Turkish Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | A disappointing start to our family holiday of a lifetime! Shocking customer service. No communication. Rude, aggressive and miserable staff. Disgusting airport in Istanbul, the list could go on. We were left for over an hour on our flight from Gatwick – Istanbul, the captain came on the radio once to say we were delayed, obviously! No communication whatsoever. Cabin crew were rude and unhelpful. The plane then started moving, followed by taking off yet no checks to see if passengers were sat down or even with their seatbelts on. The plane just took off, not even an announcement was made. We missed our connecting flight to the Seychelles in Istanbul where 9 of us including a 4 year old had to wait at the airport for 17 hours. They were unaccommodating, rude and their customer service ability was non-existent and shocking. They said we could stay in a hotel if we paid for the hotel, taxi and visa. We were left at the transfer desk for 4 hours where we were just repeatedly told wait. They couldn’t tell us anything or help us in any way. When they finally did sort our boarding passes out they had missed one of us off. After 4 hours they then said we could have a food voucher and a rest area, this was gone 4 hours of asking and waiting. When arriving at the rest area the lady working said we couldn’t go in because we had the wrong passport. She found it funny when we pointed out to her that we had a 4 year old asleep in a trolley. She was laughing with her colleague which was infuriating and highly unprofessional. The toilets were disgusting. Another delayed flight made us miss yet another connecting flight to Dubai this time, this resulted in another 9 hours at Dubai airport. It took us 72 hours to get to the Seychelles where we missed 2 days of our holiday. We didn’t think we would have the same carry on returning, unfortunately we did! Another 5 hour delay for what reason it was unknown. Going back to that desk at Istanbul with again rude and unhelpful staff was soul destroying. They then put half of our group in Business class half in economy. An absolute shambles. Never fly with this airline, they were horrendous in every aspect.

✅ Trip Verified | Dubai to Budapest via Istanbul. Turkish Airlines is becoming the holiday destroyer. As usual I missed my flight to Budapest 11:55am and had to wait 6 hours for the next flight and lost almost one whole day in stay in Hungary. This is not the first time it happened 2 years ago, Dubai to Paris. Went to Turkish Airlines transfer desk to complain and informed me that they will compensate me with a food voucher to use in the food court!Aside from all of this Istanbul airport is the worst ever, cramped with people everywhere, toilets are horrible and rude staff. If you want to ruin your vacation go with Turkish Airlines!

✅ Trip Verified | Detroit to Vienna via Istanbul. This is a complaint about the flight from Istanbul to Vienna (8/22/2018). I booked my flight since March 2018 from USA and have chose my seats in advance. I checked in at Detroit airport then again at Boston airport and received my boarding pass with the seat numbers that I have chose. During my actual flight from Istanbul to Vienna I was told that my seat is not available (6F) and was told to sit at 6D instead.. I went inside the plane, and I saw the entire seats occupied at (6). I notified the flight attendant, she said ok go back to the end of the plane. I refused to do so! She called the manager , and she told me that those people will not not leave their seats and that’s I have only two options, either to leave the flight immediately and wait for the next flight or to go and accept seat 20C. The flight attendants were rude with me even during the inflight service. I don’t think I will travel with this company again.

✅ Trip Verified | New York to Istanbul. Check-in staff at JFK airport were incredibly rude and unhelpful. I had very little time to board as standby and they held me up for ages over checking my carry-on because a group of them rudely pointed out to me there was no way it qualified as a carry on. (It had on Delta, however). Extremely unprofessional as a group of them stood behind the counter talking and laughing about me while I was paying to check my now extra bag. They were so cold and unable to empathize, that for that experience alone I would never willfully fly Turkish Airlines again. On the flight I pressed the call button twice because I never had time to grab water and the small glass they give you a couple times isn’t enough for an 11 hour flight. My light was turned off both times and I was ignored each time. I felt sick the entire flight because I needed water desperately. Cabin crew were not very friendly and seemed quite stressed out. When passengers were up and confused about the direction of where to go they were curtly told “you can’t pass through here” and then ignored. No smile, nothing. Such a terribly disappointing experience. Oh and the bathrooms were out of toilet paper for a long time.

✅ Trip Verified | The plane was a fairly new A330-300 (TC-JOF, first flew in 2015). Boarding a Turkish flight used to be a challenge, but not this time. They divided us into business, economy row 27 which worked really well. Standard Turkish Airlines economy cabin, the seat itself not very comfortable, okay legroom. Not better or worse than any other economy seat on a wide-body plane. I usually love the food on Turkish Airlines, both quality and quantity-wise. However this time, the food wasn't as good as it used to be, especially the rice. (It hasn't been that long since I last flew Turkish). Quantity-wise it was fine, we got served dinner, snacks and a breakfast. The crew, on the other hand, was outstanding. Way better than any other TK flight I've taken. They were really nice and helpful, and actually wanted to talk to people! There were plenty of new films on the IFE system. I usually don't watch any films on the IFE, but I watched 4 films this time! We departed on time and actually landed early (I think they do it in case they need to fly around IST before landing). I got the in-flight Wi-Fi for 15$ and it worked fine.

