Turkish Airlines

I am disappointed with Turkish Airlines transit related services specially after they are promoting so heavily as a leading transit destination. I was travelling from Stuttgart to Mumbai via Istanbul on 16th December 2015. I missed my connecting flight in Istanbul due to the delay of the flight coming from Germany. I was put on the next flight scheduled to depart 24 hours later. In order to avail the hotel accommodation provided by the airline, I had to pay the e-visa fees in Turkey. I was told that this fee shall be reimbursed by the airline, but no process for the same was mentioned. Now I am trying to get in touch with the Turkish Airlines and they are absolutely unresponsive.

Turkish Airlines from Cairo to Amsterdam via Istanbul, and the flight itself was fine once airborne, food and entertainment were standard. But the ground operation is shambolic. Our flight leaving Cairo was delayed for one hour. I understand that this happens and little can be done about it, but once we arrived in Istanbul there was zero assistance to help people make their onward transfers. There were no staff at the arrival gate to direct passengers or offer assistance to more elderly people who couldn't run (unlike ourselves- if we hadn't sprinted we wouldn't have made the next flight). We had to push to the front of the security line, whereas many other airlines escort you to the front if the connection time is tight. Our gate had just closed when we arrived, but still made the last bus to the plane. Although the plane then sat on the runway for another hour. In short, there may as well have been no ground staff in Istanbul they did so little. This would be semi-understandable in a small provincial airport, but this is their hub! To finish everything off, our bags were lost. They were eventually delivered to us 4 days later, soaking wet. Not damp - drenched. Every item in my bag was heavy with water, as if it had been left in a thunderstorm for hours. I will not be travelling with Turkish Airlines again.

I would like to show extreme dissatisfaction on the service I received during my recent experience with Turkish Airlines while coming back from Athens to Nairobi via Istanbul. We were to get a flight from Athens to Istanbul around 22:05 and then a connecting flight to Nairobi from Istanbul on 00:55. Much to our surprise when we reach at Athens airport at around 6:00om we came to know that the flight has been canceled. When I asked why we have not informed on the number we have mentioned on the ticket they declined to answer and asked us to get into a flight which was scheduled at 7pm. I was travelling with my wife and my 2.5 years daughter we actually had to run for check-in, security check, immigration etc as airline staff asked us to rush to get into the flight. Finally we reached to the gate but flight started after 8:30pm. We could not understand why we had been rushed for the formalities with a small baby. When we reached Istanbul, we have been informed that flight is late and eventually it was announced with the gate around 3:40am. We got into the bus and we had been taken to the aircraft but we had not been allowed to go out of the bus for almost 45 mins. Later on we had been taken back to the terminal and asked to wait. When we asked for the reason first they said that the Nairobi Airport is closed due to heavy snow fall which was an utter lie and later on the staff informed us that there is no Crew for the aircraft and it will take some time. We waited at the terminal without any assistance from anyone, sitting on the floor with the baby till 11am, and then they announced that flight has been cancelled and asked us to contact transfer desk. At transfer desk we had been given the new boarding passes and had been asked that next flight will be 0050 in the night which mean the whole day. I requested to give us some assistance as we have a baby and its very cold, but they refused to assist me in any way and later on just asked me to go away from the counter which was very rude. Later I took my own visa and booked the hotel by myself to go out so that we can have some rest. Later on next day when we landed at Nairobi all of our baggage were missing and there were no information. I had to follow-up with airport authorities and Turkish Airlines office daily to get my bags on the 6th after 4 days. The airport staff did not have normal empathy. I was at the airport for almost 12 hrs and did not even get an assistance of a blanket or a bottle of water.

We decided to go with Turkish Airlines this time from Boston to Karachi via Istanbul, over Emirates / Qatar Airways because of recent positive press. Never again. I don't understand how an airline can claim to be the new global hub airline, but then have absolutely no contingency plans in case of bad weather. As a result of snow in IST, hundreds of flights were cancelled, which is understandable. However, there were minimal ground crew available to assist, and frequent misdirection on the part of the crew who were present. Inflight, the crew on almost all four legs of our round-trip were surly and occasionally downright rude. The IFE was of pretty good technical quality, but quality of the programming was awful.

First of all our flight from Islamabad was delayed for 5 hours - our flight to London had two stops, one at Baku and other at Istanbul. When we reached Baku we been told that we have to take another flight from here to Istanbul, when we arrived at terminal there was no Turkish Airline representative there - we wait for 30 mins, and they came he told us that our flight from Baku to Istanbul is cancelled and we have to take next flight in the morning. We stayed overnight at airport with 2 years old baby who was sick and my wife is expecting, but no hotel was offered. Next morning, staff at airport put us on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow and from Moscow to London, and when we arrived there we have no luggage - all our luggage was missing. It's the 5th day today and we haven't received our luggage yet.

