Turkish Airlines- horrible experience
 

I wished I had known this information beforehand. A quick google search would have provided multiple discussions on how Turkish Airlines' customer service is non existent. My husband and I found out the hard way.

We planned a multi-leg trip with Turkish Airline from Rome to Istanbul to Cairo to Athens. We only ended up taking the flight from Rome to Istanbul.

The flight itself from Rome to Istanbul was pretty smooth- no problems. The staff was cordial. We only had carry-ons because of the horrible experiences other users have had.

However, our overall experience with management turned out to be extremely frustrating and awful. Our first interaction with them was when we tried to cancel our Istanbul to Cairo part of the trip because the US department highly suggested that no US citizens should travel to Cairo (during March 2011). We had called Turkish Airlines prior to the trip. The conversation was difficult as the staff spoke limited English. They couldn't change only one leg of the trip without canceling the entire trip without a refund. Apparently in February they were allowing travelers to change their flights to Egypt, but they did not send out a notice about this via email or phone. I don't know how passengers were "magically" supposed to know. We happened to find out on March 2nd when we did a google search and found one obscure online article saying that Turkish Airlines was offering this. It was too late to take this offer.

We then decided to keep the trip but use one of the layovers that was originally intended from Cairo to Greece but stops at Istanbul to get to our final destination- Greece. However, due to their international rule and regulation, they canceled our entire trip because we did not board the flight to Cairo leaving us no way to get to Greece. They didn't inform us via email or phone like many other airlines do that they had canceled. We found out the day before we were supposed to leave Istanbul for Greece when trying to check in for our flight.

We accepted the fact that there was nothing we could do at this point but when we asked on the phone what we could have done to have prevented this surprise cancellation, the manager started yelling that she couldn't help us, and that it was our fault for losing the tickets. We asked again, "What could we have done in the future to prevent our flights from being canceled? If we had tried to change it, our entire flight would have been canceled. If we had gone on the flight, it would not have been safe for US citizens to go to Egypt yet." She admitted that she couldn't understand our question and started shouting at us that it was our fault that our flights were canceled and hung up on us. I was furious. She never answered what we should have done and she kept accusing us that it was our fault. Her tone was rude and never let me finished a sentence, Talking to "English" customer service at Turkish Airlines is no help as they do NOT understand English.

I tried calling Customer service again. The person on the phone said he would find out more by calling me back in 30-45 minutes. I waited one and half hours. During this time, I did a simple google search and found so many complaints about this airline and how the customer service is non-existence. The 2nd person at customer service never called back. I gave up on Turkish Airlines.

Usually the customer service is a place you go to for help and service. If the customer service is horrible, where else can you turn to? I've seen other frustrated customers and it seems like there is nothing else you can do. What have other frustrated customers do? Thanks.

I'm sorry you had such a difficult experience. I have flown with Turkish many times in Europe and the Middle East and have always had very good flights and service. That being said, I never had occasion to try making the changes you wanted.

However, I think you will find, if you investigate further, that you wouldn't have been able to make those changes with any other airline either, unless you purchased fully refundable/changeable tickets initially.

And most airlines also will cancel the rest of the itinerary if you are a no-show for one leg. I believe that's pretty standard throughout the industry.

I'm sorry, but I don't see where you have a complaint at all. It appears you didn't read the fine print when you were purchasing the tickets regarding changes/cancellation. What you are describing is standard on most airlines, not just Turkish Airlines. If you want to change/cancel any ticket, you must pay the fees to do and any expenses if flight prices are higher or you can get a refund (they offered you this and you didn't accept it). If you fail to show up for any portion of your ticket on any airline, the rest of the ticket is canceled. Standard procedure for all airlines.

>>>"What could we have done in the future to prevent our flights from being canceled?<<<

In the future, instead of buying discount tickets, you can buy a full fare ticket (which most people won't do because they are expensive) that can be changed, but it will still be canceled if you show up for the first leg or two, but then decide to skip a leg of your trip.

