Turkish Airlines
Reviews and Complaints

I was on the Turkish Airlines flight TK0012 from New York to Istanbul on Friday 23/2/18 that arrived in Istanbul on Saturday 24/2/18 at 17:45. My connecting flight is to Lagos International Airport on Sunday 25/2/18 by 15:50 which means I have a 22-hour transit time. I got to Customer Service desk at Gate 215 asking for how to get a hotel and I was directed to the Hotel desk which I needed to pay $40.70 visa fee to get access to. I was very shocked when I was told I was not entitled to a hotel because there was another flight from New York with a shorter transit time or something along those lines. I still do not understand why that should affect me considering I am basically spending a whole day. Cases should be treated based on individual circumstances and not flight based. Does that mean I now need to watch out for flights alternative flights with shorter transit times before booking? As a customer, I should be able to book flights comfortable for me and not the airline.

Secondly, I was being passed around to speak with different people and they were all being very dismissive, rude and unhelpful. I ended up spending the whole transit time in the airport because during the whole back and forth, I lost my wallet and couldn't even pay for a hotel room if I wanted to get one from my own purse. I was not even offered a stay at the lounge and when I asked, they said they couldn't even check me into the lounge.

I must say Turkish Airlines ground staff are the worst I have encountered in terms of customer care. They show little or no regard for customers, lack respect and are arrogant.

I will be giving my reviews and sharing my horrible experience with Turkish Airlines on different online platforms and I certainly would not be flying Turkish Airlines ever again nor will I be recommending it to anyone based on this and previous other experiences like delayed landing that led to missing my connecting flights (twice). I missed my graduation ceremony in 2015 because of this and my luggage did not get delivered until 4 days after and I received no compensation whatsoever.

Turkish Airlines need to get their act together!

Hello. I wana submit a complain against one of the Turkish airline employer in Serbia (Belgrade). she was very rude and unprofessional and made me very stress. also she was very mean. and speaking with the customers with very bad language... I was trying to cancel / change the time for some Reserved ticket. and she didn't help me at all. made me cancel the ticket in the same time I could change the date and pay less fees.. I hope you take some serious action against this employer.. Turkish airline is number one airline in the world and its really sad that these guys are Employ a people like this...

thank you very much
Capitan Ahmed Barasi > pilot at Prince aviation company.
regards..

name of the employers : Alexsandra she was the one who is working at the 3PmUTC. 23th Feb in turkis airline office. Knez Mihailova 9 street Belgrade

Booking Reference# RUUEM5
My flight on 11 February 2018 was from: San Antonio - Houston - Istanbul - Entebbe
- This flight was already paid for and confirmed
- I contacted the Houston ticket office to depart from Houston and not San Antonio. On the same flight and booking #.
- I was informed that the cost of changing the departure airport will be $68.
- I confirmed to proceed and completed the Credit card Authorization form.
- I did delay in sending a Passport copy and copy of the credit card due to not having access to a scanner but the online credit card purchase for was completed and send back. it had all the needed information for the purchase including the CVV number.
- I was told that the credit card copy was not clear. I believe it was. Also, all the card information could be found on the Authorization form.
- I was told to proceed to the Turkish Airlines ticket sales counter at Houston airport. It was not mentioned what the new cost would be.
- At the sales counter I was told to pay the $68.
- I was then told to pay a further $390
- This is an unacceptable cost as I did not miss my flight. I only changed the departure airport but was still on the same booking. This is almost 1/3 of the total flight cost. At the counter there was another gentlemen that missed his entire flight to Dubai the previous day, with connecting flights and was told to pay the same amount.
Further:
- A reserve purchase of $68 was done twice (x2) on the card. One deduction was made and the 2nd is still reserved on my account.
- A reserve purchase of $390 was also done twice (x2) on the card. One deduction was made and the 2nd is still reserved on my account.

The person assisting with this was very inexperienced with dealing with the situation, had a lack in understanding and operating the credit card machine and had to run to the back office all the time to get information from a 3rd party.

I can provide bank statements and e-mail correspondence to confirm the above.

Kind Regards,

Theodor van Rooyen

Paul Dikobe
Am Alfredusbad 5
45133 Essen
Germany
February 5, 2018
Turkish Airlines
Service Department
Dusseldorf International Airport
Flughafenstr. 120 (Terminal C)
40474 Dusseldorf
Germany
Dear Turkish Airlines,
I recently had a problem with your service and I am writing to obtain compensation.
On February 3, on my transit in Istanbul from Dar es Salaam, due to short transit time and extreme bad service of the Airport ground crew, I missed my corresponding Flight to Dusseldorf.