Birmingham to Johannesburg via Istanbul return. My wife and I fly from Birmingham to South Africa with our 3 year old daughter quite frequently using Swiss, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France and Emirates. On this occasion we decided to try Turkish Airlines and while the service was okay in flight, we were shocked and disappointed with the complete chaos and lack of organisation we experienced from Turkish Airlines employees at Ataturk airport in the face of adverse weather conditions. After a 3 hour delay at Johannesburg airport, we arrived too late at Istanbul airport to catch our connecting flight to Birmingham and Ataturk airport was utter chaos and disorganisation. We were sent from one very long queue to another – standing for hours with a 3 year old child after a long international flight – no water was supplied or even available, no hospitality of any kind – just chaos and more chaos. After 6 hours in queues in Ataturk airport, we were finally sent on a long bus ride to a hotel on the very opposite side of the city to the airport – the Ramada Encore. Both my wife and I have missed a day’s work as a result of the chaos at Ataturk and are very exhausted and distressed from the whole experience of flying Turkish. It ruined our holiday to see family in South Africa.

Houston to Mumbai via Istanbul return, flying Turkish Airlines for the first time. The outbound trip to India was smooth. But on the way back it was one of the mot horrific experience I had had. We checked in on time as per the rules from Mumbai. The flight was delayed by more than 3 hours. We inquired with he ground staff will we get the connecting flight to Houston from Istanbul, and they said yes. So we were on the way to Istanbul. The flight arrived late. There was nobody at the gate to let us know what we should be doing as your flight connections are not there. We went through the security again and by the time we reached the gate for Houston, they had closed the gate. When inquired with the person there he said gate closed now you go and look yourself what to do. We had no clue where to go. We went inquiring all over the airport, and the people or the staff there kept us sending up and down and left and right. In the end we saw a counter and we stood in that line at least to get in touch with someone authentic to talk to. The lady did not speak proper English, but somehow we got out boarding pass done for the flight for the next day. Now the problem starts, we asked the lady for or hotel stay as we have not missed the flight due to our negligence, but it was due to the airlines mess up. She said go to the hotel counter, but to get there we had to pass through passport control and we needed visa. So we had to pay for the visa which was not acceptable to us, because by now we had lost faith in the staff and the people around. So me and wife decided to stay put at the airport, not realizing the it was snowing and we will get shivery in the night. If you are traveling by Turkish Airlines be careful in Istanbul, as the staff there is very rude, not knowledgeable, and very unprofessional. To top it all my bags did not come on the fight. We are now receiving bags one by one in instalments.

Istanbul to Kansai with Turkish Airlines. We are Star Alliance Gold passengers but boarded the aircraft last - the boarding by bus was chaos, and what a mess. Onboard the crew looked really sleepy and the aircraft was showing its age. The same Turkish beef mince patty thing was on the menu twice and as my second choice was not available second time round, I had to eat the same thing twice. The toilets were dirty and the crew did the bare minimum. Was a terrible experience and will not be flying them again.

This was the fourth of four legs of a return Turkish Airlines trip from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur via Istanbul, and one I'd like to forget. As a business class customer, priority boarding is promised, but at the gate it was a free-for-all. We eventually boarded but due to a computer problem we were delayed at the stand by almost 2 hours. The business class cabin was atrocious. The front of the cabin near the door was soaked in water, due to rain and a leaking sink. The taps in the sink were out of order so we had to rinse hands using bottled drinking water. Seats were economy style, with the middle seat free. When the passenger in front reclined, there was about 6-8 inches of room between the seat and my head, and the leg room was very cramped, knees touching the back of the seat in front once he reclined. There was no IFE, unless you call a sheet of sudoku puzzles entertainment. There were a few drop down screens which were used for the safety video. The screen was so dark it was impossible to see the images. First drink was served in a plastic cup. I am assuming that many of the passengers in business class were passengers from other cancelled flights, as our seat numbers were changed at the last minute (at the boarding gate). After take off, I waited until the seat belt light had gone off before unbuckling and going to the toilet. Once there the chief steward told me to sit back down as the light was still on - I can only assume he'd turned it off prematurely and then back on again after I'd walked to the toilet. I sat back down and waited for him to turn it off again. One passenger got up while the light was on and used the loo. I complained to the chief steward who said, he was ok to use it as he was about to turn the light off anyway. The same steward told another complaining passenger that if he didn't like the service he was more than welcome to leave the plane. I also complained that the lack of hygiene due to non-functioning washing facilities meant the plane wasn't fit for use. He dismissed my complaint. The leather covering of the raised seat arms were velcro-ed on, but the velcro had worn free leaving exposed dirty undersides. This is in no way business class standard - in fact it was less comfortable than economy (I travelled economy with a group to Kilimanjaro in October - that was a far more pleasant experience, despite a malfunctioning air con system leaving the cabin sweltering). The lounge at Istanbul is impressive, but be warned, the lack of their own lounges at other airports is a negative aspect of the experience. At Manchester, the Aspire lounge was in need of a good clean. At Kuala Lumpur the Premier Plaza lounge was packed to capacity, with lots of children and seats very close together. Wine is not included in the drinks service. Good points for business travellers include dedicated check in section and priority baggage loading and unloading. The lie-flat seats are ok (between Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul) and the food is ok. If you are looking for a true business class experience, I would highly recommend paying a bit more and going with another airline.

Terrible customer service experience. My Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Madrid was cancelled, and the next flight delayed 4 hours. Turkish Airlines staff employees in Istanbul are arrogant, treat customers badly, speak bad english, scream at customers, don't give concise answers, and are difficult to locate during delays. The call center puts you on hold for hours. The cabin staff is much better. Planes are usually okay, although some are old planes without AVOD. The risks of things going wrong with Turkish Airlines are high. Don't risk your time and vacations.