Ankara Airport: hardly a dull experience, but hardly ideal either.

Turkey’s main city is Istanbul – there’s no doubt about that. But the capital of the country is Ankara, and that’s where we needed to go last week for a variety of important business meetings. Ankara Airport is a modest one but it all the same impressed us with its interior design – featuring even a pool (but without the fish). Ankara Airport also gave us an adventure unlike anything I’ve ever encountered in my highly active and lengthy travel experience!…

So here’s how it went….

We flew Moscow -> Istanbul (layover) -> Ankara. Still in Moscow, when we asked where to pick up our luggage, and whether we had to go through any red-or-green customs procedures in Istanbul, we were told that the luggage would go straight to Ankara and so we had nothing to worry about. Okay, great: most convenient.

We fly in to Istanbul, go through passport control, and board a domestic flight to Ankara. We take off, are 50 minutes in the air, and land. // The flight was somewhat bumpy – especially in thick clouds. Rationally, I know that turbulence is normal and totally safe. But the spinal cord panics, pumps out adrenaline shot after shot, and torments the brain, which just wants another 15–20 minutes of sleep. But I digress. Back to the story… //

We land in Ankara, taxi in, park by the terminal, and the jet bridge is connected; everything seemed normal – no surprises. I usually don’t rush in situations like this; I wait in my seat and watch the other passengers scramble to grab their belongings in a great hurry, only to then stand in the aisle waiting for the bridge (or stairs) and the door to open. I’ve long known there’s no point in rushing. Just sit, wait, and relax; especially if there’s no passport-control line ahead, which can sometimes get uncomfortably long.

Once the jet bridge was in place, we heard a knock knock knock on the aircraft door from the outside: the ground crew signaling that the bridge is ready. Then “everyone” (more on this below) began to disembark.

As per, we were flying business class, and so were the first to exit. We walked down the jet bridge, then through terminal corridors following the signs for “Baggage and Exit – this way”. Everything seemed standard. The surprises started a bit later…

Unsuspecting any impending problems, we made our way to the baggage-claim hall, found our luggage carousel (number 25) marked with our flight number and the bright label “Istanbul” – and got ready to wait. That’s when things went pear-shaped…

Only around six or eight folks showed up to collect baggage; certainly fewer than ten, which was strange considering the flight was full. Then things went… pomelo-shaped!

We could tell straight away something was off. We called our colleague who’d flown economy – and she said she was still on the… bus! Bus? What bus – if we’d walked directly into the terminal via the jet bridge? Ten minutes later, she called and said they’d been dropped off at the international terminal, where they’d already collected their bags and exited. What the actual flippin’ heck?!!

The situation turned out to be… non-binary. About eight passengers (those seated in the front rows) managed to exit into the domestic terminal via the jet bridge. Some luggage was sent there too, and I think four passengers got their bags. That left the other four – including us: me, my travel-companion, O.S., plus two other women (one spoke English but not Turkish, the other – the opposite).

The rest of the passengers were put on a bus and driven to the international terminal (without going through passport control!), where they picked up their luggage at carousel 13. How does that even happen?!

So what to do? You can’t go from the domestic arrivals terminal to the international one. And if you exit out onto the street, you can’t get back in.

Turns out, anything can be arranged over the phone. An airport employee from the lost-and-found office called security at the international zone and got us access back in from the street – no questions asked: no documents, no baggage tags, no nothing! That’s Turkey for you, folks! So we finally grabbed our suitcases at unlucky carousel 13 (mercifully still there all on their lonesome) and then rushed to our hotel! We were rushing because it was almost midnight and we’d a packed working schedule the following day.

Here’s the domestic terminal where we’d waited for our suitcases in vain:

We’d a lot of business in Ankara, so there was, alas, zero tourism. The only photos I’ve got to show you are those taken from my hotel room:

This airport incident reminded me of a few others…

For example, once we were flying for business on the route Moscow – London (Gatwick) – Jersey (the small British island in the English Channel). And we had the same question when leaving Moscow: where do we collect our luggage? Will it automatically arrive in Jersey, or do we need to pick it up in Gatwick, go through customs, and have it checked in again for the Jersey leg? What’s the correct procedure?

// Different countries and regions handle this differently. In some places you retrieve your luggage at the destination airport (e.g., Schengen countries); in others you need to pick it up and immediately have it re-checked-in for the next leg (e.g., China). I don’t know how it currently works in Russia. //

So we were in the same boat. Flying Moscow to London internationally, then London to Jersey on a domestic flight. What do we do with our three large suitcases?

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a clear answer at Sheremetyevo: the British Airways reps contradicted both each other and the flight attendants!

// Btw, our route that time went like this: Moscow – Jersey – Paris – Ushuaia (Argentina) – Antarctica! – Buenos Aires – Porto Seguro (Brazil) – Sint Maarten – Amsterdam – Antwerp – Dubai – Moscow, or something like that. //

So we had three large suitcases and two options for their delivery: at Gatwick + re-check-in, or at the Jersey airport.

Three suitcases, two possible scenarios. Which one was the right one?

You won’t believe it!…

Not one, not two, but three! ->

• We intercepted the first suitcase at Gatwick and re-checked it in for the second leg;
• The second suitcase made its way to Jersey by itself, and we picked it up there;
• And British Airways just plain lost the third one! It took a couple of days to find it and get it to us!

You’d think such a tale could only be told from well back in the past (our Gatwick adventure was eight years ago). You’d think a system would have been adopted by now – by all airlines the world over – for the smooth passage of unaccompanied luggage when you fly somewhere internationally. Turns out: nyet!