Hello,
I get lots of flight alert/flight deal emails/newsletters. There are often great deals to Mexico, Hawaii, Europe (excluding Turkey). I have yet to see anything for Turkey. Wondering if any of you super-travelers have any ideas or pointers on scoring cost effective plane tickets to Istanbul. I'm flying SFO (or nearby airports) to Istanbul in September and returning in October this fall. Thanks in advance.
Turkish Airlines has direct nonstop flights between SFO and IST taking 13- 13.5 hours. The fare for that roundtrip departing September 4 and returning October 4 Is $1140 The least expensive fares on BA or Lufthansa w/connections and taking 16.5-19 hours are about $950. www.Skyscanner.com has a monthly calendar you can view showing the dates of each month that offer the least expensive flights. You also can limit the flight search to nonstop flights.
Google Flights is another site that will send you e-mail notifications on routes of interest.
Turkish Air is very competitive and has non-stop flights. I've flown them a number of times (redeye, non-stop flights from the East Coast) and would highly recommend them.
Do you have any frequent flyer points, either through United or your credit card? I was able to transfer miles from my Chase credit card to United and then use miles to book a flight on Turkish Airlines through United.
