“I missed my plane in a foreign country – what should I do?” Here’s a real story

Travel mishaps happen quite often, and often through the fault of the travelers themselves. Fortunately, many problems can be avoided if you approach this issue intelligently. For example, by analyzing other people’s blunders – but not for the purpose of amusement, but in order to benefit from it. We have no doubt that each of you has a story that could teach others something. If you have something to share, send your stories here – we will discuss them with the experts in our new section , “Unfolding.

What went wrong with my trip to Istanbul

About a year ago, when Turkey was one of the few countries open to the pandemic, I flew to Istanbul. I had long been familiar with the city and in my previous trips I had stayed in far from the most touristy hotels. This time I decided to choose a hotel closer to the center, in the old part of the city – Sultanahmet. The name comes from the mosque of the same name, for the sake of which many people come here.

Blue Mosque

In this area, tourists often go to see the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia Cathedral (a masthead to visit), then move to the famous Topkapi Palace, look at the Basilica Cistern and go for beautiful shots in Gulhane Park. All in all, a ready-made itinerary that I’ve done many times before, but damn it, I had to go through it again. After all, for the sake of it, I stayed in one of Istanbul’s most unfortunate hotels near key points. Being one of the busiest parts of the city, Sultanahmet makes it impossible to get around by cab. But I found that out a little later when it was time to go home.

Hagia Sophia Cathedral

Traffic jams in Istanbul

You can talk a lot about traffic congestion in Turkey. But it is enough to know that Istanbul residents spend up to six days a month in traffic jams. Almost a week, Karl! So you can safely add another two hours to any trip just in case. That’s what I did on the day of the flight. I left the hotel five or six hours before the flight and expected to be at the airport in three hours.

Bosphorus Bridge

Nikita Tsiferov

Istanbul is a large metropolis, and traffic jams there are often at the level of Moscow’s, so you should always take them into account when planning your route to the airport. It is also worth noting that there are two international airports in the city. Travel time to Ataturk Airport from the city center will be ~ 30 min, with traffic jams 20 minutes longer. The situation with Sabihi Gokcen Airport is quite different – it takes ~ 50 minutes to get there without traffic jams and an hour longer with traffic jams.

Istanbul

What happened next

Everything should have turned out cool, but I didn’t take into account the busyness of the neighborhood where my hotel was located. Experienced cab drivers don’t usually come here. And if someone decides to take this adventure, they never make it. Knowing the problems of transportation in Istanbul, I ordered a car in the evening. In the morning at the appointed time, the driver was almost there (we were separated by a distance of about half a kilometer), but because of the blocked traffic he was two hours late. And all because the cars that met “head-on” could not separate and created a traffic jam.

All this time I tried to call another cab. I walked around the hotel and called for help, but to no avail. There was no bus stop nearby, and even if there had been, with all the transfers it would have taken a day to get to the airport. After a while, a cab driver took pity on me, who was nervously smoking in the background – and that’s not a phraseology at all. He warned me that it would be difficult and time-consuming to get out of this place. And he was right – those 500 meters, which the first driver could not overcome, took us about an hour. And another two hours – the road to the airport. Traffic, you see.

owner of the travel agency “Turomania”

If you travel independently or your tour package does not include a transfer, of course, the organization of the way to the airport should be taken care of in advance. How to do it? You can ask for help to the hotel employee – he will help calculate the time of departure and order a cab (as a rule, hotels cooperate with trusted companies) or will tell you what public transportation to use. Check the traffic congestion in Google Maps, which works similarly to our Yandex – it shows routes and travel times.

Istanbul

The plane left without me

I came to the check-in desk 50 minutes before the flight with full confidence that I had made it in time. But right in front of me it was closed and I was asked to leave in a very rude manner. The online check-in, which I had done in advance, turned out to be useless due to the presence of luggage. Of course, I was tearing up, but I didn’t call and argue. The tickets were non-refundable. Plus there was no office of this airline at the airport.

Nikita: Most airlines finish check-in for international flights 45-60 minutes before departure. But it is always better to take 60 minutes as a basis (check-in for domestic flights usually ends in 40 minutes). If you realize that you are late for your flight, a few hours before departure you can try to check in online on the airline’s website. This way, you will avoid wasting time at the check-in desk and with your boarding ticket you can go straight to the control area. But this method will be useful only if you are flying without luggage, with hand luggage. If you have luggage with you, you will have to check it in.

Istanbul Airport

What was the problem

My mistake was that I didn’t pay attention to the small print in the airline’s rules. And it said the most important thing: boarding ends one hour before departure. Another important point, which basically undermined my plans, was the unfortunate location of the hotel. In the end I had no choice but to buy a new ticket.

Tatiana: When buying an air ticket, carefully study the itinerary receipt. After all, the basic and most important information is always spelled out there: the start and end time of check-in, the name of the airport, how much luggage you can take and its dimensions. And for final reassurance it is desirable to check the departure time on the online board of your airport at least a day in advance.

What you can do if you missed your flight

Each airline has its own rules for exchanging and refunding tickets. There are always conditions spelled out in the fare list – it’s worth studying them, and then contact them by phone or apply via the website. It is quite possible that there will be a loophole that will allow you to stay in the win-win situation – to return the money or replace the flight. Of course, you can’t get the full price back, but fuel and service charges are quite possible.

You can return a non-refundable ticket only in case of force majeure, when you or a relative fall ill. Flight cancelation or delay is also a good reason for refund. The situation with a refundable ticket is different – it can be returned or exchanged at the same place where you bought it. But don’t put it off, as the carrier may increase the fees and deduct it when refunding your money.

Tatiana: A lot depends on when you want to change your ticket – before departure or before check-in. Most often in an economy fare you have to pay extra to change to another date. Some carriers allow you to exchange your ticket free of charge if you are no more than half an hour late. But this can be done only on domestic flights. In the case of international destinations, the ticket exchange fee varies from 2 to 8 thousand rubles, depending on the airline’s rules.

Have you experienced similar situations? Share in the comments.