rotnkornkid

Hello! Asking for a friend that is stuck overnight in IST right now.

Summary:

• She bought a paid, roundtrip business class ticket from SFO to Rome via IST.
• SFO>IST arrived IST one hour late. She went straight to the gate as printed on her boarding pass for Rome, and when she arrived, she was told the gate had changed. She ran to the new gate but didn't make it in time (it was in the 300s, the original one was in the 200s if I recall correctly). It wasn't close.
• Because she missed the flight to Rome, Turkish has cancelled the remainder of her ticket (IST>Rome>IST>SFO) and is saying she needs to pay over $1K to have it corrected.
• Separately, the whereabouts of her bag are unknown-- she was told by two people it was in Rome and another employee told her it's in IST and she needs to re-check it. But she can't get past customs to do so if that is actually required.
• She was not allowed to enter the country given the US visa-on-arrival situation, so she's staying at a hotel room airside for the night. She has bought a new ticket in coach to Rome tomorrow.
• I have called Turkish customer relations and spoken to three people. I got a case number and was told to wait 48 hours. I demanded to speak with a supervisor and they refused. I asked to speak to anyone that is capable of making a decision, and they said no one over the phone could do so-- it was only possible via opening a case. She is getting no help from airline employees at IST, either.

Any tips on what to do here? Such a crappy experience, I've never heard of such a thing.... And advice greatly appreciated-- whether it's phone numbers to call, what to do at IST airport or once in Rome, etc. I realize the baggage stuff needs to be sorted out at IST probably, but I am amazed she can't get her return flight fixed sooner than (at least) 48 hours.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Often1

Presuming that she was on a single ticket SFO-FCO with a connection at IST, TK should not only have rebooked her but likely (depending on the reason for the delay) issued her vouchers for the hotel and her food.

Calling is less than pointless. If there is some reason she cannot deal with this at the airport and requires you, have her call you and put the mobile on speaker so that you can join the conversation.

She may certainly ask for a manager and should make it plain that she misconnected (presuming that she is on a single ticket).

If worse comes to worse, she has a paid ticket onwards and can deal with this via a DOT complaint (ticket departing the US) on her return to the US (presuming she is returning). This was a ticket departing the US and DOT has all the leverage it needs over TK.

The bag was presumably checked through to FCO and a manager ought to be able to retrieve it and have it retagged to FCO or else it will follow her in due course.

In a conversation, keep it calm and level. No recriminations and be concise about what is needed. Deal with one issue at a time. E.g., deal with the new ticket, then the bag.

For what it is worth, I would not remotely consider transiting any country for which I require a visa and either do not have one or cannot obtain one readily. Even if TK had handled this perfectly, she would have been stuck with a border problem. Imagine if there were a medical situation or a lengthy delay. Not worth it when there are alternatives. When the situation improves, then back to IST it is.

djjaguar64

Yep, sounds like 2 separate tickets and TK is not that bad especially if you are on one ticket.

MSPeconomist

OP says a paid RT ticket in business class. I would assume that it's a single ticket, although having two tickets would explain how TK is treating her at IST.

She should emphasize that her TK inbound flight to IST arrived more than an hour late at IST (although I wonder how much connection time in IST she had on the ticket and what the TK-TK TATL-EU MCT time is for IST). If she knows that the delay was TK's fault (for instance if it was a weather or crew delay rather than weather or ATC problems, which are common at SFO), that should be emphasized too.

djjaguar64

If the flight came in late and all on one tkt TK would be aware of this when she went to get her pass, but would she not have gotten both boarding passes from her point of departure?

rotnkornkid

Sorry to clarify, she bought a new ticket to Rome AFTER she was told it was her fault and needed to pay to get to Rome. She was originally one one ticket roundtrip from SFO to Rome and back. Appreciate all the advice!

vincewy

I would be more concerned about coming back, make sure her IST-SFO segment is still there. This is the reason I never make short connection through IST with TK, even under 1 ticket in J and with status, and I would not fly with TK if my time is pressed and I absolutely have to be somewhere at certain time. If the return segment is gone be prepared spend time to fight with TK's office in Rome.

TK's among the worst with regard to ground experience, while on-board catering and products are among the top (though this is slipping recently too).

MSPeconomist

If she bought a one way ticket to Rome, she'll also need the FCO-IST segment on the return.

djjaguar64

Why did she not get her IST-FCO BP from SFO?

vincewy

If you could, try to sort this out with TK's ticket office in SF yourself, it's much easier to deal with TK than over the phone. My recent flight in the summer arrived IST and stuck on the tarmac for 1 hour because of congestion of ground operation (not just lack of gates and parking spots) and on the schedule it only showed 30 min delay.

Yes I was implying at least IST-SFO.

airoli

Sounds like both TK and the passenger share some of the blame here. If I understand correctly, the pax got the onwards boarding pass IST-FCO at check-in in SFO, and when landing in IST blindly ran to the gate printed on that boarding pass ~12h earlier, rather than checking the monitors like all announcements always tell connecting passengers to do. By the time she got to the original gate, noticed the gate change, and hurried to the changed gate, it was too late.

Now TK can probably rightly say that the connection was perfectly doable (no security to clear) and perhaps even indicate that other pax from SFO made it to the flight.
This being said, they should obviously take better care of a paying Business Class passenger than to just assume her a "no-show", cancel the rest of the ticket and essentially tell her to get lost.

Unfortunately, this is where TK has always fallen waaaay short. Their staff (all outsourced to a JV handling agent) have zero empathy for customers, zero latitude to bend the rules, and zero incentive to do so. They also often lie straight in your face rather than admit to a mistake or, worse, work a bit more. This is the TK way.

I know this is not very helpful but it may save nerves to just make alternate arrangements, and then deal with travel insurance / legal council back in the US to try to get something back.

Often1

All of this points to why it is essential that the passenger be present for discussions with TK. If indeed the passenger went to the wrong gate and there was time to make the flight had she gone to the correct gate, front line staff and even managers may take a very hard line.

Deal with this at IST.

flyerby

There are 2 places that handle delays in IST. One is near gate 212 and the other is in the TK lounge for business class and *G passages. I presume the service in the lounge is better. Where exactly did your friend seek help in the airport?

Meneer Guggenheimer

That is why you should not fly ErdoAir....

I had a similar one but in Y going to ZNZ from AMS and we missed the connection as it was not clear when there was a gate change. We (family of 4) where not the only ones. In the end we where put on the flight next day and are tickets where reinstated but we where not offered any hotel etc and we where reminded that we where very very lucky that the manager was so nice to us..... Luckily for us we had lounge access and the lounge in IST is like a resort so we made the best out of it.

warakorn

Actually, reading the report carefully -> it was the passenger, who missed the flight out of her own fault (didn't check the gate monitors).