halfapair

My husband and I will be traveling to Tel Aviv in 2024 and would like to fly Turkish Airlines (best open jaws itinerary for our trip). Is 90 minutes long enough for a layover in Istanbul on our way to Tel Aviv?

janisj

The minimum connection time international to international is 60 minutes but I wouldn't be happy with that. Especially with the sometimes extra security for Israel flights. But if its all on one ticket I'd feel OK with 90 minutes (only IF there are later flights the same day) since I'd be protected. If there are no later same day flights I wouldn't be happy w/ 90 mins.

halfapair

Turkish Airlines does have many flights to TLV, and it would all be on one ticket/reservation, so that is not a worry.
There are just some airports that are more difficult to navigate than others. And I am not sure how large IST is, or how organized.

halfapair

Update: We have been watching a lot of YouTube videos on IST airport, so when I booked our tickets I chose the 2 hr 50 minute layover.

IST is a single, large terminal with several concourses. If we land at one end and our connecting flight is at the other end, it will be a real hike to get to our flight to TLV. They do have moving sidewalks, but they don't help much. If you have mobility problems and have a tight connection you will want to arrange for assistance to your gate.

Since we are flying Business Class we'll have access to the lounge. If we have time between all the walking and passport control, then we can hang out in the lounge between flights.

balthy

I've transited thru IST many times, it is a big old (its not old!) airport. I'm sure they make you walk from one end of it to the other so you can see it in all its glory. You were wise to choose the longer layover time.

chepar

IST is huge and on our trip to Turkey this past June flew in and out of there a few times. We had a domestic connecting flight from Kayseri to Izmir, connecting through IST and our arriving gate was pretty much literally one floor above our departing gate. We were initially pleased as we had a pretty tight connection time of only 40 minutes and we thought it would be relatively quick to get to our gate. We were so wrong lol - we had to hoof it all the way to the end of the terminal, go down the escalators and then backtrack all the way where we had come from. You see airport staffers riding Segway type scooters and figure they need it because of how huge the airport is.

halfapair

Very good to know for the future. As you may have guessed, we are no longer going to Tel Aviv. We cancelled the cruise we were going to take. However, I had purchased our airline tickets exactly one week before hostilities broke out. After examining our options, we are now going to Turkey for three weeks. No transfers within IST needed for this trip.

But we may need this information in the future.

Buppah

Please check the airport's code before making the final booking because Istanbul have 2 International Airports - SAW and IST and they are at a distance of 1 hour.

If you are switching flights from the same airport then go ahead, 1 hour and 30 minutes is more than enough. In case, you get a layover of more than 8 hours then pay a visit to Taksim Square OR Blue Mosque.