boosh

Sequence of events followed by a rant. This is a bit long and I do apologies. A shorted version of the sequence of events will be in the post below.

Events:

11/11 - Booked a Y (non-flex) ticket GZP-IST-JFK-IST-CPH with a 22H layover in IST before the CPH flight. Called CC to use E+ voucher to upgrade GZP-IST-JFK and JFK-IST-CPH. Informed that would not be problem for GZP-IST-JFK but not possible for JFK-IST-CPH, apparently there were space on the JFK-IST leg so I assume it is because I could have taken an earlier flight out of IST. Who knows. When the CC agent came to apply the voucher he noticed my middle name was missing from the reservation and could therefor not apply the voucher . This is totally down to me, I have my browser set to autocomplete, I was in a hurry and should have checked. He informs me that if I fill out a feedback form they will be able to apply the voucher as I am, and I quote, "an Elite Plus member and there fore one of their most valued customers". yeah right. I am not.

A week later I call back to confirm some other details regarding the booking and also enquirer about the upgrade. Nothing confirmed but I have a reservation in J now so it is all beginning to look good.

2/12 - Still haven't heard back from CC but I get an email about a flight change, my GZP-IST flight has been cancelled and I have been re-booked on a flight on the same day but with a later departure that gets me into IST 6H AFTER my JFK departure!!!! I call up CC to resolve and offer to leave the day before as that seems the easiest to me and they don't have to mess around with the other flights. I now have a 16H layover in Istanbul, no hotel offered!!! I ask the agent if the upgrade will be applied to the new flight as well and he conforms this so I see no reason to cancel and re-book under my full name as I should have done from the beginning. Halfway through the process he says there is an IT error and asks me to call back in a few hours. I can't so...

4/12 In the domestic lounge in IST I ask the TK rep (or whatever they are) if the upgrade has been applied and she says no, there are no record of a voucher and anyways I can't use one voucher for GZP-IST-JFK as there is now to far between the departures. I duly inform her that is down to TK only. She seems very reluctant to help and after she has called her manager and spent another 10 min on her computer she suggest I use miles to upgrade or write yet another feedback from.

I have never used twitter but i sign up just to reach out to their social media team and they do get back to me within minutes saying they have passed it on to the relevant team, where I assume is has been sitting in pile all along.

My flights are coming up in a weeks time, I have run out of ideas of what to do, I can't seem to get a responsible adult on the phone and I have somewhat given up trying.

Rant:

I am feed up that everything seems to be a drawn out and difficult process, nothing is ever straight forward. I am left with a feeling of what is the point of maintaining my E+ with TK? Surely one of the benefits of that level should be that your issues are dealt with in a swift and competent manner. I am well aware that most other airlines have their issues as well but I am beginning to look elsewhere. I will happily give up my two annual vouchers to be with an airline that can recognize your loyalty and deal with your issues in a competent manner.

And yes, I do realize that I should have checked my booking, and yes I do know that this is a very Turkish approach to CC. I do live in Turkey and experience it elsewhere, and TK is by no means the worst, BUT, we are a group of travelers who have a choice in who we choose fly with and don't just choose whoever is the cheapest for the annual holiday to Marmaris or where ever. If TK is not wanting to keep that group happy, then what is the point in having an E+ level?

Rant over.

boosh

11/11 -

Booked a Y ticket GZP-IST-JFK-IST-CPH with a 22H layover in IST before the CPH flight. Called CC to use E+ voucher to upgrade GZP-IST-JFK and JFK-IST-CPH. Not possible for JFK-IST-CPH due to layover. Failed on GZP-IST-JFK as my middle name was missing from the reservation, my fault. Agent tells me to write a feedback form and they can then apply the upgrade.

18/11-

A week later upgrade is not confirmed but I now have a reservation i J. Looking good

2/12-
GZP-IST flight has been cancelled and have been re-booked on a flight that gets me into IST 6H AFTER my JFK departure!!!! CC re-book me on a flight the day before. No hotel offered. Agent is having issues transferring the upgrade and asks me to call back. Agent confirms there should be no issue so I don't use the opportunity to cancel and re-book

4/12-
TK rep in IST domestic informs me no upgrade has been applied, no upgrade can be applied because the now longer layover time. She calls her manager but generally seems very reluctant to help. Asks me to either use miles to upgrade or write another feedback form. I reach out to their twitter team who responds quickly that they have passed it on to the relevant department.

siberslava

The whole "we can't apply the voucher because your middle name is not on the reservation" pisses me off to no end. Why are you not able to apply a voucher but can take miles out of my account for an upgrade if there is no middle name? That and having to spend time on a phone with someone when I should be able to do this with a couple of clicks on the computer.

I do the bare minimum to maintain status now. As soon as I hit my qualification I turn to Skyteam since the flights out of IST to the US are insanely cheap and get me to places I want to go with a single European connection (Cincinnati and Portland for example via CDG and AMS respectively)

boosh

What really gets me is the constant "computer says no", the misinformation, the complete lack of common sense, and never being able to get to someone who can actually make a decision other than "Fill out a feedback from and we will get back to you in 10 working days".

It either shows a complete disregard for their customer base or an inability to run a CC centre. Either does not sound good for "Europes Best Airline for 6 years running"

PVDtoDEL

I had the same middle-name missing problem when I tried to apply my voucher.

First 3 agents were clueless and my local sales office was powerless to help.

Then finally, a competent ICC agent protected me in J class so that the inventory wouldn't disappear and instructed me to send a feedback form with photos of my card and passport and ask them to remove my middle name from my account.

