Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Flights, Airlines and Airports => Flights to Dalaman and Turkey, Airlines and Airports => Topic started by: Karennina on November 22, 2017, 07:35:21 AM
-
A great bucket load of praise to Turkish Airlines what a fab airline ????We flew home with them Saturday and apart from there not being many seating areas at Ataturk airport ( if you did not want to sit in a restaurant or cafe) it was a fab experience...we had 4 hr 20 min stop off in Istanbul and it passed quickly, the distance between the 2 terminals was nowhere near as far as I had thought it would be, in fact we both said our Easyjet departure gates at Gatwick seem a longer walk! For £70 per person that included 20 kilo hold luggage & 8 hand but she didnt weigh the hand bags. A snicky snack & drink on first plane, then a meal on 2nd plane with drinks, I only had soft drinks but Derek had 2 of the small wine bottles which are about a fiver each on most flights and inflight entertainment on little tablet gadgets on the seat in front so you can choose your own movie etc, complimentary headphones on the seat when you boarded...our only tiny niggle was their seats still seem to be able to be reclined ( thought this had been done away with on newer planes) man in front of Derek reclined and as Dell is tall he was a bit squished so we asked the man if he could move his seat forward a little which he was really unhappy about so im afraid he had to get a big shove from me once he was bye byes just selfish...
-
I've mentioned THY as an alternative several times over the years, especially with some of the prices from Edinburgh and Manchester which are at times half those of Easyjet et al.
Since they opened the Edinburgh - Istanbul flight I've never used anyone else to fly to Turkey. Unfortunately, they are not so competitive from Malaga, €300rtn minimum with no available promotions that I've seen so far.
JF
-
I didn't realise they flew from Edinburgh.
I'll certainly check them out for future flights
-
Route been there for a few years now, but its really only a goer from Edinburgh during the "season" as you need the later Dalaman flight to still be running.
I just wish it'd been there earlier, can't begin to count the hours I've spent over the years transiting through AMS & CDG with KLM when traveling to Istanbul from Edinburgh.
JF
-
I remember flying out to IST with THY in 2003 a day after the British Embassy was bombed. It was from Heathrow via Frankfurt am Main. The flight that was supposed to be connecting with our flight was arriving too late from Russia for ours to be held. We took off with about 30-40 passengers but with meals for 300+. We were all completely stuffed with food by the time we landed and each passenger was given a bottle or 2 of booze on landing.
-
Since posting iv read ( who knows if its true!) that a travel agent told someone Turkish Airlines along with a few other carriers are bidding for Monarch's old slots and if successful it will be announced in January at sale time...this would mean they would then have direct flights from uk which would be just brilliant... ;)
-
We have flown with Turkish airlines many times and have found them to be the best, so fingers crossed they fly from the UK.
-
We have flown with Turkish airlines many times and have found them to be the best, so fingers crossed they fly from the UK.
Errr... have you actually read this topic?
Since posting iv read ( who knows if its true!) that a travel agent told someone Turkish Airlines along with a few other carriers are bidding for Monarch's old slots and if successful it will be announced in January at sale time...this would mean they would then have direct flights from uk which would be just brilliant... ;)
Too the best of my knowledge this isn't correct. Their slots at Manchester and Birmingham have been lost and are back in the general pool, administered by ACL (Airport Coordination Ltd). Their slots at Gatwick and Luton were subject to a high court appeal against them losing them, which the administrators won today. The airlines currently in the frame to bid on them are EasyJet, IAG (owners of BA), Wizz Air and Norwegian.
Here's a link to an article in today's FT with a bit more detail: https://www.ft.com/content/cb920b32-cf9c-11e7-9dbb-291a884dd8c6 (https://www.ft.com/content/cb920b32-cf9c-11e7-9dbb-291a884dd8c6)
It'd be great if THY decided to enter the contest for the slots but direct flights to holiday destinations doesn't fit their model (this came from a THY middle manager I met in Sevilla last week who was appalled when I asked him about it - on the basis of a topic on here a couple of weeks ago) as they consider themselves a "premium flag carrier". OK, the guy might have really been in charge of discharging the toilet tanks at Ataturk, but he came across as a wee bit further up the food chain. He got a bit shifty when I suggested they were considering a direct IST - SVQ flight, so as far as I'm concerned I reckon I'll see a direct Sevilla flight before direct Dalaman from the UK.
