Very unprofessional!
Complaint
Cynthia Yesilyurt
Country: United States
Sunday, December 27, 2009
To whom this may concern:
I am writing this in regards to my missed flight connection from Istanbul to LHR London on December 20, 2009. I was scheduled to board flight 1979 at 0825 Hrs from the Istanbul Airport, when it was reported that the flight was to be delayed for twenty minutes. Please note: The reason for the delay was never disclosed to any of the passengers there. On or about 0850 Hrs, we were called to board the aircraft. Instead of the aircraft leaving the runway, it sat at a standstill for approximately 45 minutes and again, there was never any explanation of the reason. The aircraft was scheduled to arrive at the LHR London Airport at 1025 Hrs, and I was to make another connection to Boston, USA at 1215 Hrs via American Airlines, flight 109. When the aircraft got near the airport, the pilot announced over the PA system that there would be 10 minute delay in landing at the airport. Then when the aircraft landed, there was another delay of the passengers getting off the plane. I ran and got into the customs line and slowly passed through the security. While I was in the line of customs, I heard over the PA system that my flight to Boston was boarding the aircraft. I ran all the way to the American Airlines gate, and when I approached it, they had the doors locked. I banged on the doors and begged them to please let me in, that I must catch that flight to Boston. A female that came to the door, told me I was too late and I had to go to the American Airlines ticket area and reschedule the next flight. When I arrived at the ticket area, I noticed extremely long lines had started to form at the American Airlines ticket counter. I shortly found out that the JFK Airport had been closed due to snow, and American Airlines were trying to get the passengers that had arrived on American Airlines, and were connecting back with them, onto another flight to another USA destination. We were asked to form two separate lines. One line was for those that missed their connections to Chicago and Boston and needed to be rebooked. The other line was for those who were flying to JFK and the flight was cancelled. I got into the missed connection flight line, which had gotten long and was at a stand still pace. I had been in the line for approximately 2 hours, when a female called out for those who had missed their connections to Chicago and Boston to come to this particular line, and she was going to attempt to get them on the next flight. When it came my time to speak to the female, she advised me she had a flight leaving out for Boston in a little over four hours. I asked her to please place me on that flight. She then asked me why I missed my connection to American Airlines and I told her I was flying from Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. Their flight was delayed and by the time I went through customs and ran to the American Airlines, the gates had been closed and I was routed to go back to American Airlines to rebook. She told me it was not American Airlines fault that I had missed my connection that it was Turkish Airlines, and I would have to go to the Turkish Airlines counter and have them rebook me. I pleaded with the female to please go ahead and book me for the next flight. I reminded her that I had been standing in the line for almost 2 hours and please don’t have me to get out of this line when she can handle this for me. She told me she was sorry, but she could not help me, but tell the Turkish Airlines about the next flight to Boston and they can book me. I got out of the line that I had waited so long in, and went to the Turkish Airlines and spoke with a young male at the desk. I, once again, explained to him the entire story from the beginning to the end. He looked on the computer for a lengthy period of time, and then told me that he had no flights going out until Tuesday 22nd. I told the male that was impossible, the female for American Airlines was going to put me on the next flight to Boston. He advised me that he looked and there was nothing going out until Tuesday and if I wanted to go and have the female come over there and speak with him, then he would look into it further, but he could see nothing. I got out of the Turkish Airlines line and once again went back to the American Airlines female. I told her what the Turkish Airlines male had told me, and she said she would not leave her desk and go over there, stating that the male didn’t want to take any responsibility for the flight. She said there are flights going out and he can look on the computer and see that. She would offer no further help to me here. I went back to the Turkish Airlines and again spoke to the male and told him what the female had said. He advised me that American Airlines were booking for American Airlines, and they had booked all the flights by rerouting those that was cancelled to JFK to Boston, and left Turkish Airlines with no flights to pull from. He told me