Uncertainty fills those flying to Turkey from SFO
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- For passengers waiting to board Turkish Airlines flight 80 to Istanbul there was uncertainty.
"I've got a lot of friends on Twitter, Facebook and everyone's telling me 'You're not going to land anywhere in Turkey," said Pedro Olivera.
RELATED: Turkish officials say coup plotters being arrested; 42 dead in clashes
"It will take a few hours until we get there, hopefully it will be open by then," said passenger Ariella Shaya.
Many were monitoring their phones, waiting to learn new developments. Some decided this was not a good time to fly.
"They were saying that some bombings were happening. So, literally we don't know what's going on. So we didn't want to send my mom back," said San Francisco resident Tan Uysaloglu.
His mother came for a wedding a few days ago. She'll stay a few more days until they feel things have calmed down.
Passengers arriving from Istanbul learned about the coup de tat on the plane.
"The person next to me had a live feed on his screen and he nudged me and pointed to it and I was just shocked," said Jennie Lane, a resident of Ankara.
"There's Wi-fi on the plane as well, so I started to get text messages from my friends, because they knew I was in Turkey so they were concerned about me as well," said passenger Ergun Genc.
One of the first places taken over by the military was Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, which has now reopened. It's the same place where suicide bombers attacked just weeks ago. None of which is comforting to passengers.
"Well it's not fun, I mean you hear all the news and, so you know, I got a family here, been a lot of planning," said passenger Pete Meyers.
Flight 80 to Istanbul did take off Friday evening, but it's not clear what will happen in Turkey during their 13 hour flight.
For the full story on the coup in Turkey click here.
