Can Someone Explain international Flights and Why This Scenario is Cheaper?

I'm looking to fly to Turkey within 3 weeks, I know that with International Flights you should books way ahead but I had an opening in my summer open up for \~2 weeks and decided to take the plunge. I am located in California and want to fly to Turkey, I was mainly looking to fly directly to Turkey and found that flights were about \~$800-1,200. However, I had a friend in the UK and while it wasn't my first option, I found that if I fly to the UK it'd cost about $500-600 and then from the UK I could fly to Turkey for \~$300-400. Can anyone explain why it'd be cheaper to add a stop in London before flying in Turkey? I don't MIND stopping in UK but if I could just fly directly to Turkey I would probably prefer that. Also, besides Condor does know what the cheapest way I could get from California to Turkey is? If I do make a stop, I would prefer it to be in the UK so I could visit a friend, but again, if I can find a way to fly directly for cheaper I would prefer that. Thanks! --- **Post Details:** - **Subreddit:** r/travelhacks - **Author:** u/Mangon09 - **Score:** 8 upvotes - **Upvote Ratio:** 57.0% - **Comments:** 47 - **Posted:** 7/1/2025 - **URL:** https://reddit.com/r/TravelHacks/comments/1loksc0/can_someone_explain_international_flights_and_why/