I came down with a very bad case of food poisoning on a journey from Hong Kong to Toronto where I travelled on a Business Class ticket with Turkish Airlines.

I started coming down with the symptoms in the last few hours of my second leg to Toronto. From the time I boarded the flight in Hong Kong to the time I arrived in Toronto, I was on a Turkish Airlines plane or in their lounge for 37 hours and the symptoms started near the end of this journey. During my layover in Istanbul, I was in their very good lounge the entire time.

I cannot be certain where the tainted food was consumed, I have a strong suspicion it was from the seafood appetiser that was served to me at the start of my second leg, as my symptoms started about 6 hours after that. From the research that I have done food poising can be either from a bacteria or a virus, and symptoms are most likely to start within 6 to 12 hours, but can be as much as 3 days.

Apart from enduring over 5 days of suffering, my biggest disappointment is how Turkish Airlines has handled this after I made them aware. The only reply I have received from them was a flippant “too bad, we hope your next flight with us is better”. Their ‘contact us’ system only allows communication to them through their difficult to navigate Customer Feedback webpage. I have asked to speak to someone directly but have not received a reply.

I would appreciate any suggestions from some of the more senior members here.

This is my first post here, and I apologise that I am starting off asking for help, as opposed to contributing.


Thank you