there were no flights anywhere to the United States, on any carrier, until Tuesday. He told me Turkish Airlines would put me up in a hotel until Tuesday morning. I told him, I had no money on me but $20.00 U.S Dollars and no luggage, only my carry on luggage. He stated Turkish Airlines would provide the meals for me. He told me to go back to the American Airlines line and have them call to the American Airlines luggage area having them to pull my luggage, and for me to go and get it. I said “Sir” can’t you do that? The lines are very long, and I don’t want to get back into those long lines. He stated to me, that American Airlines would have to do it. I got out of the line, and returned back into the, very long, American Airlines line that was being used for missed connections. I stayed in the line for over one hour, before I was able to speak with an American Airlines agent. When I told her what the male at the Turkish Airlines asked me to do, she became upset and told me, “Let him do it” that is his job and he only wants to put his job on someone else. She said she has no idea as to why she needs to call, what to say or what number to be calling to ask for my luggage. She refused to offer me any further assistance, and I again went back to the Turkish Airlines. When I told the male what the female had said, he picked up the phone and called the American Airlines luggage area and asked them to pull my luggage. Please note: By this time, many hours had passed by and I had been unfairly shuffled from one airline to another. I was the innocent victim here. I had done nothing wrong to cause this. It was the Turkish Airlines that was late and caused me to miss my connect flight. While I was in the line at one point speaking to the young male at the Turkish Airlines, I heard over the PA system that the plane for Boston was now boarding, and it was the time that the female from American Airlines was going to book me. I don’t know what the problem was or is, but there was and is a horrible communication between the two airlines, and I feel I was badly treated here between the two. However, I also believe the male for Turkish Airlines could have resolved many of the problems without having me to get out of the Turkish Airlines line and continually getting back into the, extremely, long lines of the American Airlines. Example with the luggage. When I told him American Airlines refused to call for him, he simply picked up the phone and called them himself. This was totally not called for. Such a lack of professionalism. After it became apparent this flight was going no where and I was headed to a hotel for two days, I went on my way in an attempt to gather my luggage, retrieve my bus ticket and hotel preparations. After I waited in the extremely long line to exit customs to gather my luggage, I was told “They didn’t know where my luggage was at, and it could be anywhere. I left the airport through an area I was not familiar with, and headed into an area that I was not sure where I was going. With no gloves or hat, snow on the ground, and the wind blowing hard, I stumbled about to find a bus that would take me to the hotel, that would be my home for the next couple of nights. It was bad enough that I had to be put through the entire mess that I had to go through, but it was even worse that Turkish Airlines cared so little about me, that they placed me in a 2 star hotel, with a broken heating system, nasty walls, stained up carpet, no wash cloths to bathe and cold food to eat. My bed consisted of 6 metal squared studs with a piece of particle board for my mattress, and a pillow top to sleep on. I do think I deserved a decent bed to rest on. I ask that whoever reads this letter will imagine what it would be like to have to sleep on a board with a pillow top. When I asked them about wash cloths to clean with, I was told by the housekeeper supervisor, that the hotels with 2 stars or below don’t furnish wash cloths. The only thing that I had to wash my body with was by my hands. Can you imagine doing that? When I went to the counter and explained to the desk clerk that my luggage was lost, and could they provide me with a toothbrush and toothpaste, I was told that Turkish Airlines should had provided that for me. After much pleading, I gave them $3.00 for a toothbrush and tiny tube of toothpaste the size of my small fingernail. Such a shame and disgrace. On the bus, there were other passengers from other airlines that had been put up in hotels, and they were being dropped off at much nicer hotels. I would be ashamed and embarrassed to know that I worked for an airline that treated it passengers with such low dignity. It really says a lot about your airlines, that I promise you I won’t let this rest. I will place my reviews for Turkish Airlines so everyone that reads it, will know just in the manner that I was treated by this company, and I will urge no one to fly with Turkish Airlines. Shame on your company for treating people as if they are the ones that committed the crime here.
