Turkish Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Chicago to Zagreb via Istanbul. Turkish Airlines' service out of O'Hare has become better now that it uses Boeing 777. There was more room than before. The check-in process, amenities kit, in-flight service, food, drinks, and entertainment system were all solid. There were more lavatories, and nicer headphones were provided. My connections to and from Zagreb were on an Airbus, which was more than adequate for the shorter flights. The in-flight service was excellent. Given the low fares that Turkish has been offering recently, the value has been very high.

✅ Trip Verified | I was traveling from Mumbai to Djibouti via Istanbul. I reached Istanbul 10.45 am. My next flight to Djibouti was 10.40 pm. So it was like 12 hours I was there in Ataturk Airport. I had been there on the desk of Turkish Airlines for Food and Rest room they said system is not working come after 1 hour i had been there after an hour again they said come back after an hour. I requested them at least dont provide me food but i need rest room they said not possible. I requested them again and again they was keep saying system is not working we cant help you. There was like 15-20 people with me. But the behavior of Turkish Airlines staff was rude. Then after few hours I went again then I requested them for food they said you can go to Restaurant and buy. I told them this is not the way to reply.

✅ Trip Verified | I was travelling from Antalya to Istanbul on 9th May 2108 Scheduled at 16:50 which was delayed till 18:20 take off, and had a connecting flight at 20:15 to London as our final destination. We had 1 hour and 45 mins delay from Antalya to Istanbul causing us to miss our connecting flight to London. We had not missed the flight completely but as we got to the gate the airport security said they cannot let us board the plane as Turkish Airlines have stop anyone from boarding 15 mins prior to take off. I spoke to the management in Antalya in regards to a possibility of missing our connection flight at the rate the delay was going. The staff was so calm and collective to say its all fine, you will be on the flight without issue. Bear in mind, hardly any of Turkish airlines staff on ground level can speak fluent English!. I wasn't to assured by his statement. No one in the Airport was helpful and wished to direct or instruct us in what can be done etc. These guys have no customer service or communication skills whatsoever. Just for a few mins of lack of management caused me and my family to wait another 12 hours for the next flight with no consideration about children at all. We was sent to hotel very late to get 2 hours rest with no food or drink and to top it off no luggage with us. Turkish airlines also lost my baby stroller which did not come out of with our baggage so I have had to fill out a form which mentioned someone will be in touch in 24-48 hours and no calls whatsoever and its been 6 days.

✅ Trip Verified | On a recent ‘round-trip’ experience, Denpasar - Budapest, I found myself in multiple disappointing (borderline traumatic) situations with Turkish Airlines. When checking in on my return flight in Budapest in May, 2018, I was told that my return ticket had been cancelled. As a result, I was forced to pay an additional $1,600 to purchase a new one-way ticket on the same flight. Below is a description of what had happened. In April, on the third leg of my flight from Denpasar to Budapest, I missed the flight in Istanbul due to confusion at the gate - poor communication and gate location (ie. heavy traffic surrounding this specific gate, the sitting area hosted multiple flights, unclear instructions and lack of announcements, etc). I had been sitting at the gate for an hour when they started boarding, but was only alerted when priority boarding started --- no more announcements or callouts were made thereafter. When the line began to peter out I started to get a bit concerned, but because there were still so many people sitting around me, which I had presumed they were waiting for the same plane, and no final announcements or staff had called out, I didn’t move forward. However, at that time I did ask the people around me what flight they were waiting for, but they just shook their heads and said they did not speak English. At this point I was growing quite concerned and so I ran to the closest Turkish Airlines staff I could find, at a nearby counter. When I showed him my ticket, he began shouting (actually) at me and said that the gate was now closed and I had to go downstairs to the transfers desk. This was only a minute or two after the gate had been closed. I ran downstairs, showed them my ticket and asked what could be done. They said that I had to purchase a new ticket - no alternative was given. To do so, they ordered me to purchase a visa and exit through customs. When outside, I first rushed to ticketing at Turkish Airlines where an employee stated that I had to purchase a new ticket, but that he could not do anything for me and to go see the Turkish Airlines check-in desk. I then proceeded to the check-in desk at Turkish Airlines and they said that I had to purchase a new ticket. At no time I was told that this would render my return flight invalid, and no other information was given. I tried the help-phone for Turkish Airlines as well, but there was no dial tone and no-one was in the area to provide assistance. I finally had to purchase a one way ticket from Istanbul to Budapest for 200 Euros for a flight later that day. To add insult to injury, the Turkish Airlines staff was appalling - I was yelled at and belittled on numerous occasions. I've read other reviews and some have said that Turkish Airlines employees are inhumane, and to be honest, I agree - note: this is specific to the Istanbul Airport staff. My original ticket was over $1,400, and this whole ordeal has cost me an additional $2000. I reached out to Turkish Airlines and although they responded in a timely fashion, they were unhelpful and clearly had not read my story. Furthermore, the avenue of communication they use - feedback forms only, make it very difficult to communicate with them. I suppose that is what they want!

✅ Trip Verified | Our flight TK0775 Muscat to Istanbul was delayed about 1h 10 minutes and we missed our connected flight to Brussels. We were transferred to the next flight to Brussels TK1943 from 12:45 but due to mechanical problems only leaved Istanbul around 16:00. Our complain was answered by thy customer service within one week apologising for the inconvenience and offering a fair financial compensation. Refund has been done by Brussels sales department correctly. Delays are uncomfortable but probably inevitable with the crowded airspace and we can only appreciate the understanding and correct way our claim was handled.

