Flights to Turkey costing over €1000. Normal?

Disposable1

Hey guys. Tried to book some flights from Cork to Istanbul and it's costing me over €1000. Is this normal? I'll be staying less than a week, in case that makes any difference.

bbbbb

Picking random dates , I can find a flight for €410 so I guess you’re traveling at a busy time.
Have you tried Skyscanner.ie or similar sites?

ted1

I just got 294 for a week in June on sky scanner via London

Credit Checker Moose

There are direct flights to Istanbul twice daily from Dublin and are much cheaper.

Disposable1

Thanks for the replies guys, I just bit the bullet and got them, even though it’s almost double what I wanted to pay, ought to be worth it in the end

troyzer

Disposable1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, I just bit the bullet and got them, even though it’s almost double what I wanted to pay, ought to be worth it in the end

That's madness.

topnotch

OP has alot of disposable income it’s most of his username.

franklyon

Shoukd have checked from dublin paying 1000 for a return to Turkey is madness

Disposable1

topnotch wrote: »

OP has alot of disposable income it’s most of his username.

Ha, that's a good joke:D, but nothing could be further from the truth. I'm asking a lot of questions in this forum lately because I have no experience with this stuff and I genuinely don't know what to do.

munchkin_utd

franklyon wrote: »

Shoukd have checked from dublin paying 1000 for a return to Turkey is madness

+1

For the sake of a few hours on the aircoach you very likely could have saved 100s of euros by flying from Dublin, where theres more airlines, more competition, more choice of flights and often way cheaper flight prices.

Definitely too much disposable income.

CelticRambler

Disposable1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys, I just bit the bullet and got them, even though it’s almost double what I wanted to pay, ought to be worth it in the end

From your other thread:

Disposable1 wrote: »

I just have absolutely zero experience with anything like this, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Too late now, but as a rule, "worth it in the end" usually means paying half what you expect, not double! I'm going to Kenya in the summer (teacher-sister's timetable, not mine) and was getting fares of around 800-1200 per person. Using the tools that were pointed out to you on the other thread, and a degree of patience, I got the flights for 448€.

Disposable1

CelticRambler wrote: »

From your other thread:


Too late now, but as a rule, "worth it in the end" usually means paying half what you expect, not double! I'm going to Kenya in the summer (teacher-sister's timetable, not mine) and was getting fares of around 800-1200 per person. Using the tools that were pointed out to you on the other thread, and a degree of patience, I got the flights for 448€.

By worth it in the end I mean because of the reason I am traveling not the price of flights. To illustrate, in ten years time I’ll still have the thing and be getting joy from that but I won’t remember the price of the flights.

I actually did follow the instructions suggested to me here and in other threads and these were the cheapest flights I could find. If I were to go to Dublin to fly out then I would have to pay for a train x2 and at least one night in a hotel. It would add hours of, if not extra days, of travel time and multiply the number of things I have to make, for example I have to make a train, then when I get to Dublin, find a hotel (pay for a taxi), get from a hotel the next day to the airport (pay another taxi), and so on.....so much stress and pressure.

CelticRambler

Sounds like you're really not used to travelling outside of Cork! Why on earth would you book a hotel in Dublin? In fact, why would you even get the train when you can get a bus from Cork direct to Dublin Airport? Are you getting a direct flight from Cork to wherever in Turkey you're going? If not, chances are you'll end up spending as much time waiting for a connecting flight, or with the same stress and pressure if the first leg is cancelled (weather-related cancellations are a lot more common at Cork than Dublin). That's all part and parcel of modern travel - but saving a few hundred euro on the ticket price leaves you with more money to spend on "contingencies" if the need arises.

In any case, if you've spent 1000€ on flights, make sure you've got travel insurance to cover any last minute problem.

votecounts

Madness to pay that, was looking in June via Stansted is 194, don't know your dates

Crazy! I travelled Dublin to Istanbul a lot over the last 2 years, never paid more than 400 Euro one Xmas.
A colleague came from cork, up on the aircoach early in the morning, Turkish airlines fly at 11am from Dublin!!

realdanbreen

A few years ago when isis were doing their thing you could get holidays in Turkey for half nothing. I know a guy who bought a two bedroom apartment in Kusadashi for 19000.

wirelessdude01

Disposable1 wrote:

I actually did follow the instructions suggested to me here and in other threads and these were the cheapest flights I could find. If I were to go to Dublin to fly out then I would have to pay for a train x2 and at least one night in a hotel. It would add hours of, if not extra days, of travel time and multiply the number of things I have to make, for example I have to make a train, then when I get to Dublin, find a hotel (pay for a taxi), get from a hotel the next day to the airport (pay another taxi), and so on.....so much stress and pressure.

