Turkish Airlines

When I fly from Amsterdam to Istanbul, I normally choose between Turkish Airlines and KLM. In the last two years the timeliness of Turkish Airlines is deteriorating. Also, often at Ataturk airport a bus is used for transport to the gate, causing extra travelling time. This time we left Amsterdam with almost two hours delay to Istanbul. So I will be in my hotel bed in Istanbul far after midnight. Too bad.

Like others have said here, the service by Turkish Airlines over New Year 2016 was appalling. I was flying Baghdad to London via Istanbul, and eventually arrived in London 31 hours late. The delays are bad enough and are far worse than can be justified by the bad weather alone - don't they know it snows sometimes! But it was the service and couldn't be bothered that made it so much worse. The level of service at the transfer desk for people who had missed connecting flights was so bad I thought it must be a hidden camera TV show. There were about 500 people in the queue, but only 4 or 5 people working. There was no security and on several occasions fights nearly broke out. This is not surprising as it was the early hours of the morning and people were tired. Any decent airline would have put on extra staff and kept people updated. They would have identified elderly passengers and people with young children and provided them with special service. I was in neither of these categories but would have understood the need. What I would not have understood was why it seemed Turkish passengers able to speak the language were frequently being given special treatment and allowed to jump the line. I was stood in this queue for 4 hours and not once did I see anyone that vaguely looked in charge. It was atrocious. But no one from Turkish Airlines seemed very bothered. Whilst TK might be cheap, you clearly get what you pay for! A lesson learned for me. TK claims to be one of the best airlines in Europe. Under EU law I would be entitled to some compensation I'm sure (even the bad weather can't justify such a terrible delays) but I doubt Turkish Airlines will live up to those standards. Because they so unreliable I'm sure it suits them not to have to.

When things go wrong (which often they do when it comes to international air travel) Turkish Airlines simply are not equipped to handle it, nor do they have any interest. Their company is built with a front end, but no back end. Incompetent and rude staff hangs up and walks away in the face of concerned customers. Turkish Airlines uses confusion, bouncing their customers from call center to call center and desk to desk, playing them in circles until they tire and give up. Most of their flights connect through Istanbul airport and it is pure chaos. A shiny building and western style stores and restaurants do not make up for under experienced, under trained and the lack of an idea of what the concept of customer service is. This is something I experienced on a flight from Chicago to Istanbul 7 days ago. In the 7 day time span my bag has been "found" 3 times, even informing me of its location at the Sofia airport. I had confirmation from a Turkish Airlines desk, and their Call center. When I traveled there to gather it, I was told it was never there. The lost luggage airport staff in Sofia informed me this happened with 80% of the people coming to the airport to gather luggage sent by Turkish Airlines. I have never seen anything like this. Yes, the flights are cheap and they pamper you inflight, but be aware you are gambling.

Houston to Abuja via Istanbul. I chose Turkish Airlines because they were the cheapest when I bought the tickets. When I arrived to Abuja I found that a only a portion of luggage came from the flight. Many of us on the plane had to wait over 5 days just for the luggage to arrive and they never contacted us by phone or email. What's worse was that several flights that came to Abuja as well, and had the same thing happen as well.

The flight arrived late for my connecting flight in Istanbul to Aqaba, Jordan - the next available flight was in 3 days. They then told me to check google for other flights (yeah that's right, they told me to check Google). After four hours I managed to negotiate a flight the next day. They then told me my luggage was lost after 3 hours of waiting. They then took 4 hours to take me to a hotel, were late to pick me up the next morning to get on the next flight. And here the drama really started. Turkish Airlines booked me on a Royal Jordanian flight - but obviously hadn't told them. So I went to Royal Jordanian, they said I had no flight and that I should go to Turkish Airlines. TK told me to go back to RJ, and RJ told me to go back to TK. Eventually, TK did their job and spoke to RJ who put me on their flight. But, only as far as Amman. Which meant I would have to pay for a hotel and another flight to Aqaba - utterly ridiculous. And to make matters worse, they couldn't find my luggage. So to cut a long story short, I made my way from Amman to Aqaba, and three days later, I still have no luggage. Turkish Airlines are a joke. In short, they spend too much time tweeting how good they are, and paying for adverts to do their job.

London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. Firstly we were delayed for 1.5hrs, it happens sometimes, I get it. But when you have to transfer and the airline know they will not transfer your luggage but fail to mention is another story. They had 1 hr in transit to do this but instead made everyone who originated from London wait for an hour at the baggage belt before being instructed to fill a lost baggage form. I had only 2 nights in my destination and spent a lot of the time trying to speak to someone and when I finally got through I instructed the lady on the phone when the lost baggage comes in I will pick it up as I am coming back to the airport before I head to the mountain, she said this was fine and she made a note. On the day I arrived to the airport I got an email saying it will be sent to my hotel by the mountain and will arrive 2 days later. I then had to head to minus temperatures with no jacket and will have to buy / rent all my snow gear. Thanks Turkish airlines for making my trip stressful and needlessly more expensive. Apparently over 150 lost baggage came in that day so this seems to be a common occurrence. Avoid airline if you don't want to be wearing the same clothes for 3 days!