And I will add that just because the US government advises against travel it is not an international law. You do not automatically become a candidate for no cost cancellation. Generally, regardless of advisories, if an airline is flying to a destination their rules apply.

But there is a bright side ... your travel insurance may cover some parts of your loss. You did have insurance, right?

You have to look at a plane ticket as an entire package. It's more than the sum of its individual legs. If you want to change just one leg, it means reissuing the entire ticket, with the change fees involved and any differences in fare that apply. If you miss a leg, the rest of your itinerary is cancelled. That's not just Turkish Airlines. That's the way it is with any airline.

What could you have done to prevent these problems? 1) Have trip insurance. You'd have stood a good chance of being able to recover the added costs given the situation in Egypt. 2) Not miss any of your flights.

Which "trip insurance" policies cover the OP's situation?

A couple of thoughts:

1. The OP clearly doesn't understand when you skip a leg of a journey within the same itinerary without first resolving/rebooking it, the rest of the itinerary gets canceled. That is industry norm.

2. I wonder when the OP books his/her ticket. Mubarak resigns on Feb 11, and the protest mostly died down since then. So, he/she didn't care about problems in Cairo until March 2nd? Only because the State Department says one shouldn't go to Egypt in March?

Anyways, I agree with others that there's little chance the OP can get anything from TK. Maybe their customer service people did a poor job in explaining the issues to the OP, but I don't think TK owes them anything.

Jellybelly, in the future, if you have trouble understanding an agent, or if the agent is clearly not someone you want to talk to, hang up and try again.

If you cannot resolve the issue, do not just blow off a flight in the middle of a ticket. Keep trying to resolve it, either on the phone or go to the airport if need be.

My husband and I flew three TAL flights last fall. My daughter flew five flights, including one from Sweden to Ist and Istanbul to Bangkok. Booking them, flying them was a nice experience. They were prompt in applying our miles to Continental airlines as well. I would fly them again!

A large portion of the blame here goes to the OP. You don't just get to "change" your routing, schedule, etc on any airline without issues. When you decide NOT to get on a plane that you booked that can, and probably will, mess up the rest of your flights on almost ANY airline (SW being the only exception I know of and they don't fly to Turkey!)

And to expect other country flag carriers to give changes based on the US State Dept is probably just not realistic. Time to face facts on that folks.

I agree the airline could have responded better, but I also think we are getting "half the story"

I personally wouldn't spend anymore time/energy trying to explain things to the OP. She registered this AM just to post this and likely as not, she won't be back to read the responses. She is probably posting the same rant on other travel sites . . .

Turkish is ok not great airlinequality.com

OP is a "grudge" poster pretty clueless

just trash talktalker on all boards.

insuremytrip.com would have reimbursed her

cheap always wise to have in these uncertain times.

qwovadis, doesn't insuremytrip.com just sell other company's insurance policies? If so, isn't the blanket statement that insuremytrip would have reimbursed her at least an exaggeration, since some policies would have and some would not?

sf, of course you are correct. qwovadis has been pushing the insuremytrip outift for weeks.

Trip cancellation insurance (as opposed to medical/evac insurance for traveling) is a bad buy, no matter who sells it.

In this instance, qwovadis's advice is just foolish and costly. At least it's better than his previous advice to use a shady and unscrupulous airline ticket seller who deals in buying/selling air miles. Given the combination of poor advice and mostly incomprehensible posts, I would expect that most people are learning that qwovadis's posts can safely be ignored.

and lack of punctuation....

I've flown Turkish airlines several times and they were pretty good in the customer service department, and attentive in the cabin.

I spoke with their customer service on the phone while in Turkey, and they were able to cancel a domestic flight before my international flight home so I could rent a car and visit Aphrodisias, Pamukkale, Ankara, Hattusa, take the overnight train back to Istanbul.

