Hello, Experienced Turkey Travelers,

We will be traveling from Istanbul to Izmir in late September and the plan is to fly round trip. I am amazed at how inexpensive the RT fares are, even First Class on Turkish Airways.

Can anyone provide any practical guidance on domestic air travel in Turkey? Is there a preferred airline? RT from IST to IZMIR on Turkish Air is only $175 for First Class - is there a marked difference in the travel experience? Is there a preferred Istanbul Airport for domestic travel?

The online message boards (not Fodors) are filled with horror stories about both Turkish Air and Pegasus ("worst airline ever" comments resound for both) but all of these issues seem to be with international travel and/or Covid related.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Enpe

We flew Turkish Airlines within Turkey in 2003. Even back then their planes were newer and cleaner and their staff more organized and helpful than any of the big US airlines.

I have flown Turkish Airlines 5 or 6 times and always had a good experience. You are correct that they are very inexpensive within Turkey. I have flown IST-Dalaman and IST to Bodrum from the main IST airport.

I was amazed how clean and efficient Turkey Airlines was and would not hesitate to fly on their planes again.

Domestically, we flew several hops with Pegasus & Turkish Air. High marks for both but particularly TA that solved a major snafu for us by re-routing us to solve a problem & got us to Kayseri on time . . .

Internationally, I would never fly TA again after a JNB > Istanbul cattle class flight from hell.