Cynthia S. Yesilyurt
To whom this may concern:
I am writing this in regards to my missed flight connection from Istanbul to LHR London on December 20, 2009. I was scheduled to board flight 1979 at 0825 Hrs from the Istanbul Airport, when it was reported that the flight was to be delayed for twenty minutes. Please note: The reason for the delay was never disclosed to any of the passengers there. On or about 0850 Hrs, we were called to board the aircraft. Instead of the aircraft leaving the runway, it sat at a standstill for approximately 45 minutes and again, there was never any explanation of the reason. The aircraft was scheduled to arrive at the LHR London Airport at 1025 Hrs, and I was to make another connection to Boston, USA at 1215 Hrs via American Airlines, flight 109. When the aircraft got near the airport, the pilot announced over the PA system that there would be 10 minute delay in landing at the airport. Then when the aircraft landed, there was another delay of the passengers getting off the plane. I ran and got into the customs line and slowly passed through the security. While I was in the line of customs, I heard over the PA system that my flight to Boston was boarding the aircraft. I ran all the way to the American Airlines gate, and when I approached it, they had the doors locked. I banged on the doors and begged them to please let me in, that I must catch that flight to Boston. A female that came to the door, told me I was too late and I had to go to the American Airlines ticket area and reschedule the next flight. When I arrived at the ticket area, I noticed extremely long lines had started to form at the American Airlines ticket counter. I shortly found out that the JFK Airport had been closed due to snow, and American Airlines were trying to get the passengers that had arrived on American Airlines, and were connecting back with them, onto another flight to another USA destination. We were asked to form two separate lines. One line was for those that missed their connections to Chicago and Boston and needed to be rebooked. The other line was for those who were flying to JFK and the flight was cancelled. I got into the missed connection flight line, which had gotten long and was at a stand still pace. I had been in the line for approximately 2 hours, when a female called out for those who had missed their connections to Chicago and Boston to come to this particular line, and she was going to attempt to get them on the next flight. When it came my time to speak to the female, she advised me she had a flight leaving out for Boston in a little over four hours. I asked her to please place me on that flight. She then asked me why I missed my connection to American Airlines and I told her I was flying from Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. Their flight was delayed and by the time I went through customs and ran to the American Airlines, the gates had been closed and I was routed to go back to American Airlines to rebook. She told me it was not American Airlines fault that I had missed my connection that it was Turkish Airlines, and I would have to go to the Turkish Airlines counter and have them rebook me. I pleaded with the female to please go ahead and book me for the next flight. I reminded her that I had been standing in the line for almost 2 hours and please don’t have me to get out of this line when she can handle this for me. She told me she was sorry, but she could not help me, but tell the Turkish Airlines about the next flight to Boston and they can book me. I got out of the line that I had waited so long in, and went to the Turkish Airlines and spoke with a young male at the desk. I, once again, explained to him the entire story from the beginning to the end. He looked on the computer for a lengthy period of time, and then told me that he had no flights going out until Tuesday 22nd. I told the male that was impossible, the female for American Airlines was going to put me on the next flight to Boston. He advised me that he looked and there was nothing going out until Tuesday and if I wanted to go and have the female come over there and speak with him, then he would look into it further, but he could see nothing. I got out of the Turkish Airlines line and once again went back to the American Airlines female. I told her what the Turkish Airlines male had told me, and she said she would not leave her desk and go over there, stating that the male didn’t want to take any responsibility for the flight. She said there are flights going out and he can look on the computer and see that. She would offer no further help to me here. I went back to the Turkish Airlines and again spoke to the male and told him what the female had said. He advised me that American Airlines were booking for American Airlines, and they had booked all the flights by rerouting those that was cancelled to JFK to Boston, and left Turkish Airlines with no flights to pull from. He told me there were no flights anywhere to the United States, on any carrier, until Tuesday. He told me Turkish Airlines would put me up in a hotel until Tuesday morning. I told him, I had no money on me but $20.00 U.S Dollars and