I'm planning a trip in May, and was quoted a fare by Turkish Airlines directly of $699 including tax from NYC to istanbul. Is this a good fare, should I snap it up before it expires (feb 14) or wait until closer to departure for a better fare? Any other suggestions on getting good fares?

Intuition alone tells me you better take it. More research might produce a lower fare (probably not by much).<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex

You should ask Delta airlines too, they also fly direct to Istanbul.

Have you tried a consolidator site? We had good luck with www.onetravel.com last year for our flight to Istanbul. We flew on Delta with no complaints.

Leela, did you try Delta? It's direct (I believe nonstop) Instanbul-NYC. Recently, I bought a Delta open-jaw [Chicago-Athens/Istanbul-Chicago] for just over $800 including taxes. So, it seems like a RT ticket from NYC should be a little less. But, then again, airfares aren't doing what I expected this year.

try airfrance as well, they have very good rates

Our departure is May 30th and we got a JFK-Athens-Santorini-Athens-JFK fare for $889, if that helps. Even tho' I thought this was expensive (for shoulder season!), it'll only get more expensive, unless you can chance a very last-minute getaway, but this is stressful IMO.