But, as I said, the guy might have been a glorified lavvy attendant!
JF
-
I've heard that when the new terminal opens in Dalaman there will be TA flights direct to the UK possibly all year round!
I love flying with Turkish Airlines
-
there will be TA flights direct to the UK possibly all year round!
If that were to happen it would give the local economy a serious boost. Bear in mind though that THY already offer direct flights from the UK to Antalya and Izmir via their subsidiary SunExpress, so there is a high likelihood it'd be them as opposed to THY.
Going back to Monarchs slots, its worth remembering that Monarchs slots from the UK are simply that, there's no guarantee that any operator who takes them over will actually fly the same routes, i.e. to Turkey.
JF
-
Just to clarify it is planned the new terminal will be open for international flights all year round - but I may have got ahead of myself about TA operating flights from Dalaman to the UK all year.
-
Buy isn't the current terminal available for international flights all year round? It's just the carriers have chosen not to operate them.
JF
-
But isn't the current terminal available for international flights all year round? It's just the carriers have chosen not to operate them.
JF
Exactly what I was thinking.
-
They need to create something to do out of season to make it viable. Antalya did it with golf in Belek but what is there in Mugla?
When we lived there Steph used to play Monopoly with the kids, I doubt that would be enough to entice winter tourists though.
-
I’ve used Turkish Airlines on several occasions and always found them to offer great prices which include 23k hold luggage, 8k hand luggage and meals & drinks. Headphones, pillow & blanket and a newspaper, ALLincluded in the price. Even getting an EasyJet deal doesn’t come close to them, even with their new luggge policy. I certainly recommend them even with the change over at Istanbul. No wonder they are rated the No.1 airline worldwide.
-
Always been great for me
And the food is brill
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171125/0b199d99f2360de72f76fe30084a4e15.jpg)
-
After some deliberation we have just booked for the October school holidays next year. £35 out from Gatwick and £106 return with Turkish airlines. So about £150 all in during school hols. We had to think hard on whether we wanted 3-4hrs sitting at Istanbul with a 5 year old but feedback here persuaded us
-
Just take the usual "occupy the child" for a few hours stuff and you'll be fine. Its a big airport so plenty to explore :)
If you have lounge access via credit card I'm fairly sure the primeclass has a kids play area with playstations etc.
JF
-
I don’t but am looking into costs of the lounges
-
Primeclass is €40 a head if going pay as you go - probably not worth it on way out and you can see how the wee one deals with time. If its a traumatic experience ( :) ) then shell out on return!
We've spent a few hours there with our two when they were young and managed to occupy them. Admittedly they were 8 and 11 at that time.
JF
-
Going out is direct with easyJet and done that many times before so all good with that. Will look into booking the lounge for the return
-
The time passed real fast Steve, we never hurried at all, time we strolled from one terminal to another and went thru passport control which was really busy had a look around the shops, tried to find somewhere to sit and eat our sarnies, bought some duty free, grabbed a coffee our boarding gate was up. I love the no nonsense no kerfuffle on board, not trying to sell u stuff, meal was fine and the gadgets on seats in front passed the flight time quickly, Im sure there was children's movies on there too, for the first time ever I was not desperate to land and get off!
-
Confirmed this morning, IAG group (BA etc) taking over Monarchs slots from Gatwick. I'd hazard a guess that Turkey isn't at the top of their list for additional flights.
JF
-
I am looking at a flight back from Dalaman to Gatwick in September with Turkish Airlines. The stop over time at Ataturk is 1 hr 15mins. From anybodies past experience, is this enough time to catch the connecting flight back to the U.K.?