Turkish Airlines to Dar Es Salaam from Los Angeles
 

Has anyone flown Turkish Air on an international flight and in particular from Los Angeles connecting through Istanbul and then on to Dar Es Salaam. The cost is extrememly competetive and the reviews are generally favorable with the occasional horror story thrown in. I'm taking my wife and two teenage daughters on a Safari in Tanzania; a trip of a lifetime and I obviously want it to go well. If the cost difference was smaller I woud travel on an airline for which I have experience but the cost difference is not insignificant.

The connection through Istanbul to Dar leaves us only an hour to switch planes which is a bit fast although the airline assured me that that an hour is fine. The same flight from Instanbul to Dar is scheduled for the next day as well so that affords a bit of insurance. None the less I would rather not loose a single day of our time in Tanzania or start off with a bad experience.

Of course, maybe my concerns are unfounded.

Any information or direct experience that any one is willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

Aloha
Mark

I have only flown on Turkish Airlines within Turkey and found the service to be excellent there. I had four flights and every plane was on time, the staff were friendly, the planes were clean and the seats were comfortable. I don't know if their international flights would be different but I wouldn't hesitate to fly with them again.

www.airlinequality.com for honest ratings recent reviews

Good generally for me in the past on main routes to IST a little dodgy on some of the lest travelled routes.Not bad.

Connexions ere fairly seamless on them through IST their hub like ATL is for Delta 1 hour is fine unless weather strikes or traffic delay. insuremytrip.com always cheap wise for me.
Saved my bacon during the Iceland Volcano fiasco.

Turkish Air is offering the most competitive fares via IST to Nairobi/NBO and Dar-es-Salaam/DAR. Planes lands first at NBO, then onto DAR, not arriving till about 3am. If airline says the 1/hr is legal it's their responsibility to get you on that ongoing to DAR. So, go for it.

Question though? Where is your safari taking place? In the Southern circuit parks, as Selous or Ruaha? Or the Northern circuit, at Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti? For either, you know you'll have to wait for plane early morning, about 7-8am. So, you either hang at the airport or take a hotel room nearby for a few hours.