Sometimes, we do not get what we pay for. It feels bad when this happens.
It does not mean we have to accept these situations. When we receive an unacceptable service or product, we have several options. We can return it, ask for a refund or communicate with the customer service of the company to be able to receive what was promised. If the company is an unprofessional company, we may not receive qualified and logical responses. But, it is the worst when a company is a big cooperation and has big promises, but does not respect their customer’s time, money and e-mails.
I have a good example to share. To be honest, I was not planning to write about how disappointing flying with the Turkish airlines is until I kept seeing their commercials in The Economist. I love reading The Economist, and I understand they need to add commercials to keep their business going. But THY commercials and the promises they made do not reflect the truth at all. So, I decided to share my unpleasant experiences to warn others about why they may want to rethink purchasing their tickets.
According to our experiences, THY is an airline that spends thousands of dollars for their commercials, but obviously spends none to train their customer services people or to fray the costs caused by their delays.
If you have complaints, the only response you will receive is an automatic e-mail. As an example, I added 3 e-mails below, which were sent to me. I do not believe these people have any qualifications or training to respond to any e-mail with their own words. So, please do not waste your time like I did: going to their website, providing the pictures, providing the flight details, or explaining in detail what the problem was, thinking that I would be receiving a proper response. Because they do not even read the claims. As I share below, they just send auto e-mails. So, we made a decision not to fly with this airline anymore.
This year, we are flying to Turkey through Europe and here are my reasons:
1- THY is overpriced. It is not worth it to pay for the service they provided – you will not get what you pay for.
2- 4 Hours delays are normal for them. They do not need to inform you or give any explanation of why the flight is delayed and how long it would be delayed. Also, you are on your own to pay the connection flights you missed or the extra meals you had. Customer services at the airport have no clue. Do not even bother to wait in the queue to ask a question. I am also adding the picture of the waiting line. And an e-mail was sent when we expect to board saying that the flight is delayed with no explanation.
3- They may damage your suitcases, even if you labeled it as ‘FRAGILE’. So, if you fly with them, you will be taking the risk to receive back your suitcase damaged.
In September, we flew for our wedding ceremony to Turkey. I must admit on our way to Turkey we had a pleasant trip. We were very happy, until we found out that one of my new suitcases was dragged. The sections where it was dragged were ripped. We had to catch the ferry to Bursa. I assumed that if I clearly took the pictures of my suitcase at the baggage claim, with the ticket numbers, they would respond my e-mail with respect and sense. I sent so many e-mails all of which received with the automatic response without any logical explanation.
On the way back, things did not work the way we expected as well. We were at the airport 2 hours before our boarding time and went to the gate. They were boarding, but there were no signs of our flight. Last minute, we received a simple e-mail, but it did not contain any details; it was informing us that our flight was delayed. We had no idea how long we had to wait, what the reason was for the delay.
We queued 3 different lines, to find a responsible person who could tell us what was going on.
Even though I can speak proper Turkish, I could not find anyone who knew what was happening and there were no signs that showed any clear directions about the delay or any service that was provided due to the delay.
We were on our own to find out what was going on because no one knew anything. I felt like a stranger and lost in my own country. Even a simple explanation was NOT provided.
I was shocked to see how this company could consider itself as a world-class airline.
Finally, after a 4-hour delay, we had one of the most uncomfortable flights which made things worse.
When we complained, their e-mail was far from the truth. We were paying thousands of dollars to be on time and not to waste time at the airports all day. The e-mails we received were dishonest and did not reflect any truth. And in addition to that, I will let the pictures talk.
We had our meals at our own expense and arrived at our destination at midnight, instead of 5 PM. We were so tired, so we ended up staying in Chicago that night. Turkish Airlines did not respond and did not take any responsibility for the 4-hour delay.
I do not know how they could respond to e-mails the way they do because the e-mails that we received were far from the truth. If you read their e-mails, you will see that they are shameless. It seems like they are just responding to the e-mails with automatic responses based on the subject without any consideration for the content.
If they keep making the same mistakes, I am sure other people will make the same decision that we did. All I can do is stop flying with the Turkish airlines and tell everyone not to waste their money and time with them.
Please look for other options. we used Hotwire and Skyscanner and found better options. And I am sure you will too.
I’m a Project Manager with a deep passion for both professional and personal growth. Designing and building the next generation of vehicles is incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its challenges—especially for someone as emotionally invested as I am!