We are flying to Amsterdam and from there to Istanbul. From Istanbul we might want to fly to a couple other places. We are flying standby to Amsterdam so there is a lot of iffy-ness in our planning. The question is - is there a way to book air cheaper than the online prices from AMS or within Turkey? Someplace I heard that you can book in AMS with various airlines at decent rates even at the last minute. Can't find that mentioned anywhere though. Turkish Air seems to be modeled a lot like Southwest for their ticketing. No hope for decent online last minutes. Does anyone have experience with this??
Linda
Posted by
Boscombe, Dorset, UK
964 posts
Ebookers handles Turkish Air tickets and you can get cheap tickets there sometimes.
Also have a look at Pegasus airlines.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
This website searches for all airlines in Turkey, and then you can book directly with the airline (it's like Kayak, for Turkey). Click on the small British flag on the top right for English. http://bulucak.com/Default.aspx If you have a choice of airline, choose Atlas Jet. Not because they're nicer (we also flew Anadolu Jet and Bora Jet, and all three were fine). But Atlas Jet has free shuttle buses from the airport to most points of interest, which was particularly convenient from Izmir Airport to Selcuk. Yes, just like most places these days, domestic flights in Turkey go up in price as you get closer to your departure date. The days of cheap last minute airfares being widely available are as obsolete as the dial up modem - sorry. But on all our flights within Turkey, we got a beverage and a choice of sandwich or cake, free, even though the flights were less than an hour. If you just want to go somewhere from Istanbul for the day, I was surprised that a lot of tour operators in the Sultanahmet area advertise day trips, by plane, to lots of places in the country, like Ephesus and even Cappodoccia. These were not that expensive, considering that transfers and sightseeing are included, and they will not go up at the last minute, making them potentially useful for you.
Posted by
OP
La Conner, WA, usa
97 posts
Thanks to both replies. I hadn't thought of the last minute tours idea at all. But it may be that I will bite the bullet and make some reservations ahead of time. Best -
Posted by
OP
La Conner, WA, usa
97 posts
Second reply. I clicked on the British flag and it doesn't work. Is there another means into the site in English?
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
Linda - that's weird. When I posted the link to Bulucak, I checked, and the English flag worked fine. But I just tried it, and you're right, it's not working. So, I'd give it a day or so. If it still doesn't work, you can figure out most of the important words ("departure city," "arrival city," "one way" vs "round trip," and date) from their positions on the site. Remember, it's not a direct booking site, so mistakes are not serious; you'll do the actual booking on the airline's own website, and hopefully their English option will work!