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0Istanbul’s New Airport has been much awaited by travelers since it was first announced. The airport was supposed to open last October (2018) but was pushed back several times. We found the airport to be beautiful when we transited in the summer of 2019 but claims that it will be best in the world seem far fetched at this time. While some of the amenities are impressive, others, such as the play areas, seem to have been an after thought, and transiting here is sure to take a long time, meaning that this will never be a place you can do a quick transit.
Shopping, Dining and more at Istanbul’s New Airport
The airport was designed to be a shopping and dining destination. You’ll find the normal duty free shops and souvenir stands, a couple of bookstores and electronics stores, but even more, you’ll find a huge number of high-end international brands. We aren’t really the type of travelers who shop a lot while traveling – I never want to deal with carrying the bags while traveling with kids – but if you are the type, I’d expect you’d enjoy this new airport.
The airport has many different dining establishments and have slotted more to add in the future. Lines at nearly all of them were quite long and we found the wait to be a bit unreasonable when considering that many customers have flights to catch. I’m hoping that this changes when they open more of the planned dining establishments, but since that is expected to come with expanded routes and even more flights, only time will tell if that is true.
A number of other services and amenities are available including even a barber shop! Check out their website for a full list of what’s available.
WiFi at Istanbul’s New Airport
I fully admit to being hopelessly dependent on WiFi and being connected to the internet. So much of our lives are lived online nowadays that it seems inevitable for most of us. When I travel I appreciate having access to my email for pulling up confirmations and itineraries, and I appreciate the ability to research things about the cities I’m visiting while on the go, not to mention working on posts for this blog and finishing other remote work while waiting for a flight. So, having good airport WiFi is something I really appreciate. It was quite frustrating to learn that the brand new airport in Istanbul does not have free wifi for all passengers. They do have wifi available, but you need to have a local phone number in order to receive a confirmation code by text. I’ve seen this method of public WiFi in other places (I’m looking at you Switzerland), and its pretty off-putting for tourists. In an international airport which claims to be a hub for the world, why would they limit the airport WiFi only to those who have Turkish phone numbers? So much for downloading a new book to read on my flight, or uploading this blog post. Luckily the Yotel Airside Hotel did have reliable, fast and free wifi which I was able to use to plan our layover in Almaty, Kazahkstan, but it would certainly be nice if the main concourse was as tourist-friendly.
Amenities for Kids at Istanbul’s New Airport
The airport does have a kids play area, although we found it pretty disappointing for the flashy new airport as the one we visited on the F Concourse was just a room with a bunch of Ikea kids tables and toys with missing pieces. A proper play structure would have been much nicer, and a better way to burn off pent-up kid energy from sitting still on the flight.
After checking out the disappointing F concourse play area, we set out to see if there were any better ones in the airport. Another one (on the D concourse) had a couple of kid tables by the window and then otherwise had some benches that were occupied by sleeping adults.
The A Concourse play area had nothing at all but an empty room with the same brightly painted floor. This empty play area gave me a bit of hope that the airport might be planning to add a proper play structure in these areas in the future, but there’s also the chance that they just haven’t yet outfitted it with the same Ikea kids tables.
There is a large toy store in the main terminal with lots of fun things for kids to do on the plane, or once you get home. This is also perfect if you are traveling over the holidays and forgot to purchase a gift! Tons of lego sets, stuffed animals, Knex, board games and many other things make up the selection of toys available, giving kids of all ages a reason to beg mom and dad to hand over the credit card.
There were a few breastfeeding rooms available but the one I stuck my head in was kind of sterile in appearance and had a really funky, unexplained smell that made me quite sure I’d not want to spend time in there nursing a baby. Once again, it seems that family travelers were an afterthought in building the new airport in Istanbul.
Transiting at Istanbul’s New Airport
While the new airport is certainly beautiful, several logistical issues make transiting here a bit of a nightmare. First of all, the Istanbul Airport is simply massive and there’s no plans to put in a train or bus system between the different parts of the airport. Upon arriving, we had to walk from our arrival gate to the transfer desk which took well over 30 minutes of nonstop walking at a moderate pace. There were no customers in front of us at the transfer desk and it still took the employees about 15 minutes to issue our next boarding passes. They seemed generally confused and had to get a supervisor to help after three employees couldn’t figure it out. From there we needed to pass through security again. There are at least 3 different security areas which would lead one to believe that the security process won’t take much time. Both times we arrived near midnight and there was no line at all so we were able to pass through very quickly. They did make me wake up my sleeping 4-year old to walk herself through a metal detector, which was a bit frustrating, but I understand these policies exist to keep us all safer in the skies.
From the security check to the main concourse is not a long walk, but the concourse itself is huge. We were heading to the Airport Hotel (Yotel Airside) which is right off the main terminal. All in all, from the time we reached our gate after a fairly long taxi, it took us just over an hour to reach the hotel. However, if you are trying to reach a gate on the other side of the airport, the walk could be up to 30 minutes longer. They do offer an express transfer option for those travelers who have a flight in the next 75 minutes, but we weren’t able to try it since we had long layovers both times that we flew through Istanbul on our trip.
All in all, the airport is not designed for a quick transfer and this is even more true for anyone with mobility issues or those traveling with kids. There is a buggy service available, which is one positive, but with planned increases in the size of the airport over the next few years, we just can’t imagine that they will stick to their plan to not have a bus or train service between concoures. However, so far that’s the plan they’ve put forth.
The airport had many employees placed throughout the terminal with “Ask Me” shirts on, as well as screens where you could talk to a person through video chat and get information and directions through the airport. Our experience with actually asking for directions wasn’t that great, and I’m not sure if it was an issue with the agent not having great English or not having the best customer service skills, but we do appreciate the effort they seem to have put into helping customers navigate the new terminal.
The Verdict
The flashy, new Istanbul Airport has a lot going for it – from beautifully designed spaces to a convenient airside hotel and more shopping and dining than you could ever hope to need. However, there are some issues that leave us questioning future transits through here such as the long and inefficient transit times and subpar children’s play areas.
Interestingly enough, the US State Department recently issued an upgraded (level 3) travel warning for Turkey, which has us wondering if the airport will be all that popular, however based on the number of travelers we already saw flying through, seems that few tourists are discouraged from flying through Istanbul’s New Airport.