no luggage, only my carry on luggage. He stated Turkish Airlines would provide the meals for me. He told me to go back to the American Airlines line and have them call to the American Airlines luggage area having them to pull my luggage, and for me to go and get it. I said “Sir” can’t you do that? The lines are very long, and I don’t want to get back into those long lines. He stated to me, that American Airlines would have to do it. I got out of the line, and returned back into the, very long, American Airlines line that was being used for missed connections. I stayed in the line for over one hour, before I was able to speak with an American Airlines agent. When I told her what the male at the Turkish Airlines asked me to do, she became upset and told me, “Let him do it” that is his job and he only wants to put his job on someone else. She said she has no idea as to why she needs to call, what to say or what number to be calling to ask for my luggage. She refused to offer me any further assistance, and I again went back to the Turkish Airlines. When I told the male what the female had said, he picked up the phone and called the American Airlines luggage area and asked them to pull my luggage. Please note: By this time, many hours had passed by and I had been unfairly shuffled from one airline to another. I was the innocent victim here. I had done nothing wrong to cause this. It was the Turkish Airlines that was late and caused me to miss my connect flight. While I was in the line at one point speaking to the young male at the Turkish Airlines, I heard over the PA system that the plane for Boston was now boarding, and it was the time that the female from American Airlines was going to book me. I don’t know what the problem was or is, but there was and is a horrible communication between the two airlines, and I feel I was badly treated here between the two. However, I also believe the male for Turkish Airlines could have resolved many of the problems without having me to get out of the Turkish Airlines line and continually getting back into the, extremely, long lines of the American Airlines. Example with the luggage. When I told him American Airlines refused to call for him, he simply picked up the phone and called them himself. This was totally not called for. Such a lack of professionalism. After it became apparent this flight was going no where and I was headed to a hotel for two days, I went on my way in an attempt to gather my luggage, retrieve my bus ticket and hotel preparations. After I waited in the extremely long line to exit customs to gather my luggage, I was told “They didn’t know where my luggage was at, and it could be anywhere. I left the airport through an area I was not familiar with, and headed into an area that I was not sure where I was going. With no gloves or hat, snow on the ground, and the wind blowing hard, I stumbled about to find a bus that would take me to the hotel, that would be my home for the next couple of nights. It was bad enough that I had to be put through the entire mess that I had to go through, but it was even worse that Turkish Airlines cared so little about me, that they placed me in a 2 star hotel, with a broken heating system, nasty walls, stained up carpet, no wash cloths to bathe and cold food to eat. My bed consisted of 6 metal squared studs with a piece of particle board for my mattress, and a pillow top to sleep on. I do think I deserved a decent bed to rest on. I ask that whoever reads this letter will imagine what it would be like to have to sleep on a board with a pillow top. When I asked them about wash cloths to clean with, I was told by the housekeeper supervisor, that the hotels with 2 stars or below don’t furnish wash cloths. The only thing that I had to wash my body with was by my hands. Can you imagine doing that? When I went to the counter and explained to the desk clerk that my luggage was lost, and could they provide me with a toothbrush and toothpaste, I was told that Turkish Airlines should had provided that for me. After much pleading, I gave them $3.00 for a toothbrush and tiny tube of toothpaste the size of my small fingernail. Such a shame and disgrace. On the bus, there were other passengers from other airlines that had been put up in hotels, and they were being dropped off at much nicer hotels. I would be ashamed and embarrassed to know that I worked for an airline that treated it passengers with such low dignity. It really says a lot about your airlines, that I promise you I won’t let this rest. I will place my reviews for Turkish Airlines so everyone that reads it, will know just in the manner that I was treated by this company, and I will urge no one to fly with Turkish Airlines. Shame on your company for treating people as if they are the ones that committed the crime here.
Cynthia S. Yesilyurt
Comments
I also have had experiences with them where they have been extremely unprofessional. The manager on the phone has yelled at me when I tried to ask a simple question because she could not understand English (although she was the ENGLISH- speaking manager). She hung up on me. I'm very sorry you had a horrible experience with them as well.
