Anyone changed at Sabiha Gokcen lately?

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 18:02

I am doing that in January, and just wondered if it has improved since I last did it 3 years ago.

I believe that you can now avoid buying a visa by being escorted out of the door and back in through another one.

But is there the same chaos in departures? They had the security gates on the 'wrong' side of the departure lounge, and you had to undergo screening after your flight had been called. They actually had 3 flights' passengers all trying to get through at the same time!

AllyTT


Joined: 13/09/2008
Posts: 188

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 18:30

Everything has changed since the new terminal opened. Haven't transitted there so can't comment on that but departures itself is now much more organized, no single security check for all departures - real gates with real bridges to the planes.. Shame all their upgrades can't fix the fact that it's built in an area famous for fog! Been diverted 2 of my last 3 flights in..

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 18:33

Hi Alison, thanks for that. I feel a little happier now!

hal9000


Joined: 01/12/2008
Posts: 154

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 19:52

Went through last month on AnadoluJet. Not a big airport, but very good; transit had restaurants, bars, shops, etc. 10TL for a beer, which is expensive by our standards but not bad for Turkey.

Comfortable, clean and efficient - a bit of a change there!

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 20:03

Sounds good - certainly changed since 2007 when I last changed flights there!

arrry



Joined: 19/08/2008
Posts: 1235

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:20

I have been through several times without any hassle . The Efes was 13 lira a pint ! but it is a nice new airport now . The immigration bit is always long winded but i haven't been held up yet . As for the visa thing , well i have had to pay the last three times and don't know about any back door !

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:37

Hi Arry, hopefully you can pay in TL? Not much sterling in Bavaria!

AllyTT


Joined: 13/09/2008
Posts: 188

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:42

kaiserphil - you *can* pay in TL, I just wouldn't know why you'd want to! I've never seen an exchange rate like the one they offer at SG airport. Last time I had to pay TL for a visa they used an exchange rate 1GBP=3TL!

arrry



Joined: 19/08/2008
Posts: 1235

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:46

Phil...i think you could pay in kind if you wanted to !!! LOL Don't worry it's a nice little airport with all the things in the right place .

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:47

Not good Ally, but if I want to get £20 where I live for our visas, it will cost me commission plus 10 euros. Maybe there is a better rate for euros?

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:48

Arry - looking forward to it. Also to TRNC, this will be my first visit since I left in 2008.

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
28/12/2010 22:51

OK, so I'm stupid - just realised I have some sterling left over from my last trip to UK.

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 13:46

Just an update for anyone interested. There is now a Transit desk which is a great improvement.

However, you have to wait for a policeman to let you through a door into the departure lounge. On the way out, we waited for 50 minutes before he deigned to arrive, so if we had had much less time between flights we may well have missed the Ercan connection.

So, they are not quite there yet, but have moved in the right direction.

renelapin



Joined: 19/05/2007
Posts: 136

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 17:17

Hi Phil,



we did it a few times the last 2 years, not being escortet by anyone. My wife just had to pay for her visa, we picked up our luggage (we changed the airline and it was not checked through to ECN), left the arrival area, turned left and took the moving stairs up to the departure area. All in all ca. 25 minutes.



Are you sure not to be on a special list ( perhaps terrorist or something similar, christian, democrat, bavarian) ?



Regards, Pfietdi,

Rene

kaiserphil


Joined: 14/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 17:47

Hi Reiner, no visas now. You don't get near immigration or the visa office.

Before you get that far there is a desk set back on the left called "Transit Yolcu". You check in there, they issue you with boarding cards if necessary, and you sit down and wait for the policeman to arrive.

Then he checks your passport and boarding card and lets you through a glass door at the side of the area, you climb the stairs, and there you are among the shops etc in the departure lounge, just in time to see Burger King close for lunch time!

I presume if you are changing airlines, and have to collect your luggage, then you continue straight on to immigration and proceed as you describe.

"Are you sure not to be on a special list ( perhaps terrorist or something similar, christian, democrat, bavarian) ?"

You are right, Bayerisch, that must be the problem! My wife is American, and when she enters UK you would think she had 'terrorist' tattooed on her forehead!

renelapin



Joined: 19/05/2007
Posts: 136

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 18:22

Phil,



guess you still are in NC, have a nice time and enjoy it, whole Germany is mud below 1.000 m above N.N.



Regards,



Rene

Lilli



Joined: 21/07/2008
Posts: 13081

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 19:08

Bon Voyage Phil and Carole. Rene sorry you are in a mudbath xxxx

renelapin



Joined: 19/05/2007
Posts: 136

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 19:23

Lilli,



for pigs mudbaths are absolutely okay, so why should we moan ? Best Regards to Guido and you,



Rene

Traveller0392


Joined: 21/03/2008
Posts: 186

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 19:32

. . . They need to improve the guys on the transit desk at SB. . . . And if the policeman is on his lunchbreak you might miss a connecting flight. . . . Seriously. . . Also if you are a transit passenger. . . Why are you paying for a visa. . . ? Not necessary. . If they make you pay, then you're not leaving the airport or international territory. . . We won't be using Turkish Airlines again after their terrible handling of this proceedure. . . Don't know their own rules. . . Go Easyjet via south, and that's from someone married to a Cypriot!

Texas


Joined: 22/09/2009
Posts: 634

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 20:26

We were on a transit flight through SG. Our bagage went direct to the correct plane, whilst we went to Transit. Very easy to find.



We had 90 minutes to get the transit guy Ercan to get the policeman. We asked 3 times. After 89 minutes he came, then told us to run!



We missed the flight. Now I always wondered why passangers check in their luggage but don't make the flight. It's probably not that they are shopping, it's probably that, like us they were stuck in transit.



Pegasus knew we were in transit, but rather than find us, they chose to remove our luggage for the flight and delay the departure by 40 minutes. Like the airline programme on TV, once they close the gate, you CANNOT board.



We were taxied to a local airport, had a good nights sleep and took an early flight the next day. All paid for by Pegasus. How much cheaper would it have been for them if they just bothered to see if we were stuck in Transit waiting for a missing Policeman?

renelapin



Joined: 19/05/2007
Posts: 136

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 21:34

Hm, so our way to pay the visa was not the worse way. We didn't miss our flights and had top stand no panic.

The visa for my wife was USD 20.-.



Regards,



Rene

Smity



Joined: 14/09/2009
Posts: 826

Message Posted:
16/01/2011 22:41

Went through a nightmare on boxing day on the wa inyto TRNC with Turkish Airlines 10 hours in the airport the

and again on the way back to the UK

The airport needs to make it more clear to incomming travellers.

We qued up to go through passport control only to be told we had to go through a screening process first so it took nearly an hour then our flight was called another hour.

Booked the pegasus for the next to visits at least you dont have to get off the plane