If you’re flying Turkish Airlines, especially as a couple, your seat assignments are not safe. Turkish may think it is trying to help, but it should immediately cease and desist from poaching seats couples have deliberately chosen.
Watch Out For Your Seat Assignments On Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines currently offers three different longhaul business class seats:
The 777s have a 2-3-2 configuration while the 787s and A350s have a 1-2-1 configuration.
Many couples (including my wife and me) prefer to sit one behind the other in a window seat when we travel since we both like having control of the window shade and enjoy the natural light and looking out the window. We are hardly alone.
Recently, married Award Expert clients had me book them travel from San Francisco to Cape Town via Istanbul in business class on Turkish Airlines. Their tickets were $4,670 each and they booked three months in advance.
Very deliberately, they chose two single seats, one behind the other, in the center of the forward cabin of their 787-9 jet, which operated both flights. Those seat assignments held up until at least 72 hours before departure, when I always confirm reservations in case of previously uncommunicated schedule changes.
Fast-forward to check-in at SFO. For the San Francisco – Istanbul leg, they received center seats in the last row. There was no equipment change. When asked why, they were told, “We were able to get you seats together.” When it was explained they did not want seats together, they were told it was too late and there were no window seats available.
The problem is seats 8E/F are directly in front of the galley and the noise from the galley kept them up for much of the flight.
So they got to Istanbul and had a long layover ahead of them. They found the lounge enjoyable and were looking forward to the connecting flight to Cape Town in their window seats…
BUT THE SAME THING HAPPENED. THEIR SEATS WERE CHANGED AGAIN!
This time they protested more vocally, but were met with utter indifference and eventually hostility that “seats assignments were not guaranteed.”
This time they flew in the first row, which also has a galley and lavatory nearby. They again struggled to sleep.
So what gives? Did Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Elites want their seats? Did Turkish Airlines genuinely think that it was doing them a favor?
If you’re flying Turkish Airlines, monitor your seat assignments closely, especially if traveling with a companion.
To Turkish Airlines: you should respect the seat assignments that customers have chosen, especially months in advance on paid business class tickets.
These people spent over $9,000 on a one-way ticket with you…but will never do so again. In fact, they’ve already booked the next trip…on Qatar Airways instead. I have a feeling they won’t ever be going back…
Have you experienced this issue on Turkish Airlines?
Baksheesh would have gotten them the business window seats . It’s the Middle East , gov .
I likely would have chosen a western European airline , because I don’t wish to be sweated for Baksheesh .
I’m not sure that Turkish Airlines agents can be bought off that easily…
In Manila , a local told me his goal is to purchase two homes side by side , open the wall between them , and have a “compound” for his extended family . When I asked him where he will get the ‘dosh’ ? , he answered “well , you know” .
In California , a county has sent a “demand letter” to a “non-profit” which received money to provide meals for the elderly during covid , because the “non-profit” cannot account for the money . “well , you know” ,
In Hawaii and Washington , elected officials somehow become wealthy on government salaries . “well , you know” .
Where there is a want , there is a “well , you know” : especially rumored in Chicago and the Middle East .
Oh please there is corruption everywhere. Stop using this as an example to give us more of your biases and bigotry.
Which elected officials have become wealthy in Hawaii?
@Matthew … Rodney Dangerfield had a movie about going back to college with his son . In the business class , Rodney told the instructor the tried and true method of dealing . The business teacher was offended by the tried and true method of dealing . In Cairo , everyone knows the tried and true method of dealing .
Frustrating but seat numbers aren’t contractual. They may be changed at any time for operational reasons. There’s often a good reason but it’s basically not your business to know exactly why due to privacy.
It’s not as if this happens to everyone and all the time. It’s a small percentage.
So you’ve seen nature’s credit card at work.
Exact same thing happened to me and my wife EVERY time we flew Turkish – four occasions to be exact. When I protested, the same couldn’t care less attitude was displayed.
Was this on a single PNR? I wonder if separate PNRs would have made a difference. I’ve never flown TK, as IST has never made sense as a connection for any of my trips, but it seems to have a reputation for not being user friendly. I like their IAD lounge, though.