Sincerely,
Shelly C
I have just read all your comments about Turkish Airlines and completely understand your frustration and anger with them. I flew to Istanbul for my boyfriends 30th birthday and our luggage did not arrive. In a nutshell our luggage was sitting in Heathrow airport for the duration of the holiday. When we tried to trace the luggage whilst on holiday the people who worked for the airline were useless and did not want to help at all in any way. When we arrived at the airport and realised our luggage did not arrive we were told to go to the lost luggage office and they could not get us out quicker!! It spoilt our holiday and wasted alot of money!
I have since complained via email about 10 times and have been ignored. They have not even acknowledged that they have received my email. I am not sure if you know but there is no UK office that you can complain to and there complaints department on deal via email. I have been back 2 months now and they have not been in touch. It angers me that they cannot even apologise for what happened. The customer service is awful.
Have either of you tried to complain? and if so have you got any results.
Thank you
Radhika
So I decided in the future not to use it again.
Yes, I did write to the company and complain and my husband called and personally complained also. There was never any form of apology. They simply didn't care.
This is the worse airline I've seen so far. The funny thing is they claim to be "the best European airline" I cannot understand if Europe has such low standards anyway, Turkish Airlines is horrible.
It means that i should be lucky and thanks them if they find it.At the other hand I do not know how they collected these bulk of the impolite personnel altogether.Its really a great job.
I never try their airline again and do not suggest to anybody.They lost all their fake stars!
So now my flight is rescheduled for Friday, I had to cut my holiday a week shorter, and pay extra for the rebooking, and to put the cherry on top, it seems customer services do not exist for these airlines! SHOCKING is all I can say right now.
On the 3rd day we asked the airport staff if they could transfer us to Jat airways which was flying that day and had empty seats so we don't have to spend another day at the airport but the staff refused they kept asking us to come in 4 hrs. so by the time we reach the desk the staff that took our complaint would have finished his or her shift and handed over to a new staff who will tell us to come unknown to us when he has finished his own shift too so they kept passing us from one shift to another until my husband freaked out on them that that there will be no other plane going to Belgrade again for another day or two cos of bad whether and they don't care to help us get home with this one? so somehow they reluctantly transferred us to jat after hours of delays cos we started asking the day before the flight as a staff of jat informed us earlier. They even threatened to send us back to the country of our departure if we dont stop demanding to be transferred to jat airways.
But with my missing box I remember there was this nice lady at the Istanbul office and she helped me get the box though I had to spend 200 dollars for courier service to bring the box to my house from the airport which put a big hole in my pocket. My money was not refunded I was told Turkish airlines does not take responsibility to deliver lost baggage to the owner you have to go to the airport to claim it yourself and handle the transportation and where I live to the town where the airport is will take almost 12hrs by road and cost 300dollars to and fro by air.
I can totally agree with you! I had, once again arrived late to Istanbul from London on Turkish Airlines. I was to catch another connection to Antalya. Because of the Antalya airlines had already left, I was stuck knowing little Turkish at Istanbul. When I tried to explain to them I missed my connection, I asked for the next connection. They said there was not another connection and when I asked if they could put me up, they told me to go and sleep on the bench, they were not going to put me up! I tried to find a police officer there to try to help me understand as what to do, and I came to a man in uniform. I asked "Police" and he said "Yes". I later found out he was not the police, that he worked for the rental car agency in the airport. He said he would help me. He put me on the elevator and tried hugging me and kissing my neck. He asked me if I was married and I told him no, that I was on the way to Antalya to marry. I felt completely helpless in this country and airport, where I spoke little Turkish and was taken advantage by men whom were claiming to be people they were not, because I was American and they thought I had money. One man grabbed my luggage and told me he would help me to get to Antalya, that he was hired to help the Americans. I felt like I had to trust him, he appeared honest. When we got to the domestic terminal, he told me to wait where I was and he took my luggage and approached the check in counter and gave me thumbs up and motioned for me to wait where I was at. He then walked up to two men in suits and whispered to them and they looked at me, and I knew something was not right. The man them motioned for me to come to him and lead me to the area were the boarding for the next flight to Antalya would be. He handed me my luggage and reached out with new tickes for me to board and asked me how badly did I want the ticket. I was confused and said " I need to get to Antalya" Please give me my ticket" He said, you are an American and I know you have money and if you want these tickets you will have to pay for them. I said sir, I have no money, please give me the ticket. He began to argue with me demanding me to give hm money for the tickets, that were mine in the first place, because the Turkish plane was late, again, and caused me to miss my connection to Antalya. I stood my ground and demanded I had no money. I said my boyfriend would send him the money for the ticket and he began yelling at me and told me to forget my boyfriend, he wanted money for this ticket and he knew I had it. I began to speak loudly and saying I had no money and give me my ticket and he threw the ticket at me. Never again, will I travel to Turkey again, without my now husband. The courption is terrible and I was left helpless with my boyfriend waiting for me at the Antalya airport for my suppose connection.
