Turkish Airlines

My flight was scheduled at 6:35 from DAC to LHR. There was 1 stop at IST and the transit time was 2 Hours 35 minutes. The flight schedule was as followed:

TK713 Economy class
27 April, 2023, 06:35 Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport
27 April, 2023, 12:15 Istanbul Airport

TK1971 Economy class
27 April, 2023, 14:50 Istanbul Airport
27 April, 2023, 16:45 London Heathrow Airport T2

As this was my first time travelling internationally, I intentionally took this flight for longer transit hours. But the flight was delayed from DAC and took off at 8:00. The plane landed on 13:40 at IST. I reached gate A11 at 14:50 but was denied boarding because it was closed by then. I came back to the Turkish Airlines help desk and told them about my situation. They said that I had 70 minutes to board the next plane but I couldn't make it because of my own delay (It's clearly written on the ticket that boarding closes 20 mins before take off so technically I had 50 minutes)!

I told them that the flight was delayed from DAC and I had nothing to do with that. And added that I selected this flight because I was supposed to get 155 minutes to board the next plane. Hearing this they told me to go to another counter that they would get me on the next flight which was supposed to take off at 6:30. When I reached their main counter, I realised that they technically got me out of the boarding area and I can't get in without a new boarding pass. When I reached the main counter, they denied to change my flight and asked for 200 pounds for a new ticket. I told them that I already have a boarding pass and I paid for this flight. But they wouldn't change my ticket saying it was my personal problem that I missed the flight.

Later on I bought a new ticket as follows:

TK1979 Economy class
07:50, April 28, 2023 Istanbul Airport I
09:50, April 28, 2023 London Heathrow Airport T2

When I told them to transfer my baggage to the new ticket, they asked for additional 26 dollars saying that my new ticket grants me 30 kg maximum ( There wasn't any option to buy a ticket with 40 kg allowance from IST to LHR). But my previous ticket had 40 kg allowance and I bagged 37 kgs. After several minutes of requesting, another customer service advisor on the counter, transferred my luggages.

I want to state that, I was treated very unfairly by the employees. They were extremely uncooperative and their communication in English is very poor. I wasn't given a change of flight, no food voucher, no hotel or anything! I was in the airport for 16 hours; completely helpless and terrified. During the time, I was incredibly stressed and frustrated, it affected my mental well being. I was constantly worrying about whether or not I’ll reach my destination and where my baggage are. After this traumatic experience, I got sick after reaching London. I’ve missed all academic activities (Classes, appointment with professor, collecting BRP) on Friday, 28th April because of this delay.

This was supposed to be a good flight connection with a layover of about 3 hours. The first flight however departed late and was taxing in Istanbul for about half an hour, which resulted in a late arrival of 1 hour. That would still be ok, if the flight from Istanbul to Nairobi hadn't been delayed a few times and finally departed nearly 5 hours behind schedule. I had to spend over 7 hours in the transit area at night, and despite the new Istanbul airport is new, big, and well organized, it didn't feel as comfortable as I was expecting. It resembles a huge mall with shops and food courts, but little resting areas. They have like sofa islands here and there, but they were almost always fully occupied, so definitely not enough for the traffic. Nevertheless, if it wouldn't be for the delay, it would be a smooth experience overall.

I will never fly with Turkish Airlines again. Be smart, spend your money with another airline! I booked directly on Turkish Airlines website 3 tickets for a flight from Bucharest to Los Angeles. Turkish Airlines changed the flight time and accepting the new time in their system lead to "systematic" error in their system (as they told me after calling them for 5 times and writing 2 emails over 2 months period). They said they fixed the error they generated. On the day of flight however the error was not fixed, we had to spend 1 hour at check in (because the tickets were too messed up), almost missed our flight because of this. When we boarded the plane from Istanbul to Los Angeles we discovered only 2 seats were extra leg room (we paid months in advance for 3 seats extra legroom). The 3rd seat was middle seat (not even aisle)…The cabin crew said there is nothing they can do, the plane is full.

The Boeing B777-300ER was old and dirty. The cabin crew was in a rush to finish their service then withdraw at the back of the plane to chat in Turkish and ignore all the customers.

Good airline, especially the food, entertainment in economy and the seat comfort. Recommend it for long distance travel.

Turkish Airlines has a world-class reputation for a reason. The airline operates in a highly professional manner with excellently trained staff. I had information about my connecting flight in Istanbul available in my personal airplane screen, so everything went really smoothly in both directions. Midflight on my way back from Bangkok, I started having a fever with 40C temperature and the flight attendants assisted me with medicines immediately. They called airport medics to warn them to do a check up on me before I board the next plane (coming back from Thailand with fever means you could potentially have malaria, so it was pretty serious). I was really impressed with their professionalism and the customer service they provided. It turned out I just had a regular infection but they really took great care of me both for ensuring I board my connecting flight and handling my health problem. (Please note that this was a flight in March 2015, but the website did not give me an option to choose an early date)

Flying with TK is always enjoyable. Catering and entertainment are classy and prices are competitive. Both flights got a little bit delayed, but we were lucky.

I was booked to travel on Turkish Airways flight from Istanbul International Airport to Zagreb on Jan. 3, 2016. This flight got cancelled. The airlines did not bother to inform us and then made no arrangements for us as well. We ended up spending 24 hours at the airport. We had come in from Astana the previous night and were transiting Istanbul. The service of Turkish Airlines is among the worst and the attitude of the airlines staff is lousy. I will not fly this airlines again or transit Istanbul airport, if I can avoid it.

Most of TK flights are delayed (usually 20-60 minutes) but they have a huge spare time (real flight time is much shorter than schedule) so usually delay is not a problem (you just don't know when you will arrive). Like everything else in Turkey: it is kind of mess-system.

The airport is big and take a lot of time to find your gate. I wouldn't recommend this Airport for flights with short stop overs. There are few check points that may have big queues and takes a lot of time.