I'm visiting Istanbul and I've already bought my plane ticket. I'm adding a side trip to Bucharest and I'm looking for advice about how close I can cut it in Istanbul airport.
My return from the side trip to Bucharest into IST is scheduled to arrive into IST airport at 9:50 a.m. on a Friday. My return flight home from IST is scheduled to leave that same day at 12:15 p.m., so 2 1/2 hours later.
My question is, is that enough time in between flights? Would I have to go through customs and immigration in IST before getting on my return flight? How tight are things at that airport?
thanks for any advice.
turnaround time in IST airport
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If both of your flights are on THY, you should have no problems.
However, if your flights are on different airlines, you may have to clear customs and pick up luggage to go through check points again, which may make it rather dicey.
Even if they let you check your luggage to final destination on different airlines at Bucharest, I would worry about the luggage and probably will not like it.
I would also check the record of the airline on the Bucharest-Istanbul route to find out about standard delays.