Instead of just re-booking me in the next plane (seats were available), the Airport staff in Istanbul obliged me to buy a new ticket for the next flight to Dusseldorf, threatening that I would have to sleep at the Airport, to take a plane the following day. This tactic was clearly a setup to oblige me to pay for a new ticket.

Upon arrival at the Dusseldorf airport, we learned that our flight was redirected to Cologne Airport. We landed in Cologne very late and boarded a transfer bus to Dusseldorf Airport, which was completely closed at that time. As a result, I had to order a special Taxi to drive me to my destination to the city of Essen.

As a further consequence, I missed the primary Taxi my wife organized to pick me up, but the Taxi Company still charged me because the flight was delayed and I was not able to give sufficient cancellation notice.
The experience was difficult and frustrating, and it cost me $413.98. I believe your agency is responsible for the following fees:
• Extra new Ticket: $244
• Taxi (Dusseldorf - Essen): $84.99 (= 68.50€)
• ordered Taxi for initial pick-up (receipt not available): $84.99 (=68.50€)

Please find receipts for these expenses enclosed and call me at +[protected] before March 18 to confirm that you will honor our requests.
Sincerely,

Paul Dikobe
Enclosures:
- The Additional Ticket
- The Taxi receipt

My son decided to send my husband and myself on a holiday to Turkey
As my husband was diagnosed with
Cancer and is going to bave major surgery once we return home
We flew from king shaka aorport
Tk43 on 8 Feb 2018 @ 4pm
Seats 32 J abd 32 K

Its the 1st time we flew with turkish airlines .Seating was most uncomfortable hardly in leg space and very restricted space

The service of the flight attendents was pathetic. We felt as of they think they are doing us a favor
Absolutely unfriendly, no smile and definstely not polite
We rewuested for watee seceral times as my husband wanted to take is medication was told to wait but nothing was brought
We rewuested for veg meals
There was a mix up
The toilets were also not cleaned
Absolutely disappointing
You expect to get pleasant attendants who enjoy what they doing
I regret booling on Turkish airlinez
I dread going back home on the same flight

To whom it may concern,
My name is Hiba el hajj, i am a doctor working in Brussels and i take every two weeks a flight to go see my family in Lebanon. I took the flight from Brussels to lebanon, round trip(departure from Brussels February 1st, return from Lebanon February 4th)
When coming back from Lebanon to Brussels (flight number: Turkish airlines 825, ticket num: [protected]/3 ) there was a delay of 53 minutes.
We waited in the plane all this time and we were informed after 30 min of waiting that there is a technical problem regarding the music and movies, they were not functioning properly. After this delay with departure, no one explained to us the security measures, neither on the tv nor in person.
After landing at 7h33, I had to run like I never did in my entire life to catch my next flight. I was the first to arrive at the boarding gate at 7h40 and there were waiting a man and a woman.
I saw the bus that was supposed to get us to the plane in front of the gate. When the man screened my boarding pass, I wasn't identified on the system because as he explained they removed our names from the system. He told me u can't get on that plane and they don't accept any modification now because of a problem that may issue with the luggage transfer.
I explained that I had no luggage, neither a carry on nor a suitcase.
He told me again that I can't get on that plane. Few minutes later a couple came by and got their boarding pass verified and took the bus to the plane and at that moment I was shocked and furious.
Arrived at the transfer desk, I knew that the next flight is on the next day at 9am. The person in charge called Eva told me that there is no place on that plane and I told her that I am a doctor and I have to be at the hospital. I asked if there was any business seats she told me: yes but can u afford it?!
I had to take the flight at 12h45pm and missed a day of work when I had to see many patients.
I was shocked from the way she treated me, it was like I was the one responsible for the delay of the first flight.
I know that such delays happen but I'm sure when it is the case, clients must be treated properly and an effort should be made to make it up.
I was really disappointed especially that I was intending to take this flight every 2 weeks to go to Lebanon!

