AIR TRAVEL IN TURKEY
Flying time to Istanbul is 13 hours from Chicago or Houston, 11 hours from New York or Washington D.C., and 15 hours from Los Angeles. (Turkish Airlines has declared it will begin additional direct flights from Boston and San Francisco in 2014.) London to Istanbul is a 4-hour flight.Flights from Toronto to Istanbul take 11½ hours. In Turkey, security checks for passengers to the United States mean that you need to be at the airport three hours before take off careless of which airline you are flying, though lines for check-in at Turkish Airlines are long in any case.
AIRPORTS
Turkey's major international airport is Atatürk Airport, about 18 km (12 miles) from central Istanbul. Sabiha Gökçen Airport serves the Asian part of Istanbul, although it is mainly used by international charters and domestic flights.
Adana, Adiyaman, Agri, Amasya, Ankara, Antakya, Antalya, Balikesir, Batman, Bingöl, Bodrum, Bursa, Çanakkale, Dalaman, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Edremit, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Igdir, Isparta, İzmir, Kahramanmaras, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Mardin, Mus, Nevsehir, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Sanliurfa, Sirnak, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Usak, Van, and Zonguldak all have domestic airports.
Adana, Adiyaman, Agri, Amasya, Ankara, Antakya, Antalya, Balikesir, Batman, Bingöl, Bodrum, Bursa, Çanakkale, Dalaman, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Edremit, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Igdir, Isparta, İzmir, Kahramanmaras, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Mardin, Mus, Nevsehir, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Sanliurfa, Sirnak, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Usak, Van, and Zonguldak all have domestic airports.
AIRPORTS
Atatürk Airport (212/463–3000. www.ataturkairport.com.)
Sabiha Gökçen Airport (216/585–5000. www.sgairport.com.)
Sabiha Gökçen Airport (216/585–5000. www.sgairport.com.)
GROUND TRANSPORTATION FROM AIRPORTS
In the main destinations such as Adana, Antalya, Ankara, Bodrum, Dalaman, Gaziantep, İzmir, Konya, Sanliurfa, and Trabzon, the Havas company operates shuttle buses to the airports. (In Istanbul, this service is provided by the similarly named, but separate Havatas.) These run at regular periods in the major cities and in the regions are timed to coincide with incoming and outgoing flights.
An option is to take a taxi. From the smaller airports, it is sometimes reasonable to negotiate with a cab driver for less than the metered fare. Many hotels will arrange transfer to collect you from the airport and for someone to take you to the airport. In Cappadocia and other famous tourist regions, it is not unusual for hotels to offer this transport free of charge, although the driver will still thank being tipped a couple of TL.
An option is to take a taxi. From the smaller airports, it is sometimes reasonable to negotiate with a cab driver for less than the metered fare. Many hotels will arrange transfer to collect you from the airport and for someone to take you to the airport. In Cappadocia and other famous tourist regions, it is not unusual for hotels to offer this transport free of charge, although the driver will still thank being tipped a couple of TL.
TRANSFERS BETWEEN AIRPORTS IN ISTANBUL
If you have a connection between a domestic flight and an international flight to Istanbul, try to guarantee that they both use the same airport, which will several likely be Atatürk Airport. While domestic flights to Sabiha Gökçen Airport are usually cheaper than flights into Atatürk Airport (although prices to the following vary considerably according to the time of day).if you have a connecting international flight from Atatürk Airport, any maintenance will be more than offset by the time and expense of transferring between airports by taxi—the trip could easily take two to three hours at a busy time of day.
FLIGHTS
THY/Turkish Airlines runs nonstop flights from U.S. and European gateways, although an international carrier based in your home country is more likely to have better connections to your hometown. Third-country carriers (foreign carriers based in a country other than your own or Turkey) sometimes offer low fares. Air France, for the situation, often has well-priced flights from the United States to Istanbul via Paris. Modern low-cost carriers like SunExpress and Pegasus offer cheap flights throughout Turkey and to/from European cities.
Turkish Airlines operates a wide domestic network, with nearly two-dozen flights daily on weekdays between Ankara and Istanbul alone. In summer, many flights to seaside resorts are added. Note that at provincial airports it is often important for checked luggage to be identified by boarding customers before it is put on the plane, and all unidentified luggage is left behind and checked for bombs or firearms. If any luggage has not been identified, an advertisement will be made on the aircraft before departure, based on the title on the luggage label, but efforts at the articulation of foreign names can often mean that they are unrecognizable. Airline staff will always declare whether you need to identify your luggage at some point before boarding but the messages may be difficult to hear or understand. If in doubt, ask a member of the airline staff as they are checking your boarding pass.
Turkish Airlines operates a wide domestic network, with nearly two-dozen flights daily on weekdays between Ankara and Istanbul alone. In summer, many flights to seaside resorts are added. Note that at provincial airports it is often important for checked luggage to be identified by boarding customers before it is put on the plane, and all unidentified luggage is left behind and checked for bombs or firearms. If any luggage has not been identified, an advertisement will be made on the aircraft before departure, based on the title on the luggage label, but efforts at the articulation of foreign names can often mean that they are unrecognizable. Airline staff will always declare whether you need to identify your luggage at some point before boarding but the messages may be difficult to hear or understand. If in doubt, ask a member of the airline staff as they are checking your boarding pass.
