djjaguar64

Will TK be a daily flight from YYZ to IST?

becreative

Thanks for sharing your frustration with us. I am a bit surprised that you have a lower tolerance when you are traveling on reward tickets as opposed to when you are flying on revenue J tickets that you (or your employer or client) have paid for. I would have thought that you would expect the service to be better when flying on revenue tickets but the level of expectations might be slightly lower for free (or almost free) tickets.

As to your other points I have already mentioned the rude service we received from an LX ground agent. But that was one agent and maybe she was having a bad day (although at 7 am the day would have just started). We chose to just ignore that and proceed with enjoying ourselves.

We also had catering issues with TG and somewhat similar responses as yours on one of our flights. But then again we had stellar service on the other flights. Again when you travel these things are expected and will happen every now and then. It doesn't make the airline bad. I mean if thats the case then all airlines are bad (including Air Canada and if you have had consistent service from AC then maybe you just dont fly enough )

All I can say is forget about this incident and enjoy the rest of your vacation ^

jlisi984

I can affirm that the TK FA on my F class flight IST-NRT spoke barely any English. I still enjoyed the flight.

PointWeasel

This thread has already hit 7 pages, much ado about nothing, IMHO, but that what FT is for!

As others have mentioned, TK's hard product is great, full stop. Their rapid expansion and hiring over the past few years appears to have strained staffing in a few areas I think. I have had great flight crews to HKG up front and within Europe, however, the ground staff are truly hit and miss in IST. I am of the opinion that, English-speaking abilities lead to part of the problem. If the staff don't feel comfortable speaking, the simply don't say anything in response to repeated questions from us English-speaking travellers. Nothing rude about it at all, they simply don't have the vocabulary to reply. Some of the supervisors certainly do, but they aren't always available either.

I wouldn't hesitate flying TK again, period. The only real annoyance with them are the over-crowded facilities at IST during peak times. After flying a 77W from YYZ or elsewhere, I don't want to park at a remote stand and get bussed with 300 others to the gong show that IST visa/immigration can be. Other than that, they get a ^ from this FTer.

thyeri

The reason why I am flying F is all about service. I fly J to be able to sleep and actually enjoy the flight (vs couch), but I don't expect perfect service in J. It's better with it but as long as can sleep I'm happy.

For First Class, if service is lacking, for example in case of FAs who do not even speak English, there is no way I can enjoy the flight. I remember flying United First from EWR-ZRH in an empty F cabin. And I hated it.
Service was worst than AC/LX J.

tcm

As a IST based FTer I can say this; TK's ground service deteriorated when they formed TGS (In partnership with TAV's Havas) to handle all ground operations. I guess this was necessary considering the phenomenal growth by TK over the past few years. TK grew from 10 million pax per annum in 2003 to over 30 million in 2011. This has also meant serious capacity/space problems at IST which hampers TGS operations.

There has been problems with hiring and training policies as well as retaining some of the more experienced staff that left with the formation of TGS and more stringent employment contracts. Unfortunately, Havas has not brought the success that Do&Co has in terms of catering and lounge operation in their partnership. Also, TK has a lax approach to the level of service provided by their ground agents such as SATS, Menzies etc. in their outstations. So in short, the TK ground experience leaves a lot to be desired at their home base or outstations even when one does speak Turkish.

In the air, things have improved slightly as of late but inconsistencies do remain. IME, If you speak Turkish you will usually get much better service. One thing that will get their attention, if you experience bad service, is a request for a comment card to the Purser/Cabin Chief. This works wonders In fairness, the level of service in the air is however much better than what you encounter on the ground.

As long as there are no irregular operations, TK is a decent airline to fly with a good hard product (the new J on wide body a/c and new narrow bodies) and a average cabin service.

rankourabu

Apparently not everyone shares the OP's opinion:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...1-january.html

Vinod Manghnani

On my 1st TK trip flying C, and not a happy camper. Details:

1. AUH-IST arrived 20 mins late. There was a guy waiting to escort me to the connecting gate to JFK since I had only 40 mins remaining to connect, and US flights require additional security. Really appreciated the escort service and made my connection in time.

2. Upon arrival in JFK they missed my bag. I understood this being the result of a 40 min connection. Ground staff told me it was on the next flight in 2 hours and will be delivered to my hotel that night. Also okay. I had a shirt and some underwear in my carry on so didn't even bother with asking for compensation. That night, after I came back from dinner to my hotel, no bag. I called their baggage services, went to voicemail and I left a message. Early next morning still no bag, and after waiting for a long time to speak to someone, kept getting voicemail and left like half a dozen messages or so. My messages went from polite inquiries to threats of claims.

