It’s about to be easier for Midwest-based travelers to reach the famous covered bazaars, mosques, palaces, and churches of Istanbul. Turkish Airlines recently announced plans for a new route between Detroit and Istanbul.
The route will be flown on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the final weeks of 2023, and in early 2024, service will be added on Saturdays. The flights will depart Detroit at 9:35 p.m., local time, and arrive in Istanbul at 3:35 p.m, local time. The return flight departs at 3:45 p.m., local time, and arrives stateside at 6:50 p.m., local time. At press time, the lowest one-way prices were $492 for economy seats and $2,001 for business-class seats. The flights will take place on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
When the route launches, Detroit will be the 13th U.S. gateway for Turkish Airlines. (The carrier also flies from Atlanta, Seattle, New York, Newark, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC). The airline has been bullish in adding U.S. cities to its roster recently—it added Newark and Dallas–Fort Worth in 2021 and Seattle in 2022. The next U.S. cities that Turkish Airlines has said it plans to offer direct flights from are Denver and Orlando, though no dates have been given.
It’s worth noting that Turkish Airlines also offers a stop-over program in Istanbul—travelers who are connecting in Istanbul (perhaps en route to another Turkish city or a neighboring country) for at least 20 hours are entitled to a free hotel stay (economy-class passengers get one night in a four-star hotel and business-class passengers may stay two nights in a five-star hotel). However, it’s only available to travelers with round-trip tickets and can only be used once (either outbound or inbound, not both).
Turkish Airlines flies to 129 countries, with more than 340 destinations in its network, including myriad tourist hot spots in Europe, such as Paris, Barcelona, Rome, London, Vienna, and beyond. The airline also frequently offers attractive rates, including on flights from the United States to Europe, connecting through Istanbul.
Tickets for the forthcoming Detroit–Istanbul flights are already available to book on turkishairlines.com.
