We're heading to Istanbul in September. I checked several sites and am getting PHL to IST at lowest price of $957(includes taxes and fees) with Delta. One stop at JFK each way. We've never purchased tickets this far in advance. Does this sound like a price I should jump on or can I safely wait a while? TIA Also the tickets are through Orbitz or Expedia. Never purchased through them Anything I should be aware of?
I can't comment on that price, though it seems like a good deal with just one stop so if I saw it I think I would be asking the same question!
But - I always prefer to book directly with the airline. I could be hopelessly paranoid, but I worry about what would happen if something went wrong and I had to contact Expedia. So I look there to see the cheapest flight, then I book directly with the airline.
It could be that I am totally out of the loop on this (let's face it, the airlines aren't exactly easy to deal with either).
I hope you will keep us posted on your plans - Istanbul is on my radar at the moment (and Damascus.)
When we went in 2006 we booked directly with Turkish Air. At the time they had a code share with American. I don't know if that is still true. However for a round-trip non-stop from Chicago, Turkish Air was $300 cheaper than American for the same flights. They also had paper tickets instead of e-tickets, no choice! Try their website and see what comes up! BJinNM
I don't think it is paranoia ; it makes sense to have as few intermediaries as possible. Delta's website indicates they will guarantee lowest fare on their site.
I have a friend who flies regularly from the east coast to Istanbul. She tells me that $800 is pretty good, anything under $750 would be cheap. You have plenty of time, waiting can probably save you $100 or so.
We travelled to Rome last October and booked entire trip to Expedia. The plane was 45 minutes late leaving so we missed our connection in Washington. Expedia was much more helpful to me than United Airlines! We finally got out of Washington 7 hours later on standby; 10 minutes away from spending the night in the airport. But Expedia was doing all they could to help us get home. They even gave us (three) $200 travel coupons to use later. Will definitely use them again.