On January 1st, 2016, my flight from Tehran to Istanbul (TK875) was delayed for over 5 hours. The passengers, including myself did not receive any prior notification from the airline. Considering that many previous flights were cancelled due to weather conditions in Istanbul, the airline had surely predicted delay, but failed to inform the passengers, or make announcements in the airport. No information was provided from the Turkish Airline Staff, and finally when the plane took off and landed in Istanbul, we had to wait another 2 hours for the plane to be allowed to park. I had already missed my flight to New York (TK 003) which was scheduled for 7:25 on that morning. I understand that sometimes the weather conditions can cause delays and cancellations. What I am complaining about is the poor management, rude attitude of Turkish Airline Staff, and the very low-quality service provided by the staff in the airport. When I finally got out of the plane, we were confronted with a terminal full of stranded, confused, and unorganized passengers. There was no airport or Turkish Airlines Staff to guide us to the correct directions. Naturally we went to the Transfer Desk, to get information on how to get on the next available flight. More than 1500 passengers were jammed around the counter. There was not even one airport, security or airline staff to organize people and ask them to stand in line. Every one was just jammed in front of the counter. There was rarely enough space to breathe or move. The staff behind the transfer desk were clearly incapable of managing the situation. Instead of managing it, they also lost control and were shouting and banging their fists on the counter! After 2 hours of standing there, my passport was lost by one of the staff, and I had to wait for another hour for them to find it. Only to find out that all that trouble was for nothing, as I was told to go through passport control and then to the Check-in terminal, and go to Turkish Sales Office. This demonstrates the incapability and poor management of the airline and staff. They wanted to get rid of me by making me enter Turkey (through passport control) and go to check-in terminal, so that I am not their problem any more! I had no other choice, so I followed their advice. The Sales Office line was a nightmare. The line stretched all along the Ataturk Airport check-in Terminal. Turkish Airlines Staff couldn’t care less. They acted indifferent and did not help in any way. I immediately begged one of the staff to help me get on the last flight of the day (TK11) at 5:30. A staff member helped me go through and I was told that I can sit on flight TK11 to New York, on business class, and they told me to go to Business Check-in Counter E.

I had traveled with Turkish Airline 3 times now. The last time from Dhaka to Toronto via Istanbul was the worst experience I have had. Their flight from Bangladesh was delayed which reduced the transit time in Istanbul considerably. The staff at Istanbul can barely communicate in English. I was helping a neighbor friend with two children as there were none to help them even with proper direction. And they closed the gate without us although we had our boarding pass. They didn't search for us or even care to find us. Afterwards they flew the family without any further charge but not me, I had to pay for a full ticket. I tried to reason with them but alas if only they could not communicate in English.

On my sisters return from Cape Town, the Istanbul to London leg was cancelled. Istanbul airport was a shambles. Few people could or cared to speak English and airline staff were rude, dismissive and aggressive. They were in a queue for 4 hours to be told they need to return the following day. My nephew had a broken foot and was in a cast. They were also told to sleep in the airport as there was no available accommodation. They arrived home 48 hours after leaving CT. Their 3 suitcases have subsequently been lost. After 10 days they've received no feedback, no returned calls and their calls ring unanswered. When my sister did get through she was told there was no update. We understand that life happens. Bad weather and many other factors mean flights are cancelled but the rudeness experienced as an English speaking woman with an injured son by this establishment is deplorable.

Appalling customer service! Due to snowfall in Istanbul, my flight from Taipei to Istanbul was delayed by 7 hours and I missed my connecting flight to London. The staff at Taipei had reissued my ticket for a later flight but this was cancelled at the last minute without any information. I was treated rudely by staff at the airport (both ground staff and Turkish Airlines reps) forced to queue up in 5 different queues for many hours and buy a £20 entry visa to Turkey to pass into a different section of the airport in order to get the airline to reissue my ticket. When they reissued it they told us that we had to rush as boarding time was in 30 minutes, so I prioritised getting to the gate over staying at the reissue desk to deal with the baggage information. We then discovered that the new flight was 10.5 hours late and they hadn't told us. Turkish Airlines caused more chaos at the boarding gate as they let people onto the plane who had only been issued with standby tickets and then had too many people trying to board the plane. After a 23 hour delay I reached London, only to be told by the Turkish Airlines lost baggage rep that despite being sure my baggage was not on the flight (given what happened in Istanbul and the fact that it was not found on the LHR system) I had to wait two hours by the belt while the staff shifted bags on and off it while everyone on my connecting flight stood around unable to see their bags. Finally I was allowed to fill out a lost baggage form. After three days I called to see if there was any progress and discovered they had mixed up the details of the bag's description. After 9 days by bag was finally returned to me.