Finally: THY Flying from DEN

The news is not unexpected! It just took a year or two for it to become reality.

We learned of the commencement of the long-awaited THY flight from DEN to IST [İstanbul International Airport] early in April … while we were still in Australia.

But bookings were not scheduled to open until 29 April. As well, we already had tickets via Toronto. “Best,” we thought to ourselves, “to wait until we get home in May to tackle what might be a complicated change.”

We got home two days ago. And this morning, Mui and I sat down to discuss our options.

On the minus side, our booked fare via Toronto was cheaper. And there could be a fee should we decide to cancel.

On the plus side, flying DEN to IST nonstop would be easier. And it would eliminate the UA connection to Toronto … with the bonus of getting the miles — and taxes & fees — credited back for that flight cancelation.

As we were debating the pros and cons of making the change, Mui asked if the schedule change we had received for the Toronto-İstanbul flight in February might work in our favor?

True, THY allows no-penalty-cancelations when they make a schedule change. The question was … had we accepted the change already? I couldn’t remember. So, I logged into our booking.

There it was. Highlighted by a red banner was the schedule change … and the offer to rebook or cancel the tickets if the new schedule didn’t work for us. Of course, there was no real problem with the schedule. But THY was giving us a loophole of which we could take advantage.

As soon as I received confirmation of the cancelation and notice of the refund back to the credit card, I went to work rebooking the new tickets — DEN-IST ... and on to İzmir, our final destination in Türkiye. Choosing to fly a few days later than initial planned even netted us a bit of savings. Good deal!

Once I had confirmation of the new THY tickets, I logged into Mui’s UA account and canceled the connection from Denver to Toronto. The miles are already back in his account; the refund back to the credit card is underway.

Happy travelers we are!Read more