I flew with Turkish airlines from Vienna to Muscat with a change in Istanbul. Our flight from Vienna to Istanbul was late because of the bad weather conditions. So they decided to leave my luggage in Istanbut and send it with another flight the next day. Since I didn't have anything with me, neither clothes or toothbrush I had to buy some clothes and other articles today and want a full reimbursement for the articles and actually also some reimbursement for my time I had to spend on the airport and buying those things instead of enjoying my holiday.

I traveled on Turkish Airline from USA to PAKISTAN and booked my luggage and payed $420 but when I reached Pakistan and collected my luggage that was under weight but tagged of 32 kg slip and when I opened my luggage my vehicle shocks were not found in it all proof are attached here
so it is requested to Turkish Airline Please check and inform me what happened
MANY THANKS AND PROFOUND REGARDS
Contact # +[protected]

Dear Turkish Airways,
I am writing to express my absolute dissatisfaction with the flight on 20/01/2018 flight number TK1972 to Istanbul and connecting to Hong Kong flight TK0070. Both of these flights were delayed, with the TK0070 flight clocking up 5hrs delay!
This has resulted in us (myself and partner) being stuck at the airport overnight with minimal services offered at the lounge. Throughout the whole experience there was no communication or explanation by your staff either on the plane or at the airport as what the problem was. The information desk in Instanbul was very unhelpful providing us with one sentence ‘write to customer services'.
The whole experience was very distressing for us both as we subsequently experienced difficulties with pick up at Hong Kong airport and a loss of a day of our holiday.
In addition, when on the Hong Kong flight the entertainment system had damaged/visibly burned out remote control and did not function thus my partner was left without this facility- an experience on a business flight we did not anticipate at all. To make things even worse our luggage in Hong Kong arrived soaking wet with clothes completely wet throughout and we wonder whether this was due to the bags being let outside during the long stopover as it rained badly in Instsnbul. We have used this luggage numerous times over the last years and never had this problem.
This was the first time we used Turkish airlines for the holiday of our lifetime and have been so disappointed that we are dreading the flight back nextThursday.
Details: Denisa Milucka and Alastair Irvine
E-ticket: [protected] and [protected].
Please take this email as a formal complaint, we hope to hear from you soon as what your compensations intend to be.
Kind Regards,
Denisa Milucka

Hi there,

We are a team of 11 passengers who were travelling for only 4-5 days to attend the martial arts Euro Cup in Sicily, Italy. The trip was on 14-December-17 (Kuwait-Istanbul-Rome-Sicily) and back on 18-December-17 (Sicily-Rome-Istanbul-Kuwait). On our way there all our luggage was delayed for 3 days and received on 17-December-17 (before travelling back by 1 day).

We have taken time off our work and our children took time off their schools just for this event. Having ALL our luggage lost really disrupted everything. The children performed poorly. The adults were stressed throughout the holiday. Our main concern each day was the bags - between purchasing essential clothing, jackets, underwear, pajamas, toothbrushes, everything! Not only that, but after the luggage arrived to Palermo airport (Sicily) after 3 days, nobody can deliver it because it was a weekend. We then had to leave the tournament, rent a bus to go get the 7 bags! No words can explain the frustration we have. This holiday was a nightmare due to this incident by Turkish airlines. I myself am a gold star alliance member and I don't think I will be taking their flights again. The whole team is frustrated and wants to escalate this.

We claimed only for our expenses borne due to this incident (items purchased during the 3 days). Total expenses are 3195.68 Euros and invoices for everything are available for three families of total 11 persons had their luggage lost for 3 days.

Also, as informed by Turkish Airlines, each person shall receive USD 50 compensation per day. This means an additional total of USD 1650.

We did not even claim for our flight tickets nor hotel accommodation as our travel was a disaster. We are only claiming direct expenses. If we take this case legally we will be claiming for all expenses, including flight tickets and accommodation for all 11 persons.

Thanks

Good day I flew from Cologne to Istanbul flight (TK) 1674 on 22 January 2018 at 17.20 and Istanbul to Cape Town on 23 January 2018 flight (TK) 44 leaving at 2.25 arriving at
12.35, I checked in 2 suitcases. One of them arrived fine but the smaller one arrived broken. The handle of the suitcase was broken off from the wheels on one side. I can send you photos. The bag was not heavy weighing approximately 10 kg. I will not be a able to use the bag again. The size of the bag is 58 x 37.5cm. I can be contacted at +[protected] or [protected] or at [protected]@gmail.com. Thank you and
kind regards
Adelheid (Heidi) Kuesel

