A couple of days ago the FAA added a ban on flights between the US and Turkey, following the military coup in the country. The FAA created an indefinite ban, and said they’d reconsider it no later than August 15, 2016. That wasn’t to say it would definitely be lifted by then, or that it wouldn’t lifted before then, but rather that they’d review it by then at the latest. Just an hour ago, Tiffany wrote an excellent post about how to handle ticket changes in light of the situation.
Well, as Tiffany noted in an update in her post, the good news is that the FAA ban on flights between the US and Istanbul has now been lifted.
The FAA lifted all restrictions on flights to and from #Turkey at 1:45 p.m. EDT, July 18, 2016. #aviation
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) July 18, 2016
All Turkish Airlines flights between the US and Turkey will resume by tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/TurkishAirlines/status/755112554263896064
That’s great news, though I’m sure many people still won’t feel safe traveling to/through Turkey, so perhaps in some ways this makes it more difficult for those people, since it will likely be tougher to get an exception to get rebooked.
If you’re booked to fly through Istanbul in the coming days/weeks, do you plan on taking your flights as scheduled?
We had planned a 5-day layover in Istanbul on our way to Delhi from the US on July 25th. Forget about refunds - Turkish airlines is refusing to even cancel the stop-over and book us through to Delhi without charging us a lot extra ($1500). They asked us - why don't you want to stay in Istanbul!!!
[In a week or two]: "Amazing fare sale! Any US city to Istanbul for $30RT!"
Not sure what I will do yet. I am connecting in Istanbul to go to Barcelona in April (all flights on Turkish metal). Since these are United economy awards starting at Dulles I imagine there will be plenty of options to switch if I decide to do so later. I am just going to sit back and see if things calm down since the trip is not soon.
I'm booked on a flight to Barcelona on Turkish Airlines on 7/21 with a 4 hour layover in Istanbul. Given the current unrest in Turkey, do I have any recourse? I would love to continue with my vacation plans, but I'm hesitant to go through Istanbul with my family at this time.
in·def·i·nite
ˌinˈdef(ə)nət/
adjective
lasting for an unknown or unstated length of time.
Wait...wasn't the ban..."indefinite"?