Originally Posted by IAN-UK

They are both flakey. But unless you speak Turkish, QR is far easier to deal with, A good proportion of TK's agents are not entirely comfortable using English as a lingua franca: this goes for cabin crew as well as call centre agents. It's got better in recent years, and there are of course many exceptions where employees have well developed language skills. On the other hand QR's personnel are truly international and as well as exceptional skills in english the cabin crew are likely to have members with fluency in a number of other languages.


The Turkish FFP is more generous and easier to climb through than QR's, but it is spoiled by archaic mechanisms and poor transparency. TK's "upgrade with evoucher" is a welcome perk, but it can be a difficult perk to employ: it certainly helps if you have a nearby TK office you can deal with. I have still to discover any sweet spots in QR's programme.

This year I'm rationalising my adhesion to FFPs. QR and TK are "fringe" programmes for me, duplicates in alliance terms of my long-standing Lufthansa and British Airways memberships. I'm finding it far easier to give up QR Platinum than TK E+; I can see no compelling reason to remain with QR, but I find it difficult to ditch TK. QR has managed to irritate me over recent years in personal interactions and in its wider approach to customer service and marketing. I admit to a soft spot for TK and things Turkish, so perhaps i am more forgiving of the airline's shortcomings.

At the end of the day, you'd be crazy to fly with an airline/alliance that doesn't match your travel profile.