✅ Trip Verified | Karachi to New York JFK via Istanbul. It was my first time experiencing with Turkish Airline. I bought 3 tickets and for most part this airline is rather cheaper than its competitors such as Emirates and Qatar. However, you do pay a price with horrible customer service and in flight food menu. Their customers service representatives provide nearly no accurate information. Staff won't be very polite and if you lose baggage you are pretty much on your own. Makeover, it is really challenging to understand the English language of their representatives over the phone.

✅ Trip Verified | Istanbul to Dubai. My flight was at 12:30am, and I was off to the airport by 8pm. Upon check in they told me the flight has been delayed by 30mins. Seeing as to how the domestic flight on Turkish I took (Kayseri to Istanbul was delayed a good 1.5hr just the day before, leaving my Friend stranded in Istanbul for a day due to a missed connection), I was dismayed. I asked the reception check in counter the reasons for a delay flight, and she shrugged it off and said she didn’t know. I said well of all people she should have the best idea, it’s ridiculous. Anyway with plenty of time to spare, and the crowded Istanbul airport boarding gate screening not having a gate number displayed yet, I spent a good 3 hours at various cafes and restaurants, periodically checking the board for my flight gate details. The thing was, my flight was not displayed. I realised much later that I had referred to it’s revised flight departure time instead of its original departure time, making it confusing this really infuriated me at the airport. When it was very close to boarding time and i still couldn’t detect my gate number, I queued at the Turkish Airline counter queue (which by now is full of passengers on several delayed flight), only to be told I had missed my flight! By then it was 30 mins before departure time and the gate was a good 20mins away. I ran like mad to gate 709, and there was no one left. I was hissing mad, this was not even my fault, a delayed flight with a horrible screen layout that couldn’t even tell me 1 hour beforehand my appropriate gate details. And now Turkish airlines is refusing to refund this ticket or cancel the no show fee. I was stranded in Istanbul for another day and had to shell money out for another flight home. Horrific and worst airline experience ever. Throughout the ordeal all Turkish Airline ground staff were rude, short tempered and condescending. They never offered to help or apologise in short putting all blame on their passengers. I will never ever fly them again - hell they are not even the cheapest, just spend that few extra hundred to be on Emirates or other more reputable airline. They don’t deserve to be in the skies and in business.

✅ Trip Verified | Singapore to Tel Aviv via Istanbul. For some reason the flight to Istanbul was delayed in about 25 minutes so instead of 75 minutes I only had 50 minutes for the connection. Once landed crew called all passengers to Tel Aviv to hurry up (a delay that was caused because of you), now obviously I was in a hurry and thought it's good that they are aware of the problem and since operating both flights probably leave the gate open a few more minutes. I got to the gate and they just closed it, the ground crew was still there and had last passengers on the jet bridge. Frustrating as it was seeing the plane just standing there for about half hour and the only thing separating me from getting back to my mother's funeral on time was a door. I tried explaining your employees about my special circumstances and hoped for some sympathy and possibly help. What actually happened was the complete opposite! I was mistreated and responded with apathy. I know and understand all airlines follow the same protocol but this was even worse than speaking to heartless robots. I asked customer service to please help me out and give me lounge access or even just a wi-fi that works so I can inform my family and friends I'm not going to be on time for the funeral or possibly find an earlier flight. The answer I got is: "Lounge is only for business passengers" so I'm not allowed to go there and I can use one of the restaurant's free wi-fi (obviously didn’t work). So had to wait 5 hours for the next flight feeling like nobody cares and really trying to help me. It was not just one of your employees, I spoke to about 8 different people trying to explain my situation and they all kept sending me back and forth until I realized they are just trying to get rid of me. I would not fly with Turkish Airlines if known they are not able to get me in time for the funeral. I never post this kind of things, but I got such a disrespectful service! and think people should know they are the worst!

Tehran to Istanbul via Rome. Very competitive fee, almost the lowest in the region, very nice food, modern aircraft, personal entertainment. Very kind crew. Almost on time.

✅ Trip Verified | Riga to Colombo via Istanbul. Please do not travel in Turkish airlines if you do not wish to lose your baggage. It's been one week I lost my baggage they are simply not providing any update only sending automated messages. Really disappointed with their customer service.