Turkish Air Promo

Hope I am not breaking the rules posting this here.

Turkish Air is having a promo now. We just booked yesterday from LAX to FCO via IST $785 R/T.

Do you realize how far out of the way you will be travelling to get to Rome?

Do you realize how far out of the way you will be travelling to get to Rome?

It adds about 1,400 miles compared to LAX-LHR-FCO, and about 1,300 miles compared to LAX-MUC-FCO. That's about equivalent to LA to Houston, LA to Kansas City, or NYC to Dallas/Fort Worth. That's a haul.

It all comes down to the old "time vs convenience vs money" equilibrium.

Sometimes, I'll pay more money to fly on a specific aircraft type. Other times, I'll pay more for specific connections or connection cities. Sometimes, neither are sufficient to outweigh cost considerations.

Everyone has their own internal "market price" for these other considerations.

Now, if the fare allowed for a couple day stopover in IST, I'd be all over it. One of my favorite places to visit.

Do you realize how far out of the way you will be travelling to get to Rome?

Why blow someone's good bargain for a couple of extra hours of flight time????

If you don't fly a lot, you might get to see something you never would have seen and in addition, those extra miles add up to VALUE. Some of us have flown back and forth 2-3 times in a day between DAL and SAT just to wrack up all the AA bonus miles they offered a few years ago. 72,000 miles could be wracked up in about 2 days for less than $500. THAT is a bargain when at that time, it was just about enough miles to fly RT business class to Europe.

OP, MAKE SURE you sign up for a mileage program that you CAN USE in the future if you have not already. And if you have the time, as Flyertalker posted, I would inquire about the possibility of a layover in IST with no upcharge in flight price. Quite a few airlines are allowing it now because of the Ebola scare and they want to increase tourism in their countries.

Have a great trip!!!! That was a really good price.

Turkish Airlines used to have a program for those connecting in Istanbul on long haul flights. You either got a free hotel room or an escorted tour of Istanbul. It is one of our favourite cities.

Turkish Airlines used to have a program for those connecting in Istanbul on long haul flights. You either got a free hotel room or an escorted tour of Istanbul. It is one of our favourite cities.

That still exists. Many internet blog posts on it....search for "Turkish airlines Istanbul connection hotel".

However, I was discussing a "stopover" vs a "connection". International connections are limited to a max of 24 hours (or first flight out, whichever is later).

Good price, terrible schedule. I'd pay a lot more to avoid all those extra flying miles.

That is a really low price, and if you are happy with what you booked, good for you!

I did something like that a couple of times because the direct flight cost 3x or 5x as much. OK, it took much longer, and of course I would have prefered the direct flight, but all I had to do whenever I was fed up was to remind myself what I was saving. Absolutely would do it again.

Like others have said, Istanbul is a great city, if you have the chance to see it, you should.

Good price, terrible schedule. I'd pay a lot more to avoid all those extra flying miles.

I will say that I once flew Kansas City to Melbourne via Hong Kong because I needed the AA miles to reach Executive Platinum status a couple years ago. I had a bit of extra time and wanted the EXP status as soon as possible, and the price was about the same as flying straight to Melbourne from LAX on Qantas. So I routed myself on a combo of AA and Cathay Pacific MCI-ORD-HKG-MEL. Added over 3,000 miles to the trip, but by god I got that EXP status upon arrival in MEL.

Didn't expect all the criticism. :(Thanks, greatam and UKBayern for the kind responses.

Tried redeeming USAir miles for business flights over, but Iberia kept changing and cancelling our flights over and over again. Finally cancelled those reservations and booked Turkish. At least we don't have to deal with Iberia anymore. Had good experience with Turkish Air and have been to Turkey a few times on land tour and cruises. Really enjoyed Istanbul. Thank you everyone!

We have often had a less-than-ideal routing which added a couple of hours travel time. In our case, being able to snag business class seats at a lower fare, or using saver miles, is more important to us.

We have often had a less-than-ideal routing which added a couple of hours travel time. In our case, being able to snag business class seats at a lower fare, or using saver miles, is more important to us.

This is me, too. I don't need to always have the fastest way and shortest way to get from point A to point B. And, like you, to use those FF points to fly Business at the lowest award level, I will the longer route rather than endure cattle class…

OP - if you are happy with the routing and the price, good on you!!! Ignore the bringers of negativity on your plans. Definitely see if you can do an overnight in IST, even if you pay for a hotel room yourself. I never heard anyone say a bad thing about IST… Enjoy your flights and your cruise!

Didn't expect all the criticism. :(Thanks, greatam and UKBayern for the kind responses.

 

Tried redeeming USAir miles for business flights over, but Iberia kept changing and cancelling our flights over and over again. Finally cancelled those reservations and booked Turkish. At least we don't have to deal with Iberia anymore. Had good experience with Turkish Air and have been to Turkey a few times on land tour and cruises. Really enjoyed Istanbul. Thank you everyone!

In doing some research I saw that deal. I also saw the deal on the Jade. Great prices! I wish we were going to be on that baci to back cruises with you!!!!!!

Not only great prices with Turkish Air but also very good FF Saver award ticket availability. I was just able to (finally!) use some of our increasingly worthless United points to book two saver biz class awards on a great nonstop on their 777-300ER from Houston to Istanbul for next September( co pay was a huge $5.60PP).We are going on a hiking trip ( whoops maybe I should say "cruise")in Morocco but this gives us an excuse to go back to Istanbul which we love and fly to Cappadocia for a couple of days before backtracking to Casablanca where our "cruise" begins. So for us the backtracking is an opportunity and not a negative.

Didn't expect all the criticism. :(Thanks, greatam and UKBayern for the kind responses.

 

Not thinking it is a bargain to fly thousands of extra miles to save a little money is not a criticism. Do as you like.

Not thinking it is a bargain to fly thousands of extra miles to save a little money is not a criticism. Do as you like.

True, everyone has their own priorities. When you post on a public forum, you'll get other people's opinions. Posters stating they wouldn't make the same choice isn't saying you made the wrong choice for you.