Turkish Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Turkish Airlines needs to offer transfer service options (maybe even check in at pick up location) like Emirates does if it wants to remain competitive as the current arrangements for the new Istanbul Airport are greatly inadequate. The check-in kiosks are still not operating reliably. TGS staff were present to offer assistance. However I can not see TK moving all operations in less than a month without damaging their overall product and reputation as the new airport still lacks a proper lounge (the Turkish Airlines Corner arrangement although a improvement from a weeks ago still just a makeshift), restaurants, retail and other basic facilities. Boarding conducted in a orderly manner and on-time departure. The 2×2 seating business class product on this fairly new 737-800 is as good as it gets with IFE and ample space. The breakfast offering was of good quality with a tasety Turkish cheese selection and cold cuts. The scrambled eggs main dish was average. Very good selection in the bread basket. Attentive crew and smooth landing on time arrival to Baku, which is probably the best airport in the region and a pleasure to fly in to. TK offering a very good onboard product with major shortcomings on the ground, IT and customer service side devaluing their product.

✅ Trip Verified | Turkish Airlines is the best domestic service and value within Europe. Turkish domestic flights across the board are quite cheap by EU and US standards, having paid $40 for a flight comparable to Boston-New York or London-Paris. Boarding was quite speedy and orderly, and what a treat to be on an enormous long-haul aircraft like the Boeing 777-300ER on such a short route, really feels special. Legroom and seat width are stellar by domestic or international standards, with a very neat and clean appearance. Inflight entertainment was not activated for this roughly hour-long journey, but a standard Turkish-style warm cheese sandwich was provided, the quality of which rivals $9 buy on board options in the USA. Cabin crew, of course, were professional and quick but not rushed. Arrival into Izmir was smooth, and we arrived at an actual gate, as opposed to needing to take a bus from a remote stand. Overall, this journey was well worth spending a few more bucks than the bus or flying Pegasus.

✅ Trip Verified | Istanbul to Bangkok. Old plane, when boarding no air flow in 10-15 min, Bad Air until air con started. Warm food and dessert was ok taste, but side dishes, salads etc, I could not eat. Normally I eat all in airplane. After eat, cabin was quite hot. I inform level of the temperature to air steward, but not much change. Its better sleep in cooler, because you have blanket, clothes to add on! Even cheap ticket cost, I like to pay 100e more, for decent air carrier.

Not Verified | Toronto to Cairo via Istanbul. Worst experience ever. On the way to Cairo there was a snow storm and all flights announced that they will be delayed. Turkish Airlines insisted that they will leave on time, instead we were all boarded and locked inside the plane, on the ground for 3.5 hours! Because of the delay, I missed my connection flight, which happens all the time. The issue was how they handled it. We were given no information on the plane on what to do now that we missed our flights. We just had to walk around and ask randomly. They said we have to stay in the country as there are no flights till tomorrow and that they will pay for the visa we purchased. They put us in a hotel and I contacted them 11 times and objected twice as they refused to pay me back for the visa purchased. They finally agreed to pay only 28 USD but what I actually paid was 70 USD. On the way back , they were also delayed for 3 hours and again I missed my connection flight and the exact same happened. Only this time they had no straight flights to Canada. So I had to fly to Heathrow and from there to Toronto. Workers are rude and they told me : well, if you think we are always late then just don’t take Turkish Airlines. I hated every aspect of that trip, they need to work on their customer service. All I wanted from them was to give exact and clear information on what can be done to deal with them being late. Instead, they just let us wander around and wasted Everyone’s time. Never again will I go with them even if the alternative is more expensive.

✅ Trip Verified | Ankara to Frankfurt on Turkish Airlines. Quick check in using the priority counter. Following passport control headed to the lounge which was too warm and had the very basic selection of food and beverages. This lounge is worlds away from TK’s lounge in Istanbul and one of the worst I have ever visited. The WiFi did not work despite repeated attempts. Headed to the gate well in advance of boarding time and much to my disappointment we were bussed to the aircraft when there were several vacant air bridges. On board the hard product was decent and having chosen an emergency exit row I had plenty of legroom. The service was extremely slow and by the time I received my lunch it was already cold. Food was well below the standard I had come to expect from TK and I see this as a telltale sign of service deterioration. FA’s went about executing their duties as if they were on autopilot. The IFE had a good selection and like my inbound journey, the audio jack did not work well causing frequent loss of audio. The flight departed and arrived on time. Despite being tagged as “Priority” my bag took considerable amount of time to come out and was delivered well after those that were not tagged as such. I have been using TK regularly in recent years and the decline in quality has been steady. The next time I travel to Turkey, I will most likely choose a different carrier.