My bag was lost on arrival to Istanbul from Chicago in September 2011.
They did send it to me in Kiev, 5 days later, though.
The biggest thing was when they refused to honor a booking made by American Airlines. They honored the first leg from Chicago to Kiev, even though it was a day later than the original, because American Airline's plane broke down in San Antonio.
However, they did not honor the second leg of my journey from Istanbul to Kiev.
The reason was that in Chicago, the only reason I got on the plane was because, instead of confirming my seat as the American Airlines lady told me to do, they first said yes, they would confirm it... to wait 10 minutes.
After attempting, they said it was not possible to do anything except put me on the wait list... they could not confirm AA's reservations.
Since there was not confirmation, the trip from Istanbul to Kiev was made by me paying another 250 dollars for a new ticket.
I have no idea if there is a policy which Turkish Airlines should have followed, or whether American Airlines should have told me that their reservations were contingent upon a very likely possibility that Turkish Airlines would not honor the reservation.
I think that next time... I would rather stay in touch with American Airlines and wait for a sure thing... a confirmation. If the appointments I had made on the trip would have allowed for it.
But listen to this:
American denied any responsibility, but gave me a 250 dollar voucher!!! yeaaa!
I came to Vienna airport 3 hours before the flight and was served by an Asian (? Phillipeno) attendant with chestnut dyed hair at the Turkish airline desk. She was unfortunately disturbingly unprofessional to me in a number of ways.
1- When I gave her my passport and ticket I requested if I could be given an aisle chair at the exit, she quickly responded while typing in a busy manner as if offended by my request and while gazing at the computer screen in a firm rude way "please wait". So I waited she then said minutes later there is something wrong with your reservation without further explaining what was wrong and continued typing for another number of minutes, therefore making me anxious. So after waiting I asked please what's wrong. She again firmly requested me to wait in temptation. Then finally minutes later starting printing what seem to be the boarding passes. I quickly requested for a second time an aisle seat at the exit. She firmly replied rudely "I can't do two thing at a time". she then fiddled with the computer for a number of minutes and gave me two boarding passes. So I was put by her in a situation where I could not ask her more questions as any of my questions seemed to provoke her. So I took the boarding passes and walked to the gate.
2- Only to find in both flights Vienna-Istanbul and even Istanbul-Medina that I was not given an aisle chair at the exit I'm both flights even though the check in for Medina was more than 30 hours before the flight.
3- She failed to inform me that my request was not possible.
4- She failed to inform me that my Istanbul-Medina flight will be delayed by Turkish airlines for more that 24 hours.
5- She failed to inform me if I needed anything from my two suitcases( tooth brush and night ware) at the luggage check in which I was without for more than 24 hours.
6- I was given a middle seat at the back in the Istanbul-Medina flight !!!!
I would therefore would like to express my utter surprise of such unprofessional behavior and poor communication skills by this attendant and all the difficulties she had made me face due to her lack of professionalism
Looking forward for serious action on above said concern, Thanks.
I can almost promise you they will not return any of your messages, as they don't care! You are important to them. They are a low class airline that cares so little about their passengers.