We are going to Hong Kong in a few days. I have noticed that TK070 often is 5 hours delayed. Is there a reason for this?

Probably due to lack of aircraft, i.e. some flights get delayed until the following morning after the early morning bank of flights arriving into IST.

Not answering your question but can confirm that both my flights IST-HKG-IST TK70/71
beginning/end of November were on time. If I remember well, even early. Service in J was exceptional. Definitely my best long-haul flights with TK.

My flight in November was delayed by 5 hours too, luckily I managed to claim 600eur compensation with EC261. However, I did not enjoy the fact that they still served a huge dinner for the first meal at 7am, and a light breakfast before arrival. I thought they could be more flexible... (that is in business class)

We had a similar experience a few months back TK69 IST-TPE was about 6 hours delayed overnight from late evening to about 0600. No hotel or assistance provided.

Tried for EC261 got knocked back - currently escalating. (Flights were ARN-IST-TPE.) Fortunately travel insurance came to the party.

On that night most Asian flights around the same time of evening seemed to be delayed a similar duration.

And it really messed with the catering. It seems to me they had enough meals assuming people would go to sleep, but because it was now morning there weren't enough meals to go around the business class cabin. And yes - it was an evening meal / supper served for breakfast time and then a breakfast served for dinner as we approached TPE. We were also unlucky with the cabin crew - the purser was excellent (and made cheese toasted sandwiches for passengers), but the others couldn't give two hoots.

This was my last planned flight with TK as I used all my remaining points on the redemption and this poor flight experience just reinforced my opinion that I made the right decision to leave after 10 years as Elite.

That sounds terrible. Could you get assistance from the customer service or the lounge to book on alternate airline? Or was there any customer service at that time of the day?

TK will not rebook to other airline for a delay of 6 hours. Forget it.

It doesn't really make sense to arrange for accommodation as a delay of around 6 hours or slightly more, will not give you any time at a hotel (hotels are located far away in Istanbul city). It needs to be at least 9-10 hours before it make sense. TK doesn't provide accommodation at the airside (and very expensive) YOTEL.

Spending 12am-6am at the loud and mediocre lounge doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. If this were to happen to me, I’d likely seek rebooking on the following night’s flight and get a hotel in the city for 24 hours (on TK’s dime or, if unwilling, on my own).

I went to the incorrectly named "care desk". Lucky I was flying J because the Y queue was massive. They simply made a phone call and said "no hotel for you".

Normally a daytime 6 hour delay I'd take in my stride and spend in the lounge, but because it was "overnight" that wasn't my idea of fun either.

Yes - the Yotel was expensive booked on the spot (about $500 US / 500 euro) but it was the best option available - and travel insurance came good - thanks Amex.

I guess I could have tried to change to the next night's flight but it now seems this is a regular pattern and that too may well have been delayed and we had hotel bookings at the other end.

After I submitted a feedback form they offered to pay for the room if I submitted the receipt. Once I did that they reneged on the offer so that's when I decided to lodge an EC261 claim and they knocked it back so I've decided to follow up with legal action just on the principle.

Please keep us informed on the outcome! Fingers crossed!!!

Please let us know how it goes! On a side note, how did you file the claim?

My mom just suffered a massive 6+ hours delay on the second leg of her journey (IST-SIN flight) and is covered by EU flight compensation law so I'd like to make the claim asap.

I'm using one of those third party claim firms. I don't have much time or energy for such a dispute and I figured EC261 for 2 passengers less their fee was more than enough to cover the hotel bill - and that's all I really wanted in the first place.

Unfortunately, these 4 to 6-hours delays are part and parcel of the TK longhaul experience. Every single night, a number of longhauls that are supposed to leave between 1am and 2am will be delayed until 5-8am because TK has no aircraft available and just waits for some of the overnight arrivals into IST. It seems the airline purposely arranges its schedule like this and to the best of my knowledge will not rebook on any other airline but will just let passengers wait at IST or at the outstation. Just for reference, as an indicator how systematic these delays are, info for the past week and only for the overnight departures from IST:

Fri, Dec 20
TK026 IST PVG delayed 5 hours
TK044 IST CPT delayed 5.5 hours
TK056 IST CGK delayed 5 hours
TK072 IST CAN delayed 6 hours
TK084 IST MNL delayed 5 hours
TK157 IST MIA delayed 6 hours


Sat, Dec 21
TK070 IST HKG delayed 5.5 hours
TK072 IST CAN delayed 5 hours
TK090 IST ICN delayed 4.5 hours
TK162 IST SGN delayed 5 hours
TK164 IST HAN delayed 6 hours
TK172 IST HKT delayed 4 hours


Sun, Dec 22
TK024 IST TPE delayed 5 hours
TK026 IST PVG delayed 4 hours
TK044 IST CPT delayed 5.5 hours
TK056 IST CGK delayed 4 hours
TK066 IST DPS delayed 4 hours
TK072 IST CAN delayed 5 hours
TK088 IST PEK delayed 6 hours
TK162 IST SGN delayed 5 hours
TK164 IST HAN delayed 5.5 hours
TK176 IST MRU delayed 4 hours


Mon, Dec 23
TK026 IST PVG delayed 7 hours
TK044 IST CPT delayed 7.5 hours
TK072 IST CAN delayed 6 hours
TK084 IST MNL delayed 6 hours
TK086 IST KIX delayed 3.5 hours
TK088 IST PEK delayed 6 hours
TK090 IST ICN delayed 5.5 hours
TK176 IST MRU delayed 3 hours
TK748 IST SEZ delayed 5.5 hours


Tue, Dec 24
TK026 IST PVG delayed 4 hours
TK044 IST CPT delayed 6.5 hours
TK054 IST SIN delayed 6.5 hours
TK066 IST DPS delayed 6 hours
TK090 IST ICN delayed 5.5 hours


Wed, Dec 25
TK088 IST PEK delayed 6 hours


Thu, Dec 26
TK024 IST TPE delayed 3 hours
TK044 IST CPT delayed 3.5 hours
TK072 IST CAN delayed 5 hours
TK090 IST ICN delayed 5 hours
TK172 IST HKT delayed 2.5 hours

I have long since started telling people to book a different airline. This has been going on for years and TK seems to have no interest in rectifying the issue. As a matter of fact, it seems to work quite well for them.

Submit a feedback on the TK website once your mom has completed traveling. There is no rush. Keep it simple and explain explicitly what you want. The people dealing with these issues do not have English as first language and tend to misunderstand unless you keep it simple and very clear.

Your mom should make the claim; not you. It only complicates matters if you pretend to do it on her behalf.

There is no point in rebooking pax - nor it is required under law - when a departure is postponed from 1-2AM to 6-8AM. First of all there close to none departures with other airlines from IST during these hours, secondly you gain nothing (i.e. earlier arrival at final destination) by rerouting.

Whilst these systematic delays are annoying, requiring TK to rebook OAL in these situation, has no merits/doesn't make sense. Secondly you will keep hitting your head a against a brick wall when trying to accomplish a rebooking. If the flight is canceled, it is completely different.