Sorry OP but that is just an excuse. You can get the bus direct to the airport from Cork. No need for any taxi fare in Dublin. Buses are timed for the most convenient drop off times at the airport. If you were really concerned with pricing then travelling a few hours up the road wouldn't be an issue.

jhegarty

What dates are you going op ?

I can't see anything like €1000 unless it's a business class flight.

ASOT

Enjoy your new teeth op!

Spanish Eyes

Must be bringing the family. Otherwise quite frankly OP you've been had!

But we don't know your destination, and if it involves a connection elsewhere or whatever. That could make a big difference if you get Biz Class on part of the route.

I do hope you are not messing.

Disposable1

My apologies, first of all let me just acknowledge that this was kind of a stupid thread to start. I noticed also that I was not clear in my original post, it's going to cost me over a thousand for both tickets, something like €500 to get there, and €600 to come back.

I have to say I find some of the responses quite curt. I'm not going there for new teeth, for example. And I'm not "making excuses" as one person put it, I'm asking for help from people with more knowledge and more experience of things like this, because I have none. I have no idea of any of this. I'm so lower class that I get panic attacks when I go to restaurants because I don't know what to do. I believe in hive intelligence and I believe in the natural goodness of people. I didn't know you could get a bus to Dublin airport, but I checked the prices for August 20th and they're the same. I didn't know about any of the things people mentioned here. I was under some time pressure though, so I had to bite the bullet.

I think ultimately I just need to take a hit on this, I need to learn from my mistakes. I need to do this. It's more of a healing journey than anything else. I need something to orientate myself towards the future, something to look forward to. There were times in my life when I couldn't leave the house, twice I didn't leave the house for a year and a half each time, so this is a big step for me. So, it's okay if I could have done it cheaper, because a trend in my life has always been that I may do something arseways the first time, but after that it's easier for me, I get better at it. And as I said earlier, in ten years time, I won't remember how much it cost, just that I did it, and the crushing anxiety about travel will be gone because I will have experience of it.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond, especially in the other thread I started which was filled with very useful information.

spurious

Make sure to get travel insurance.

votecounts

Using your dates the 20th august for a week, it is 398 via dublin return with turkish airlines, that is quite a hit to take if true

TK Lemon

Enjoy your holiday OP, I’m sure you’ll have a fantastic time!

CelticRambler

Disposable1 wrote: »

My apologies, first of all let me just acknowledge that this was kind of a stupid thread to start. I noticed also that I was not clear in my original post, it's going to cost me over a thousand for both tickets, something like €500 to get there, and €600 to come back.

Not a stupid thread at all - it's exactly the kind of thread that the Travel Forum is meant for. And I think we all understood that the "€1000" was the price for a round trip. That's why we're all shocked at the cost - "normal" for that route at that time should be about €400 return, checked baggage included.

Disposable1 wrote: »

I'm asking for help from people with more knowledge and more experience of things like this, because I have none. I have no idea of any of this.... I didn't know you could get a bus to Dublin airport, but I checked the prices for August 20th and they're the same. I didn't know about any of the things people mentioned here. I was under some time pressure though, so I had to bite the bullet.

This is the bit that doesn't make sense. You weren't under pressure to book the ticket. To say "yes" to whatever or whoever it is you're going to see, maybe, but not to book a flight for mid-August - you could have booked that any time up until the 19th August!

So first mistake to learn from: don't book anything until you've had at least a week's worth of replies to consider!

Second lesson: give us more info! :cool: If you didn't know how to book a flight, and you didn't know there are buses from Cork to Dublin Airport, chances are there's an awful lot more about this trip that you haven't thought about. In that regard make sure you take out travel insurance, because you obviously don't have the skills to re-arrange everything at the last minute, sitting on the floor of a airport in Iceland with a dodgy internet connection!

Assuming you're getting some guidance from whoever's inviting you to Turkey, are you sure you've booked a flight to the right/most sensible airport? Turkey is a big country.
- Is it a direct flight from Cork, because if not, you'll have to make a connection somewhere.
- Have you taken out insurance, in case that connection gets messed up?
- Are you checking in luggage?
- Do you understand the difference between airline rules and airport security when it comes to what you can/can't bring with you?
- Have you taken out travel insurance, in case it goes missing?
- Do you have an up-to-date passport?
- Have you figured out how to apply for a visa?
- Have you thought about how much Turkish Lira you'll carry in cash, and where you'll get it?
- Did you get that travel insurance yet?

Once again, if you're that inexperienced and this trip means so much to you, you should seriously consider booking a flight to somewhere much closer to home and not so "foreign" so as to get experience of the airport-and-airline part of the journey without any additional pressure. You'd get something for less than €50 if you plan it right!

ted1

If you book in one ticket then missed connections aren’t an issue for insurance, the airline looks after you