Airlines response to customers
Turkish Airlines Customer Service Ceases Operation?
Warning to all travellers!- Please be aware that Turkish Airlines appears to have closed its Customer Service Office and no longer appears to answer customer enquiries. Before considering a flight with Turkish Airlines, take note that any problems you face are likely to go unanswered.
This is the conclusion Alan Saffery came to when his luggage went missing on a flight at the beginning of July from Dubai to Tbilisi, via Istanbul, with the airline. Upon arrival in Tbilisi, he established that his luggage had not arrived and completed a Property Irregularity Report as is standard practice. The next morning, Alan stayed in his hotel room waiting for the luggage to be delivered. By midday, since he had heard nothing, he called the airport lost luggage office to discover that his luggage had arrived very early the same morning and was waiting for him to pick it up. He had not been called and the representative informed him that it was not going to be delivered to the hotel; unusual given that on every prior occasion his luggage had gone missing, he had been kept informed and the luggage had been delivered to where he had been staying.
Alan’s only option was to take a taxi from the hotel to the airport to pick up the luggage himself. The Turkish Airlines office at the airport was only open just prior to flights departing so he was unable to speak to their staff member at that point. So when it came time to take the return flight on 16th July, he went to the Turkish Airlines ticketing office at the airport and explained the situation to them. They, surprisingly, told him that they did have a luggage delivery service. There was no explanation why, in his case, the luggage was still sitting at the airport. He gave the representative a copy of his property irregularity report and also the original receipt showing the cost of the taxi that he took to retrieve his luggage. The representative took his email address (Alan wrote it himself so he knew that it was recorded correctly) and was promised that someone from the main ticketing office in Tbilisi would contact him concerning reimbursement.
No one contacted him.
Alan sent an email to the Turkish Airline Customer Service Office on 17th September and also copied the email to Dr Ali Genc, Senior Vice President of Media Relations (thinking he should be aware of the poor service in Tbilisi).
No response.
Then on 16th October, Alan sent the email again, adding Turkish Airlines Board Members to the message: Mr Hamdi Topçu (Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee), Prof Semal Şanli (Deputy Chairman of the Board and Executive Committee), Dr Temel Kotil (Turkish Airlines CEO), and Orhan Birdal, Mehmet Bűyűkekşi, Dr Turan Erol, İsmail Gerçek, Naci Ağbal, Dr Ateş Vuran, all board members of the airline.
Still no response.
Despite the claim for compensation only being $54, neither the Turkish Airlines office in Tbilisi, international customer service office, media relations senior vice president, CEO or eight members of the board are concerned about the reputation of the airline. Imagine what would have happened if the problem had.
Online customer service.
Turkish Airlines has started an ’Online Customer Service’ at www.turkishairlines.com where passengers can air their views and complaints by clicking on one of the icons for Compliment, Comment and Complaint under the ’SHARE WITH US’ menu on the airline website. Passengers can complete their transactions after filling in the information boxes in the window that comes up for Miles & Miles or Online Services Members. Non-members may fill in a brief form accessed via the new membership link and share their suggestions and complaints with authorized Turkish Airlines’ officials.
Comments
Further to my last post, although Turkish Airlines have admitted fault, they have charged my brother 50euros and he has to pay for a hotel for the night as he is on a flight in 24 hours!
Terrible. If anyone knows of the right person to contact for refunds, please let us know.
I will never use Turkish Airlines again.
I am currently in Ethiopia with my 14 year old daughter, I am adopting a baby. After being grabbed in the street by 3 men, and feeling very unsafe, I chose to pay for my brother to fly out and be with us.
As I am writing this he is waiting in LHR airport after being refused to board the plane by check-in staff for Turkish Airlines, as he doesn't have a visa.
Until further notice travelers from the UK can still buy a visa on arrival in Bole international Airport Addis Ababa. The check-in staff wouldn't listen to my brother or take the phone from him to speak with the Ethiopian Embassy, who said he can board and buy the visa on arrival. The check-in staff said they knew better.
There is little I can do from here, apart from cry... and my other brother and mother have called everyone they can think of. A fax is currently making its way from the Ethiopian consular section to the Turkish Airline fax number at LHR. We have our fingers crossed. I have written an email and was trying to find an email address to send it too, when I came across this website. From the first post it seems unlikely that I will find a customer service email to send it to.