IST isn’t that bad, but some people find it a bit too big, as far as walking goes to the gate. But it’s a decent airport otherwise.
It’s too big without adequate people movers. It’s also quite warm. I was sweating profusely when i connected last year…. Seemed like I was on either ends of the terminals.
Frequently, My single seat will change on Turkish due to “Seat malfunction” and I am switched to another single seat.
Recently, I was flying with my 88 year old mother. We had single seats booked – same last name and same PNR. At Boarding we were informed that my seat had a seat malfunction and because there were two of us with same name – they had put us in the center 8 E/F seats.
I have to say it was my first time in those middle seats and It was not bad. Earlier comment here that 8 E/F is very noisy – was not what we found to be.
Also travel frequently with my same-sex spouse (male partner different last name) on same PNR. We’ve never been reseated together due to seat malfunctions.
Yup. A days ago I noticed that TK moved me over and back from 3 to 4. Have no idea why as my wife and I were already sitting next to one another. Tried calling. Utter waste of time. Strange.
Exact same for us. Seats booked for almost a year.
What kind of incompetent award expert agency results in their clients spending $9000 cash on one way tickets.
It may be news to you, but rich people don’t give a you know what about price. They want the most direct routing and don’t care if there is not any “saver” award space.
But then why don’t they just book it themselves if they don’t care about pricing?
They don’t come off as very well off. Sounds like an MD couple that can’t afford time off. They tend not to be the best and the brightest. So, I’m glad you were able to help them out.
Upcoming trip with a long haul and short haul flight had seats on both legs change from side by side to seats rows apart and not adjacent in any way. No rhyme or reason to it. Same name and locator. Received email notification of one change but not the other.
My wife and I have upcoming TK J flights and I’ll f’ing livid if they switch out seats. The problem is that every time I try to access the PNR on TK, it errors out, whether via the website or the app.
Based on your comment and attitude, I suspect your wife will be very happy if you get separated on the flight.
Yet more proof for me that Turkish is just vastly overrated. I’ve had horrid customer service experiences with them pre and post trips, and my business class flights on them from Doha to Dulles via IST last year were just not good. I did not find the biz class seats on the 787 comfortable, and the service was just slow and uncaring, food not really good at all. The attitudes discussed here do not surprise me one bit.
Agree 100%. Bad tech. Bad customer service. Long long taxi times on the tarmac at IST. Lounges that are packed to the gills with a terrible drink selection. All for an in-air product that is “a little above average” at best.
This actually is why I never book two seats on one booking with foreign carriers. Do them separately. There is no advantage to the same booking and this is just one example of the issues that can happen.
To each their own, but I don’t understand people’s love of TK. I fly 100K – 150K miles a year on Star Alliance and will only use TK as a very last resort, using a non-SA carrier before them. I’ve had too much BS and apathy from them over the years.
Turkish people can be quick to take offense when TK is criticised. For them, TK is an ambassador for their country rather than just an airline. Not all are like that ofc I have met Turkish people who would never fly TK.
Funny thing, recently I was flying TK WAW-IST (after the T.S. concert!) and my partner and I were in different rows (different PNRs too). We asked at check-in to be seated together, and they unfortunately couldn’t accommodate us. As we boarded, my BP beeped, and I was told my seat had changed… Next to my partner. It appeared they had moved someone, as the cabin went out full and my old seat was occupied.
It worked out for me, and the moved passenger was traveling alone, so wile I’m glad I benefited, I would always respect someone’s pre-chosen seat. TK should too.
JAL has done this to my wife and I a few times, It’s incredibly frustrating and makes it difficult to get her to agree to fly them even when first class space is available.
I’ve had the same thing happen to me a few times I flew to Turkiye. I am a Turkish citizen who flies to Turkiye several times a year. Turkish airlines is one of the few airlines where you can get an agent on a call without waiting. Their service and food is pretty good – much better than the American or European airlines. However, it is government owned, so government officials or other people with conections in the airlines will get priority including bumping you from your seats and other. Also, heir prices which used to be competitive is no longer competitive. I now fly mostly American, Lufthansa and United.
