Turkish Airlines Approved for More Flights into Australia

[BriarFlyer]

Which program?

I've seen some on KrisFlyer.

 

[Mattg]

Which program?

United, Aeroplan, KrisFlyer, etc.

If you have Velocity points you can also transfer those into KrisFlyer.

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

United, Aeroplan, KrisFlyer, etc.

If you have Velocity points you can also transfer those into KrisFlyer.

Thanks @Mattg

 

[SCM]

I've been looking at flights SYD <> FRA in J with the new route from MEL, and it seems very expensive at around 12k - 13k. What exactly are they playing at here - they are going to charge far more than SQ and QR for a 3-leg flight to the same destination, in an arguably inferior business class? Who is going to buy that?

 

[aspro2]

I've just booked a Star-Alliance J award using SQ Krisflyer points on Turkish. While there was better availability Europe-MEL compared to SQ, nine months ahead, there are some things to note about this:

1. There were only one or two days per week with award J seats IST-MEL
2. J seats from European ports to IST were fairly easy to find as long as you aren't using an SQ-served port. Basically, anywhere SQ flies out of, you won't usually find availability on TK using Krisflyer. So, no seats I could find out of CDG, FRA, MUC, AMS, BCN, VIE, MXP, etc, but readily out of secondary/other cities all over the place. (I searched western European ports, excluding Scandinavia.) A potentially useful aspect of this is that if you aren't quite sure where you would end a trip you're planning, but know the general region, you could choose among a few fairly close options to work out the best compromise solution (e.g. for western/southern Germany there's at least Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and more heading northwards or eastwards; for southern France you could keep Marseilles, Nice, Lyon, Toulouse, Geneva, Basel, Bordeaux in your sights.)
3. Some of the flight times don't work for the onward long-haul connection, especially for the westernmost ports, unfortunately, resulting in an overnight in Istanbul.
4. The short-haul to Istanbul adds about 30K miles (total 133K SQ miles) and $, which isn't great value IMHO (and these flights are mostly "EuroBusiness"-style or only a bit better), but the convenience is significant, given how hard it is to get "feeder" flights on the same ticket nowadays. The total surcharges Europe-Melbourne will unfortunately be around €350-400 (A$600-ish). Flying out of Switzerland comes in a little cheaper, around $530, at current awful exchange rates.
5. Seat selection only works via the TK app, and will throw errors of various sorts in the process (but the seat selection nonetheless works, at least for me). There are some reports on FT of it not working, but it might partly be people's reactions to the error messages.

 

[RooFlyer]

Many thanks for the info, @aspro2 . Very useful, as I'm contemplating using KF miles for TK myself.

 

[AIRwin]

Turkish Airlines confirmed to start IST - SIN - MEL flights three times weekly from March 16.

Brought forward to March 1:

Turkish Airlines Moves Melbourne Launch to early-March 2024 — AeroRoutes

Published at 2300GMT 28JAN24 Turkish Airlines in last week's schedule update accelerated planned service launch to Melbourne by two weeks, now scheduled to depart on 01MAR24. The first two flights for Istanbul – Singapore – Melbourne service will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER, switching to 7

www.aeroroutes.com

 

[SeaWolf]

Looks like they got those fifth freedom rights sorted out.

Turkish Airlines: Direct flights to Singapore from Melbourne $596 return (March 2024, 30kg bags, meals, IFE inc) @flightfinderau

Deal: Turkish Airlines: Direct flights to Singapore from Melbourne $596 return (March 2024, 30kg bags, meals, IFE inc) @flightfinderau, Store: flightfinderau, Category: Travel

www.ozbargain.com.au

 

[Human]

(and these flights are mostly "EuroBusiness"-style or only a bit better)

Thanks @aspro2 for a really helpful and informative post. One small quibble: from my (admittedly limited) experience I don't think it's fair to describe Turkish Airlines Business class as "EuroBusiness".

I've only flown Turkish short-haul Business once, on an A320 from Istanbul to Budapest. The seats were proper recliners, with footrests and leg rests, with in-seat entertainment, great recline and a massive amount of legroom. The food was great (even though on a short flight it was served on a single tray), the service outstanding and having real Turkish coffee in the sky is a treat!

