For info: Pegasus flight Ercan to Stansted

[JoandJelly]

I recently flew to Stansted with Pegasus via Izmir and thought you may be interested in how the process works.

On landing at Izmir transit passengers were asked to wait on board until all the other passengers had disembarked. We were then put on to a bus which crossed the road and we all got off and went into the terminal building. We then had to put our hand luggage through the security scanner. We were not allowed to take water bottles through and some passengers had their duty free (over 100mls) confiscated. I saw them take a box containing two bottles of whisky off a gentleman. I do not know whether it would have been ok if it had been sealed in a clear security bag at Ercan duty free (worth enquiring if you intend to take duty free). We were then directed upstairs to the departure gate where they were doing additional "spot checks" on some passenger's hand luggage where they wipe the cases inside and out with a piece of paper which then goes into a machine for testing. We were boarded first back onto the same plane and the flight left on time (1 hour after getting off).

On returning from Stansted I tried to check-in online but I kept getting rejected for the Stansted to Izmir portion of the flight. I was able to check-in for the Izmir to Ercan portion. However when I got to Stansted they said they couldn't print off the boarding pass for that flight and that I should get it at Izmir airport. On landing at Izmir again we were put on a bus to the terminal but did not have to go through security. We were directed upstairs to the departure gate. There was an airport employee but he wasn't really giving out much information I just happened to hear him say the gate number to someone in Turkish. When I got to the gate I explained my issue with the boarding pass and the employee made a phone call and eventually a number of boarding passes appeared. I had pre-booked a seat for this flight and it was the correct boarding pass. Again the flight boarded and departed on time an hour later and landed 15 minutes early at Ercan.

I sent a query to Pegasus last Saturday about the check-in problem and they acknowledged my email but have not yet responded. I also pointed out the problem to the Pegasus employee at Stansted and also the fact that the "contact us" number on the Pegasus website was not recognised. He said the website was struggling to keep up with the number of passengers when I pointed out that it was rubbish and that I always have problems trying to book flights. He said he would let customer services know.

[Glaws16]

Thanks for the info. We had the same experience back in June. I would also concur regarding the Pegasus website experience. Very difficult to book and pay for flights, and checking in online is a nightmare.

We have flown into Ercan for the last 10 years, first with the old CTA, bless them, and since then always with Pegasus. Flying with them in the next couple of weeks, but I'm afraid that it will be Larnaca for us next year.

[Mr B]

Thanks for that information joandjelly - we are out again early September, let you know our experience as and when.

[JoandJelly]

Would be interested if my experience mirrors that of passengers flying via Istanbul. Anybody?

[denali2007]

We fly out Stansted to Istanbul for Ercan in a couple of weeks. Anyone know what the procedure is there?

[Mufflet]

I find it amazing how accomodating the Brits are. Why would you want to put up with such strife, I'm not against airport security, but ! Pegasus must be aware that the numbers of Brits travelling is going down, I imagine the upsurge of mainland Turks coming to KKTC, will cover the deficit. ( I have to say CTA bless em I don't really, really don't agree)

[Mr B]

We fly out Stansted to Istanbul for Ercan in a couple of weeks. Anyone know what the procedure is there?

We flew out of Stansted on 4th September, unforunately we could not check-in on-line for the Stansted to Sabiha Gokcen leg of the journey but strange as it may seem, we were able to check-in online for the Sabiha Gokcen to Ercan part of our flight. Computer overload somewhere we were told.
Once at Sabiha Gokcen we all get off the plane and head into terminal building, it is well signposted for your onward connect to Ercan - you go through ckeckin, security check of hand luggage and you are scanned. We then looked on the flight boards for our flight to Ercan (Gate 203B in our case) waited for plane to arrive and took off late by 40 minutes. There were airport staff shouting out onward connection to Cyprus, pointing us in the right direction.

The security was not as tight as when we flew back to UK in late June.

It is still a long day for us - door to door 12 hours - we fly back to UK in December via Izmir, hopefully we will see direct flights someday!

[JoandJelly]

Two lots of friends have arrived this week - 1st via Izmir no delays landed bang on time, 2nd via Sabiha Gokcen delayed by about 2 hours all in all. I definitely think Izmir is the better option.

[geroff]

Why don't you use Larnaca airport, surely even with a taxi over to the north is quicker and cheaper? ...