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I will be travelling from Vilnius to Istanbul, and from Istanbul to Ljubljana. It is a connected flight with Turkish Airlines. Can I fly with only my ID? I do not have a passport.

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  • I'm guessing these are 2 separate flights and you will leave the airplane in Istanbul and board a different one for the next leg?
    – brhans
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 21:50
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    I am lithuanian
    – Goda
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 22:55
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    I would not leave the airport
    – Goda
    Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 22:56
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    No such thing as a "connected flight". I'm guessing you meant a single ticket with two flights. Which is quite different than, say, a single flight that stops in two cities, and you don't have to get off the plane.
    – user67108
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 7:55
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    @phoog connectING flightS, yeah. Connected flight, no. The OP seems to be under the false impression he's on a Vilnius-Ljubljana flight. Which it sure isn't.
    – user67108
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 12:38

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Yes, you are allowed to transit in Istanbul without leaving the transit area, as long as you can enter Slovenia (which you can).

However, many check-in agents are not aware of this, because of how poorly Timatic, the database used by them, has described this in the past. After I discussed this with my IATA contact, the database was slightly modified.

It now says (for Turkey):

TWOV (Transit Without Visa): - Passengers with a confirmed onward ticket for a flight to a third country within 24 hours. They must stay in the international transit area of the airport and have documents required for the next destination.

Even so, although you can fly, I would strongly recommend you to e-mail Baltic Ground Services (the check-in company responsible for Turkish Airlines in Vilnius) at [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] (yes, send to all three), and ask if they know this.

Ask if they are aware that, to transit at Istanbul without leaving the transit area, you do not need documents required to enter Turkey, only to enter Slovenia, and tell them that you're travelling to Slovenia on your Lithuanian ID.

If they say you can't fly, insist that they check with Turkish Airlines (they can contact a special department)

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    To whoever downvoted, please tell me how this is wrong
    – Crazydre
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 4:22
  • Thank you, I reached to them and was told that I can fly to Turkey with my ID as long as I do not leave the transit zone
    – Goda
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 9:49
  • Just a comment. Several years ago we flew from Crete (Greece) via Istanbul (just stopover to pick up more passengers - we did not leave the plane) to Amsterdam - our home country. Normally this is intra-Schengen but because of the stopover in Istanbul we did have to pass immigration.
    – Paul Palmpje
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 12:56
  • So you needed your passport?
    – Goda
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 12:59
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    @Chris Good the check-in staff knew :) To be safe, print their e-mail message in case the specific agent you get at bag drop and/or the gate in Vilnius is an amateur.
    – Crazydre
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 15:35

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