Flying to Australia with Turkish Airlines

Trying to buy tickets Chisinau(Moldova)<->Sydney, for ukrainians (so - may need visas), Turkish airlines pops up, alright. Now, they do not fly to Australia at all but they do sell tickets to Australia (Sydney, Melbourne). The first two legs - to/from Istambul are Turkish so they can handle the baggage but the last leg is either Malaysian (KualaLumpur) or Garuda (Jakarta) or Singapore or Jetstar (via Singapore) or Batik (Bali).

Their online helpdesk cannot tell me what happens with the baggage in these connecting airports, "contact the next carrier" they say. Because if it is not transferred automatically, then passengers needs to go via immigration, get the baggage, etc, need more time for connection.

Sooo what flight/airport to pick for connecting? Within Star Alliance (which is Thai + SIngapore)? Or it is no guarantee anyway? Or give up and assume re-check-in? Any advice? Thanks

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Comments

  • +2

    Flying to Australia with Turkish

    Delightful… Enjoy.

  • +2

    Just quickly looking on Google flights and it seems that the flights with Turkish Airlines are codeshared with Malaysia. The luggage should transfer fine in KL and land in Sydney when you do.

    Call the airline and ask.

  • +1

    There appears to be a relationship between Garuda and Turkish Airlines. It's an indication that bags would transfer at Jakarta. The Ox Tail dish at the airport comes recommended.

    • from the link it sounds like it only lasted 6 month

  • +1

    Have flown TK MEL-BKK-IST-SKG (MEL-BKK on a TG codeshare), LIS-IST and IST-KUL-MEL (KUL-MEL on a MH codeshare). The luggage was checked through fine.

    The only issue was that I couldn't book frequent flyer miles for the MH codeshare to any program other than TK's own.

  • +3

    Did you read the Turkish Airlines page about this exact issue? https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/any-questions/transfe…

    Our transfer passengers, coming from an international point and continuing to an international destination not with Turkish Airlines, whose flight routes are arranged with a single ticket Learn more

    Disembark from the aircraft with your cabin baggage only. The baggage will be carried to the final destination.
    Obtain your boarding pass at the related airline’s transit counter and go to the boarding gate without conducting any passport procedures at the international arrival terminal.
    *Including passengers whose routes are arranged with a single ticket with a Star Alliance member airline or an airline having a codeshare flight agreement with Turkish Airlines.

    • yes i did and then i tried booking and got a warning to research about visas in connecting Asian airports, some googling suggested the baggage transfer might not happen automatically and this is why i tried getting a definitive answer from Turkish about Jakarta. And they did not confirm the above but instead told me to talk to Garuda.

      • The only way to know for sure is to ask the check-in agent when you arrive at the airport.

  • Our guess is as good as yours since it's a booking originating from outside Australia, on a non-Australian airline, and ultimately has nothing to do with Australia.
    Airlines will be the best source of information regarding baggage.

  • Choose partner airlines. All your luggage will transfer to Sydney without check in again. See below,

    Chisinau to Istanbul (Turkish Airlines)
    Istanbul to Bangkok (Turkish Airlines)
    Bangkok to Sydney (Thai Airways)

    • Well, https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/flights/business-part… lists both Garuda and Malaysian and there are success stories about the latter. What confuses me a bit is that fares with Garuda are better but so far I have not heard stories (neither good nor bad) about flying this route with them.

      For example, Turkish also sells Jetstar and Qantas but those are not listed on the page above.

  • Generally If it's an international flight and it's booked on the same ticket the luggage will go through to the final destination no matter the airline or combination of airlines.

    Key point is it all has to be on the same ticket and arriving/leaving from the same airport when in transit.

    • Great advice, with the caveat that a tiny number of countries don't allow international-international transfers without entering the country, the US being the main one.

      • +1

        Yeah, classic Muricans where logic sh1ts itself.

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