I mr ofuagbon kingsley chinedu. My ticket number is:etkt 235 [protected]. Booking ref:amadeus:uphyro, airline:tk/tk42lw. I bought a ticket to travel with turkishairlines on the 17th of december 2017. I arrived nigeria that same night to discover that of my 5 luggages, which I paid for 2 extra luggages, the sum of €435. The biggest bag among them was not among. I reported to turkish staffs at murtala mohammed airport that night. They gave me a form to fill, which I did. Then, the next day, I travelled back to delta state. I travelled to lagos 3 times of my bag. The christmas and new year presents in it was out of reach. I had to spend another €1450 rebuying things that I have bought because my bag returned 2 weeks after my arrival. They destroyed my stractic travelling bag I bought for €320. They also destroyed my big black bag. The sum of money expended totalled €1770. How can I get my money back?

I will like to complain about the service we received whilst waiting to check in for the turkish airlines flight from Thessaloniki. We were on a connecting flight and due to weather conditions and poor organised airport in Thessaloniki we were not able to fly out since airplanes were not coming in or out. Firstly I would like to complain that after booking our flights with Turkish Airlines we were never informed that there are delays or problems with flights on the day. Due to this we were stranded at the airport from 7am till 2.30pm.offcourse turkish airlines changed our flight since the one via Istanbul was cancelled. But even the person at the Turkish Airlines desk was very impolite and we were offered a drink and snack voucher for the 7h wait at the airport. Overall a very unpleasant experience and not only because Thessaloniki airport was not organised properly and weather was poor, but Turkish Airlines didn't do anything to assist us and make this unpleasant experience bearable. We arrived London at 10pm after being at the Thessaloniki airport at 7am.

I always split my tickets as it is cheaper for customers but constantly face the same problem in Nairobi at check in where turkish airlines staff refuse to print out a ticket for the second leg. Kindly clarify if i can split my tickets and buy two separate tickets for my one journey both with turkish airlines. If i can, i would be very grateful if you could sent advice not to disturb customers. Thank you.

To whom it may concern:

I'm Azam Ahmed from Sudan. I have booked a flight ticket on Turkish Airlines (ticket No. [protected]) from (PEK) to (KRT) which had a 15:25h layover at Ataturk Airport.
Before booking the ticket I read the Turkish Airlines layover policy that said: "A complimentary hotel accommodation (maximum 2 nights) will be provided to our valuable passengers when there are more than 10 hours (for economy cabin passengers)". But after arriving at Ataturk's airport I was surprised that the hotel was outside the airport and I needed a Visa to exit the airport. If I wanted to enter Turkey I need to apply for it at The Tutkish Embassy in Beijin or any other Turkish diplomatic missions before departing to Istanbul -because I need to apply for the visa at least one week in advance- due to the Turkish government Visa eligibility regulations.
Visa procedures are on every traveler's pre arrival preparations list, hence most well known Airline companies offering free hotel accommodation on long layovers provide a brief notice on visa requirements for it's passengers depending on the passport they hold so the passenger can arrange whatever he needs before departing to his destination. But in my case I didn't know that until I came here. And this is undoubtedly the Turkish Airlines fault.
If I knew that I am going to stay the whole 15 hours at the airport I wouldn't have booked the ticket in the first place . Now I'm stuck at the airport sitting on a chair for 15 hours.
Not forgetting to mention the unprofessional treatment I received from your staff. And the unplanned 100 US dollars I had to spend during my stay at the airport on food and other stuff, Plus all the stress and anxiety I had because of the circumstances of the situation I was forcefully put through.
What happened to me during this flight is a clear violation of my passenger rights. I herbey beleive that I must receive (not less than 200USD) as decent compensation for the moral damages and monetary losses mentioned above.
I look forward to a full response to this letter . If I do not receive a satisfactory response I will not hesitate in taking the matter further which will include, but not be limited to, informing the regulator and if necessary starting proceedings through the Small Claims Court.

