[azidane]

Evening all, hope everyone is keeping safe.

Some advice is needed if possible. A friend of mine who is the Master of a private yacht berthed in Valencia in Spain was returning to the vessel after leave in Egypt, his home country.

He flew TK from CAI to IST to connect to VCN. In IST he was denied boarding as he did not have a Permission to Board letter from the Spanish police, he managed to obtain this but was told this was insufficient and after a night in a airside hotel and repeated calls back and forth and another letter from the Ministry of Interior in Madrid TK finally relented and allowed him to board but only after charging him €280 for a new ticket having laid out €150 fr a night in the hotel and to top it off his bags never made the flight.

Can TK do this according to EU regs?

BTW my friend says TK staff in IST were the most obnoxious and unhelpful he has ever encountered and has vowed never to fly with them ever again.

Thanking you in advance for any possible advice.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bullfrog

[cwoodward]

NOT AGAIN !
In my view his first mistake was ever going anywhere near Turkish Airlines. There are many threads on this forum regarding the serials failures of Turkish, obnoxious attitudes and non existent customer service.
My advise to him is too just walk away and put this down to experience as he will never get any satisfaction from Turkish.

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azidane, Bullfrog, DerekVH

[canucklad]

[quote quote=1097495]NOT AGAIN ![/quote]

Hi azidane, same advice from as as the last thread , and the one before that and the one before that.
Advice your friend ti write off the loss, put it down to making a bad choice and move on.
Otherwise your friend will just become frustrated and bitter and waste valuable time they’ll never get back pursuing a lost cause

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azidane, Bullfrog

[azidane]

Thanks for your replies gentlemen, I thought that would be the case.

I have only flown TK once, which was in 2019 from Khartoum to Manchester and thankfully had no issues and I am flying them on Saturday from Cairo to Manchester so fingers crossed I have no issues.

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Bullfrog

[Inquisitive]

Due to Covid-19, now is a special time and this case is a special situation, TK may not be fully responsible for this.

If OP’s friend checked the Spain entry requirements at Cairo, situation could have been different.

Per the post it is not clear if the no objection letter was received before the original flight departure. If not, I am not sure how TK is responsible.

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Bullfrog

[azidane]

He was allowed to board in Cairo with no questions raised, its when he was boarding at Istanbul that it was raised, bearing in mind he has a seaman’s passport and yacht crew are classed as key workers in Spain.

He has told me he’s not going to pursue it and just won’t travel on TK or visit Turkey again.

Politics may somehow be involved taking into account the tensions between Turkey and Egypt over the last few years.

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Bullfrog

[SAS]

The rules and regulations pertaining to international travel are in a state of near constant flux thanks to the COVID 19 epidemic.

Therefore an airline not permitting people to travel freely at this time is not surprising. The rules must be upheld to a letter.

That said, every airline, Turkish included, is required to be respectful towards its clients and rude behaviour is not acceptable. I second the comment by Inquisitive the airline may itself not be responsible for the situation.

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Bullfrog

[canucklad]

Totally agree with you SAS, along with inquisitive you make very valid points.

Either way , with this airline it makes no difference — Nothing is their fault or their responsibility
The one corporate mantra that definitely doesn’t apply to Turkish Airlines is

“The customer is always right”

quite the opposite in fact !!

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Bullfrog

[cosmoB2012]

Hi there,

I totally agree with your friend. From 2008 to 2012 I frequenly booked long distance flights with TK due to unbeatable prices in business.
Ok the food was always the same, the crew on board from great to mediocre (never been seen during the flight, or suddenly pretending not to understanding English no more), but the seats were solid and the lounge in IST quite nice.
Once in 2012 I had a flight from HKG to IST and then continuing on to Berlin. Due to heavy fog in IST the departing flight was delayed by 4 hours, so my onward flight to Berlin would be gone once we touched down in Istanbul. The gate next to us was a flight from Hong Kong to Munich on Lufthansa which was on time. I therefore asked the flight manager at TK if he could rebook me on the Lufthansa flight (ticket was in the highest booking class and could be rebooked and transferred to other StarAlliance airlines). The LH station manager was fine with me changing airlines but wanted TK to release me from their flight). The TK guy agreed that he basically could do that, but he didn´t want to and promised that I would make it for the onward flight and if not would be greeted at the gate and given a new boarding pass in Istanbul. I wasn´t happy but finally agreed as it was very late already. Of course once we arrived in Turkey, the next flight was gone and no one prepared any alternatives. I went to the rebooking desk in the lounge where they were not willing to understand (at times talking to me in Turkish) that I need a new onward flight. It took me 90 minutes of insisting until they finally issued one and basically threw it at me with “this is the last time, this time the good will was on our side”. From then on TK was never on my list of carriers and they lost 20K € of yearly business.

2 users thanked author for this post.

JXW, Bullfrog

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

At the moment it might not be possible to avoid TK as they are one of the only carriers able to get people to/from UK and other European points to cities across Africa and Middle East and Asia. But when things go wrong the customer service has a lot to be desired. Had issues with the airline not understanding the rules around testing for host / destination countries correctly and refusing boarding when they should not have done so. Staff are pulling information from poor sources (or incorrect sources) and problem is often made worse by airline handling agents who are over cautious in understanding and interpreting rules (not just a fault of TK – but multiple airlines / handling agents right now).

