Our plan was to fly from Antalya on an 8 AM Turkish Air flight, arrive at Ataturk at 9:25 AM, then go to the international terminal and be there for our flight from Istanbul to JFK in NYC which leaves at 12:15 PM. Today I'm getting nervous about that plan. Do we need to worry about the Antalya flight arriving late in Istanbul? Should we reconsider and fly Antalya to Istanbul the night before and stay at a hotel at the airport? Is there a hotel right at Ataturk airport?
Posted by
Atlanta
3250 posts
Personally, I'd prefer to have a cushion of at least one night. You might enjoy spending your last night in Istanbul--we did!
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3122 posts
It's always advisable to return to Istanbul the day before your departure. If you have plans to spend some time in Istanbul when you first arrive, perhaps you can save it until the end so you don't feel like you've wasted a day just to catch your flight home.
Posted by
OP
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
25 posts
We're spending 7 nights in Istanbul in a 2 bedroom apartment in Sultanahmet at the start of the trip. We could cut that one day short and tack it on to the end, but honestly, that seems like such a waste of time and money (traveling to and from airports, securing a hotel for just one night). How much can we really see in Istanbul if we're flying in that day and leaving the next morning.
We could take an even earlier flight out of Antalya, and arrive at 8 AM on Friday. Does Turkish Air have a reputation for running late on domestic flights?
Posted by
Denver, CO, USA
1556 posts
That is plenty of time to make the connection. Your situation is no different that most other connecting flights - there is always the possibility that the original flight is late. You can't always be building in slack in your travel plans. Your situation is similar to me flying to Chicago to connect to FRA or LHR. There is no way that I will overnight in Chicago just because I am afraid of winter storms disrupting my travel at O'Hare. There are times you have to go with the flow.
If your connecting flight to JFK is also on Turkish Air I would not worry about it if you miss the flight. Turkish Air should be able to reroute you say through MUC or FRA back to JFK on LH or one of the other Star alliance partners (assuming that seats are available).
In summer of 2008 we took 4 Turkish Air flights: Vienna-IST, IST-Gaziantep, Ercan (N. Cyprus)- IST, and IST-FRA and all flights arrived with 20 mins of schedule - however, this is a very small data set.