1 week later, TK send me a message confirming that my middle name was removed from my account so I can apply my E+ vouchers. I called TK up and my upgrade was confirmed in a 5 minute phone call.

An annoying process to be sure, but if I had spoken to the competent agent the first time, I think I would've been pleased with the level of TK customer service. Unfortunately, the hours wasted talking to the other 4 agents left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

At least I don't foresee any problems next time

aulrik

It's unfortunately the biggest drawback with TK; The rules are constantly changing and never enforced consistently and there is a general lack of customer service orientation in the entire organization. A typical TK employee will not hesitate to serve you with a direct lie right to your face, if it means they can get out of a difficult situation and back to tapping on their phone or Facebook. They couldn't give a .... about how much money you spend with the airline every year, or your status. To TK you are just another sucker and they know that it doesn't matter if you leave as there will always be 10 new suckers that just got a high enough living standard to afford international air travel.

Yes, I really dislike the way TK is operated, but at the same time I have been loyal to them for a long time and have been E+ for the last 6-7 years. At the end of the day they are the only *A airline that fly to all of the destinations I usually fly to, and as long as everything goes according to the plan, they do, in my eyes, offer one of the best value for money on long-haul. It's when things doesn't go as planed it gets really bad, and you are pretty much left to fight for yourself.

boosh

PCDtoDEL and aulrik this is spot on.

The first agent I spoke to actually did seem to know what he was talking about and suggested I write a feedback from just nothing has come of that, I don't know if it goes straight into a shredder or what. And I don't really see a point in writing a feedback form when he could log the request in the system there and then and saving us all the time and hassle.

It has always baffled me how there can be such a disparity between TK in the air and TK on the ground / phone.

I hope TK will have a look at their procedures to make it a less painful experience instead of spending millions on some gimmicky campaign.

aulrik

I wouldn't keep my hopes up if I were you. I have had 200.000+ miles on TK metal every year for the last 5-6 years and in my eyes the customer service has just been worse. I get around because the local station manager for TK here is a great guy that always go out of he's way to help me, so whenever I have an issue I just go directly to him.

boosh

I'll put it on my Christmas list just below:

World Peace
End world hunger
Petter customer care from TK

joorinainen

Two upgrade vouchers and better mileage accrual.

vincewy

Trying to upgrade using vouchers and looking for J fares is a cat-and-mouse game.

Looking at YUL-CAI March 31st, a market where many don't want to go, it seems all J fares are gone, so I tried to book only YUL-IST on March 31st and add another IST-Europe segment for different fares/pricing, just when you finally found J fares on certain route and prevailed, oops, the Y fare jumps from $700 to $1600 (USD) and I'll have to buy another IST-CAI segment for $220 to get to CAI.

At the moment I can get 1 way YYZ-CAI J fares for $1085 on MS which is what I am seriously considering given the miles accrued and convenience.

boosh

To give a quick update:

I got a response from TK last week were they stated they were unable to change the name on a e-ticket and it would not be possible to change the name on the M&S account. I called them back up and informed them that had their CC agent on the 2nd of December not informed me otherwise I would have cancelled and re-booked back then but he insured me there would be no issue as long as I had written a feedback form. They guy was quite understanding and wrote yet another feedback form.

Well of course I didn't hear anything back, I got in touch with @TK_HelpDesk several times and they were very apologetic and said it would forward on to proper department.

My flight was today, and yesterday I called yet again and was insured I would hear back on the 15th. My flight was on the 14th!!! Didn't seem to be a problem to TK.

I woke up this morning to a missed call from TK and an email saying they would cancel and refund the original ticket if I rebooked the same flights and paid the fare difference myself. Honestly, I think that is pretty good result and more than I had hoped for.

Alas, when I came to rebook I my payment wouldn't go through. Called my bank and there was no issue with my card or account. Called TK and was told that because I had a 17H layour in Istanbul the system wouldn't accept it (????) The solution would be to book a flight the day before. Honestly I think they just make this up sometimes.

One hour later I get an email saying my flight out of GZP has been cancelled due to weather in Istanbul. I should hope to get the whole ticket refunded now as there are no other flights that will get me into Istanbul in time. Never have I been so happy about a flight cancellation.

I have rebooked on different days and found a decently priced J ticket, no messing about with vouchers this time. I just hope it will all go smoothly.

Lesson learned. Double check your name on your reservation and always have a bottle of whisky to calm your nerves when talking to TK CC.

boosh

I have found some disparity between J availability on ITA, TK.com and from their call center. I have been looking at IST-JFK and there was nothing on ITA and only K on TK.com. When calling them up there seemed to be some J available that didn't show on their website. The last few days however, more and more seem to show up on their website.

I would make a reservation for your chosen days and call them up to see if there is availability for your chosen flights and then go ahead and book if there is.

siberslava

But it shouldn't ever have to come to this. If they took 1/20th of what they spend on stupid things like Batman vs Superman and instead invested in IT so that they can upgrade their systems that are currently still being hosted by GeoCities they might actually gain a really loyal following. The name thing with the vouchers is just unbelievably dumb. You are the airline and you control your inventory. Push a button and make the upgrade. Don't insult us by trying to find a loophole that prevents us from using what we earned by flying your airline

boosh

Most definitely, the whole process with the feedback forms and most calls with CC are Kafkaesque to an absurd degree. I certainly does not inspire confidence or loyalty. My next flights are not booked with TK and not because I don't enjoy flying them, I just can't deal with them at times. It is to frustrating.