Turkish Airlines stopover Istanbul 3 nights hotel free

Here's a link to a thread I started a few years ago on the topic.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/turkey/stopover-in-istanbul-anybody-avail-themselves-of-this-turkish-airlines

(BTW, in the end we booked Korean Airlines)

Several have done this. It seems the biggest issue is that the hotel selections are not always close to the main tourist sites. While you wait for opinions, here are two threads on topic:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/6-day-stopover-in-istanbul

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/turkey/stopover-in-istanbul-hotel-stay-experience

Thanks for the links! I tried the search function without success.

Just to clearer, there are several TA programs. There’s the free city tour for those with several hours connection time, those with overnight connections who get one night free hotel, then the lengthy stopover program which can be up to 7 days with 2 or 3 nights paid for by TA. There’s a helpful black woman from Santa Barbara (not Oprah!) who has a nice video that shows how to select it all online, so the 3 flights get booked and a person is automatically authorized for the program, then can immediately book the hotel online. Theoretically there are central hotels that are bookable if available.

Adding: from some reason TA is only like $4000 for business class whereas Delta is like $8000. Unfortunately TA doesn’t serve Minneapolis (it’s 1-2 years away) so I have to deal with O’Hare. The first class 1-hour United flights add like $1200 to the cost, so thinking of booking the last leg home on Delta with SkyMiles as a separate ticket. That saves about $700. Not interested in flying to Chicago on a separate ticket— too stressful to start the journey that way.

Unrelated comment: surprised that Gate One for its Egypt tours requires flying from JFK on Egypt Air (there’s no way to buy your own air ticket). I don’t think originating from another airport is possible, either.

I'm a Delta fan boy, but the airline's international business class fares are now rather insane.

I flew TA from Frankfurt to Istanbul in coach for a 4-night stay in Istanbul. Perfectly fine airline. And Istanbul? Very cool.

It's a little different than Icelandair's stopover, as I've been looking into it for when I fly to Uzbekistan. For one thing, you only get 1 free overnight if you're regular economy and 2 nights if you fly business class. And it applies if you have a layover of 20 hours up to 7 days. I'm not concerned about the free hotel, as I really don't care, but do like the idea of stopping over there for 3-4 nights.

Our passengers are eligible to benefit from complimentary accommodation on a bed-and-breakfast basis at our contracted hotels in Istanbul under the Stopover program. Economy Class passengers are entitled to 1 night in a 4-star hotel. Business Class passengers are entitled to 2 nights in a 5-star or boutique hotel.

Here's a link where you can find out more info: https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/flights/stopover/

EDIT: Toby, Turkish Airlines does fly out of Minneapolis. I think they use their code share partner (United) for the MSP flight.

USA is under “special cases,” 3 nights for business class.

From MSP: nonstops to Istanbul are coming, next summer or 2028, the CEO announced it 18 months ago.

https://www.turizmekonomi.com/thy-iki-uzak-mesafe-hat-daha-acmaya-hazirlaniyor

From MSP: nonstops to Istanbul are coming, next summer or 2028, the CEO announced it 18 months ago.

Good to know, Toby—thanks!

For the last two years or so, all of my flights to Europe & Africa have been in TK business class - I have taken advantage of their free transit hotel (> 9 hr connection) and also the sleep pods in the lounge (connection time between 4 hrs but less than 9) but never pulled the trigger on the multiday stopover. One of these days I will but am interested in how it turns out for you and what hotels are offered to you to choose from.

Note - my last two flights on TK have run $2500 and $2300 but I book in the reverse order (i.e. start with a one way and then buy tickets originating either in N Africa or in specific cities in Europe). This only works for folks doing multiple trips and who can plan ahead - may work better once TK starts to fly into MSP. Now that I'm retired I have the luxury of time and can explore lots more of Africa.