Hello all, I'm trying to book a flight to Athens in March. I've found a flight which is reasonably priced - Portland, OR to JFK, JFK to IST, then IST to ATH.. but only a 1.5 hr layover in Istanbul. Firstly will I have to do any sort of customs entry in Istanbul, and if yes, is 1.5 hrs enough time?
Thank you in advance!!
Julie
Probably enough. Even though it's a big airport, it's efficient. If you are flying Turkish Air, there are 5 flights a day (per their website), so the worst case is that you'll be stuck in the airport for several hours till the next flight out. No customs or immigration in IST for connecting flights, but there will be a security check. If you have checked luggage, I strongly encourage you to pack what you need for the first 48 hours in your carry-on, with that short a connection, it's possible that your luggage will be delayed.
If you are flying Turkish, have you considered flying via SFO? They fly non-stop SFO-IST. It's a long flight, but eliminates the JFK connection - which can be difficult I'm told. Also consider your return flights. Will you have to go through immigration and customs in New York? That's another pain.
Looks like Turkish air sells JFK-IST-ATH with the 90 minute connection, so presumably it is sufficient.
Here is info you may find helpful---- http://www.ataturkairport.com/en-EN/preflight/Pages/Transfer.aspx
Transfer Passengers:(International Transfer Passengers With An International Connection Flight) A boarding card is issued for the passenger (if not issued in the country of origin) at the transit desk of the relevant handling company on the Arrivals floor. The passenger does not go through passport control. Instead, he/she directly proceeds through the transit area into the International Departures area. Baggage will be automatically transferred to the connecting flight.
Thank you!! I was thinking of going through JFK because the flights from PDX are so cheap! Thank you for the SFO suggestion though, I will look at that connection, I didn't know that Turkish flew out of there.
-Julie
julie -- check carefully which airlines are operating each leg of the flight and see what terminals they operate into/out of at JFK. If you need to switch terminals at JFK, aside from a couple of exceptions you always have to re-clear security, because the terminals aren't connected post-security at JFK. Although it's my home airport, I would avoid connecting in JFK because of this. (The exceptions are things like the Delta shuttle which connects T2 and T4.)
Thank you everyone for the input. I can get a cheap flight between PDX and SFO, then book a separate ticket on Turkish Air to Athens. My return flight puts me into SFO at 17:35, with the latest flight out of SFO (That I've found so far), at 20:45 - 3 hrs. It seems like this would be enough time (I'm only carrying a back pack, no checked luggage) - unless of course I'm late out of ATH/IST. Should I go for it?!
Julie
What time does your PDX-SFO arrive? When do you depart for the SFO-IST leg?
If you miss the outbound Turkish flight from SFO , it is likely EVERY flight that you have on Turkish will be cancelled. ( and you would have to buy a new ticket )
Looks like UAL has a SFO-PDX at 2301 ( picked random date in March 2018)
At this point your outbound journey is the one to be concerned about.
Hi Joe, my PDX SFO arrives @ 1330, my TA flight out of SFO is @ 1810, so I have plenty of time. My return flight only leaves me 3 hours @ SFO to clear customs. Hopefully that will be sufficient.
-Julie
SFO is usually pretty efficient. You will have to go from the int'l terminal to whichever domestic terminal you need, but that shouldn't take too long. And you'll have to check in for the flight and go through security, which could take some time. It's certainly a lot better than having to go through JFK.
It's worth asking when you check in at Turkish for your return flight if they can ticket you through to PDX (if they have a cooperation agreement with your US airline), then you can get a boarding pass then and save the time to check in at SFO. You could also call your US airline and Turkish before your trip and see if it's possible.
