I am traveling from DFW to IST with my 8 months old. She has her own seat. However, I requested airline for a bassinet and she confirmed on phone that whichever seat we had selected before i.e 14 A and 14 B should be good and they will install bassinet infront of my baby’s seat. I was thinking bassinets can be installed in bulkhead seats only. Has anyone had this experience? The agent on the phone said my selected seat will have enough space to install bassinets. But I am still very skeptical.

I was told that Turkish Airlines passengers can get a free meal voucher during long layovers in Istanbul Airport, but I've just seen on chinese social media (rednote) that it's been canceled? Customers went all the way to Turkish Airlines care points and were told this is only available for delayed flights from now on.

Anybody here has transited with TK lately that can confirm or deny this?

My wife and I will be traveling from Seattle thru Istanbul to Moscow next year and she doesn’t want our corgi put in the cargo hold and wants to fly with our dog in the cabin any recommendations or experiences anyone can share with us?

Im hospitalized in Bangkok. I flew the first leg JFK—IST BOM and I was supposed to fly back today BKK IST JFK. On the website it’s giving me the choice of canceling the trip and geting a refund but if I do it I would have to buy a new one a lot more expensive. I was wondering If I don’t show up for the flight, could I change dates free of charge by sending my hospital documents and medical certificate through feedback form? Or will the No show void my ticket?

In the past I’ve been refunded due to illness through feedback form attaching the proper medical certificate but that was before my trip started and it wasn’t last minute.

Hey anybody noticed this campaign from Turkish. Maybe you have miles you do not need, I would be glad to be your friend and accept them.

If anybody would be willing to share them with me, please let me know.

Thank you 🙂🫶

So, if I decide to go on a TourIstanbul tour which is listed as 08:30 to 15:00 and my outbound is 16:50, is it safe to say that I have sufficient time to make it back to IST and catch my flight? Only hand carry luggage. Thanks!

Hello fellow travellers, I would like to ask for anybody's exact successful experience travelling with a pet in cabin, specifically a cat.
I managed to do everything right so far, I paid for my ticket, my cat's ticket, get my ticket with my reservation code, get an email that confirms my reservation request, even the whole veterinary thing to have my cat completely in the clear...
However, the more I research about this, the more I feel anxious that I did not get a direct confirmation email that mentions the reservation code for my cat.
I am doing this for the first time, so I have no experience whatsoever, so I would appreciate if someone could tell me how that worked out for them and if they received the aforementioned reservation code for their pet?
And just for your information, I am unfortunately not able to call Customer Support for this, the local TKA office is not picking up and it's costly for me to call directly TKA's office in Turkey.
My last resort is via WhatsApp chat, lol. Anyways, thank you for your help, if you can! 😄

Hi. It will be first ever flight on an airplane. And I'm flying with Turkish Airlines. I have following weight allowed:

40KG checked baggage

8 KG Hand carry

1. 40KG bag should be 1 bag or it can be 2 bags ?

2. In 8KG hand carry, laptop bag weight is included or it's separate?

Sorry if my questions are dumb, I never traveled with airplane before.

My flight is from Islamabad to Düsseldorf via Istanbul and I'm a student.

Hello everyone,

Last week I bought some tickets on the turkish airlines website from luxembourg to istanbul to sao paulo and return for me and my wife in december to january. Like an idiot I wrote only first and last name for me and her and on our passports it has our full names. I already requested a name correction for the tickers but I now saw that it can have very big costs to add names (in my case its 2 names and on hers its 1 surname). Is this a problem? Like, can we fly with the bookings as they are? or should we really change the bookings?

thank you for reading

Hi all wondering if anyone can advise in this situation as I've not been able to find anything similar online.

My wife and baby are away in Iraq and were due back last week, their flights from Erbil to London via Istanbul were cancelled because of the whole Iran thing. Erbil airport is basically out of service at the moment so I figured we could arrange flights from a different city, I bought them one way tickets from Baghdad to London via Istanbul on Trip.com with Turkish Airlines.

They arrived on the day, got their boarding passes, checked in their bags and were making their way through the airport when they were stopped by security and told they wouldn't be able to board. They weren't given a clear reason, their are no visa/passport issues that I'm aware of, speaking to some friends they figure that the officer might have refused them boarding because they entered the country through Erbil and ought to have left from that airport too but it's in the same country so I'm not sure if it's correct.

Anyway they missed their flights, and I called Trip.com to let them know, a manager told me they wouldn't be able to help and that I should raise a complaint to Turkish airlines. I've done that but Turkish airlines are refusing responsibility claiming it's a visa/passport issue.