✅ Trip Verified | Frankfurt to Ankara. Checked in well in advance as I was connecting from an overseas flight. The agent had difficulty locating my reservation despite having been presented with an electronic boarding pass and my passport. At the gate, boarded with the priority group given my status on Star Alliance. On board, the hard product looked good and with the exception of my audio jack the seat functions worked well. Following take off we were offered lunch with two options for main course. The food was tasty for economy class and the portions were OK. Several beverage choices including beer, wine and spirits were offered. The IFE had a glitch where every movie choice was directed to the wrong film each time. The seat was comfortable enough for economy. The flight pushed back and landed on time. I have taken multiple international and domestic flights with TK in recent years and as with my previous flights, this one had passengers standing up and walking to the front of the aircraft while taxiing. The FA’s did not force them back to their seats and simply replayed the pre-recorded safety message. As a result, the plane taxied for about 10 minutes with several passengers standing in the aisle and opening overhead bins risking the safety of others around them. Whilst most of my on board experience has been pleasant with TK I am appalled to see that their FA’s do not enforce the most basic safety rules and simply ignore violations. This is a very concerning display of TK’s safety culture and raises questions about the rest of their operations.

✅ Trip Verified | Ankara to Amsterdam via Istanbul. After a mediocre Business class flight to Turkey with them, we decided to stay at Economy for our flight back. The IFE is pretty good and worked well for me. Food and drinks are also okay. However cabin service was way too slow for a very short ESB-IST flight which over-hastened the eat and drink joy for half of the plane. IST-AMS service was alright, although the food quality is drastically decreasing. Their ground service and staff have major setbacks everywhere, only getting worse. Also, the seat pitch for both flights were literally terrible - barely 30 inches each. Their economy seat pitch does not put them above the category of low-cost carriers. They used to be my favorite airline, not anymore. I no longer prefer them if I have another major airline option on any route.

✅ Trip Verified | San Francisco to Mashhad via Istanbul. Worst airline ever! I bought the tickets 6 months in advance. After two months they send me a text message that the connection flight (second flight) has been canceled! The customer service representative told me that we often cancel the flight because of the weather or technical issues! How come you can predict weather and technical issues 6 months ahead! I asked them what will happen if at the airport they do not give me accommodation. Guess what is the response; "We can not guarantee the hotel, we are sorry!" You can cancel the ticket whenever you want but you can not provide accommodation - this is not customer service.

Not Verified | Amsterdam via Istanbul to Havana return. I'm really satisfied with the overall performance of THY. The seat pitch is quite good. A lot of choices and a very good responsive personal entertainment system, the food is really good and the quantity of the food they offered you is certainly enough. You receive an amenity kit on the long haul flight, which is a nice touch. There is live television and WiFi on board, but the Wifi was quite expensive. The live television worked perfect, I could watch a live soccer match! Downside is that the crew sometimes a bit tired looks and act. The layover in Istanbul is a bit chaotic. My bags arrived in Havana and also on the way back in Amsterdam. My conclusion is that Turkish Airlines offers a good product, when you compare it with the price. I would choose them again and can recommend them.

Not Verified | Dublin to Phuket via Istanbul. Boarding queuing up everyone in the queue for a while they decided to call rows out we were nearly first going in and nearly last by the end not a good start, went down hill from there on.  Seats mixed up even though we asked for certain seats luckily some people swapped with us - we asked one one of the staff could they please sort the seats out, they didn't care. We had to do it ourself as we have 2 small daughters not sitting beside us. Nothing for kids no kids menu or kids toys or colouring books to keep them entertained for the flights. .The staff from Istanbul to Phuket were the worst most miserable people we have ever came across on a flight. Spilling drinks on customers not smiling didn't want to be there. Turkish have a long way to go to catch up with other airlines. Food was only ok nothing special. Plane was quite old looking, business class looked nothing special. Overall very disappointing going over and back.