Turkish Airlines has suspended ticket sales to Mexico from Russia until the end of July

Turkish Airlines has stopped selling tickets to Mexico from Russia, a Forbes correspondent was convinced of this. When you try to find tickets from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and other cities to any airport in Mexico, a message appears: “We do not have a single flight for the date and route you selected, or all our tickets have been sold out. Change the date and/or route for a new flight search.”

The closest date for which we were able to find tickets from Russia to Mexico is August 1. Later, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) reported that Turkish Airlines offered travel agents to cancel tickets from Russia to Mexico in the period from April 23 to July 31, RIA Novosti reports.

However, tickets to Mexico from Istanbul are still available for purchase. Also on sale are tickets for flights from Russia to Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Cuba, as follows from the information on the airline’s website.

Problems with boarding Russians on Turkish Airlines flights from Istanbul to Latin American countries began at the end of February, RIA Novosti wrote. On April 24, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the government and the Russian Foreign Ministry were working to resolve the situation with Turkish Airlines. When asked whether Vladimir Putin was going to discuss this issue with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Peskov said that the countries have “constructive and friendly relations.” Russia intends to use them to “solve those problems that, unfortunately, inevitably arise,” the Kremlin spokesman added.

On April 23, the Human Rights Council accused Turkish Airlines of Russophobia. The Russian embassy in Turkey advised Russians to think about the advisability of using the services of Turkish Airlines. The Russian Embassy also reported that it had sent a note to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and asked the airline for clarification. The denial of boarding may be due to the fact that through Mexico, Brazil and Argentina “there is a large flow of people wanting to cross the US border,” including illegally, ATOR noted.

On April 23, Turkish Airlines published a reminder on its website in Russian for passengers from Russia who fly to Latin American countries in transit through Istanbul. The memo lists the conditions that Russians must comply with to board flights to the airports of Caracas (Venezuela), Mexico City and Cancun (Mexico), Bogota (Colombia), Havana (Cuba) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). Among the requirements common to all passengers are the presence of a credit card and sufficient funds and the absence of differences between the dates of flights, hotel reservations and visa validity. When boarding a flight in Turkey, controls may be carried out, as when entering the host country, the memo says. “Passengers who do not meet one of the conditions for the specified airports may experience problems boarding the relevant flight,” the airline warned.