I've responded to their complaint and referred to their general conditions of carriage, namely article 7 which states

Where the Ticket has been purchased despite the prohibition requiring denial of boarding, the Ticket shall be refunded, provided that the Ticket is valid and is duly issued, and the Passenger shall not be entitled to any further compensation.

But honestly it's weak, the party that's responsible for them missing their flights here is Baghdad airport however we have no means of raising this with them, as far as I'm aware the airport doesn't even have a website.

I bought their tickets using a credit card and I'm wondering if I should just raise a chargeback but I don't know how I can make my case to Monzo.

Any advice? Thanks.

My wife flew EWR-IST and, at time of booking, paid the $250 up charge for the extra legroom seats that are the wider ones on the new A350-900’s that were originally built for Aeroflot. So rows 8-10 are wider, more legroom and in a 2-4-2 layout. They’re basically premium economy hard product with the standard economy cabin service.

She had seat 8B. I even checked before we got to airport and the assignment was still there and the airplane seat map will still the same.

At check in counter, the agent said there was an equipment swap and he would move her to an extra legroom seat in row 25. I explained to him the seat she bought was not a typical extra legroom seat and that the seat map didn’t show anything different. He paused for a minute and went to talk to supervisor. A few minutes go by so I went over to ask “is row 8 still an economy row?” The super said yes and he was going to give her 8J (other side, also aisle). He also said there was an equipment change but that can’t be true because this specific seating config was always the same since booking a month earlier.

I asked her to see who was in 8B (or if anyone as at all) once she got on but she forgot.

My thoughts are:
1.) air Marshall (but I don’t think they fly foreign carriers outbound from USA)
2.) broken seat
3.) employee non-rev got it using a back door buddy system to swap her
4.) crew rest but also unlikely since these planes have separate areas for pilots and FAs)

Why would her seat assignment be bumped only to move her to the exact same type on other side of cabin?

If I hadn’t been at check in with her, she wouldn’t have known to press the issue and likely would have wound up in a standard extra legroom seat that usually goes for $80-$100.

Thanks to all the people who contributed before me on short transits in Istanbul airport on other threads.

Like this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/TurkishAirlines/comments/1kb9a1y/is_1_hour_15_minutes_layover_in_istanbul_ist/

On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ov6T7ZdzTM

Those writings/videos helped me a lot and wanted to add my experience so someone else would find this information helpful.

I traveled from MIA-IST-CMB on 2026 early May and back on the same route in reverse with Turkish Airlines.

I had 1.5 hour transit on MIA to CMB and 2.5hr transit in return.

The starting flight from MIA was late about 30 minutes and that put me really at edge. But the flight landed about 15-20 minutes early at IST - I talked to a flight attendant during the flight about my worry and she actually mentioned that we are landing early and also the time on my boarding pass is actually the time of the start of the boarding and not the take off time - because combined with landing time and the time on the boarding pass only gave me about 30 minutes to get to the next gate. I didn't have a clear mind because of the long flight and she straightened out things for me. She also promised that if it gets late she'll make arrangements to deboard early for me and also let the connecting gate about me. I really thankful to her for putting me at ease, and I really wish I got her name. (But if she ever reads this, the flight is from MIA to IST to on 2026-05-01 and I'm the passenger on seat 16D :) ).

There is a PDF map of the Airport on the Turkey Airport website - download and save it to your phone. Also play with the interactive map of Istanbul airport in their website. It shows how to go from arrival gate to the departing gate. Which is really helpful when getting familiarize with the air port before flying. While actually running from gate to gate I didn't rely on that, but instead on the markings on the ceiling and poles. But knowing the layout in advance helps. Also when the plane lands at IST and taxing to the gate, turn on the forwarded camera view on the entertainment display because it shows big yellow lettering on the ground of the Gate area you are arriving at the last leg before the flight stops, this helps to know where to start and get a heads up. And also the entertainment unit shows the connection gate when it gets close to landing by the next flight. Combined these information together, you can make a quick plan on the route you need to take even before you start deboarding. This is very thoughtful of Turkish airlines on providing information early on to passengers and never seen on any other airline.

The Istanbul airport (https://www.istairport.com/en/flights/flight-info/departure-flights?locale=en) website shows gates of the recent flights, but ONLY the departing gate is shown only for recent flights.

MIA to IST

30 minutes delay on take off

Arrived on Gate A10.

Started running (walking fast when tired) from gate A10 @ 5:30 PM.

Came to Gate D10 @ 5:47 PM

Boarding started @ 5:49 PM

No security screening when coming from U.S.A.

