If you log onto deltanet and search zed, ezed etc you can get information on zed travel. Some, like air france, are ezed tickets and must be bought online. I have seen people get stranded places because the website was down. As people have told me it is best to get tickets prior to travel. You do not have to get paper tickets in the U.S. but you do run into a possible issue where agents do not know how to issue zed tickets so you will get stuck.

You have zed on turkish air with a direct flight from JFK, you could look into that if you do not make the Delta flight.

Another quick check would be the JFK to ZRH flight (if the IST direct is full) then ZED on Turkish from ZRH. Might try to find loads on Turkish from JFK and ZRH.

I would try direct flight, then you would know if you would get a seat assignment on Turkish before the flight to Zurich. If you make the direct Turkish flight then great, if you do not get a seat assignment ask about loads out of Zurich, if good take the delta flight to Zurich.

Also, watch the daily flights from IST to JFK to see if anyone misses the flight do to restrictions (if people are awaiting seat assignments and flight leaves with empty seats should be a good way to tell if there were restrictions), all people made the flight the last couple of days.

Oh, on travelnet if you look on the tools dropdown menu you can use the interline calculator that is normally very close to actual zed ticket cost (including taxes)

Good luck, let us know how flights and the cruise go.

Tony