The agent spoke English well, was kind, and happy that I was enjoying Turkey so much that I wanted to see more places before I went home. I had way more fun than spending the time in Istanbul (I'd been there before). As always, you attract more flies with honey...

A friend of mine was booked to go back to NY with the group (rigid OAT air dept), then had to turn around and fly back to Paris the same day. The original flight was delayed, and while rebooking, the agent just booked her straight to Paris, making my friend MUCH happier.

Just yesterday my friends and I were talking about how much we like Turkish Airlines! Certainly always pleasant service with excellent food. No complaints from us.

Your experience sounds typical of a lot of airlines, especially some of the third world carriers. Service is usually above average when you follow your original itinerary, but problems usually occur when you need to make changes.

Turkish is a Third World country???

Turkish is an adjective and Turkey is indeed a third world country. That is not to say it isn't a great country with a rich history and culture.

Turkey is a well-developed developing country.
"Third world" is an obsolete term.

Nothing in this complaint is specific to the airline "jellybelly" joined this forum to bad mouth. You can't just not show up for a middle leg of an air ticket and expect the rest of the legs to stay in place. No airline works that way.

Oops sorry, this is an *OLD* post, topped by Andre for some reason. This OP is long gone.

Everyone seems to disagree with the author but there is some degree of truth. I live in Europe and I have flown Turkish airlines about three times and in all the said times I have not missed an irregularity. The most common one is poor coordination between connection flights, I had never imagined I would keep time for the first flight then this first flight gets late and the other one leaves. In this case I was not late but the aircraft I was in was late for the next flight at Istanbul. I had to wait for the next day aircraft which was supposedly to depart 06.35 PM to Nairobi. I wondered what I would do at the airport for a cool 21 hours. Well I accepted the fact, when this happens for other airlines such as KLM which I frequently use nowadays,at least they pay or rather takes care of some of your expenses like hotel and meals prior to your next trip. It became a big show to 'convince' the management to reason in that way, partly because of LIMITED English language and I would say arrogance.

My second worse thing about Turkish airlines is the fact I had to run in order to check-in for the connection flights even when I just alight from one and go straight to check-in, I am young and I managed but the older ones had to go through the same process the original author of this article went through, coz they most likely missed the flight and probably had to wait for the next ones or even the entire flight is cancelled and the worst thing is its the airlines' fault not the passengers'.

Thirdly is lose and late deliveries of checked-in luggage. My bag had to be delivered on a later date just because the staff at Istanbul did not manage to transfer all the luggage to the connection flight. I had to file a complain and have my bag delivered in like two days, I had important things in that luggage and I felt pissed off. Nevertheless I was happy coz it got delivered anyways, one of my friends has lost a bag and had a hard time in filling complains with the airline for compensation of the lose.

Above all courtesy like posted by the original author of this article, is nothing to go by as per the Turkish airline staff. I even wonder why it should not be disbanded from the Star alliance group of airlines, unless the rest of them are also down to do with service.

Having have pointed out those few problems, I have to appreciate that the lapse has not been allowed into the engineering part of the airline because they still have good pilots and well serviced and maintained aircraft. But if the lapse is allowed to move from operation arm to the technical arm, I don't want to be a prophet of doom but I better let the CEO of the Airline know that I am predicting at least two aircraft accidents within the next four years, and the entire group had better been reading these complains because their competitors are using their weakness and their business once more, I don't wonna be a prophet of doom but will surely go under within the next ten years.

Oh yeah...change of gates also pisses off..gates are changed like four times and by the time you notice, you have missed your flight and they don't give a f%#k..

I fly Turkish Airlines quite a lot and for preference but there lots of points which they should do better.