 

[aspro2]

Thanks @aspro2 for a really helpful and informative post. One small quibble: from my (admittedly limited) experience I don't think it's fair to describe Turkish Airlines Business class as "EuroBusiness".

I've only flown Turkish short-haul Business once, on an A320 from Istanbul to Budapest. The seats were proper recliners, with footrests and leg rests, with in-seat entertainment, great recline and a massive amount of legroom. The food was great (even though on a short flight it was served on a single tray), the service outstanding and having real Turkish coffee in the sky is a treat!

Well, the problem is that there are different configs on different TK routes, so it depends both on route and flight number whether you get Eurobusiness or a recliner or whatever. Considering the added cost in $ and points for the add-on short-haul leg, it was important to mention it so that some readers might moderate their expectations. Keep in mind that for Aus-Eur some people would be considering TK as an alternative to airlines like QR and EK which fly 1-2-1 configs from some secondary ports.

 

[AIRwin]

Brought forward to March 1:

Turkish Airlines Moves Melbourne Launch to early-March 2024 — AeroRoutes

Published at 2300GMT 28JAN24 Turkish Airlines in last week's schedule update accelerated planned service launch to Melbourne by two weeks, now scheduled to depart on 01MAR24. The first two flights for Istanbul – Singapore – Melbourne service will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER, switching to 7

www.aeroroutes.com

Inaugural flight operated by TC-LJF

 

[Saab34]

At the presser the Chair advised he would like to continue the Singapore stop even when non stop flights start. I can see that happening perhaps from Melbourne only while the others also including Melbourne, go non stop.

Looking forward to the future and what lies ahead.

 

[HS-TQE]

Maybe BNE? (whilst SYD/PER/MEL) goes non-stop. Can't see BNE getting a non-stop without the Queensland Government subsidy, which in that case TK should retain the MEL-SIN-IST service.

 

[Saab34]

I think they might even avoid BNE. I can see MEL/SYD/PER Nonstop. Melbourne has the large Turkish population so I’d expect something in the way of a second ish daily, ie via Singapore.

What’s the go with codesharing here? Obviously they don’t have much in the way of a partner and local FF partner.

I guess Virgin could switch up its QR deal with TK later on down the track.

 

[HS-TQE]

I think they might even avoid BNE. I can see MEL/SYD/PER Nonstop. Melbourne has the large Turkish population so I’d expect something in the way of a second ish daily, ie via Singapore.

What’s the go with codesharing here? Obviously they don’t have much in the way of a partner and local FF partner.

I guess Virgin could switch up its QR deal with TK later on down the track.

IIRC TK are largely on their own on the Australian routes, like EY.

As for local partners, the TK/ZL discussion still applies. As outlined, TK and VA don't interline with each other, whilst TK have the interline with QF.

Turkish Airlines Explores Partnering With Australia's Rex | Aviation Week Network

After getting approvals to ramp up flying into Australia, Turkish Airlines has held talks with Australian domestic carrier Rex about forming a new partnership.

aviationweek.com

 

[CaptJCool]

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advice/flights/turkish-airlines-makes-its-debut-into-australia-with-first-flight-landing-in-melbourne/news-story/233e6151ffc6945001bc8c330dcdc815

 

[AIRwin]

Not only is MEL a victory for TK, even Melbourne Victory is a winner:

Melbourne Victory lands Turkish Airlines as its new Principal Partner | Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory is pleased to announce that Turkish Airlines will become the Club’s Principal Partner for the next three years, commencing from the start of the 2024/25 season. The world-renowned international airline will become the front-of-shirt partner for the Club’s Isuzu UTE A-League...

melbournevictory.com.au

 

[Daver6]

Big welcome for them at MEL international

 

[jase05]

Sounds like they will be flying to SYD 4x weekly by the end of the year too but have no intention for other ports at this stage

 

[jase05]

Not only is MEL a victory for TK, even Melbourne Victory is a winner:

Melbourne Victory lands Turkish Airlines as its new Principal Partner | Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory is pleased to announce that Turkish Airlines will become the Club’s Principal Partner for the next three years, commencing from the start of the 2024/25 season. The world-renowned international airline will become the front-of-shirt partner for the Club’s Isuzu UTE A-League...

melbournevictory.com.au

Bold move by TK to be attached to a mob who are always in the news for the wrong reasons