My Letter, Dated Dec. 3 2013:

Dear Turkish Airlines,

I am writing to report a concern while traveling on Flight TK027, from Shanghai (PVG) to Istanbul (IST) departing on x. My seat was located in business class, 1K.

I travel a lot with Turkish Airlines – about 75,000 miles in Year 2013 alone, as economy class miles in my Singapore KrisFlyer account (x). Although allowed to travel in business class by my employer based on flight duration, I will usually travel in your Premium Economy Class to arrive the day before meetings.

For this particular flight, at check-in at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, I was offered the opportunity to upgrade to Business Class on this one-way segment for an additional US$600. As I had meetings to start later that morning, I had accepted the opportunity to upgrade and proceeded to pay the requested amount. Please see Attachment 1 for the receipt, itinerary, and boarding pass.

Unfortunately, I was placed in a defective seat, with mechanical and electrical problems. I wonder if this was deliberate to sell me Business Class seat at a discount, when these mechanical and electrical problems may have been known in advance to Turkish Airlines. Or if this was instead an oversight in the flight maintenance and inspection procedures.

The assigned seat had the following problems, which were discovered throughout the flight, and unable to be resolved by the flight cabin attendants:

• Passenger Seat did not recline at all, let alone to lay-flat position.

• Seat Belt was jammed were could not buckle up.

• Entertainment System did not work upon initial use. It was corrected after the entire system was re-booted. Refer to photo 2 and 3.

• Tray did not collapse into the side. It would only partially stow away into the seat due to mechanical blockage.

• Plastic hardware cover fell off between the two seats. Refer to photo 1.

Due to the combination of these problems, I was not able to sleep during the scheduled 12h:15m direct flight between Shanghai and Istanbul. This was unacceptable from a customer service perspective, with negative implications to my following meetings in Istanbul.

I am writing to inform you of the challenges encountered on this recent flight, and for your review and response to the situation. I seek your explanation on the matter as I have some doubts for whether these mechanical and electrical problems were known in advance to Turkish Airlines. It was a disappointing experience when paying a premium amount to travel in Business Class with real business needs to sleep properly during the flight.

I await your review and feedback on this matter. Please feel free to call me xxx.

Thank you for your consideration.