[Clement Huang]

Hi all,

We at Business Traveller Asia-Pacific have noticed that less-than-satisfactory airline experiences are often shared on this forum. We welcome readers to send us Letters to the Editor at <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]. With a formal letter of complaint, we can then contact the airline involved and seek a response through the formal channel.

[openfly]

Thanks Clement…..great suggestion. Hope you don’t get inundated!

[Comfy53]

Dear ‘grace0627’ and ‘seaonedtraveller’,
As ‘canucklad’ points out, there is absolutely no point in complaining to Turkish Airlines because they ALWAYS ignore complaints! No matter what e-mail or surface address you use, you will not get a response. Like ‘canucklad’, I wrote to the CEO of Turkish Airlines (and other directors) and this too was ignored. I even wrote to Star Alliance who passed the complaint on to Turkish Airlines, but this too was ignored.

The process and energy involved in trying to get a response from Turkish Airlines Customer Services only ‘adds insult to injury’. Indeed, the annoyance created by this process becomes bigger than the original issue you write to TK about!

In my own case, I eventually got some response after writing to Alex in Business Traveller – this was after 6 months! TK claimed that the lack of response was not usual for them and that my complaint must have been lost or mislaid – they obviously don’t read this forum! They offered me a one-way upgrade the next time I fly with them (would I be so stupid!!!) but I had to ask for clarification about a few points in relation to this – naturally, since September 2011, I’m still waiting on a reply.

When everything goes well when flying with Turkish Airlines, it can be a good experience. But, just like Ryanair and other budget carriers, when anything goes wrong, you are on your own.

There is only one way to deal with Turkish Airlines – don’t fly with them!

[Clement Huang]

Hi all, we highlighted the issue to our contact at Turkish Airlines who sent us the following response:

“Thank you for expressing your views and dissatisfactory experiences flying with Turkish Airlines from and to different destinations. As a customer-focused airlines which aims to provide comfort and quality services to our passengers. All your views and feedback are therefore taken into serious account and reviewed. We will certainly answer your questions and feedback you with the necessary actions we would take based on individual case and situation.

We would suggest you letting us know your case by contacting our Customer Service Centre. Our customer service center staff will follow up with you on your case and take necessary actions accordingly. Alternatively, if there is anything happening during your trip with us in your departure/return destination, you could also contact our local sales/ticketing office directly and we will be happy to hear your feedback and try to resolve your issues.”

As we understand that some of you (e.g. Comfy53 – who started this forum thread) have already gone through the normal communication channels to no avail, we informed our Turkish Airlines contact of this. He responded by saying that Comfy53’s case (not getting a reply for more than five months) was very exceptional, as Turkish Airline’s Customer Service Centre usually replies within a few days, and depending on the complexity of the problem, might take up to another 4 weeks to follow up.

The response team provides a unique Feedback-number for each enquiry. Therefore, for future issues, anyone who wishes to check on the status of his/her complaint is recommended to input the Feedback-number in the following website: https://www4.thy.com/customercontact/index.tkf?lang=en

Cheers and happy travels!
Clement

[canucklad]

Thanks Clement

You’ve started my week off with a wee laugh.

“Turkish Airline’s Customer Service Centre usually replies within a few days, and depending on the complexity of the problem, might take up to another 4 weeks to follow up”

A brilliant business jibber jabber response!

All I wanted them to do was attach my AC Aeroplan account to my booking, a task that Sergei the meerkat aptly has the correct word for!

FIRST HA DE HA HA
Our customer service center staff will follow up with you on your case and take necessary actions accordingly…….

TK person … I not hear Air Cladada, please spell

Me…..A-I-R …..
TK chap…..EHHH splell please

Me…

Alpha
India
Romeo
Charlie
Alpha
November
Alpha
Delta
Alpha

TK person
“This I understand not knowing, I can’t complete this request” ……… Derrrrrrrrrrrrr ( hang Up noise)

2ND HA DE HA HA
“We will certainly answer your questions and feedback you with the necessary actions we would take based on individual case and situation.”

After the incident above I penned a letter to their CEO, with a return address obviously.

Mr Temel Kotil’s favourite film must be “ Alien “ as his company definitely exercises the mantra “In space no one can hear you scream “ and there must be a big void in space between Istanbul and West Lothian as months later, my postman hasn’t had to break his back carrying even a letter of acknowledgement never mind a proper response.

3RD HA DE HA HA
“ The response team provides a unique Feedback-number for each enquiry”

On my original e-mail enquiry I did receive this message, apx 3 weeks later.

Your message has been registered by to Turkish Airlines, thank you for your interest.
Also, you can track your message with your Feedback Reference Number mentioned below

To track my message I would have needed the skills of Crocodile Dundee : )

So thanks again Clement for making me smile and also for reminding me to post about my actual experience flying with TK , which I will do at some point this week .