To be fair – it is an utter minefield and many check in / handling agents don’t understand things like seafaring exemptions as even the best port of call to try and encompass all the latest up to date / correct entry criteria is not always specific enough or up to date.

However for TK it should have been possible for TK to reissue the ticket and collect at worst a “no show fee” rather than make client pay for a brand new ticket (unless fare difference was substantial – and not that they “no-showed”).

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Bullfrog

[azidane]

Thank you for all the replies and info.

My friend has decided not to pursue it as not worth the time and energy.

My own flight on Saturday from Cairo to Manchester went smoothly, although I was scheduled for a 1hr layover in Istanbul, as we arrived about 15mins late Manchester passengers were met at the gate and escorted to the short connection security area all in all with us going straight through security it took 15mins of very brisk walking one way, descending 1 floor, through security and then about 15-20mins brisk walking back on ourselves to the MAN flight, a golf buggy would have been useful but this was the only gripe.

On arrival in Manchester I was outside the terminal 20mins after landing so all in all a decent journey.

[Inquisitive]

I have a simple piece of advice something similar I said in another thread and that is as follows:

On company paid business trip, fly always direct flight where possible.

When travelling with my money on holidays in economy class I always try to book direct flights. It may cost $100/$150 extra but it is always worth the money compared to other hassles.
If I want a cheap business class vacation, I keep enough time and fully enjoy any delay etc in the lounge or explore the airport and treat that experience as holiday learning.

With the present day economic situation and with reasonably cheap tickets, there is no point cribbing about airlines whose margins are really low.

4 users thanked author for this post.

JXW, simeoncox, Woodpecker, Johnnyg

[maxgeorge]

I’ve flown enough on TK to qualify for top tier on their Miles & Smiles FF programme, most recently SKD-IST-SFO.

Never had a problem, though 2-2-2 seating in Business is not my favourite.

A lot of the animus, I suspect, is political. Cumhuriyeti Türkiye is on the US ‘bad boys’ list as Erdogan won’t do what he’s told.

What gall!

[AP46]

I traveled aboard Turkish airlines from Los Angeles to Tehran with a layover at Istanbul airport, on May 31, 2021. Although I had read lots of negative comments about Turkish Airlines and how poorly it treats passengers, I thought that Turkish Airlines should be a more trustworthy airline company, given the fact that it is a Star Alliance member. But I was so wrong.

My boarding pass for the Istanbul-Tehran flight segment did not have a gate number yet, so due to Covid-19 situation, when a gate was announced on screens, I went to that gate, not knowing that there were two flights leaving for Tehran with about an hour difference. Since we left Los Angeles later than scheduled, it seemed to me possible that the flight to Tehran would leave a bit later as well.

Contrary to any other airport I have ever been to, no carrier/flight announcement or a passengers’ name last call was made either. At the time of boarding, I noticed I was at the wrong gate, and got to the right one just at the time they closed the airplane’s door. I went to the Turkish Airlines counter where I was offered to buy another ticket for $280 for a flight that would take off in two hours. I was surprised that they would not let me take the next flight for free, so I asked for some time to think about it. I came back to the counter to buy that ticket, but the Turkish Airlines employee told me that he was trying to help me earlier, but because I did not accept that offer, my next option would be to wait for the 8:30 pm flight and buy a $400 ticket (it was about 1:00 am local time at that moment and the boarding of the $280 flight had not even started). I found it very unacceptable that an airline company would not honor their customer or recognize their responsibility for not having even called my name once. Moreover, they were acting as if they were teaching me a lesson. As a result, I ended up booking an Istanbul-Tehran flight with another carrier. At the same time, my baggage for which I was charged $80 at the Los Angeles airport to be delivered in Tehran was taken to the baggage department of the airport, and that employee did not even bother to explain this to me. I was lucky that another airport employee to whom I was complaining later on mentioned this.

My return date was set for May 6, 2021 at 8:30 am. I left home at 4:30 am to get to the airport on time. However, I was told that because I did not follow my trip sequence, my return ticket had been cancelled and the unused portion of the ticket would not be refunded either. This is obviously in total contrast with other airline companies that are flexible with their passengers, especially during this Covid-19 situation. Interestingly, Turkish Airlines did not even bother to inform me ahead of time so I could plan adequately. I was offered to buy a new ticket for $800. I decided not to proceed with their new generous offer. Due to this situation, I also lost the payment I had made earlier for my shuttle reservation at the Los Angeles airport for May 6, 2021.

I made a huge mistake ignoring all the negative comments about Turkish Airlines and choosing it over Qatar Airways which gets all the positive comments. Don’t let Turkish Airlines ruin your trip. As for myself, I will make sure not to fly aboard Turkish Airlines, or buy tickets with a layover in turkey ever again.

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Johnnyg, Frederic, Jacob

[Author]

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