Turkish Airlines has just put its newest route to the United States on sale. It’s great to see more long haul non-SkyTeam service to this airport…
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Turkish Airlines adds Istanbul to Detroit route
As of November 15, 2023, Turkish Airlines will be launching 3-4x weekly flights between Istanbul (IST) and Detroit (DTW). The flight will initially operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and in early 2024, service will be added on Saturdays. The schedule will be as follows:
TK205 Istanbul to Detroit departing 3:45PM arriving 6:50PM
TK206 Detroit to Istanbul departing 9:35PM arriving 3:35PM (+1 day)
The flight will cover a distance of 5,298 miles in each direction, and is blocked at 11hr5min westbound and 10hr eastbound. Turkish Airlines will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route, featuring 300 seats. This includes 30 business class seats and 270 economy class seats.
We first learned about plans for this route in November 2021, when the airline revealed it would add flights to both Detroit and Seattle. The Seattle flight launched in May 2022, and now the Detroit flight is finally on sale.
Turkish Airlines flies to more countries than any other airline in the world. As far as destinations in the United States go, the airline otherwise flies to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington. The airline had also announced plans to launch flights to Denver, but those flights aren’t on sale yet.
My take on Turkish Airlines adding Detroit flights
It’s always awesome to see airlines add new routes, especially when we’re talking about an airline as global as Turkish Airlines. Given how many places Turkish Airlines already flies to in the United States, I’d say Detroit is logically among the next cities you’d expect from the airline. A few thoughts on Turkish Airlines adding Detroit flights:
- Detroit is a Delta hub, and the airport has fairly limited service from non-SkyTeam carriers
- Detroit has a large metropolitan area, with lots of people with ties to countries that are well served by Turkish Airlines
- I’d say the only somewhat comparable service to Detroit right now is on Royal Jordanian, which flies to Amman
There are some business class award seats
While I wouldn’t say that award availability is wide open, there are quite a few dates with two business class award seats available per flight. This is a great option for flying to Istanbul, or for traveling with one stop to just about anywhere in the world.
The best program to redeem miles through depends on your final destination, but in general Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles are going to be your best bets. Both partner with major transferable points currencies, and have reasonable award pricing.
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines will be launching flights to Detroit as of November 2023. The airline will fly from Istanbul 3-4x weekly with a Boeing 787-9. This is an exciting new flight option for those in the Detroit area, given all of the places that passengers can connect to beyond Istanbul.
What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ new Detroit route?
I hope Turkish Airlines will also launch flights to Las Vegas and Denver.
Turkish also announced plans for DEN for Q4 2023.
Great.from Istanbul to all of Asia and Africa.the American Airlines like sky team have stopped other world airlines from serving the USA.wating for emirates or Qatar to start detroit flights to screw delta
I thought they'd launch Denver first then Detroit because of the United partnership. Lol
Turkish and United have a barely functioning partnership. Turkish mostly goes where it can fill up the plane at the origin point. It's much more able to do so in Detroit than denver.
Substandard product in premium cabin - I have not tried their economy class - but I always applaud increased competition.
@Ethan
I think that you can only book 1 ticket online with Turkish airline, you need to call them for a second ticket at 1-800-874-8875, US # but you'll talk to IST location with no good English representative, good luck!
Whatever happened to their plans to launch Denver? I remember two years ago they were going to launch it along with Dallas.
Lot of Bangladeshi in Detroit metro area they are very happy abuts that.
Question regarding this route. I had 2 tickets booked IAD-IST for January of 2024. I just rebooked one of them to DTW-IST. When trying to re-book the second on the same flight it says sorry there’s no seats left in that fare class, try searching again.
I move to a new date in January that shows 2 available in business. Same error, I re-book one and it works, when trying to re book the...
Question regarding this route. I had 2 tickets booked IAD-IST for January of 2024. I just rebooked one of them to DTW-IST. When trying to re-book the second on the same flight it says sorry there’s no seats left in that fare class, try searching again.
I move to a new date in January that shows 2 available in business. Same error, I re-book one and it works, when trying to re book the second person it says no seats available in that fare class. I’ve noticed it will also initially show 47,000 miles, but after denying the second person it will shoot up to 120k. Any advice?
Call them.
Just speaking from personal experience, Turkish has been a great option at another Delta fortress hub (Atlanta). Since they’ve been flying to Atlanta, they’ve provided solid fares a great product. Sure, you’re probably not going to fly them only to backtrack London/Amsterdam, but they’re a competitive option for any travel to Eastern Europe and anywhere beyond. Having flown them out of Atlanta, I’d say a big chuck of passengers are flying to South Asia (pakistan/india/Bangladesh,...