[Comfy53]

Hi Clement,
The story below which was published in The Irish Times today (14th April, 2014) contradicts what Turkish Airlines says about its normal level of customer service. Its an interesting read.

Regards,
Comfy53

You’re grounded: don’t lose the departure gate lottery

After we were denied boarding on a flight to Mumbai, we quickly realised the extent to which our rights as passengers were being trampled upon

By Davin O’Dwyer

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/you-re-grounded-don-t-lose-the-departure-gate-lottery-1.1759313?page=1

It’s a sad truism that you usually realise the extent of your consumer rights only when those rights have been trampled upon.

I am now something of an expert in air passengers’ rights, and here is the frustrating situation that led to this unwanted expertise. It was the first day of a month- long adventure, a journey around India that my girlfriend and I were somewhat casually describing as a “trip of a lifetime”. So it was with an understandable amount of giddy excitement that we commenced the journey at Hamburg airport.

We were to fly with Turkish Airlines to Mumbai via Istanbul – we had flown with them to Istanbul previously and were impressed. The flights were a good deal cheaper than most rivals’ but the airline’s burgeoning status as a major global carrier meant the good value didn’t set off any alarm bells.

When we approached the departure gate at Hamburg we were informed that we could not be accommodated on the Istanbul to Mumbai flight and that our bags had been taken off the aircraft due for departure from Hamburg. We were told we could possibly be accommodated on another flight leaving later that day but that we had to return to the Turkish Airlines desk in the check-in hall.

And it was there that the Kafkaesque fun really started. Airline staff immediately disabused us of any notion we would be getting a flight later that day. The Istanbul to Mumbai flight was heavily overbooked, which is entirely legal, they explained, and for some reason we had been selected to be denied boarding. “There are lots of other unfortunate people in the same situation,” he told us, as if this was some sort of consolation. The following morning was the earliest we would be going out, and he booked us on a Lufthansa flight via Frankfurt.

At this point I had a glimmer of a memory of reading something about air passengers’ rights and compensation in the event of delay or non-travel. I asked about our rights, about compensation, about transport and food expenses caused by the delay. “Send an email to this address,” said another Turkish Airlines staffer, scribbling a customer support email address on a Post-it note, “and you can claim compensation. And keep your receipts.”

Stand up for your rights
We protested politely about the unfairness of it all but slunk away, deflated and seemingly powerless. But it was only once we got back to my girlfriend’s flat did I get angry, as a quick Google search revealed the extent to which the Turkish Airlines staff had ignored our rights as passengers.

Since 2005, EU regulation EC 261/2004 has enforced the rights of passengers, and it’s pretty explicit about how airlines operating in the EU are supposed to behave when flights are overbooked or delayed.

First of all, passengers can’t just be randomly selected in a sort of reverse-lottery, with those chosen denied boarding, as happened to us. Instead, the regulations state that a carrier “shall first call for volunteers to surrender their reservations in exchange for benefits”. Furthermore, airlines are obliged to provide passengers affected by delay or denial of boarding with a written copy of the regulations. A carrier denying boarding is obliged to offer meals, refreshments, transport and accommodation to affected passengers, as necessary.

Above all, the carrier is supposed to offer a specific amount of compensation, determined by the distance to the final destination and the length of delay in getting there. In our case that meant €600 each.

But all we got were alternative flights and an email address. I immediately sent a detailed email to the address provided – and got a swift automated message back, informing me that the address was no longer in use. Navigating the labyrinthine world of Turkish Airlines customer care, it was clear, wasn’t going to be easy.

Thanks to Lufthansa, we got to India the next day, and it really was a trip of a lifetime. But every few days I would try to follow up on my initial complaint via online feedback forms and the occasional phone call, attempting to get the compensation and, hopefully, an apology.

However, Turkish Airlines’ customer support is not so much Kafkaesque as entirely illusory – it offers a convincing facade of customer care, with support numbers and feedback forms and an abundance of reference numbers. But the fact I received only automated responses, merely registering my complaint without doing anything about it, fobbing me off indefinitely, suggests it doesn’t do a very good job of caring for its customers.

When we returned to Hamburg we approached the Turkish Airlines desk once more, figuring we could at least get some answers in person. After a heated discussion, we were finally given the €600 compensation each that we were owed. But when we asked about recovering the expenses we incurred, which were supposed to be covered by Turkish Airlines after all, we were given that same, broken email address and told to send in our receipts.

Half a dozen phone calls to Turkish Airlines customer care since then were fruitless, and it wasn’t until I made contact with the press relations department in Istanbul in relation to this story that I finally received correspondence from a human being who worked for Turkish Airlines. This was more than three months after we were denied boarding.

