johnirvine

The politicisation of Turkish Airlines appears to continue unabated. Previously, it was allowed for M&S members living in the Republic of Cyprus to record their address under the non-existent country South Cyprus, while members on the other side of the Green Line dividing the island listed theirs under North Cyprus. Probably as a result of pressure from Star Alliance, North Cyprus has been removed from the country list and been replaced by the more accurate term KKTC. South Cyprus has been deleted totally and replaced by nothing. As a result, I am being told by TK that my address details are incomplete and no valid member address exists for me. What should I do?

keitherson

Turkish Airlines doesn't even fly from Larnaca. Are you just using TK as a mileage bank?

craigthemif

You don't have any friends or family living outside Cyprus who wouldn't mind if you used their address? After all, it only really matters every couple of years when you get sent a new plastic card, but even those you can have made when transferring through IST.

johnirvine

But they do fly from ECN and Cyprus is a small island. Until recently, I flew TK very regularly but now mainly use LH, OS and A3 due to safety worries about both the airline and transiting Turkey. The M&S program has the best mileage collection/redemption possibilities if you fly a lot on LH E+ tickets where you typically collect 100% miles but no tier bonus. For what rational reason, should TK delete (South) Cyprus from its list of address possibilities - for me, this is small minded!

johnirvine

You are correct - this is probably what I will end up doing. However, say for example I use a German address as I travel there often, this will affect the possibility of making certain types of compensation claims {e.g. for baggage delay). I actually live in Cyprus and do not see why a Star Alliance member airline should be allowed to censor member addresses.

craigthemif

LOL. I sympathise with your situation but with the United Nations, European Union and whoever else unable to solve the Cyprus issue, one can hardly expect the Star Alliance to fix things. Turkey won't recognise Cyprus and that apparently has filtered down to TK.

johnirvine

Turkey has never recognised Cyprus. But TK has still found it possible to allow membership registration using the euphemistic term 'South Cyprus' or 'Greek Cypriot Administered Area of South Cyprus'. What I am complaining about is that TK has now become even more extreme by completely blanking the RoC from their membership map. And the reason?

keitherson

I'm confused why you are offended by an airline that renamed their flagship lounge at their hub the "July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge," let alone continue patronizing them. You would be best to not bother with TK.

potjernik

It is not just that they don't want members from the RoC. You can't even claim missing miles from lets say LCA-VIE on Austrian! I fly TK regularly, and TK will actually credit miles LCA-VIE on OS, but if for some reason miles are not automatically credited, you can't select LCA on their claim missing miles form.

leftyboarder

Well I sympathize with your issue, however, consider the hundresds of thousans of people living in northern Cyprus who can't probably put in their correct address for their LH or UA or SK accounts. Same issue. An abomination that should've been resolved long ago.

potjernik

Hang on a second.
First, how this "what-about" explains anything. You think this is a matter of reciprocal measures?
Second, LH and M&M actually allows retro-crediting miles for THY flights from ECN in northern Cyprus, (which is BTW airport that is not even recognized by int'l aviation authorities). See bellow.
Third, I don't think that missing LCA in THY system for claiming miles is a political issue. I think it is just matter of a crappy system. Just because you can't by THY ticket from LCA, doesn't mean you should not be able to claim miles from partner flights.

PVDtoDEL

While I can certainly sympathize with your frustration, I think that Hanlon's Razor applies to this scenario ( "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.")

I have 2 addresses, one in the PVD area and one in the SEA area. The city in the PVD address does not exist in the old website, but it is a choice in the new website. Seattle, on the other hand, is a choice in the old website but not in the new website. Therefore, I cannot use either one of my addresses without breaking one of the two websites. Engaging with TK sales offices in BOS, LAX, and DEL have not really helped to solve this issue. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it seems to just be incompetence on TK's part.

Very similar issue with missing mileage credit - the list of airports is woefully inadequate. There are many secondary Indian airports missing from the list. Nothing an email hasn't be successful in fixing..