Well folks, my great Turkish Airlines ticket saga has come to an end. I was finally rebooked after hours (days, weeks…) of back-and-forth. I credit a kind agent, a harmless error, and my self-control. Here’s how it unfolded.
My Turkish Airlines Ticket Has Been Rebooked!
Recall that I had driven down to LAX Airport and was standing at the Turkish Airlines check-in counter in the Tom Bradly International Terminal.
After getting off the phone for the last time (call #30) with Turkish Airlines, I was quite frustrated. I was quite ready to go home and just write off the ticket.
Then this email arrived:
I felt like hitting my head against the wall.
Are we now time traveling? Does Turkish Airlines live in a different dimension? Or am I just in a Twilight Zone?
I furiously wrote back a snippy response.
Then I stopped and deleted it.
What a good decision…
Instead, I sent this back:
And that worked.
The next email back included a record locator with the final schedule, asking me to confirm the details were correct.
After doing so, the ticket was issued moments later and I was able to check-in at the counter.
Somehow, I think that innocent mistake of thinking 1/31/24 had already passed and then being gently reminded we have not reached 1/31 yet was the key. To err is human….To forgive is divine.
After all the phone calls and all the runaround, I think had every right to be livid…but I find that being livid rarely gets you want in life. You almost always catch more with honey than vinegar.
Next stop: Istanbul? Oh, but there was some more drama before the flight…
> Read More: My Turkish Airlines Award Ticket Horror Story…
> Read More: More Frustration At Turkish Airlines LAX Ticket Counter…
And we need to wait til Monday now!
Sorry , but I thought the flight had already departed ? Does Turkey Airlines have two flights the same day ?
LAX-IST. Twice daily. Departing at 12:45 pm and 6:40 pm
Let this be a lesson to anyone thinking of flying Turkish. Don’t! Run like hell in the opposite direction. This is not a one off sort of thing. That airline is loaded with indifferent, unhappy employees who have no empathy or desire to provide service.
I think it’s more of an empowerment issue. However, I can’t afford to start boycotting airlines on that basis, I have already had to sue AF a couple of times, I have a small claims hearing against Finnair in a couple of weeks (for all of €240- the time I’m spending is obviously worth a lot more), Aegean owe me €800 from a 10-day baggage delay back in’22, I need to pursue Avianca for a 261 payment they’ve ‘forgotten’ about etc.
And I am not even a super road warrior – in fact, I rarely travel for work and renewing my *G status depends on ensuring that my tickets are in the ‘right’ booking class.
@PM … Mostly agree … except there are a few which do come through with good customer service … can you provide us your favourites ?
@Alert, I can only talk about European airlines. I typically travel further afield just once or twice per year and, while I may have flown on a large number of airlines, I don’t have enough experience with them to comment on IROPS handling etc.
Within Europe, I feel most at ease with the Lufthansa Group. They’re no less obnoxious and disingenuous than everyone else, however they do operate a huge amount of flights through a variety of hubs and that means that they are likely to find an alternative combination of flights within the Group, and that’s a good way to minimise the risk of escalation. From what I read on FT and elsewhere, easyJet, LOT and ITA may be less bad than the competition (and in the olden days Alitalia was super helpful to me on a couple of occasions), but I don’t think there’s an airline in Europe that takes service recovery seriously.
For someone who doesn’t travel much you sure seem to have lots of things happening during your flights…
@Aaron, that’s true. A key issue is that a lot of my trips are convoluted – my local airport is big enough for multiple daily flights to the major LH Group/AFKL hubs, but other direct options are basically limited to LCCs whose schedules are often sporadic. Long haul almost always involves positioning flights to make use of business class offers or award availability- so it tends to be AAA-BBB-CCC then, 4 hours later, CCC-DDD-EEE on a separate ticket, sometimes even with a competing alliance without through check in. 2+ hour delays are pretty rare, and missing the connection would be covered by my travel insurance, but a simple schedule change can create a huge mess that needs a lot of time and money to sort out.
@David … Please provide us with your favourites for customer service ?
If you don’t mind me chiming in, I would like to echo PM’s sentiments of being most at ease when flying with LH group. I am *Gold and a Senator member and mostly fly LH and LX. I have experienced very good customer service over the years when dealing with IRROPS. Calls to the Senator line are usually picked up after a few rings and agents are very knowledgeable servicing both revenue and award tickets. Most importantly though, whatever the issue is, it almost always gets resolved on the very first call. This is exactly why I continue to be loyal to LH.
It’s not at the top of the list but maybe a surprise to those who have not flown them, Ethiopian.
Ethiopian has an incredible business class product; I would happily fly them again.
I’ve flown TK many times. My wife and I now Elite Plus. We have had only one minor issue with them which was promptly fixed. Maybe we are lucky.
Glad you finally got that resolved. Getting pissy with anyone (even when they deserve it) rarely works to get you what you want. Turkish is simply strange. Just booked a UA Mileage Plus award business ticket the other day from PRA-IST-ORD-DEN (for a December 2024 date) Have wanted to try a Turkish business flight for a while since Ive heard so many good things about the food and service. Tried to select seats on the Turkish portion on line and on the app, No dice with just a record locator, you need a Turkish eticket number – which doesn’t exist since its a United ticket. Never have had a problem selecting seats from other Star Alliance carriers I’ve used on a UA ticket, just need name and a record locator. Called TK customer service, answers immediately, she finds our reservation, and amazingly can’t select a seat from “her” system. She asks me what seats we’d like and she will send an email to the Home Office to request the the seats for us. How can an airline this big operate with these kind of inefficiencies?
Government subsidies.
There is one, and only one, lesson in this sad saga.
Never, ever, ever fly Turkish Airlines (or attempt to use miles to fly with them).
“To err is human….To forgive is divine.”
And to point this out right after sharing that you forgave their mistake is like you’re calling yourself divine. Hmmm
That quote is not calling the forgiver divine as much as it is calling forgiveness itself a divine gift.
Good job! Never give up: if you hold the truth, your heart is at peace with you and you act calm and reasonal most often you will prevail; but, when you don’t, be empathetic, that person in front of you either is powerless to help or stupid enough. So, when traveling always have a plan B to get to Istanbul–always forward.
Impressed with your patience on this, and while increasingly frustrating, it’s a good lesson on many fronts. My absolute favorite way to get to Europe was on their 787 in business class from ATL (90, points r/t). First two r/t trips (2021) went off without a hitch and were very enjoyable. Then the problems started. In 2022, one of my outgoing flights was cancelled less than a week before departure. It was a mess, and I ended up on a 32 hour flight/double layover, and only 1/2 in business class. About six months later, my return flight was cancelled two days before departure, leaving me absolutely scrambling. That was enough for me to avoid them going forward.