✅ Trip Verified | Amsterdam to Seoul via Istanbul. I’m a Turkish Airlines Elite Plus (Platinum) member for the past 5 years. Turkish Airlines used to be great compared to most airlines with great service and amazing food. Unfortunately things have changed for the worse and in the past year or two their level has dropped down quite dramatically and I am now starting to look to change and stop flying with Turkish Airlines. Business class food used to be amazing, it used to rival Qatar Airways and some first class food in other airlines. Food level has dropped to the ground and is average minus compared to many other airlines. I have spoken to quite a few cabin chiefs and they all confirm that many passengers are complaining about the deterioration in their business class food and that management is aware of this problem. Quite sad. Business class seats are relatively aged compared to the better airlines. While other airlines have moved forward, Turkish has stayed behind. There is no privacy, and the configuration is an outdated 2-3-2 (B777) - I assume this won’t be changing as it very expensive to change seat configuration. It seems like prices are constantly going up and while Turkish used to compete with the likes of Swiss or Lufthansa, prices these days are typically higher on Turkish Airlines. Service on board is mostly good with the onboard staff mostly very friendly and caring. Airplane age can be a hit or a miss with some very old and some reasonably new. In flight entertainment is typically pretty good.

✅ Trip Verified | Boston to Toronto and then Toronto to Istanbul to Kathmandu, all booked as a single ticket via Turkish airlines. As soon as I arrived to my connecting flight with AQir Canada for check in, they told me I could not board the flight because I did not have a visa. I told them I did not intend to stay in Canada but just transit and usually the transit visa is given at the airport or online. However, the staff told me that as a Nepal citizen I could only get the visa if I go to the consulate in New York and do the necessary paperwork. Worried I decided to contact the Turkish airlines customer service. I called about 20 times with no avail. The call kept going to an automatic response. Really worried I decided to go to terminal E to meet the Turkish airlines staff in person. To my surprise, no one was there. I contacted the help desk and they told me that the Turkish airlines staff will be there only after 7 pm but my flight was to leave at 5 pm. Desperately looking for options, I went around the airport talking to every staff I came across, explaining my situation and they all told me only the (non-existent) Turkish staff could help me. Fast forward to 7 pm, (already forced to meet miss my actual flight) I finally meet the ticketing staff of Turkish airlines. I explained her my situation and tell her how I am a student planning to go home and I have already brought a connecting domestic flight back in Nepal to go from Kathmandu to home and that if I did not make this flight I would lose that ticket too. Then all she does is to tell me that I should have known that Canada requires a visa and that it is my fault. Stunned at her response, I tried to reason with her about how it is unreasonable to expect the customer to know this beforehand and that it is the airlines responsibility to let the customer know of such peculiar cases. After discussing for several minutes, she tells me that there is another flight leaving directly from Boston to Istanbul and that there is only one seat left and it will cost me USD 691 to transfer to this flight. Also she told me that if I had called the customer service immediately after this happened and changed the flight, I would not have had to pay the fine. (which is odd because my customer service call was never answered). I felt betrayed and sad at how the people who are supposed to help you make your life miserable. Although the hospitality of the staff in the plane was good, I felt deeply unsatisfied because of what I had to go through. This is easily the worst travel experience of my life yet.

✅ Trip Verified | The ground staff were very nice and polite. However, the flight was slightly delayed and for 35 wheelchair passengers there were only 5 people to push them, slowing the boarding process even more at Pearson. The lines were chaos during boarding at Pearson. People did not even stay in systematic lines and they were just "hogging" to board like a crowd and the ground staff didn't do anything about it. But thankfully they could announce star alliance gold and business passengers first. At least I could get a lot of space to put my bag. The inflight service was excellent. Excellent selection of movies for a 10 hour flight to Istanbul, delicious and well-presented food, clean bathrooms and prompt staff. When my inflight entertainment system froze during the flight, a flight crew promptly responded and fixed it. Same with when I asked for tea mid-flight. However, the wifi was really bad, it didn't work at all. The cabin crew were very friendly. The same applies with the connecting inflight service till Mumbai. However, the boarding was a lot better at Istanbul, as we could thankfully board from the aerobridge than the bus. Overall, I enjoyed the experience on Turkish Airlines and would love to fly with them again.

✅ Trip Verified | Istanbul to Athens. Overall flight was great. Most of staff was friendly. Bought tickets 6 months in advance so not happy that seats were changed to accommodate another family, therefore I wasn’t able to sit with my family. Not happy at all. Therefore my rating would be very low.

✅ Trip Verified | Dusseldorf to Mumbai via Istanbul. Turkish Airlines used to be a premium airline for economy passengers. However, over the years they have just become horrible. I was flying from Dusseldorf to Mumbai, they cancelled the first leg of my ticket from Dusseldorf to Istanbul without my consent or without informing me. I spent 9 hours and heaven knows how much money in calling up their customer service before the day of the journey in getting this sorted and getting the ticket re-issued. The in-flight services were very poor, poor in-flight entertainment, cabin crew was rude and food was awful (on one of my 4 flights they served only meal which was non-veg and insisted that one has to pre-book "special meals"). Any international flight has and should have at least two choices of meals - veg and non-veg. I am surprised how fast this airline has deteriorated after being a great one for a few years. Never again. Beware folks.