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I have seen the discussion about the Turkish Airlines COVID Cabin policy which makes little sense. Regardless though, does anyone know if they are enforcing it? I, like many, will be transferring at a European Airport on two tickets issued separately. I can't check my luggage all the way through from Istanbul to Malaga and can't exit customs to collect the luggage in Brussels (without a forced quarantine or denied entry) so I need to take my cabin luggage on board with me from Istanbul to Brussels. I can probably get it down to 8 kilos for 2 weeks but no-way can it weight 4 kilos. Would love it if anyone who has flown TK recently can share their experiences.. thanks

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    Even if you can uncover some anecdotal evidence that enforcement is lax, do you really want to rely on it? What happens if you're not allowed to take the 8kg bag into the cabin?
    – user105640
    Commented Aug 8, 2020 at 2:18

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Absent a Turkish government or airline notification on this matter, the 4KG limit is in effect - as Arthur suggests in the comments, anecdotal information given today is not valid beyond the specific incident it refers to, in so forth that what happens to someone else today is never applicable to you tomorrow.

My suggestion is, if you have a requirement for more belongings at your destination than you can carry onboard within the limits defined by the airline, and checked luggage is not an option, then ship your additional belongings to your destination using a reliable shipper such as UPS, Fedex, DHL etc.

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I've flown on Turkish Airlines this week. I can confirm that your luggage does not get weighed at the gate, however you wouldn't be allowed to board with anything other than a small backpack or other type of handheld bag. If your bag looks like it will fit under the seat, they will let you through. If not, you would be forced to check it in.

So if you can cram all your stuff into a small bag, go ahead. Otherwise either see if you would be allowed to exit in Belgium for a brief period of time or fly via a different airport.

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    Or change to an itinerary that allows checked baggage to be checked through.
    – Patricia Shanahan
    Commented Aug 8, 2020 at 13:35
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I wanted to reach out and report my actual experience with Turkish Airlines. Because of legitimate concerns about not being able to board with a cabin bag weighing more than 4 kilos, being forced to check it and this impacting my ability to remain air-side in Europe, I rerouted my entire trip. The rerouting did still involve transiting but now I was boarding TK to Istanbul as the LAST flight of the journey so if they decided to check the bag at the gate, it would not impact my itinerary. I was flying business class. I can report that when I arrived at the departure gate in Munich (having arrived on Lufthansa), they did look at the very small under-seat wheelie that I had purchased especially for this flight and said they had to check it. I protested saying it did not have to go in the overhead but they were adamant and so I let them tag it. At no point was the bag weighed. They instructed me to hand it over to the TK staff person before boarding the plane. There was indeed a TK staff person at the entrance to the plane who, looking at my bag, said it was small enough that I did not have to check it in. I questioned this and he confirmed he was and told me to place it in the overhead bins. Shortly after me a TK pilot boarded with a similar bag and he too was allowed on and placed it in the overhead.

Like most airlines, TK is serving cold snack boxes. They had a variety of drinks including wine and beer. Not sure about spirits.

The next day I flew Egypt Air to Cairo again in business class. I had checked on the Egypt Air web-site and their cabin policy listed was almost identical to Turkish so when I checked in, I expected them to check in my small wheelie. However, the check-in agent after looking at the bag said it was not necessary. The bag was not weighed. While boarding, I saw many travelers in both business and economy with considerably larger wheelies than mine and there was no restrictions on using the overhead bins. So Egypt Air is clearly not following the regulations outlined on their web-site.

Egypt Air also served a cold snack box and only offered water or juice to drink. No other beverages were available.

Hope this is helpful

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