Tellingly, a profuse apology finally arrived within days of contacting the PR department. “We would like to indicate that the matter you have expressed has been cause of great regret for us . . . All staff members are reminded repeatedly through training programmes that they must carry out their duties in accordance with rules and also must keep in consideration the satisfaction of our valued passengers.” They offered us the same compensation we had already received, bafflingly.

Similar stories
In telling the story to friends, I’ve heard of three other people who were involuntarily denied boarding by Turkish Airlines due to overbooked flights – anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but enough to suggest our experience wasn’t entirely an aberration.

Aviation regulators in both Germany and Ireland, to whom complaints over airlines’ behaviour must be addressed, wouldn’t comment on the track record of specific carriers, and Turkish Airlines refused to explain its policy on seeking volunteers in the event of overbooking, or whether regulators have found it in breach of EU rules over denying boarding.

My experience shows that it pays to be aware of your rights to ensure you’re not the lottery loser at the departure gate – in such situations, airlines have all the power, so knowing your rights is the only defence you have. And yes, I’m still waiting for those expenses.

[Henry]

Hi, next time you should fly Finn Air, great service too

[SimonS1]

Clement – looks like you have fed the same fob off lines as several other people.

The best soluton is to vote with your feet. Find a decent airline.

[Clement Huang]

Hi all,

Business Traveller Asia-Pacific did press Turkish Airlines for more information, but the carrier has since stated that those were their final comments on the subject.

However, as we have brought this forum thread to their attention, they may be keeping an eye on it…you never know!

Clement

[msyentumi]

Hi all, my family and I booked a flight to Ghana in May 2014.
The flight booked stated that there was one stop off in Istanbul both ways, however on my return flight to London, the plane stopped in Abidjan (Nigeria). We were not advised of this and neither was this on the itinerary/E-Ticket.
With the unrest in Nigeria if something had happened, my family would not have known where we were.
After a 3 hour stopover in Nigeria we finally got to Istanbul to find out that the gate for the flight to London was closed.

THIS WAS NOT OUR FAULT and my husband and I were therefore stuck in Istanbul with a tired and hungry 4 year old for 4 hours until the next flight to London.

We were given new boarding passes but NO apology.

We were told that there was complimentary food and drink BUT after wondering around the airport for nearly 30mins trying to find the customer desk we were told that the voucher machine was not working.

We were expected to wait for 4 hours with nothing, no food or drink, the staff at the airport were not interested in providing any form of assistance and did not care.

I made a complaint on line in June 2014 did not hear anything after several weeks. On the 2nd July I called the Turkish customer line (in Turkey) and after being on hold for over 15mins, I was put through to a customer officer who advised me that the complaint was still being investigated. I asked him what the complaints procedure was an how long I would be expected to wait and he told me that ‘the complaint would take as long as it needed to take and they would contact me’ .

I have gone back onto their website again today to add to the complaint stressing that no contact or compensation has been provided and yet I still wait.

The experience was bad and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

[AnthonyDunn]

After my own experience of TK routinely revising their flying schedules thereby making connections either impossible or impractical, I was only able to solve the issue by parking myself at TK’s office in Hammersmith, London W6.

As for TK’s Skytrax “European airline of the year 2014” award, I tend to treat it with the same respect as Russia and Qatar being awarded the 2018 and 2022 Football World Cup tournaments by FIFA. The inexplicable and the unaccountable.

[seasonedtraveller]

My experience of TK’s dealing with complaints is that they will completely ignore you in the hope that you will eventually ‘go away’

Well, that’s what I have done this year – I have made a decision to not fly with them again, ever – I’m sure it makes absolutely no difference to them if I boycott them or not, and they know it but, I took my final flight with TK in May 2014.

I now boycott – both TK and Air Canada Rouge (should be Rogue!!) and they don’t care but it makes me feel better!

[alistairNicoll]

do they even have a customer service department?

Seasoned traveler this is exactly the right thing to do and perhaps not what you meant in the first line that TK simply hope you will go away!

Still no doubt their government are subsidising them so why should they care.

As for the rest of us there are still some airlines that offer the highest level of service and take seriously any complaint

[Charles-P]

My lawyer in Istanbul tells me the first stage of the court case I have running there has passed the first stage which means a judge has decided my case has merit and can proceed. I was told he decided this in part because of the lack of response by TA to the court papers sent to them. It seems they ignore not just passengers but their own legal system as well.

[alistairNicoll]

As I said earlier ” the acid test of any service company is how they respond when things (as they will inevitabley do sometimes) go wrong”.

i was more than impressed with the way Etihad responded to a recent problem (which included phone calls from managers in both the UK and from Abu Dhabi as well as emails from the customer service people) and would have no hesitation in using them again or in recommending them. I should add that there was no compensation sought or offered but as far as I was concerned I wanted to know that management would take my concerns seriously and act and this I am sure they have done

[Author]

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