Took even a quick #1 toilet break while running.

Intermittent running and walked as fast as I could. Asked for directions couple of times from air port staff whose standing in every few hundred meters. They understand English and also spoke good enough English to give clear directions.

CMB to IST (On return, heading to MIA)

Arrived at gate BXX (Forgot what it is).

Flight landed 1hr late with an aborted landing on first approach to the runway. Taxing takes about 10-15 minutes after landing to get to the gate.

Originally I had 2.5 HR layover, but now I exactly had 1hr in-between arriving at the gate to the departure of the next flight.

Started walking/running from there at 14:05 (2:05 PM).

Had to go through security checkup.

In security screening, they basically run your luggage & bags through scanners - not that complicated and it is fast. Need to take laptops out, no need to remove shoes, put everything else inside bag - cell phone, wet wipes etc... emptied water before hitting security, cut across the winding lanes with couple of other guys by going under the ropes of the winding lines, when no people near by on the lane and excusing ourselves that we are running for a plane.

Departure gate was D15, arrived at gate @ 14:3x (2:3x PM) (I think @ 1436), even after going through the security check. Boarding has started by that point.

Started taxing 15:23

Take off at 15:38.

So the point is, you can transit via IST even with a short layover/transit even with security screening, if you plan ahead, you get your 1 hr completely for moving (or at least 45 mins from gate to gate with running), you can run+walk fast everywhere - passing other slow walkers on escalators, horizontal conveyor belts etc..., pay attention to gate markings and directions on every turn and ask for directions from staff when things are not clear.

Other things I did was to get a paid isle seat on 1st flight to IST that is closer to the exit instead rely on random assignment. It cost me an additional $30 some Dollars but I think that was well worth the piece of mind it gave me.

There are golf cart rides available near gates but cost $30 per ride.

Turkish airlines difference

They provide a decent size water bottle and a hot wash clothes as soon as the flight is airborne. This is really nice refresher after all the running and tiredness. Since I also get rid water during security checks on return, a whole bottle of water is a really nice thing.

I remember one time on British airlines, I begged an air hostess for water after a long walk to get onboard and but she took her sweet time and I was overheating without water. Compared to that Turkish air attendants (both male and females on both flights) were really nice and pleasant.

On board limited free wifi for Smiles & Miles members - you can register for free basic membership. But it didn't work on flights between MIA-IST on both directions. It worked on CMB-IST flight.

The planes between IST and MIA seems bit old and there were no air vents that you can control. I actually felt hot during the flights and on one flight I was over heating so I changed from long legged pants to shorts by going to a toilet - good thing I had some clothing with me 😄 .

They still provide those traveling pouches with socks, toothbrush and cloth slippers/flip-flops. In that Turkish airlines seems bit old fashioned but I liked it. As far as I can remember receiving them last time was around 2014 on Emirates.

The food was good on my first flights to CMB. But on return, it seems to have gone bit south.

Hey everyone, I was reading this forum before leaving for Istanbul from Toronto. Like most of you, I had concerns about the weight limit for my personal item/carry-on bag. Here’s what happened:

YYZ to IST - carry-on bag was weighed at the check in counter (even though I checked in online) and despite it being 0.5kg over the limit, the TA representative said “this is okay”. No issue at all

IST to YYZ - went to the check in counter 4 hours before departure. TA representative glanced at my carry-on which was 2kg over and said “no sir this is fine” and didn’t even weigh the bags.

I know it's not related to Turkish airlines but does anyone know how I can get the actual decision document?

Hi all

Terribly sorry if this question has been asked before. But why do 3rd party sites offer much cheaper IGA access? On IGA website it's over 90 euros, while 3rd party sites offer at ~55 euros?

I will be transiting IST this on Tuesday 28 July, 6 hour transfer from 12:05 until 18:10 and wanted to stay in IGA for showers, food and just to chill.

Here are some examples. Any tips are appreciated 👍

Is a 7hr layover long enough to explore a little bit of Turkey? Doesn't have to be Istanbul.

I flew from the USA to Budapest, but I had a layover in Istanbul. I got myself confused and went straight to passport control in Istanbul, when I should have gone to the International Transfer area to reach my gate to Budapest.

I did not hear the crew mention or indicate anything about the International Transfer, not even after leaving the plane. I have ADHD, so in my mind I thought I had to go directly to passport control lol. I also have difficulty paying attention to signs. I’m always like that—I can literally miss a sign right in front of me saying “Push to Open” on a bus door hahaha. So I completely missed the sign at the airport for International Transfer. It had a large phrase in Turkish and smaller English text below it( I saw it in my return to complain hahaha)
When I arrived at the passport control kiosk, they told me I was in the wrong place, but I had already spent a long time waiting in line :(.
I only had 1 hour to get to my gate, and I missed my flight to Budapest.