Depends which European airline you are comparing them to, with regards to service and food.
TKs careless attitude can not make up for their otherwise nice amenities and decent meals. Even for North American flights they charge for seat assignments up until 6 hours prior to departure but by then all remaining seats are blocked. They even changed our aircraft from a A333 to A332 with no heads up of the seating change until I checked myself. For an airline that has such a posh front end image their back end service is atrocious.
“they charge for seat assignments up until 6 hours prior to departure”
I just did a phantom booking with them and they don’t charge for seat assignments.
Just flew back from Athens yesterday and on our way there and back they changed out seat from next to each other to random seats on all 4 flights (long haul from IAH to IST, short flight out from IST to Athens and back). On the way there we changed seats around with a few people and all the couples were able to figure out sitting next to our significant others. Being the fact that we had to do this in the first place when tickets were initially booked together was odd. We were lucky that upon checkin on the website on the way back we saw that the seats we had originally booked were magically open again so we changed our back to those seat and it worked out for both flights back.
They (Turkish) definitely need to figure this out as it’s annoying.
I will say that the service though was stellar and way better than all the Polaris flights I have taken. For some reason u ited cannot get the catering right for the last 4 years (post COVID especially. It’s off since you have Turkish here with an insane menu and great services (snacks, meal service, turndown service, etc (hell they have a bidet on the toilet!)
Obviously single window seats are premium, TK will not let party of 2’s game the system and force single travelers all sit next to a stranger
Are you trying to make the case that TK is not allowing couples to choose single seats? That’s not what’s happening, read the rest of the comments. People are getting moved to random seat assignments regardless of what they booked. To think that TK, of all airlines, would put the tech in place to block couples from booking single seats is laughable.
In Turkey single males are restricted from choosing a seat next to a female for bus and train reservations.
TK is likely following the same logic in the background, to avoid situations like this. When the computer finds a party of 2 seated separate window seats it moves them to middle seat to make space for single travelers.
My comments were specific to the situation Matthew explained.
I have TK flights coming up in Sep, LAX-IST-DBV, with my husband and I seated together in the same PNR. On IST-DBV we were originally 3A/B until last week when I received a note that my seat assignment had been cancelled “due to operational reasons”. When I looked up the reservation my husband was still in 3B, I had no seat assignment, and the only seat left was in row 1.
So JUST NOW, I pulled up my reservation again, and now on our return flight DBV-IST, where we were originally 1E/F, my husband is now in 3B. No notice, no rhyme or reason as to why. 1F is still available, so I just moved him back there.
Something weird is going on with their seat assignments, and it’s really frustrating. In the meantime, I guess you need to monitor these regularly.
Almost exact thing happened to me: we are scheduled (same PNR) on award tickets IST-SFO and we had the 2 middle seats in row 3. I look on the TK site weekly to make sure things are good, and I found my wife was moved to a window and I am now seated next to a stranger. There were no other middle seats together so i booked window seats in front of each other. Now we are together in row 1 in the middle. Go figure.
Note: i never received an email or any notice that something had changed with our seat assignments … I just check weekly myself
They just did this to me and my husband. Changed my seat for no reason on a half empty business class cabin
Just looked on FlyerTalk, this is happening regularly. Here’s a quote I found that may give some insight into what is happening. It appears seat assignments are dropping and being made available to other customers, while the original occupant of the seat still sees their seat as assigned. At some point I assume TKs systems catch up to the fact that two people are assigned to the same seat, and resolve it by kicking one person out of the seat.
From FlyerTalk, excerpted, author had set Expert Flyer alerts to notify them when their currently assigned seats showed as free:
“my partner and I are traveling on separate PNRs, I received an alert from EF that my seat 2A became available (partner is in 2B, no alert generated). When I checked my reservation (app) it still showed me as assigned to 2A. When I checked the graphical seat map on the website, it also still showed me in 2A. Now, here is the interesting part, when I checked the seat map on the TK website using my partner’s PNR (same flight), lo and behold, 2A was actually available (as per EF map)! I even ran a test to see if he could be moved to 2A and it worked. So at this point, there were two people assigned to the same seat 2A in TKs IT system! I go back into my original reservation and now choose 2B (essentially we swapped seats at this point). For now, TK and EF once again agree…. but for how long?”