1. Not only do their staff not speak enough English, it is sometimes very hard to contact them on the phone at all. I am writing this because their main, indeed their only, number 444 0 849 has been giving the engaged signal for about ten hours. Perhaps they have changed their number? No indication of that anywhere. I need to speak to them but what can I do? It is a nightmare.
2. English is often poor in announcements. Coming into Istanbul for example they explain to passengers that if there are customs facilities at their final destination, then luggage is cleared through to it automatically. If it isn't they must pick it up in Istanbul. OK bright passengers look at the baggage slip but I know scores of people who have been baffled by this to the point of becoming separate from their luggage.
3. The Turkish Airline website is also poor and unfriendly to users. Some days will not take Visa cards or times out or is just unintelligible.
4. They have some payment rules. If you do change a flight time and agree to pay a supplementary charge, it has to be paid in person at one of their offices. But in many countries now their only office is the ticket office at the airport. Why on earth can they not take a credit card payment over the phone or on-line?
5. I have heard terrible stories from friends whose connections were cancelled and Turkish Airlines staff failed to take the appropriate action or indeed any action, though they promised to do so. So I am in some sympathy with the original complainant.

Oh and I should have added that they have unnecessarily tight long distance international connections. On one transatlantic flight, they insist on giving a two hour only connection or charging you more. Three times I have caught the connecting flight within the US by the skin of my teeth but my luggage has missed the connection and I have had to hang around at my final destination waiting for it to arrive. However much you tell them about this, they just ignore it. Very poor.

Stop press: About twelve hours after I first started calling them, the Turkish Airlines number is now ringing normally. Only problem: it is now nearly eleven at night!

My husband and I recently flew round trip from JFK to IST as well as 4 Turkey internal flights--all on Turkish Airlines. We never had a problem and the flights were all as comfortable as any flights I have taken in coach.

I would like to share my experience with this atrocious airline:

On the 6th January I traveled from Istanbul to Erbil, Kurdistan. Upon my arrival both my bags were missing despite the flight being completely empty. The next day I received a call that my bags had arrived in Erbil. I went to collect them at Erbil International airport only to discover that only 1 bag had arrived and it was completely destroyed. The bag still missing contained most of my clothing and other important contents in order for me to conduct my business in Erbil. I called Turkish Airlines in Istanbul and had an extremely difficult time trying to firstly hear the agent on the other side of the line (sounded like the call was being placed from the bottom of a fish bowl)and the agents English was very poor. They were unable to assist me despite me giving them all the required information (tag numbers, flight numbers, boarding pass etc.) The contents of my luggage is probably worth more than US$ 3000 and some of the clothing was bought on my trips the the USA and can not be replaced. Today again I called Erbil airport to see if my bag had arrived but still nothing. In Istanbul I saw a pile of luggage scattered all over the place, some bags spilling their contents and I still remember thinking, thank goodness that's not my baggage, boy was that short lived. I saw on BBC and interview with the CEO of the company and he was telling the interviewer how great his company was and how they offered world class service. I think he needs to be re-interviewed and questioned about his companies poor service and how many of his customers have lost bags. I have visited various sites to express my anger about their service and was shocked to see how many other passengers have experienced the same thing. At Erbil airport they have a room full of lost and damaged bags and when you submit your claim via email you receive an automated response stating "***This is an Automated response***
Dear Sir/Madam,
We acknowledge receipt of your message and thank you very much for taking time to contact us.
We will study your request and due to high volumes will reply to you as soon as possible.

The message clearly reveals that they have a high volumes of lost baggage. Perhaps BBC should look into this and use this information when they next interview the CEO. I am taking this very personally and will stop at nothing to expose this airlines atrocious service. I urge all customers of Turkish airlines who have experienced the same sort of treatment to visit blog sites and social media sites to expose the poor service they are giving. I have no idea how they could have been voted Europe's best airline. Perhaps best airline in the category "Worst Airline in Europe"

What we want to say at here is that :

First, Turkey Airline damaged both our luggage but only compensate one. We think they damaged not only passenger's bags but also hurting their hearts.

Second, both there Beijing office and Head Office response passengers unbelievable slow. It took us three days to reach their Beijing staff and three months to get the reply from their head office. Turkey Airline only has one staff working at Beijing Airport who only comes to office a couple of hours at night. Although they set an emergency contact mobile number, they never answer the phone at all.

