Turkish Airlines - a cautionary tale!

ozankoys


Joined: 20/06/2008
Posts: 905

Message Posted:
22/03/2012 12:52

On 1st February we were booked to go Turkish Airlines from Ercan to Hong Kong. As you cannot book Ercan online I went to the Turkish Airlines office in Lefkosa but the staff were unhelpful to put it politely so I booked Istanbul to Hong Kong with Expedia and Ercan to Istanbul with Anakara Travel.

Istanbul airport was closed in the afternoon due to heavy snow so our flight from Ercan was cancelled causing us to miss the flight to Hong Kong which in fact did go. I had checked in online for both legs.

Turkish Airlines did offer to carry us to Hong Kong two days later if we paid £175 each but firstly we wanted to be in Hong Kong for the weekend to see our son and also we had no way of knowing for certain that the weather would improve in two days so we took the decision to go via Larnaca with Emirates the next day.

Turkish Airlines will accept no responsibility for our missed flight as they were two separate bookings and have even refused to refund the tax.

It was a very expensive le

dublinderm


Joined: 26/09/2009
Posts: 538

Message Posted:
22/03/2012 14:20

Don't you have travel insurance?



Lefkosa (not Ercan) is listed on the TK website so I do not understand why you cannot book a flight from there online. I have heard this complaint before but I do not have personal knowledge of it.



This story demonstrates the benefits of booking through a (bonded) travel agency, even online.



Sorry for your trouble.



DD

ozankoys


Joined: 20/06/2008
Posts: 905

Message Posted:
22/03/2012 15:53

Yes we have a very expensive travel insurance but they do not pay out for 'acts of god' i.e. snow!!

Although Lefkosa is listed on the Turkish Airlines website as a destination you cannot actually book a ticket. Expedia used to offer it but discontinued about 2 years ago due to 'lack of demand'.

Thanks for your sympathy.

thecatsmother


Joined: 28/03/2011
Posts: 2

Message Posted:
22/03/2012 16:01

Unfortunately, you were badly misinformed. I fly at least twice a month to Turkey and have also flown to Bangkok, Dhaka, London,Madrid and Delhi and all were booked online from here with Turkish Airlines online. It was a shame you had two tickets ,because otherwise you would have been put up in a hotel and put on the earliest flight BUT you are right...if something goes wrong i.e outside of the rule book then they are hopeless and this was outside the rule book

It is their real weakness.....and it can drive you mad.

However, if you cancelled or they cancelled when you went to Ercan, you must have got something back surely?? The office here is so rude and unhelpful and I wrote a complaint email to the customer relations dept.(address on the site) after really loosing it with them over their refusal to give a refund. I received a most apologetic call the next day and was instructed to go down to the office and get my cash.! I did...glowering looks all round!

ozankoys


Joined: 20/06/2008
Posts: 905

Message Posted:
22/03/2012 17:31

Hi yes they did refund our Ercan/Istanbul flight because they had cancelled it but not the Istanbul/Hong Kong which was obviously a lot more money.

I also wrote to complain about their office here after visiting to try & book initially & my friend also wrote in Turkish as she was appalled at the service I had received, they took 5 weeks to write me an e-mail which basically said nothing.

Expedia were good & gave me a voucher for £50 as a goodwill payment which was a nice gesture on their part as it was not their problem.

dublinderm


Joined: 26/09/2009
Posts: 538

Message Posted:
22/03/2012 18:39

Hi,



Why not try http://www.airtaxrefund.com ? Once again I have not needed such a service, bit I do know that services like this irritate the hell out of Ryanair so they must be doing something right. As your flight did not originate or terminate in the EU the rules may be different.



Good luck,



DD

ozankoys


Joined: 20/06/2008
Posts: 905

Message Posted:
23/03/2012 07:05

Thanks DD will have a look at that website

stockiefan


Joined: 04/05/2009
Posts: 574

Message Posted:
23/03/2012 07:20

Interesting post! I wonder sometimes why doing the most simple task like booking flights in the TRNC proves to be so difficult!! Like most people we like to plan ahead and book early for the year. Of course we go for the best deals either from Larnaca or Ercan.



We have used Turkish Airlines many times and have booked again for two flights this year, we must have had at least 8 changes already to our flight times. We have been to their main office and yes the staff are both very unhelpful and rude, its a wonder they get any business at all!!

carian


Joined: 13/03/2009
Posts: 336

Message Posted:
23/03/2012 09:19

Yes, we've booked a flight with them and had to have 3 different sets of tickets because they kept changing the times leading to a change of dates. They wanted us to wait in the airport for 6 hours because they'd changed the flights. I made an official complaint and now have it sorted but we had to change days again !!!



My son has had no end of problems with his flight later in the year, telling him he would have to spend the night in the airport because of THEIR changes !!



Their in-flight service might be good but their customer service is appalling.

ozankoys


Joined: 20/06/2008
Posts: 905

Message Posted:
23/03/2012 10:33

Yes quite agree we did fly back with them from Bangkok to Ercan flight was good, food good & seats comfortable however if it can be helped at all, we will never fly with them again! It would not have hurt them to have made some sort of goodwill payment instead of ending their last message 'we hope to soon welcome you on board again' talk about rubbing salt in the wound!