My husband and I will be visiting Paris and Sarlat this September and haven't yet booked out airlines. We were planning on returning to New York from Bordeaux (Monday 9/15) but the only reasonable (pricewise) airline I see is Turkish Air, with an 18-hour overnight layover in Istanbul. Do you think this is crazy? Will we be able to see anything of Istanbul or do you think I should look for another place to fly out of, like Toulouse or Marseille? Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Dorothy, you are looking at a multi-city flight. You can go to www.kayak.com and click on multicity at the top. Then, put in your airports, JFK/Paris for the flight over and Bordeaux (BOD)/JFK for the return. I've done it. And, I see a $986 roundtrip via Aer Lingus, the Irish airline. Changing planes in Dublin is not bad. It's better than Instanbul although I wouldn't mind spending a couple of days there on the way. Flights, such as the Air France non-stop from JFK will be more expensive. Aer Lingus has a non-stop flight from BOD to Dublin. Here's a link to a snapshot of what I see. You can see more on Kayak. http://gyazo.com/ed4f89adc15615417792970114c630d5
Posted by
Mexico
162 posts
Hi Dorothy! I did it last February . We flew Paris -LA with an 18-hour overnight layover in Istanbul and although I DO think is kind of crazy, I would gladly do it again! ... I really enjoyed those hours in Istambul, not enough of course, but we could get a glimpse of this beautiful city.
It was my first time flying on Turkish airline and now I'm looking forward my next trip using their services.Happy travels!
Posted by
OP
New York City, NY
301 posts
Thanks so much to both of you! Larry, I appreciate that you actually looked this up for me - I had thought doing the departing and returning separately would give me more options and I see I was wrong. The Dublin connection looks perfect. And Veronica, I always like to jump to see more and more of the world (eternal wanderlust) - thanks for letting me know about this option - not sure my husband will go for it. Maybe another time for Istanbul?!
Thanks again!
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
" I had thought doing the departing and returning separately would give me more options and I see I was wrong"
Not only will it not give you more options, but it will often give you a MUCH higher price, as you just learned. If you want arrive and depart at different airports (called "open jaw" in airline lingo and "multi city" on websites), always do it as a multi-city itinerary, and not as two (or more) one-ways.
Posted by
OP
New York City, NY
301 posts
Thank you, Harold. I think that leaving from a smaller airport (Bordeaux) on a Monday did give me fewer options. This is a continual learning process!
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
I can only say that I flew from Bordeaux to New York on a Monday, and had a very good connection in Amsterdam. This was a few years ago, so I don't know the current situation.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4087 posts
I suggest reversing your route. I find it easier to change in CdG and continue on the short internal flight to the south as one journey. Then you can travel to Paris on your own. You will probably be able to fly out of CdG for home at a much more civilized hour of the day.
Posted by
OP
New York City, NY
301 posts
I guess it would have been a better idea to start out booking the flight and then planning around it - I did it the opposite way. But I have a flight home that I'm happy with. Thanks to all of you for your help!