Stopping in Istanbul Question

[teacherman]

I have read of flying Turkish Airline from FCO to the US with a long layover in Istanbul, where the airline will furnish either a hotel room or a city tour. If you take the hotel for the overnight, and tour on your own, what about the luggage. Does it stay in the airport and get forwarded to the next flight or can you claim it and recheck it the next day? Or must you just have a carry on bag for the overnight?

[az_tchr]

You are on your own. Obviously if you take a hotel you take some luggage to the hotel. The airline might check your bag through to your final destination and you certainly would want a carry on.

 

Wondering why you would want to do this? No idea of final destination but we took Lufthansa home using Condor. Both cheap and layovers in the 2 hour area. Am sure there are lots of other ways to get home. Last time I looked Turkey is the opposite direction of the USA.

[slidergirl]

You are on your own. Obviously if you take a hotel you take some luggage to the hotel. The airline might check your bag through to your final destination and you certainly would want a carry on.

 

Wondering why you would want to do this? No idea of final destination but we took Lufthansa home using Condor. Both cheap and layovers in the 2 hour area. Am sure there are lots of other ways to get home. Last time I looked Turkey is the opposite direction of the USA.

 

Some of us like to sample other locations, if only for a day. Turkish has a fine reputation and good pricing. I'd certainly do a 23 hour connection in IST. I've done others - 23 hrs at CDG (head into Paris), 15 hours at ZRH (head into Zurich), 9 hours at LHR, overnighted in CLE (yes, CLEVELAND). I love just about any reason to visit a new place, even if for just a few hours. The fact that Turkish offers a hotel room and/or a tour is a great way to get people to 1)try that airline and 2) sample IST and hopefully get the bug to return for a longer trip. Good marketing strategy!

[iancal]

We would do this in a heartbeat.

 

Istanbul is a fascinating city. A free stopover is a great way to get a taste of it.

 

Our experiences on Turkish Air, and with their in country discount brand, have been very good.

 

We are touring Greece but stopping in Paris for the weekend. Cherry picking airlines/fares makes this a great stopover for us and actually saved us money on airfare.

Edited September 24, 2015 by iancal

[Twickenham]

We did just this last year, flying home from ZRH (ZRH-IST-YYZ-YQB). There are conditions to the free hotel deal, explained in this blog, the main one being the overnight has to be a forced one due to schedule, i.e., if there's a flight to your destination that wouldn't require the overnight, you're not eligible for the free hotel. We just ended up booking our own hotel (on points, so still free :)) and toured on our own. It was a fabulous stop, highly recommended.

 

Our luggage was checked through, so we just had our carry-ons in Istanbul.

 

ETA: just thought of something - you will need to get a Turkish visa for your overnight, which we did upon arrival but which you can also obtain online now I believe. If you purchase it upon arrival, note that you can use US dollars, Euros or GB Pounds to pay for it - but NOT Turkish Lira!

Edited September 24, 2015 by Twickenham

[waterbug123]

 

ETA: just thought of something - you will need to get a Turkish visa for your overnight, which we did upon arrival but which you can also obtain online now I believe.

 

Correct, you can get one quickly and easily online ahead of time. We did it this past summer, as we were spending a couple of days pre-cruise in Istanbul. As I recall, it was $20 US.

[Keith1010]

Just be aware to allow one hour to get back from Istanbul over to the airport.

 

And don't take a taxi.

 

 

Keith