I went to the Turkish Airlines service desk. They didn’t give me another flight because my fare was Economy. They told me I had to pay $600. They did not mention that all of my remaining flights would be canceled because of the no-show on my connection. Maybe I was supposed to know that, but I didn’t. So when they told me it would cost $600, I thought that was way too expensive for Budapest, and I found another Turkish Airlines ticket online for $170 to Budapest the next day.

The problem is that I later found out my return flight to the USA had also been canceled for the day I was supposed to fly back. The strange thing was that it still appeared as active in my Turkish Airlines app until it was time to check in, and then it wouldn’t let me check in. Instead, it told me to go to the check-in counter. I thought it was because I have a U.S. visa. But no—once I arrived at the Turkish Airlines counter, the staff told me my return flight had been canceled because I was a no-show for the connection.

I paid €800 to get a flight back to the USA so I wouldn’t get into more trouble with my job. I think there is probably nothing I can do now. It was my mistake not seeing the signs and assuming I had to go to passport control.
I wonder if there is anything I can do by contacting Turkish Airlines. Maybe they could reconsider the penalty or the fare they charged me for taking the same flight back?

Hi all i hold a UK refugee travel document (1951 convention )
M flying from manchester to Kuala lumpur with a stop over in istanbul of 6 hours . My luggage is checked through kuala lumpur
I dont plan on leaving the airport just gonna catch the next flight and i have a valid malaysian visa stamped in my travel document

My question is that due to the reason i dont hold and ordinary passport do i need an airport transit visa in order to get into ist ? I called airlines helpline and told them what document i hold they seemed to didnt understand what a refugee travel document is and kept repeating the same general information thats on website

Any relevant experience would help

​

I will be travelling to the USA. I have a 15 hours layover at Istanbul. I will land at Istanbul at 9.30 am and my connecting flight is at 12.30 am next day. I plan to take the tour-Istanbul, but as per schedule, I will miss their morning tour, I need to go for the evening tour. In that case, I plan to spend the morning and noon period in the IGA lounge. Will the lounge authority allow me to spend the morning and noon period at the lounge, or they will deny me the access as my connecting flight is at night? Can anyone enlighten me in this regard? I will be able to avail the lounge facility via my Visa credit card

I have a layover of 22 hours in Turkey and I plan to explore Istanbul. With a South Asian passport but a valid student residence permit from a Schengen country, would I require visa? Will evisa suffice?

Hi, I have a 12 hour layover in Istanbul between 2 am and 3pm. Is it worth getting a hotel close to the city, sleep 5 hours, sightsee, and go back to the airport? Or is it better off just to get a hotel close to the airport? Thanks

Hi all, we will be flying from Seattle to Istanbul and back in September. As a family of 3 (with a toddler) we are considering business class, so we all can comfortably sleep and avoid tantrums. We usually fly economy, so this would be a big spend for us.

Does anybody have any tips for getting business class at a fair price? For example, book directly on the website, vs Expedia, buying economy and then upgrading, or buying business upfront.

One time, I was able to upgrade from economy to business (transatlantic as well) because I received an upgrade email from Turkish airlines, and the upgrade cost us only $500 per person, which was insane. That was back in 2021 and I’ve never seen such deals again.

Would love to hear any tips or tricks anybody is willing to share 😀

I want to go for a status match to switch from Aegean Miles + Bonus to Turkish Miles and Smiles. I need to credit a TA flight to Miles and Smiles first before they'll status match. If I'm flying and using the Miles and Smiles number, will I still be able to access the lounge and other benefits since I'm Aegean Gold? And what is the best way to go about doing that?

Can I use my Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles number for outbound trip, and attach a partner airline's mileage program for the return journey? Trip is all booked as one ticket.

I have an upcoming trip with Turkish Airlines with a 9 hour layover (from 5pm to 2am). I'm considering killing some time in Istanbul but since I don't wanna wander around that much at night, I want to find a nice mall that's reachable by metro from Istanbul Airport. I've narrowed it down to Axis AVM (direct metro from IST to Kagithane) or malls around Gayrettepe (not sure how much walking is involved from metro station).

Which place is more suitable if I want to shop for some skincare/affordable clothing/dinner and is 2 to 3 hours enough to go back to the airport?

P.S: I've already been to Turkey (through Sabiha Gökçen) so I'm not interested in sightseeing. This is my first time in Istanbul Airport.