Dodgy Travel?

[liadnan]

KLM are being unhelpful about Istanbul flight dates.

Do we feel we ought to be worried about Azerbaijan Airlines as an alternative?

Comments

[susumu.livejournal.com]

It would probably be an Adventure, if nothing else.

Excellent!

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

More than happy to let you do all the research on cheap flights from London to Istanbul for me! Let me know what you come up with and when...

[liadnan]

I know, and am quite strongly tempted for precisely that reason.

Re: Excellent!

[liadnan]

Well, I can come up with a variety of things under 200 quid, pretty much any time (via Opodo) > Czech with an hours stop over at 170 odd, the Azerbaijan Air one is 185 direct.

My original plan was the KLM deal, but at the moment it doesn't seem they have anything that would suit you and precious little that suits me either.

What dates sound good from your end of things? How does the Monday or Tuesday after you get to London sound, or is that too soon? And how long do you want in Turkey?

Re: Excellent!

[susumu.livejournal.com]

What dates are you planning to go? I've just looked on the site that I'm working on this week (AirMiles) and BA will apparently do you a return in July for 150 quid (plus tax).

Re: Excellent!

[liadnan]

Will they indeed? MIght suit me (but not tabouli). Was thnking more second week of August but I'm flexible at this stage.

[chrysaphi.livejournal.com]

If my experience on Armenian Airlines is any indication, flee. Think, "the aircraft that Aeroflot didn't want, 15 years ago".

Re: Excellent!

[susumu.livejournal.com]

A quick search around that time suggests £165. I'm going to stop doing your research now, but hope that helps.

[liadnan]

But but but it would be fun.

Actually, I was meaning to drag you into this.. when are you thinking about being there?

[chrysaphi.livejournal.com]

I hadn't gotten around to deciding yet, as I just know that my deciding on a date will precede my buying a ticket by mere minutes. I still haven't got a clue what I'm doing this summer overall. What dates are you talking about?

Re: Excellent!

[liadnan]

It does, cheers.

[liadnan]

Hah. Well therein lies the question.

I am flexible: am planning to take a week there any time from the beginning of July to the middle of August. I'm off to Italy on the 21st, and if nothing else will need to do washing in between...

Tabouli arrives in London from Australia around the 4th, and was wanting to fit a Turkey excuursus into her plans... whether or not we, or indeed any two of the three of us, end up there at the same time is open to debate and subject to various different plans, but it would be fun.

Flexi-travel

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

At this point, the month in between arriving and departing from London is a blank slate.

On this slate, I hope to sketch up to a week in London (depending on my various London friends and whether/how long they can let me stay, as London is fiendishly expensive for someone on Australian dollars), 1-2 weeks in Scotland (have an offer of somewhere to stay in Edinburgh for sampling the Comedy Festival, otherwise hankering for some Ancient Celtic Mystique), and 1-2 weeks in Turkey, with possible visits to friends in Geneva and Frankfurt if I'm struggling to fill the itinerary. I'd probably lean towards longer in Turkey than Scotland, because it's substantially cheaper.

My vague vision for the Turkey leg (so to speak!) was to spend a few days exploring Istanbul and then take off on a cheapish 7-10 day tour which includes Cappadocia. Apparently it's much better to find such a tour there, rather than book it from overseas, though I haven't looked into it that thoroughly yet. Assuming your plan is to hang out in Istanbul for a week or so in the first three weeks of August, I should be able to work the Istanbul bit around you.

(This is, of course, assuming that our defictionalisation goes well! Many are the perils...)

Re: Excellent!

[eccles.livejournal.com]

Any nice flights to New York in August? What's the link?

Re: Flexi-travel

[liadnan]

There's always that risk but hey, Istanbul is a very big city...

I have to go into the office soon, and I can't do this easily there (rubbish internet connection rather than anyone caring) but I'll try and sort things out this evening as far as my plans go, and I'll let you know any handy links and flights I find.

Re: Excellent!

[susumu.livejournal.com]

www.airmiles.co.uk

Re: Flexi-travel

[tabouli.livejournal.com]

Sounds good! Thanks for that. And yes, if we do loathe each other on sight, no doubt Istanbul will big enough for both of us... (reasonably unlikely, I hope!)

Have fun at the office... :D

[liadnan]

Rather disappointingly google only seems to bring up people saying how surprisingly good they are..

Re: Flexi-travel

[liadnan]

OK. I'm looking at, but haven't yet booked, either 10th to 17th with BA, 198.80 stlg incl. taxes; or 9th to 16th with Azerbaijan Airlines, 185.60 stlg incl. taxes. Both found through http://www.opodo.co.uk/

None of the other budget sites are showing anything useful at the moment: lastminute in particular is always better when it really is last minute.

The onlie begetter of this whole idea for me was http://www.klm.com/uk_en/index.jsp : 135 stlg incl taxes throughout July and August. But they seem unable to do any dates useful for me: you may have more luck. I'm going anyway, of course...

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

I barely survived an Aeroflot flight to Sri Lanka over a decade ago, and so if there's an airline that Aeroflot didn't want (my jaw went slack at the mere thought) then I would strongly recommend that you avoid them at all cost.