 hours later at minus 10. Other gratuitous comments, excellent motorway from Columbo South built by the Chinese along with new deep water port and airport in th e south, fewer potholes than england even on smaller roads. Tourism recovering but not helped ny F&CO leaving their warning of civil unrest advice up on their web site for months after other countries removed similar , as 50% of their non Indian visitors are from Uk this had big impact, they also were very aware that people in Uk dont have as much money as they used to have , no doubt from news coverage of the state of the Uk economy. Staying right down in the south ti was noticeable that unlike previous trips there was no procession of monster container ships and tankers transiting enroute from the red sea to asia and as most of this now must head for Capetown to get onward to Europe/USA

Finally , if you haven't been give the place a try , friendly people , not overrun with hordes of them, quite modern in some places but with some nice game parks and pretty scenery as well as lovely beaches and great food its got a lot to offer in terms of getting away from Uk winter.

[S.o.S.]

Thanks for reporting back pax b.

[rog747]

Hello to all the helpful contributors and commenters on here
Well this was not the best holiday i have ever had since after only 5 days a dire emergency back home meant we had to return to the UK after only 5 full days .
After having been their 3 days crisis - we have to go back to Uk .
.

So sorry to hear of the urgent need to repatriate.

Just wondered if you have these extra costs covered by your Travel Insurance under Curtailment Cover ?

[pax britanica]

rog 747, well I will find out soon enough but given the way insurers lie and cheat on just about everything to avoid claims I cannot say I am optimistic, but will dropa note on ehre. the main point i wanted to stress was the mobile phone aspects - you reallyare lost without them. I am surprised some companies dont go for Whatsapp now , my Sri Lank hotel had a whats app contact number.
PB

[blind pew]

Just had a medical problem on holiday in Singapore..my revolut premium free insurance settled with a week in full. My Irish €350 ish a month health insurance didn’t. Good luck.

[Mr Mac]

Pax Britanica
I share your view on Sri Lanka and its people and we have been there twice. I do refer to it as "India light" as its not as intense as India in my experience, as done quite a bit of time there sorting out issues for others.
The first time was just after the Tamil issue in the North, and that was still out of bounds, but we travelled around with our driver who was of Dutch ancestry, and towered over his fellow countrymen, indeed I thought he was South African when we first met. We ended up eventually in Galle and stayed at the Amangalla inside the walls which my wife loved, and she also got to watch some cricket while we were there, so I was awarded many Brownie points as a result. Best of luck with the insurers.
Cheers
M Mac