Thread: Istanbul next week?

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

Thanks so much to both of you for great advice - I really appreciate it! After much consideration, we decided that flying out of ATL to FRA on Delta the 13th looked to be our best bet. In FRA, hubbie pulled the trigger and purchased 2 full-fare one way tickets on Turkish Air to IST for us. Reasonably priced - however the taxes were awful! Probably could've ZEDed it, but peace of mind is worth a lot! However, that does lock us in to FRA. Right now loads look good - if things change I can always hop up to JFK and try Delta or one of the other airlines who fly to FRA from there. <br><br>The return plan, since loads are optimized leaving IST on Delta then (and there are senior non-revs to us already listed!) is to ZED on Turkish Air to AMS. Will have to overnight there, however, but they do have 2 flights to ATL from there on Delta metal, so chances are pretty good that we'll get back to ATL that way. Alternative is ZED on IST to FRA (already have ZEDs for Turkish Air there). Another overnight there somewhere, then catch the Delta flight to ATL. Hopefully one of those options will work for us. ... With any luck our flight home to PNS will miraculously have seats available - otherwise, we rent a car &amp; drive it! <br><br>I ended up booking a room at the "Boutique Maywood Hotel" in IST for 3 nights prior to the cruise. Good reviews on Trip Advisor and total of 270 Euros - great location, free airport pick up &amp; breakfast. 10% discount for cash instead of credit. There were cheaper - but I'm kinda picky about where I sleep ;-) Hopefully it will turn out as nice as it sounds.<br><br>Once again, thanks so much for giving me your advice. If things go crazy with my plans, I will definitely try one of your suggestionsptions and at least one of them should work out!

If you're zedding IST-FRA, why not also have some LH tickets as back-up. I believe Lufthansa now has an e-zed agreement with Delta. There's an early morning LH flight from IST which would allow for a same day connection in FRA. Bear in mind that the taxes ex FRA to N. America are on the steep side (about 80 euro) and are also applied to transit passengers

Best option would be to ZED to AMS on Turkish on the 28th, stay at an Accor hotel chain in AMS using Delta discount then trying the two direct ATL flights in the morning or connect through MSP or DTW to ATL (if ATL is your final destination).

If you do not make the Turkish flight out of IST, then try the Delta JFK flight on the 29th, then if missed start again with ZED to AMS.

Have Fun

Tony

Originally Posted by vulindlela

Not needed.
ZED on TK, IST-FRA can be used on LH also...

In an ideal non-rev world, you're correct. But the reality is some stations would not touch an ID ticket unless it explicity mentions their carrier's name