So yeah, TK seat assignments are messed up right now. Who knows how long it will take them to fix it. Knowing TK, don’t hold your breath. I guess for now think of them as “seat suggestions”.
No experience with Turkish Airlines but happened every flight(4) with Iberia
It has just happened to me as well. I had selected 3A and 3B so that my wife and I could be together on a long haul from Miami to Istanbul. Without even a notice, I was moved from 3A to an aisle seat on the other side of the plane in row 5. When I called the customer service line, they stated it was because their seat assignment systems was undergoing maintenance and I should give it a couple of days to allow the system to get back to normal and that I could again select the seat I had originally been assigned. Now 5 days later, I am still not able to recover the original seat. They also separated us on the connection to Venice and on our return flight from Naples to Istanbul. So far the flight from Istanbul to Boston has been left unchanged, but after the experience so far I would not be surprised to see a change there as well.
Sometimes The Seat malfunction can have Good results. It all depends how you look at it. a couple of weeks ago at IST airport, we tried to check in for our Business Class Flight from IST to SFO. The lady at the counter was taking a long time checking us in, so I inquired what could be wrong, she told me there was a problem with the Seating. what? the wife was getting a little restless, since we decided to come 4 Hrs before the Flight to enjoy the Turkish Business Lounge, she wanted to relax before the Long Flight.
Anyhow,since the Flight was Full I was offered an Economy Seat right behind Business. Compensation: One RT Ticket from SFO to IST. I said okay, wife was upset because we would have to split. we were transported to Business Lounge then to the Gate, which is Far away. they would not give me the Certificate till All Business passengers have checked in. while we were waiting, the Airline Staff approached us and gave us more Bad News. The wife’s Seat is also not working (1A & 1B). Oh Boy! Now the wife was really upset. anyhow, we ended up with 2 RT Tickets from SFO to IST. By the way The Seats 18 A & 18B were probably as good as the Business seats. By the way, service still sucked!
R/T Business I assume?
@ Matthew — You can add me to the list of people that do not like TK or Istanbul. I get the feeling they don’t like Americans, and we are happy to spend our miles or money elsewhere. Qatar is vastly superior to all of the other ME airlines.
TK, are you reading these valuable comments? I could cut and paste most of these experiences. This happens all the time. Would you think my Elite status would help? NO
I booked 4 biz seats (selected seats also) for my family for next summer Chicago to Nairobi. A month later we were kicked out of business seats, which is now full. Phone calls, emails and chats – zero ability to help in any method. Was told I needed to wait until I check in at the counter next summer. That is all they will tell me. Unreal. I will NEVER fly Turkish again – EVER. And I will discourage anyone I know from flying Turkish forever.
Easy – do a credit card chargeback. book with another airline.
This, in a nutshell, is why I refuse to fly TK or go anywhere near IST even on award flights. The food is good, the service can be hit or miss and the J hard product on the 77W is 2 generations out of date (lets not go anywhere near the very poorly aging 330 fleet). The real problem arises when things stray from the norm. There the lack of English language skills is horrifyingly problematic as most people can’t understand what your problem is and frankly couldnt give the proverbial rodent’s rear end about you, your problem or how to solve it.
I am an American expat living in Istanbul. I agree that TK has its issues, but some of these comments are just bananas. I’ve flown just over 600k miles on TK in the last three years (with my combinations of multi-city, one-way, or round trip). There have been some technical issues and the occasional seat selection problem, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Regarding the IST airport issue of size, the easiest solution is to download the IST airport app (IGA Pass) and buy a buggy pass for 10 euros. When you land, there will be a buggy phone. Pick it up and tell them your gate number. Within a few minutes, your chariot awaits and shuttles you off to immigration. The same buggy pass works after you pass through immigration and on to your next flight.
So you think everyone here is just lying about their experience, since you and your 600k miles haven’t had this problem?
