Turkish Airlines has expanded the list of destinations where passengers can take advantage of the Istanbul Stopover program, which allows the company's transit passengers to stay in a hotel in Istanbul for free. Now, for those flying from Russia, the program includes almost all European and Middle Eastern routes, reports our own correspondent for Travel.ru.
The newly included countries are the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq. Tickets to these countries must be purchased no earlier than August 20. Previously, the program became available for flights from Russia to Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Greece, Georgia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Croatia, Malta, Israel, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, countries in Africa and East Asia, as well as Prague, Belgrade, Baku, Bucharest (for tickets purchased at any time).
The program is available to passengers who plan at least 20 hours for a layover in Istanbul. They can get a free stay in a four-star hotel in the historical center of the city (Sultanahmet district). For one day when flying in economy class and for two days in a five-star hotel in another central district of Taksim when flying in business class. The stopover in Istanbul itself can be longer (the passenger purchases further overnight stays in any hotel of his choice). In this case, the ticket must include a round-trip flight on Turkish Airlines, and the country of departure and the country of arrival must be the same in both directions.
There is no free transfer to the hotel - however, most hotels in these areas are easily accessible from the new Istanbul airport via express shuttles for 18 TL ($3). To get a free hotel, you must request it at least 72 hours before your flight to Istanbul (for this, please contact us with your flight details by email [email protected]).
The service is currently available to passengers from 32 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The program was initially launched in March 2017 for passengers from Pakistan, with flights from Russia added in June of that year. The program has been expanded periodically, including both new departure points and a selection of destination countries. According to the company’s data last year, 62% of those who had used the Stopover program by then were flying with Turkish Airlines for the first time. 73% of program participants said the Stopover service was an important factor in their choice of carrier.
Source: travel.ru