3. On day 2 afternoon I called the TK phone # in NY (earlier was calling the # on the receipt they gave me) and asked to speak to a responsible person. Got a Turkish guy on the line who basically told me they had no idea where my bag was, that they were tracing it. I told him I needed to go buy clothes and toiletries since it was already delayed over 24 hours, and he said they have no policy for compensation and only after 5 days you are eligible. I asked how come the guy at the airport told me the bags were on the flight arriving 2 hours after my flight, and he confirmed that I had been misinformed by the ground staff. So at this point, I am completely uncertain whether or not I am getting my bag. So I go out and buy some clothes & toiletries for the remaining 3 days of my trip.

4. That evening, my bag just turned up at the hotel. So I just spent $200 on clothes and they just turn up! So the Ground services staff at JFK misinformed me AND the guy on the phone misinformed me.

5. I arrive into IST on my return flight from JFK. SInce I have almost 11 hours transit, I go to the Business Class Desk to request an earlier flight or destination change (DXB i/o AUH) and if the transit it still long, the hotel. He got authorization and changed my destination. The transit would still be close to 11 hours. The agent agreed I am eligible for the hotel, then says that I am not. I did not understand and asked him to explain. He sad that if there is no other flight between the time I arrive and depart they will provide the hotel. So I agreed to travel if there is a flight. He said there isn't but if I had taken the earlier flight from NY I could have made a 3 hours connection. So since I chose to connect for more than 10 hours, I was not eligible. I told him I did not believe what he said and asked to speak to a Supervisor. He refused to let me do that. So I went and asked some other ground crew where I could find the transit desk supervisor. They told me to go to the economy counter and ask for the Sup. Went there, they called the guy on biz desk and basically told me the same thing. So here I am sitting in the IST TK Lounge venting on this forum. I think they have been totally unfair and use the words company policy to deny their passengers what they are entitled to. I used every possible logical argument but he would not budge.

I have written down the name of the ground personnel who I had the misfortune to deal with, and plan to write a formal complaint to TK and Star Alliance on this incident. Just making up stories and stone walling any objections does not make someone "Europe's best airline" which they advertise so keenly - I for one am quite disappointed!

To be fair to them, their planes, seats, food, wine selection & service are all absolutely fine. I personally found the food to go beyond my expectations of plane food. But the ground services & back end need to come together to make the whole experience pleasant.

And could not stop wondering if they treat C customers like this, what about the Y class travelers!!

irishguy28

Sorry you had a bad experience - because TK is really quite a good airline.

I am just surprised why you didn't sort out your "Hotel" for the 10 hour connection sooner (this usually should be done at the time of booking, unless the airline tells you to request it on arrival). Why did you book such an awful return connection when there was a much smoother and quicker return journey had you taken the earlier NY flight? Were you aware of this, or was there a reason you had to take the later flight from NY?

DWM

I disagree with this post! I have found TK to be great! I am flying them again (11th time) next Sat from YYZ. Biz class is better than AC.

Braindrain

Meh, depends on personal experience. I took a J long-haul flight on TK and had mediocre service, less than mediocre food, and an "ok" hard product.

off-shore

I have had an unexplained 6 hours delay in IST, thanks to gold in the lounge. As the flight was scheduled 00.50 to PEK, this meant spending the night in the well-lit and noisy place. The staff wouldn't even offer to help in getting a shower (when I asked at 1 am if I could get on the waiting list for 5 am I got a clear first come-first-served-announcement, and indeed, when I got there, they had already racked up a 2 hours waiting list, with me not on it).

I was wondering, whether anybody else from FT was on the flight, which took off more than 6 hours after the scheduled time, without any explanation whatsoever or offer to stay at the in-airport hotel?

I was also wondering, whether anybody would consider applying for the EU passenger complaints from (as my trip was all THY and starting from a European airport) http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes...nt_form_en.pdf ?

djjaguar64

Delays do not make an airline a bad airline, you were in one of the best lounges in Turkey, what transpired with the shower is anybody's guest. Why is this thread even in the AC forum??

There is no harm in filling out that form but does Turkey fall under EU??

‘Long delay’ means when a flight does not depart until after the scheduled departure time
by:
i) two or more hours, for flights of up to 1500 km;
ii) three or more hours for intra-EU flights of 1,500 km and longer, or for other flights
between 1501 and 3000 km;
iii) four or more hours, for all other flights.

FlyerGoldII

My wife, my 17 year old daughter, and I plan to fly business class from YOW to Dubai (or Abu Dhabi) this coming March.

We will need to fly on Star Alliance - partly because at least one passenger of our group will be on an Aeroplan award ticket through my SE account, and at least passenger (ie me) will likely fly on discounted business class tickets (for the AQMs with Altitude and Aeroplan).

So Emirates and Ethitad (unless one can get AQMs once AC and Ethitad code share) are not options I will take.

I can take LH or LX. Another option is TK via YYZ and IST, or AC between YYZ and IST, and then TK between IST and Dubai? Any thoughts, based on this thread - I am somewhat concerned about taking Air Canada.

rankourabu

Seriously? really?...