Third, Turkey Airline DISCRIMINATES PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND REGIONS. On their official web site, the Passenger Service on International Section allows passengers notice airline within seven days when their luggage damage. But in their Beijing office requires passengers must claim exactly on the day when they arrive. Any later claims will not be accepted. BUT, the funny thing is that their office is always closed and their staff can never be reached at all.

The last we promise at here to tell all people we know and all our friends around us not to take Turkey Airline any more from now on.

A couple from China

I have a question to the people who lost their baggage, 'did you get your compensation atlast ?' and also did you deal with turkish airlines customer care which is in istanbul? I would highly appreciate if you could reply on this matter.Last week i lost my baggage on ist-jfk flight. So i am really concerned. Thanks.

understand your frustration but normally ticket changes are not possible if you did not buy a flexible ticket which is costlier, no airline would do what you asked.

anybody have a US number for Turkish Air...not one that goes to Turkey?

Does this one go to Turkey?

Service Center USA

Monday to Friday:
Phone: +1 800 874 8875
Working Hours: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM (PST)* Closed on weekends and public holidays.

You can also select one of these.

http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us...s/offices.aspx

If you don't get any response to hose numbers, ask on the Turkish Airlines forum on Flyertalk.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...es-smiles-641/

I posted this on your other thread you.


kybourbon on Jun 3, 13 at 6:32am

Does this one go to Turkey?

Service Center USA

Monday to Friday:
Phone: +1 800 874 8875
Working Hours: 09:00 AM - 05:30 PM (PST)* Closed on weekends and public holidays.

You can also select one of these.

http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us...s/offices.aspx

If you don't get any response to hose numbers, ask on the Turkish Airlines forum on Flyertalk.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...es-smiles-641/

My baggage was damaged in Turkish Airlines internal flights. They were nice in the beginning to provide me with an email and asked for information.

It has been a month since then and I no longer receive any email replies or updates and cannot get thru their phones.

Any idea what I can do?

Claim it on your travel insurance.

I also have the problem with this airlines

I bought the domestic flight tickets of Turkish Airlines with my American bank account. and now i left The States so i canceled my bank account before i left the country. then I realized I couldn't make it to the trips in Turkey (Istanbul - Bodrum for round trips tickets) anymore. so I went to The Turkish Airlines Head Office in Taksim Square (Istanbul) to do cancellation and refund. Staffs there canceled my flights but I have to call to the Call Center for refund since I dont use that bank account anymore.

So i called I had to talk to many call center took me an hour for waiting and I talked to them just few mins. 1 staffs from customer service said I have to go back to the office that I canceled my flights and I could get a refund money in cash. I went back to the office next day in the morning. I talked to staffs there and they said I need a paper from Bank in America to confirm that I used to have that bank account and now I closed but Bank of America can not do anything. This bank doesnt do any paper and send to customers with Email. even can not do anything after the customers closed the bank account because they dont have enough information about customers to verify the bank account! so it mean I CAN NOT get any paper from Bank of America.

I called back to Turkish Airlines Customer Service to ask any other solution could they do or I could do to get my money ( 561 Liras, 8,404 Thai Baht, 260 US Dollars or 195 Euros) back. But they dont have any other solution. I can only have the same bank account or get a prove paper from bank account or... I lost my money... which mean I LOST MY MONEY

THIS TURKISH AIRLINES has really AWFUL customer services. They dont know how to find other solutions for customers to keep customers feel happy to traveling around the world with

so I would recommend to you who are reading this... dont buy ticket from this airlines staffs are not really nice in the airplanes. They dont have service mind which mean they should not be the flight attendance and customer service since they can not find any other way to solve the problem while other airlines could do the refund with money... They should not be the 3 biggest airlines in Europe anymore

HIGH RECOMMEND DO NOT BUY TICKETS AND FLY WITH TURKISH AIRLINES