Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles - Tk 51 08aug09 tyo-ist j-cl

I recently flew Tokyo-Istanbul with TK on my return from Japan. The "problems" started already at check-in. While TK is not directly responsible for ground services (as they like all other airline companies) use a ground handler, they should however have regular quality assessments. I was travelling business class with one of my colleagues. Maybe because I am a flying extremely much both privately and in my job, I usually keep an eye on what is happening - always easier to correct what might be necessary by the counter than afterwards. At Tokyo/Narita TK:s ground handler (ANA) had all the boarding passes printed out in advance, somewhat very strange to me (and for what reason?). So, from the pile of boarding passes she took our two. Glancing at them, I noticed that we were not assigned adjacent seats anymore (3A and 3B where prebooked, but now we had 3A and 3K). I pointed this out. The check-in assistant had however suddenly dropped all her knowledge of English language. Some discussion, and she concluded that she could have one of us reassigned from 3A to 3J. I was not completely satisfied with that, partly because we do prefer to sit on the left side, partly because I have never before experienced a re-seating in an aircraft not fully booked. Check-in assistant were just standing there, going through the small pile of boarding passes, apparently not giving any more attention to "my case". A few seconds later, she had found the reason, as she said (suddenly knowing English very well). The reason for the mix up with seats was that my colleague had made two reservations for the actual departure, and thus had two pre-printed boarding passes with different seat assignments. Well.... this really took the price, so I asked her to actually see the boarding passes (all of them) involved. While mine was correct with seat 3B, there was one correct boarding pass also for my colleague with seat 3A. The boarding pass with seat 3K which originally was offered us was issued in a name which didn't have many letters in common with my colleague's name. Pointing this out, the check-in assistant acted in a way as if it was our fault that she had chosen wrong boarding pass from the pile. Maybe my sixth sense told me that I should keep controlling, so I asked to se the baggage tags which were put on our two bags before they were sent away on the belt. And... of course.... while the now erroneous boarding pass had been replaced with the new one, the baggage tags were still printed out for the non-correct boarding pass, with a final destination deviating from ours with 1000 of kilometers. Also pointing out this made the assistant really show clearly that she did not like to change the baggage tags to correct ones. Obviously, the assistant did not actually care whether our luggage ended up in New York or in Copenhagen.

The departure was delayed due to late incoming aircraft. However, TK was unable to adjust departure time and estimated arrival time in Istanbul from scheduled times. This became a little bit rediculous as the updated boarding time after some changes was set to 13.00 while estimated departure time was kept to 12.50!!!

On-board the aircraft, there was more or less chaos in C-cl cabin (I do not know the situation in Y-cl). On duty this flight was a bunch of attendants who clearly were completely unable to co-operate and to carry out their work. After a few hours, the situation became totally unaccpetable, which could be clearly noticed by all travelling. Attendants started to make problems for each other, sending colleagues back and forth, running along the aisles. The service suffered from this, a few passenger actually not being served at all. Attendants became clearly more and more stressed, now dropping things on the floor, on the trolleys, but even worse also on the passengers. The serving looked like if the staff had been trained at a day care center for small children. This was definitely not C-cl. Obviously the purser had got some information - obviously from attendants complaining on each other in front of the purser, but also from passengers. The purser went back and forth in the cabin looking at how the work was carried out, and clearly showed with her face that she deeply disliked what she saw - something which I as a passenger does not want to see!!! Eventually, the purser rearranged the staff so that some attendants from C-cl were replaced with some from Y-cl and vice versa. The service became after that somewhat better, but what had been going on for about 4 to 5 hours can not be repaired that easily. Most passengers were frustrated and irritated.

Landing in Istanbul, I hoped this was a one time occurence, as the flights to Japan (also with TK) were really very good and comfortable. However... I didn't know how wrong I could be. The continuing flight Istanbul-Copenhagen was even worse. See my next posting

WTS / Sweden

Thanks for you report,

It doesn't really fit with my in air cabin experience of TK (ground handling is different see my "stuck in Sao Paulo" thread), but as you said yourself your IST-NRT leg was fine.

It seems TK has a serious consistency problem. Maybe this is the result of their relatively quick expansion over the last couple of years.

Your other post on the IST-CPH leg reminds me the recurrent problem (maybe worth on egalitarian scandinavian legs) of separation between J and Y. Off course J class passengers do not own the plane, but they actually pay 2 to 4 times the price the Y class passengers paid to travel in relative comfort.

I pay my J and P class travel out of my own pocket, because I travel a lot and want to be comfortable during flights. It is a financial sacrifice I have made, which gives me some extra services on board a plane. I recall I was once, on an AF flight after taking a late night walk around the cabin to stretch my leg, refused access to the First class cabin of the plane by the J class F/A, which was very fine except that I was actually the one and only P class passenger of the flight (the F/A excused himself a lot after that, but at least he did his job limiting access).

Thanks for your reply.

I am flying a lot, both in my job and privately. As I wrote, the return journey from Tokyo to Copenhagen, on both legs, were the worst I have ever experienced. And many passengers on board reacted in the same way, not only me. What I found quite bothering was that the purser did not react at all, despite several upset passengers C-cl passengers.

After all, there is (and definitely should be) a division between C-cl and Y-cl. There should under no circumstances be a line of Y-cl passengers standing in the aisle waiting for the front lavatory to be free. Just the fact that these passengers are standing there makes it impossible for the cabin crew to attend to the C-cl passengers. And that was exactly what happened in this case. During half of the flying time between IST and CPH, there was no attendants devoted to C-cl. I have neither before experienced that the cabin crew was filling up Y-cl trolleys by walking back and forth through the C-cl cabin. Attendants making their way through the line of Y-cl passengers waiting for the lavatory, frequently bumping into aisle passengers, is really not an appropriate behaviour in a C-cl cabin.

C-cl passengers definitely don't own the aircraft. But Y-cl passenger should understand that a class division is to be respected. The cabin crew should pay attention to their passengers so as to ensure the class and standards of the different cabin classes offered and sold. This is no issue what so ever on TK's competitors (Lufthansa, SAS, Swiss etc.). Most often already the first passenger announcement informs that the front lavatory is uniquely for C-class passengers. I can not tell whether this was done on this particular flight as the information in English was quite brief, but maybe it was done in Turkish.

WTS /Sweden

i ve never heard anyone announcing on the plane that passengers should stick to toilets in the cabins they sit...

OS LH or LX have similar problems to TK....


Thanks for your reply.

Most often already the first passenger announcement informs that the front lavatory is uniquely for C-class passengers. I can not tell whether this was done on this particular flight as the information in English was quite brief, but maybe it was done in Turkish.

WTS /Sweden

i ve never heard anyone announcing on the plane that passengers should stick to toilets in the cabins they sit...

OS LH or LX have similar problems to TK....

Must not fly much on UA then. IIRC this is in the safety announcement on UA.

i ve never heard anyone announcing on the plane that passengers should stick to toilets in the cabins they sit...

OS LH or LX have similar problems to TK....

The asian carriers are the only ones who have a solid curtain that seperates the classes so to speak!