Adoption is an expensive business, so the loss of the money for the flight, the travel to the airport and the resources my brother was bringing to me, is a real kick in the stomach. But worst of all my daughter and I remain feeling unsafe and sad waiting for a court date.
Dir sirs;
I would say who ever reads the following incident would understand me everything is factual, true & with evidence. I hope you would not see it as an emotionally driven story intentionally targeting the firm to be referred.
On the 26th of March me, owner of a tour company & my wife together with another tour operator were flying from Moscow to Addis Ababa via Istanbul. The flight from Moscow arrived at 18:42 & the flight from Istanbul to Addis Ababa has already gone at 18:50.We arrived at transfer counter & were told to go to the other & then to the other till we finally burst with anger & fiercely challenged a freshly employed looking Turkish airline Staff.
He tried to tell us Turkish airline is not responsible for this mess as we buy the ticket from Ticket agent. Thus was a big lie & mistake as AITA accredited travel agencies have the duty of issuing tickets. After long talk a rude & unethical Turkish airline staff appeared with weird look & told us it is only possible to take the next day flight & said she would give as a new boarding pass (as if she was doing favor for us). Of course we were asked to pay 50.00 Euro more for the mistake induced by the airline.
Then we asked where do we stay at? After collecting all passports of passengers with the same issue, she get back on the desk and gave all other people their passport by telling them to proceed to hotel & telling us to stay in the resting room which actually is a rest room with Dirty & worn out sofas (pictures attached ) & no toilet facilities at all.
When we told her that we cannot accept this and go to stay at this refugee looking hall full of dirty sofas like shit for an overnight & demanded to talk to her boss she called for a police man. We were in long argument with the policeman who was called to come & bit us in front of her for her pleasure of silencing us but when he found out it was a problem to be solved by the air company he left (fortunately we had a gentle man speaking their language but was too a victim). Then the argument continued & suddenly changed to be an issue of not even regarding us as humans. It is a surprising issue to see it from a company that claims itself to be a global airlines & is purely in a hospitality industry.
I do understand that immigration laws do restrict some country citizens to enter without visa & I am not violating that but Turkish airline should not provide a toilet with desk facility & 1 meal per day offer for the mistake it had caused on us (do Turkish airlines know that even prisons in very barbaric & undeveloped countries provide 3 meals per day?). We were expecting a decent & 21st century handling of customers rather than cheating people on a formal looking deal & ripping off their pockets. Also it has to train its staff on how to not be mean to people & respecting all customers irrespective of race & color. otherwise it should publish on its advertisement “No service for Africans”
People who were told to go out & stay in hotel were mainly Africans with European passport but could not make it as the immigration office demanded them to pay 50.00 Euro each. We know there is a hotel right in the terminal but given to the favorite customers of Turkish airlines but not to everyone buying their services. When we take the one meal coupon to the restaurants, we were told only a spoonful of rice or slice of pizza and water can only be obtained. At this stage everybody was nervous of the cheap & tricky game of Turkish airline. So to calm down our mood we preferred to buy our own meal from the nights of March 26 till the next full day of 27th.
When we go to sleep in the sniffing hall, there are about 100 people mainly from middle east and Africa lying on the age old sofas and learnt how many are victims of this air company appearing to be giant in medias. I talked to a lady from Nigeria who was weeping and she said, it is her 3rd night in that hall. I would say, it is an experience of prison cell to stay there for even 1 night.
At last I would warn all fellow friends in the tourism business of Ethiopia, travel agencies (seen by Turkish airline as illegal), Ethiopians living abroad and concerned bodies from abandoning using Turkish airline until the airlines officially apologies of its mistakes and take due measure on those staff who look at & treat people like animals.
Sincerely,
Tewodros Getnet (Teddy)
Managing Director
Off-Road Ethiopia Tour Plc
For the past few years my wife and my brother's family
and I were flying from Hannover to Tehran - Iran with The T.K Airlines.
I am a Muslem and having 100% Disabilities and Illnesses.
My very bad experinces with your Airlines in 19th - 27th Feb'2012.
1. Your staffs always do not smile. When they are giving food
or drinks they very bitter and I do not enjoy eating my food.
2. On 19.02.12 The Airport in Hannover have accpecting Baggages up to 30 Killios.
3. The Hannover Airport have told me, I must collect my Boarding Pass for Tehran in Istanbul Transit area, and Baggages will be arriving in Tehran.
4. The Airport in Istanbul were not giving me my bording pass and were saying no to me and I had to go out through the
passport contorl and have to collect my baggages from Lost and Foud
Office and had to checked in agian for Tehran.