I ended up here because my wife just noticed that TK had moved our seat assignments all around, on our $12k total business class tickets that we booked four months ago. Googled the issue, and found this post. We had done nothing weird — just seated ourselves next to each other on the four flights. Look at the reservation, and we are now assigned to random seats around the cabin, no longer in the same row even on three of the flights.
We’re able to fix it so we’re sitting together on three of the four flights (although not the seats we actually wanted / originally selected), but one says it has no suitable alternate seats. And our flight is still three weeks out, so who knows what changes they’re going to make before then.
Wow! I experienced this issue the first time I took Turkish. Glad someone mentioned it is a common issue. I see. In my case the seat myself and my partner paid for was changed.
The amount paid was later refunded few days later. Asides this issue I think I like Turkish but I just want them to stop changing people’s seats. Thank you
Having a bear of a time trying to select seats on TK for a J reward flight booked with Avianca LifeMiles. Have the TK PNR and everything. Web & app both error out. Call TK and they say there’s no email or phone number associated with that booking so they can’t save the seats. Call Avianca and they say that my reservation does have an email and phone # associated with it. Everyone keeps giving us the run around and no one seems to know what to do to fix it!
Who cares? They still made it in one piece to their destination. I don’t buy the ‘its close to the galley so they couldn’t sleep’ crap. It’s not like it’s a full kitchen whipping up meals 24/7. Meal service and then done. Plus, use earplugs. These people are entitled idiots.
I thought I was the only one, till I pick up this thread!
TK seat assignment is a mess! I am taking 4 leg flights with TK Business. Logged in a while ago for curiosity to see how full each flight was, only to find on three of the legs, my chosen seat (which I chose 4 months ago) has been altered.
After two ‘feed back’ complaints, each time TK gave the same generic excuse of ‘operational reasons’ (change of aircraft, pregnancy, disability of the other passenger!) The aircrafts have been switched and I don’t buy any of that BS, as it can’t possibly pertain to THREE legs of my flights! The new allocated seat to me is closer to the exit and so a lot more convenient for a passenger with disability.
TK is a victim of its own success – once it used to be an excellent airlines. Now, because they fly to ‘most places’ have no option by to swallow their BS about ‘operational reasons’. It doesn’t take that much effort to fix this problem – Own goal for TK really!
Next time, I’ll travel with another airlines, even if to costs more or the lay over is longer.
NB posts like this are very important as I am sure the airline reads them too! So please keep posting.
Next stop for complaint: Twitter (now X)
Correction to above = The aircraft have NOT been switched
I hope this note serves as useful guidance for travelers in choosing more reliable airlines and helps them avoid unpleasant experiences they will encounter with Turkish Airlines. My husband and I recently flew business with Turkish Airlines, and the experience was quite traumatic. We had a stopover in Istanbul on our way to Rome, totaling 4 flights. On each flight, we had to contend with the airline frequently changing our seats and separating us, as well as dealing with passengers who took our seats because they were unhappy with theirs. On our last flight, we were forced to sit separately in seats we hadn’t chosen or been assigned on our boarding passes because neither the check-in nor gate agents, nor the flight attendants, were able to assist us. The seat poaching or the poor customer service you often read about with Turkish Airlines doesn’t truly prepare you for the extent of the problems you will encounter. Having taken 4 flights in one week with the same airline, I now realize this is not an unfortunate one-off but rather a standard occurrence. Direct flights hubs to your destination make travel easier, but in this case, choosing a different airline—even if it has a layover—is highly advisable
Just want to echo similar sentiments as everyone else. I’ve flown Turkish Business several times, this last time was truly the worst in terms of seat changes- 3/4 flights our seats kept getting reassigned – IAD-IST, IST-ATH, IST-IAD. What should be a no-brainer is quite frustrating. People are paying good $$ to get these various perks. With other airlines when I fly first/business, I find it exceedingly rare for a seat change to occur…not saying it doesn’t – just rare.
Looking at comments here, and my own experience – Turkish has some work to do. Honestly, once you get on the plane it is usually pleasant but it’s everything prior that can be very stressful. And that’s a shame because they’ll lose a lot of customers. I for one, will prefer Qatar or Emirates even if it’s relatively more expensive to have peace of mind over the silly games that TK keeps playing.