Sincerely,

Azam Ahmed,

Passport: P01419201

mc.[protected]@gmail.com

My son and I flew Bangkok -Istanbul - Bangkok and I had purchased a seat upgrade for both of us at approx. USD 75 per person per one way e.g. USD 300+ in total. We had no issues from Bangkok to Istanbul but at time of return the check in counter staff refused to issue the ticket (for which you had already accepted payment AND had no issues with to provide him on our first flight) because he was 16 years old and apparently the minimum age for that seat was 18 years old. My two issues I have with this are 1) why does Turkish Airlines accept the purchase if the legal age is not in compliance? And 2) why was my son allowed the fly the first leg/ flight but refused for the second?
This is completely unreasonable and I would therefore insist on reimbursement of the one flight paid seat upgrade for my son. I am disappointed in Turkish Airlines as to how this was handled. I was very upset, as was my son, that we had to be separated on the flight from Istanbul to Bangkok. I normally enjoy flying with your airline and have several flights planned for this year via Istanbul for me and the family but do now have serious concerns and feel that perhaps no care is given to your customers due to the inconsistent service provision. I expect to hear from you on a solution.

My brother was travelling from lax to mumbai in Turkish airlines on Nov-28-2017 tk0010..And when they reached to Istanbul the flight was delay so the missed the connection. And than Turkish airlines reroute their flight momma via singapore.When they reached momma after 48 hours they did not found their one check in bag. And now its been more than a month whenever we called they are not giving proper answer for our lost bag.First they told us that our bag is in momma airport but when we spoke to momma airport they confided that the did not receive bag from Turkish Arlie's and when they asked baggage loaded report from Turkish airlines they refused to give. And now they are not giving any proper answers and on top of it they give metal stress and harassment. I will like to file complaint against Turkish airlines for lost our bag and mainly for give mental stress and mental harassment. Because of Turkish airlines lost our bag we are in depression and we are not able to do anything right now. They are very rude and not helping us anyway to find our bag. My brother flew Singapore and Istanbul again to find out where is our bag but still we did not find it. And now I m depression and taking pills for Turkish airlines . So please help us to find our bag. Attached is the copy of complaint letter which we got from Mumbai airport along with bag Tag number and flight details. Please let me know if you need any more information.
Tejas Variya
[protected]

My name is Jose Ignacio Alcon Rubio.

Below is the details of my booked flight from Turkey, Istanbul - to Tajikistan, Dushanbe. Boarding pass is attached to this complaint, as well.

Flight: TK 0254
Class: Y
Date and Time: 07 JANUARY 21:40

My fligh from Istanbul - to Dushanbe has been delayed and my bussiness day have been affected.
Compensation for delayed flights was established by EU Regulation 261/2004, guaranteeing up to €600 per passenger for flights which are delayed for three hours or more.
Please, I would like the Turkish Airlines to pay me the compensation for the delay in the Turkish Airlines Representation Office in Dushanbe.

My telephone number:
+992 [protected] / +[protected] (Tajikistan)
+[protected] (Madrid)
Email: joseignacio.[protected]@afconsult.com
[protected]@tajhydro.tj

Lookinf forward to your prompt reply and taking the appropriate measures.

3 friends and I were booked to fly from Havana (9 Jan) to Johannesburg (Landing 11 Jan) via Istanbul. We were unable to get to Havana and called Turkish airlines to request a change of flights to fly from Miami (instead of Havana) and connect to Johannesburg. We made more than 6 calls (on the 8th of Jan) being constantly passed from one department to another by the call centre agent. The last call on the 8th was 1h25 min with a gentleman named Mert 1) communicated 2 vastly different refunds amount for the similar tickets, 2) refused to give me a supervisor to help note that we weren't a no-show 3) Refused to give me a reference number for the call or give me his full names as reference for the call made 4) Kept me on hold for more than half the call until I hung up. The service is horrendous and there is a lack of consistent communication from the 6 differrnt agents about the same query.

Dear Sir

I am extremely annoyed and dissatisfied with your airline and customer service .

I booked and paid for emergency exit seats coming back from Istanbul flight Tk1476 .

First problem was that I could not check in online from Kharkiv Ukraine. When I got on the plane, my seats were gone and I was stuck in the middle of the plane .

When I asked for my seats the staff were very unhelpful and the chief of staff ground crew was extremely rude .

I presented my credit card payment and later my tickets. All I was told by this rude [censor] is that he cant see it on his system and I must decice3 to either fly or get off the plane in the [censor] small middle seat and take it up with Turkish Airlines for a refund !

I hereby demand the following :

1. I am reimbursed in full
2. I formally want to lodge a complaint against the ground crew and air crew who did nothing to resolve the problem
3. I want o be compensated with 2 free business class tickets in future for my inconvenience

Regards,

Ruahan Naude
CEO