"water is not easily delivered"
Stephan Drube (Germany)
✅ Trip Verified | Turkish Airline crews are skilled. The meals are tasting and the luggage is on time. But there is a very interesting detail on my flights to and from Venezuela, that the necessary water is not easily delivered to the guest. When I had been ordering wine and water, I only got wine, when juice with water: the same procedure. Wondering about the Turkish guests in the flight, all with separate cans of beer or juice, outside the normal serving, I discovered that they had been getting that in the rear of the plane. As well water could be obtained easily there. But no official announcement has been given us.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Caracas to Berlin via Istanbul |
Date Flown | January 2024 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
“airport employees incredibly rude”
B Galitova (United States)
✅ Trip Verified | Horror story - three faulty flights out of four! First flight out of Miami was late by 4 hours. Next flight out of IST to Varna - a 40 min flight - canceled and moved to the next day, all at last minute. Staff at MIA said they'll put me in a hotel, which didn't happen. Airport employees were incredibly rude and condescending - eyerolls, and just directed to go to the opposite end of the huge airport - for any question asked, or just said "I don't know anything". What their site says and what their staff says and what their phone agents say - all different. The second flight that was canceled and moved to the next day - also had a technical problem - after already accelerating on the runway, it started breaking sharply, and the pilot announced that they have to fix something which resulted in an hour sitting on the plane being surrounded by service vehicles. No response to the filed complaint. Flight from IST to Miami - a 12.5 hr flight, was turned back after an hour+ in the air because "lavatory system not working", and then was circling around for a long time after flying back to Istanbul. People were still using the non-functioning lavatories during this time. Airline is still not responding to complaints at all even though they have all these beautiful words on their site about "making guests and the related service a priority" and responding within 7 days.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Miami to Varna via Istanbul |
Date Flown | January 2024 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
“got treated shockingly”
DR Rood (Ireland)
Not Verified | I bought and paid for a Bassinet seat for me and my son. I called the pretty poor CS team to confirm prior to flying, and they assured me there would be a Bassinet seat. When I got on the flight, there was no Bassinet seat. I paid 139 euros extra for that seat. When I contacted the complaints team for a refund for them not providing me what I paid for they offered me 46 euros to compensate me. I sent over 25 complaint messages and got treated shockingly with them refusing to answer basic questions, like how did they calculate that measly refund. Very poor experience.
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Dublin to Cape Town |
Date Flown | November 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"attitude and service was atrocious"
S Parnel (United Kingdom)
✅ Trip Verified | I was denied boarding despite having been issued boarding pass and an allocated seat. I had completed an online check-in the previous day, then checked-in at the airport check in counter with my hold luggage three hours prior to my flight departure, followed by entering the departure gate in plenty of time, although no boarding time had been indicated on my boarding ticket. Minutes before I got through to the gate, there was an announcement for the standby individuals’ that TK are selling seats for 400 euros. Despite the staff member checking my boarding pass, detailing that I am safe as I have an allocated seat, another staff member approached the desk, closed the barrier in front of us and the gate door behind us, and said that boarding is denied which included 11 passengers in total. We then witnessed the remaining passengers board the flight, including the individuals on standby, and us being held behind this barrier and experiencing eight hours of a very stressful situation at Istanbul Airport with a lack of customer care and welfare. Essentially being left stranded at the airport. The customer service desk staff denied us compensation on the basis that although the flight had been overbooked, all 11 passengers had been late (not true), but to solve this issue, we need to rebook and pay ourselves for another flight, then will they will assist. Despite having been given a leaflet for ‘Turkish Airlines Passengers Rights’ which details Turkish Airlines compensation for denied boarding/ overbooking (after about 6 hours of discussions), TK had continued ignoring our requests. There was no willingness to try to help, nor provide welfare, no food, accommodation, or lounge access. Despite spending eight hours in customer service, the issue was partially resolved for me and another passenger after TK had us booked onto the next flight to Edinburgh the following morning. However, other passengers had booked themselves onto other flights paying with their own money. The attitude and service was atrocious and unacceptable.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Istanbul to Edinburgh |
Date Flown | January 2024 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
“No assistance offered”
Peter Standen (Vietnam)
Not Verified | The initial flight left approx 3 hours late with no communication from the Aircrew as we all sat on the Tarmac, with the result that I missed the Connection in Istanbul. No assistance offered, and a very unpleasant night spent in the Worlds unfriendliest Airport. Finally offered a flight to my destination via Dubai on Emirates. So a journey of 18 hours took 47 hours, during which I was treated like a Dog. Would never travel on TA even if it was free.
Aircraft | A350 |
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Seat Type | Business Class |
Route | Birmingham to Ho Chi Minh City via Istanbul |
Date Flown | December 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"refused to compensate"
A Larova (Czech Republic)
✅ Trip Verified | Awful experience. Luggage delayed both ways. On the way there I had to wait for 8 days. The airline refused to compensate the purchase of cosmetics and toiletries.
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Kazan to Istanbul |
Date Flown | January 2024 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"61 euros for my equipment"
Anna Istomina (Russian Federation)
✅ Trip Verified | I had 1 set of ski equipment. Customer support confirmed by phone before I bought the ticket that I can take 1 set of ski equipment for free. When I checked-in my gear at Istanbul airport, the representatives demanded to pay an additional 61 euros for my equipment. Additional information about this appeared on the website, which was not there when I bought the ticket. However, later I was able to find a message that some types of equipment, including ski equipment, can be brought for free. Turkish Airlines is an ordinary low-cost airline.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Istanbul to Munich |
Date Flown | December 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"Luggage was delayed 2 times"
N Hawede (United States)
✅ Trip Verified | My Luggage was delayed 2 times! I flew from Dallas to Douala and in Douala I had to wait 4 days to get my luggages. Now I am back in the US and it’s been 6 days that I am waiting for my luggages and I don’t have any updates. It is really annoying. I don’t recommend this airline.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | Douala to Dallas via Istanbul |
Date Flown | January 2024 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Food & Beverages | 12345 |
Inflight Entertainment | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Wifi & Connectivity | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"the plane is still at the gate"
Ali Setork (United States)
Not Verified | The incoming flight was late over an hour, they hoarded everyone 1:30 minutes late and the loading ramp was detached from the plane, as if it is ready to leave the gate. After about 15 minutes the pilot said it will take additional 20 minutes to load up luggage. After 20 minutes the pilot said will take another 30 minutes. Then after another 30 minutes, the pilot said it will take another 30 minutes and at this time they reconnected the loading ramp and started to board additional passengers (almost 3 hours after the scheduled departure). Right now it is 3 hours late and the plane is still at the gate.
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Seat Type | Business Class |
Route | Chicago to Istanbul |
Date Flown | February 2023 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"flight got delayed 6 hours"
Tahany Moussa (Egypt)
✅ Trip Verified | The flight got delayed 6 hours due to airplane technical issues. I had to stay 6 hours near the gate, I wasn't able to leave the airport because they didn't say when they are going to onboard passengers. My daughter tried to reschedule it but they were very rude and they have only one answer, we can't help. The flight from Cairo to SFO on 1st September 2023 also got delayed and I missed my connection flight to SFO which caused me to overnight at Istanbul airport. I went to the customer service desk to ask them to provide me a hotel reservation and the agent asked me if I have USA passport or not. Once they realized I'm not a US citizen they said we cannot help you.
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Route | San Francisco to Cairo via Istanbul |
Date Flown | January 2024 |
Seat Comfort | 12345 |
Cabin Staff Service | 12345 |
Ground Service | 12345 |
Value For Money | 12345 |
Recommended | no |