Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Hi,
when flying to and from the UK into Ercan, is 1hr 30mins long enough at Istanbul for the layover/connection, to get through security etc, or is it a bit of a rush?
Tia

Who are you flying with? We came TK last week. 1hr 10 wasn’t long enough- just might have mad it if I could run. However as same airline right through they gave us a meal voucher and we were on a flight 3hrs later.

You do not need a visa and I didn’t notice any security problems through FCC

I usually fly to Istanbul and change flights. One hour is usually enough, as long as you do not waste time and make your way to next flight. They usually have a passengers "Transit" exit which you should follow, that way you avoid going through security checks again and sometimes exit is close to connecting flight departure gate.

Always travel with Turkish Airlines, one hour and thirty should be fine, but, depends if you take off on time from UK. Have been caught out a couple of times now when the flight from Birmingham was delayed. Bit tight, but normally you should be fine.

TA from BHX invariably late. Involves a raft of problems at ATK. Visa, queues, waiting, hotel trip et al. Been caught three times with this scenario.

I have done this journey quite a few times and one hour is enough time to get to the gate, I have even had time to look in duty free as well.

What is the position 're special.assistance passengers, is Istanbul Airport geared up to support transit passengers? I fully expect we will.have to travel.with TA next year and must admit the transit situation does worry me somewhat.

Hi Maisiemoo. I used the special assistance at Ataturk a few years ago. Very impressed. They have motorised wheelchairs and the porter stands on the back and takes you to a special area to wait, then they fetch you when it is time to board. Hubby had to run behind.... lol. All very efficient.

We used the assistance service a couple of weeks ago and it’s still the same as described by mrsgee. Including the hubby running like a looney to keep up!
It beat the service in Birmingham on the way back hands down.
A tip - if possible get an earlier flight to Istanbul. That way if you miss the connection to Ercan there’s always the option of the later flight.

You need less time going London to Ercan as you don't need to go through additional security. Just make sure almost immediately you get off the plane you take the transit exit.

Remember that Turkish have moved/are moving all their aircraft from Attaturk to IGA (Istanbul New Airport) this October. The chances of you having to transit through IST (Istanbul Attaturk) next year are remote. If you have not heard of it or seen the adverts then it is time to bring yourselves up to date about flying via Turkey. This is going to be a big beast when it comes fully operational and deals with 200 million customers a year - YES 200 million!

Loads about it here: https://www.google.com.cy/search?q=ista ... e&ie=UTF-8

Steveodp
Turkish Airlines booked our return flight from Manchester to Ercan last month, changing at Ataturk.
Details were depart Manchester 1650 - arrive Ataturk 2230 - depart Ataturk 2355 - i.e. a stop of 85 minutes.
The Manchester flight arrived late at 2330 so we missed our connection.
Had to sleep in the transit lounge and catch the 0700 the next day.

Thanks everyone, very informative and will help us decide what to do.

The last few times we flew in from LHR we had onward gate info on the inflight entertainment system. If that didn't give the gate there was a guy at the plane door saying which gate to go to and we didn't go through security. We had an hour & 10 between flights.

Terri299 wrote:The last few times we flew in from LHR we had onward gate info on the inflight entertainment system. If that didn't give the gate there was a guy at the plane door saying which gate to go to and we didn't go through security. We had an hour & 10 between flights.

9 Hours , thats quite a stopover

haha ttoli, an hour &10 minutes.

waddo wrote:Remember that Turkish have moved/are moving all their aircraft from Attaturk to IGA (Istanbul New Airport) this October. The chances of you having to transit through IST (Istanbul Attaturk) next year are remote. If you have not heard of it or seen the adverts then it is time to bring yourselves up to date about flying via Turkey. This is going to be a big beast when it comes fully operational and deals with 200 million customers a year - YES 200 million!

Loads about it here: https://www.google.com.cy/search?q=ista ... e&ie=UTF-8

As I understand the airport code is going to the new airport i.e. IST will be the new airport will be IST. IGA is just the consortium managing the airport.