5. I had to wait for 1 hour until they have found my baggages.
6. With my baggages I had walk for hours in the airport area until 2 hours before the fly.
7. The Istanbul Airport let me to checked in only 20 killios.
8. They wer asking from me for each one killos 10 Eurs.
9. I had to put 10 Killos of my clothes inside of Das bin as I did not
have enough money with me.
10. On 27.02.2012 I had to go though the same things again.
Hossein
Hannover, Germany
hello turkish air my name is petrit and i got to say the truth im very upset with you,turkish air
just fly with you for time and i never hade worst experiencewith you i flu from JFK ISTAMBUL-ISTAMBUL PRISTINA AND WAS NIGHT MAIRE WITH YOU AND LOST MY LAGUAGE AND THEY MAKE ME TO GO TO PICK UP MY OWN LAGUAGE AND IM IN VICATIONS HERE YOU GUYS CULDNT DELIVER MY STUF, FIRST YOU MAKE ME SLEEP ONE NIGHT IN ISTAMBUL WICH WASENT MY CONTRACT AND NOW G2 PICK UP MY OWN LAGUAGE IN AIRPORT WICH I GOT TO PAY TAXI 55EURO TO PICK MY THING THIS IS NOT THE WAY HOW TO TAKE CARE YOUR CLIENTS,
What we want to say at here is that :
First, Turkey Airline damaged both our luggage but only compensate one. We think they damaged not only passenger's bags but also hurting their hearts.
Second, both there Beijing office and Head Office response passengers unbelievable slow. It took us three days to reach their Beijing staff and three months to get the reply from their head office. Turkey Airline only has one staff working at Beijing Airport who only comes to office a couple of hours at night. Although they set an emergency contact mobile number, they never answer the phone at all.
Third, Turkey Airline DISCRIMINATES PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND REGIONS. On their official web site, the Passenger Service on International Section allows passengers notice airline within seven days when their luggage damage. But in their Beijing office requires passengers must claim exactly on the day when they arrive. Any later claims will not be accepted. BUT, the funny thing is that their office is always closed and their staff can never be reached at all.
The last we promise at here to tell all people we know and all our friends around us not to take Turkey Airline any more from now on.
A couple from China
On the 6th January I traveled from Istanbul to Erbil, Kurdistan. Upon my arrival both my bags were missing despite the flight being completely empty. The next day I received a call that my bags had arrived in Erbil. I went to collect them at Erbil International airport only to discover that only 1 bag had arrived and it was completely destroyed. The bag still missing contained most of my clothing and other important contents in order for me to conduct my business in Erbil. I called Turkish Airlines in Istanbul and had an extremely difficult time trying to firstly hear the agent on the other side of the line (sounded like the call was being placed from the bottom of a fish bowl)and the agents English was very poor. They were unable to assist me despite me giving them all the required information (tag numbers, flight numbers, boarding pass etc.) The contents of my luggage is probably worth more than US$ 3000 and some of the clothing was bought on my trips the the USA and can not be replaced. Today again I called Erbil airport to see if my bag had arrived but still nothing. In Istanbul I saw a pile of luggage scattered all over the place, some bags spilling their contents and I still remember thinking, thank goodness that's not my baggage, boy was that short lived. I saw on BBC and interview with the CEO of the company and he was telling the interviewer how great his company was and how they offered world class service. I think he needs to be re-interviewed and questioned about his companies poor service and how many of his customers have lost bags. I have visited various sites to express my anger about their service and was shocked to see how many other passengers have experienced the same thing. At Erbil airport they have a room full of lost and damaged bags and when you submit your claim via email you receive an automated response stating "***This is an Automated response***
Dear Sir/Madam,
We acknowledge receipt of your message and thank you very much for taking time to contact us.
We will study your request and due to high volumes will reply to you as soon as possible.
The message clearly reveals that they have a high volumes of lost baggage. Perhaps BBC should look into this and use this information when they next interview the CEO. I am taking this very personally and will stop at nothing to expose this airlines atrocious service. I urge all customers of Turkish airlines who have experienced the same sort of treatment to visit blog sites and social media sites to expose the poor service they are giving. I have no idea how they could have been voted Europe's best airline. Perhaps best airline in the category "Worst Airline in Europe"
Non-members may fill in a brief form accessed via the new membership link and share their suggestions and complaints with authorized Turkish Airlines’ officials.