Just speaking from personal experience, Turkish has been a great option at another Delta fortress hub (Atlanta). Since they’ve been flying to Atlanta, they’ve provided solid fares a great product. Sure, you’re probably not going to fly them only to backtrack London/Amsterdam, but they’re a competitive option for any travel to Eastern Europe and anywhere beyond. Having flown them out of Atlanta, I’d say a big chuck of passengers are flying to South Asia (pakistan/india/Bangladesh, etc), the Middle East/North Africa, and Eastern Europe. I hope they do well in Detroit - it’s always good to have competition!
Not sure how this makes sense from a connectivity standpoint. As you said it is Skyteam and Delta's hub, so passengers have limited Star alliance options to get to Detroit unless they originate there.
Huge Middle Eastern population, especially from Iraq and the Levant, in the Detroit/Windsor area. I'm actually surprised TK didn't show up there sooner
And also from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc., all well served by TK. In fact a one stop service between Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Detroit has long time been a requirrment. There used to be one with British Airways. Now Turkish will fill that spot.
This isnt about connections behind Detroit. This is about connections on the other side of Istanbul. The Detroit metro region has approximately 6 million people, with much of it high income and people with connections to the regions Turkish serves. Detroit is feeding the hub in Istanbul. Finding 1200 people a week to do this in a relatively wealthy metro area of approximately 6 million people shouldnt be too hard.
Don’t forget to look at booking this flight with Turkish Miles and Smiles. At 45k miles to Turkey or Europe in business class, they offer quite the sweet spot. Although patience is key when booking more than one award ticket (such as a companion that doesn’t have the miles), (check out the many posts on the subject), the value in the program combined with a fantastic in flight AND on the ground experience makes flying with Turkish a solid choice.
Good, gotta get those counterfeit Benjamin's here quicker b4 the Turks find them. lol
Yeah this seems more about connecting people in Detroit with the Middle East (in both directions). It isn't competing with Lufthansa or Delta so much as competing with Royal Jordanian more than anything else.
Compared to the Lufthansa and Delta flight times, I love these Turkish flight times. Both directions. Superb. Of course, I'm not sure I'd fly to Turkey and then backtrack to London or Paris. But still.
The Detroit area has the largest (per capita) Middle Eastern population in the US.
True statement
I would argue strongly that DTW-IST is probably more comparable to DTW-AMM. There are huge immigrant populations in Detroit whose homelands are well served by TK, and not just in the Middle East (e.g., the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, South Asia). Royal Jordanian’s seasonal flight has been primarily geared to handle Arab and Middle Eastern immigrants returning home for thé summer months (hence the seasonality). The remaining communities almost universally relied on Lufthansa to...
I would argue strongly that DTW-IST is probably more comparable to DTW-AMM. There are huge immigrant populations in Detroit whose homelands are well served by TK, and not just in the Middle East (e.g., the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, South Asia). Royal Jordanian’s seasonal flight has been primarily geared to handle Arab and Middle Eastern immigrants returning home for thé summer months (hence the seasonality). The remaining communities almost universally relied on Lufthansa to FRA and then beyond (often also going to ORD to catch TK, or IAD to catch Austrian). I expect those communities will make up the overwhelming majority of passengers on this flight as well. Will be interesting to see how aggressively Lufthansa challenges - though Lufthansa also has a lot of business travel with the auto industry.
More comparable to DTW-FRA, not DTW-AMM
That’s great news, can’t wait it will be awesome to fly for the weekend
Yes. Detroit-Istanbul-Dhaka will be a huge hit. So will many other points in South Asia.
RJ currently operates DTWAMM Nonstop 4X weekly. Reducing to 2X weekly via YUL during winter months. B787-8 is used.
Please write about Delta launching MSP-OGG.
What more is there really to write?
As part of their growth, I hope Turkish Airlines announces more destinations in the near future. Here is my short list of destinations that Turkish Airlines should consider flying to.
IST - MCO
IST - DEN
IST - LIM
IST - SCL
Any destinations that I missed add them to the list.
IST-PHL
The only piece that is missing in Turkish Airlines network would be Australia. It would be terrific if Turkish Airlines announce flights to the land down under in the near future.
They are starting flights to MEL, initially with a stop at CGK, once they get the extra range A350 would be a non stop.
Ben, do you know why Flights to and from India do not show up on Aeeoplan on the website or app?
Awesome for Canadians who can just drive across to DTW and do not have to put up with driving to YYZ to endure flying garbage (AC)
You speak of as DTW is a new airport.
I can't see how the lack of TK would force Canadians to YYZ.
You do realize TK has long served YYZ with sometimes double daily flights, right?
I think with this and the Denver flight, Turkish Airlines will serve the most destinations in the U.S. compared to Emirates and Qatar. I believe EK serves 11 airports, while QR serves 10.
Just curious have you heard any date for Denver service?
Just what Denver needs. More flights. Already one of the worst airports in the country.
Uh, Denver is one of the best airports in the country