An update to my Turkish Airlines award ticket drama…
LAX Ticket Counter Unable To Check Me In On Turkish Airlines Flight
I showed up at the ticket counter in the Tom Bradley Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Rather than confuse the agent with a long-winded story of what I have been through over the last several days, I simply tried to check in for the flight I had a reservation for.
I hoped that they would tell me I had no ticket…and then perhaps call support, get the ticket issued, and I’d be on my way.
But that did not occur. Agents could not find my reservation at all. I had noted the record locator on my phone and provided it.
The reservation was canceled.
I told the staff that the Turkish Airlines call center said that the airport would be able to reissue my ticket.
Their response: we don’t reissue tickets at the airport.
Let me be clear: the staff was quite apologetic and also understanding. Obviously, this wasn’t the first time they had encountered something like this.
The check-in cutoff passed and the midday flight to Istanbul departed…without me.
I was given a slip of paper that had an email address for the Los Angeles reservations office (some of you suggested this yesterday). Promptly, I sent an email.
Within minutes I received a response…advising me to call reservations.
I gently pushed back in response.
But–since I was already at the airport, I had a seat at the Earl of Sandwich near the ticketing counter and called Turkish again.
Call #28: I was told to fill out a feedback form. I informed the agent that I had already done so and was transferred to customer service. The customer service agent told me to be patient. I said, “You want me to be patient? My reservation was never ticketed and now the flight has departed. Can you please help me get out tonight?. His response: “You must wait for the email back from feedback department.”
Call #29: An hour later, I called back. The agent told me to keep waiting and there was nothing he could do.
Call #30: Desperate now, I begged the woman to help me. I groveled. Her response? “You must wait for feedback to respond.”
Honestly, I was about ready just to give up and head home.
But then something very unexpected happened.
To Be Continued…
Line from the film “Midnight Express”…
“My hands are tied by Ankara!”
@derek … +1 .
“Ankara Murka” (Murka means to rage against)
It’s happening isn’t it?? 🙂
@Billiken … Tim Dunn arrived .
You leaving us in suspense on a Friday afternoon? That sux! lol
@Steve … “But then something very unexpected happened … to be continued.”
Sounds like a last minute plot-twist of a happy ending in part 2.
I was going to mention the Los Angeles ticket office. It’s in an office park on Rosecrans in El Segundo. I don’t think they have a “storefront” but I do see employees in uniform coming and going from there.
Did you have the ticket number from the original reservation?
But then something very unexpected happened.…
Joe Chivas reissued the ticket.
Summarizing,trying to get customer service to reissue a ticket is like milking a dead cow.
Best bet is to email a few ticket offices. I’ve had help from Houston and Madrid in the past.
The best was when I lived in Singapore as you could go visit them in person
Call centre really cannot do anything much with existing tickets and as you discovered is a complete waste of time!
I’m all out of Turkish M&S and can’t say I’m particularly upset about it
Somehow, Palpatine returned.
Wait till u get to IST.
MORE suffering awaits.
I once transferred miles from my Citi card to Turkish for a flight. Ended up making a change and spent 2 months calling trying to get my miles refunded.
Every time it was the same story. The agent says no problem. Puts me on hold. Comes back and says there is a “technical” issue and that I would need to call back in a little while and they would refund the miles.
When I would explain that I had already done so and been given the same response dozens of times they just apologized and said there was nothing they can do and to call back later.
So, they kept my 45,000 miles after wearing me down over several months. But never will I transfer points to them again. Nor have I flown them in any capacity since then despite typically doing so 2 or 3 times a year previously.
I doubt they will miss the loss of one customer such as myself. But if my experience is indicative of their normal way of doing business they won’t be very successful in the long run.
Thank you for teaching me an important lesson:
If I actually want to know what happened in a situation, I will absolutely not read an article from this newsletter. I know now that it will just end in a suspense filled cliffhanger:
“… Stay tuned“
This is beyond lame. You just lost another customer.
Lame?
Says the person complaining about free content.
LOL.
Prediction: someone from Turkish airlines head office was made aware of Matthew’s blog post and reached out to resolve what should have been done on the first phone call to Miles&Smiles customer service. Of course, there will be no acknowledgement, apology, or accountability for the HORRENDOUS customer service Matthew and all Turkish airlienes customers have experienced and continue to experience.
Not sure why fly tk. Yeah their service is good onboard. You would be better off with another airline. Yeah you might pay more but who cares. You will get flown. Never had such issues with delta or united. Their hard product is mediocre at best on 7777
Turkish reservations is a black box. Your call is always answered immediately which shows you that they have an armada of agents. Unfortunately they are not trained well and many will tell lies in order to get the call ended quickly. (When trying to book Star Alliance partner awards usually the excuse is that they need to reboot their system so I need to hang up and call back). Absolutely hideous – for me the worst thing is that they don’t even have trained supervisors or “ticketing specialists” that they can hand over to.
@Matthew: if you’re ever given the opportunity to speak to an executive or decision maker at Turkish airlines, please convey to them, on behalf of all your readers, that the “feedback form” process is completely broken, only causes customer frustation, and should be eliminated. In addition, call center agents need to be empowered and given the tools necessary to resolve customer issues in an efficient manner.
@Jules, I will certainly do so.
…Morgan Freeman showed up at your seat, handed you a boarding pass and comforted you to the lounge?
You ran in to the CEO of TK and he told you that he didn’t have the power do anything? 😉
@Peter … +1 .
The problem with TK are that the make money by the bucket loads no matter how poorly they treat pax, as it seems.
Which again means that senior management most probably doesn’t give a hoot about customers and uses their time to come up with ideas like banning booze and US beverages from the M&S/Business lounges in IST, because they have nothing better to do with their time.
Oh god the dreaded feedback form. I encountered this last Nov. I got so pissed off with the process. Who ever designed the customer service process needs to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. I preferred flying Turkish earlier but if things go wrong with your trip then you are truly fucked. After my poor customer service experience I will not be flying them again.
Found a great deal on star alliance award with TK, transferred 34k miles from Cap1, called to book the ticket and the agent went to the checkout page with all the right info. Then he said “the computer is not responding and kicked me out of the system, I have to reboot and login again”. I said I’ll wait and he proceeded to put me on hold, logged back in and asked me for the details again and booked the flight.
I asked him to wait until I got my email confirmation thankfully and the dates were WRONG! He said he can’t help me now and I have to file a feedback/compliant online. I kept telling him how it’s his mistake and that these award tickets don’t come often but nada. He said there’s nothing he could do from his side. Of course the feedback process took a week (with me calling everyday to check on the status) and the award space disappeared. They added 1k bonus miles along with the 34k as refund. I’m beyond mad and never want to use them again, but I gotta find a way to use these miles now.
The upside was that you had time to eat at Earl of Sandwich in the Bradley Terminal…their Thanksgiving Turkey sandwich is very good.
The feedback from does not work or they never respond. To Business class ticket holders, TK offers Limousine service from Home to Airport and for return flight Airport to home, 35 Miles No charge. However, when I tried to book the Limo on line, it states ‘ Not Eligible for free transportation ‘. When I called Customer Service, they agreed that ‘I should get free transportation’, then they suggested to complain on Feedback form. I sent 3 forms at 10 day interval. Still waiting for response. Feedback form is One way form.
It’s all Israel’s fault