I booked two tickets for me and my daughter and happened to miss spell her name. A minute after the error I tried to contact Turkish Airways to correct it. However, calling the Turkish hot line Phone: +90 212 444 0 849 led me nowhere as the line quality was very, very poor and kept cut off. The online customer relationship email template did not let me register either as it said my email is used by somebody else? So no possibility to contact your company! A day after I managed to reach a customer service representative who tells me that the ticket is non-refundable. As I cannot travel without my daughter, I will loose both tickets and you get all my money without any services given to me!
To me this is nothing else than outright stealing. They are thiefs
I had (and still having) a worse experience with Turkish Airlines. My camera was not admitted to the plane for security reasons and I was forced to leave it in the Tel-Aviv airport. The camera was subsequently transferred to the Turkish Airlines office in Tel-Aviv and from there....it mysteriously disappeared. It took me almost 3 weeks of constant calls and emails just to find out that the camera was in the TLV office after which it was "lost". My camera was Nikon D90 which costs more than 1000$ with some other valuable pieces of equipment inside of the camera case. I have never received any proper response from the Tel-Aviv office and only managed to find one reasonable person in Istanbul who was able to give me this information (please note that I myself don’t live in Istanbul, I live in Geneva). I submitted all the relevant receipts confirming the value of the camera to the airline. After 1 more month I received a very strange call from the Geneva office. The agent was unaware of the whole issue and she said that the airline would compensate me for the lost suitcase (!) 400$. When I explained that it was actually a new valuable camera and that I have given all the receipts to another agent, she was very surprised and promised to get back to me. No news. I contacted Tel-Aviv office again, asking to clarify who came up with the 400$ figure. The answer I got:"Tel Aviv office is not in charge of your complaint any more. Therefore, with all due respect, you should be in contact with the relevant office and departments that are in charge.
Best regards,
TURKISH AIRLINES - ISRAEL
Baggage Claims Department"
Their customer support does not exist and they don't value their customers. Once you have a problem it is impossible to solve it. They simply ignore you. Another interesting question is the "disappearance" of the camera. As things do not just disappear, I assume it was most likely stolen from the office. Conclusion is: Turkish Airlines hires highly unprofessional, irresponsible staff, who is capable of stealing expensive belongings of their customers.
I dont think so it is related with Turkey -Armenia relations.Last 2 years i have had serious problmes with Turkish Airlines and i havent got any answer of my complain letters and e mails.I wrote to customer relations,general manager,ceo and board members but unfortunaly i have nevr got any response from them.
Charles,
There is nothing suspicious about the article. I am a British citizen, fully aware of the relationship between Turkey and Armenia but with no partiulcar opinion on past events, who wanted the travel trade to be aware of the poor service encountered. As it happens, only as a result of the article have I now been contacted by the airline. Georgia is striving to increase tourism arrivals. Getting airlines to face up to their responsibilities will help to ensure that future visitors will have trouble free travel to enjoy the wonderful opportunities Georgia provides.
While I do not question the events as described in the article, it is somewhat suspicious that the name of the person writing the article is the same person as is described in the incident. And Turkey and Armenia are caught in a long term genocide brawl, leaving many Armenians to feel very negative about anything Turkish.
I did not know that eTN was the platform to express customer (dis)satisfaction stories. Skytrax is a better forum for this.
Even when airlines purport to have customer service, they often don't. A few months ago I received a phone call from an elderly friend who was en route from Frankfurt to Denver via Miami where became ill, was briefly hospitalized and was disoriented. When he was discharged, the hospital sent him to the airport in a cab. He had five hours in a strange airport before his American Airlines flight. Reaching a human being at American in Miami -- or even in Bangalore or wherever their phone answerers might be -- was impossible. Few phone numbers and fewer that were anwered. I finally did some deep research and found the wheelchair/disabled phone number and was able to order a wheelchair for him on arrival, but the airline was unwilling or unable to provide any other assistance to help him board the correct flight. Someone in Miami -- not an American Airlines employee -- observed him wandering around, looking for his gate. Turned out that he wasn't even in the right terminal. That kind soul got him to the correct terminal and gate, and fortunately he made it back to Denver safely. The American wheelchair/disabled person did get him upgraded to a comfortable seat in the front of the plane. This occurred on a Saturday evening, and I doubt there would have been an upgrade at any other time. So Turkish Airlines is not alone in the skies in its abysmal lack of customer service.
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