Questions and Answers

Beautiful Lucky Ben or anyone who may have more experience in connecting Istanbul Ataturk airport, if I have two separate tickets, through Ataturk Airport between two international flights, my understanding is that I need to reclaim my checked bag. My question is: is the International Arrival luggage hall before the immigration? Because I do not want to enter the country and have to deal with Turkish Immigration.

All my previous flights through Istanbul Ataturk were on single tickets and my bags were checked through to the final destinations. This time around, I was planning to buy a couple of short flights to Athens and Beirut, after my main business trip when I connect Ataturk. Given the current situation in Istanbul, all my Turkish friends advised me to avoid Istanbul for the time being.

Thanks for your experiences and knowledge.

AndrewC
Calgary, Canada

What airline are you flying into and out of IST? If they are the same airline, they’ll be able to thru check bags so you dont have to deal with them. If theyre different airlines, they may have interline agreements where one airline can check the back thru to the other airline and you dont have to deal with baggage claim. In the latter example, they may not be able to print your boarding pass even if they can check your bag – just find the correct transit desk in IST for the boarding pass.

David, I have three separate tickets, with Air Canada, Aegean Airlines, and Turkish Airlines. My impression is that TK never tags any checked bags if connecting on a separate ticket…