Transfer / security in Istanbul Ataturk airport after 29/06/2016

Question

I'm sure we all have heard about the terrorist attack in Istanbul Ataturk airport yesterday, 28 June 2016. Has anybody by any chance flown to/from/via IST since the attack and can give a first-hand account of any new security measures that have been introduced, especially in regards to transferring passengers?

I have tickets for this Saturday, 02 July 2016, flying with Turkish Airlines and transferring in IST (international to international). These are the flights I've taken several times in the past and from experience, 1 hour 10 minutes that I have between flights is enough time. However I am concerned that after the terrorist attack the airport introduced additional security measures, which may cause me to miss my connecting flight. Add to this the fact that we'll be travelling with small children - and now the chance to miss the connecting flight is rather real.

The booking is all on one ticket and in case we do miss the connecting flight, the next one is only 3 hours later, so it's not the end of the world, but it would be nice to know what to expect.

Answer 1

I have no first-hand information but this is what I can gather online:

• Turkish Airlines currently has the following in their website, which you already know:

Flight operations at İstanbul Atatürk International Airport have been restarted. We kindly ask our passengers to check the latest flight information through flight status service at our official website turkishairlines.com.

The go-to place for this kind of stuff is Flyertalk and the related thread seems to be this one. Most of the discussion is about what actually happened but I was able to find the following accounts

• I'm at IST right now. I came in on TK 4 from JFK. We were not diverted. The crew made no announcements about the attack during the flight and said nothing after we landed. Just the normal "we hope you enjoyed your flight etc..." If I hadn't checked my phone i'd have no idea. The int'l connections area was a mess. Huge lines, people stranded. Absolutely bo one from TK around to let anyone know what's going on. Half the flights on the board are cancelled most of the others delayed. I got up to the lounge which was closed for a while before finally taking pax in. Again there are ZERO TK staff here who knows what's going on w flights. It's a complete zoo. For now my flight is on the board.

• In IST CIP lounge now. Extremely crowded in the airport but that may be the norm. Few people sleeping on the floor outside the lounge. Several got denied trying to enter..Lounge has many pax but lots of available seats. No mention of anything relating to yesterday's attack from any Turkish staff or airline staff. Great flight in. Flying with my family and I feel safe. Flying out in a few hours to Asia.

• This afternoon. TK sent an e-mail (I guess to all FF members) that situation is back to normal and all flights are operating normally. Looking at the TAV app it is really the case - some arrivals are late, though.

• Last night I arrived from Germany to Istanbul, everything looked same to me, just a little bit more crowd possibly due to cancelled flights a day before.. If I didn't know about the incident, I would think there is a renovation going on in some parts.

• Transit in IST, very crowded but no issues.

• [...] I have been through the airport 4 times in the last week, [...] most recently arriving this morning [...] other than the normal Customs exit being boarded up, and a new entrance about 50 feet away, and an area at the curb also boarded up, you would not have known anything had happened. [...]

A lot is still going to change over the next two days until you'll actually be flying but that thread might be a good resource if you weed through the unrelated information.

As of now and as of the information the airport seems to be fairly crowded but I don't see mention of additional security measures airside and flights seem to be on-time-ish.

Safe travels!

Answer 2

Just flew yesterday. Everything In Istanbul airport is as if nothing has happened. The incident wasn't even mentioned once. And there was no security check for international to international transfer. All in all, it took us 15 minutes to get from gate 223 (arriving flight) to gate 206 (departing flight) - with three little children in tow :)