SFOTraveler1984

Hi forum, hope anyone can provide some advice here:
I was booked on a flight from ARN-IST-SFO on March 13. TK has now decided that there will be no flight IST-SFO on March 13, so they have booked me onto the IST-SFO flight on March 14, resulting in a night layover in IST.

However, I really need to be in SFO on March 13 - there is no flight one day earlier, so that isn't an option either.

So far, every call center agent has refused to book me onto a SAS flight from ARN to SFO or even a TK flight ARN-IST-LAX and then on to SFO with e.g. UNITED (all Star Alliance members).
What I have seen in the past, companies like BA and LH certainly re-book customers within the alliance, so I am surprised TK doesn't do that.

Does anyone have any experience or any advice where to find helpful agents within TK?
Thank you!

gr8pirate

While I wouldn't hold my breath, I'd try to get in touch with the local ticketing office, maybe they can help you where the call center can't.
If it's the same setup as LAX, the SFO TK ticketing email should be [email protected]

also: afaik, TK 10 and 9 are not flying on Mondays at the moment, so you couldn't get to LAX either.

MightyTravels

TK just cancelled my flight as well from SFO in March. It was an award ticket and UA rerouted me. I assume you have a paid ticket?

TK is known to be terrible with changes even after messing up my itinerary - try calling the outstations in other countries (i.e. Asia) this often works.

SK AAR

TK will not reroute you to SK or other carrier. Period.

You would need to accept to travel the day earlier. If not possible/acceptable, request a refund and book with a carrier that suits your travel plans. I'm afraid that you will get nowhere with TK on this.

habel

The route from IST to KIX was canceled this year. I had business class tickets from South America to IST and then IST to KIX. At first, they insisted that I accept a flight to NRT instead of KIX since they are all Japan, but since my family lives in Osaka, not Tokyo, that wasn't acceptable to me. After insisting a lot with the local ticket office, I was given an option to do Istanbul to Korea and then to Kansai with Asiana, but that would mean a night in Istanbul which wasn't an option for my family as they are afraid of terrorist attacks. Also, the connections were terrible.

So my options were to accept IST - NRT and then NRT to Osaka (economy operated by ANA) or get my money back. I accepted the NRT option but now TK refuses to pay a hotel night in Tokyo, as the NRT to Osaka flight is only the next day. I must mention that they were flexible with dates, as I changed the dates of the flights to accommodate fewer days in Japan, which was nice.

Overall, I felt cancellations in TK are not handled very well even for business class clients. Your best bet is the local ticket office.

SFOTraveler1984

Hi all, first of all thank you for all your hints. I have now tried contacting the local offices in IST and ARN but have gotten nowhere. Looks like the local numbers are always re-routed to the central call center. I have also tried their Twitter account - while they were quick with replying, they also didn't help with any rebooking.

I have now accepted a full refund and have booked a flight with British Airways.

It is such a shame as the onboard product is clearly better with TK (there is not even a competition with BA) - but TK's customer service is a fail.

I need to book further roundtrips SFO-Europe later in the year and may opt for BA again as they are clearly more reliable.

I get the impression that I shouldn't use TK if I have important meetings as it is really not that reliable (see recent snow-cancellations in Istanbul etc.).

Thank you all!

habel

I agree with you, the only reason I might book again with TK is the mileage program, but it really doesn't seem to be the most reliable. In my case, a full refund of 4 tickets worth $50k would mean a loss of $1k in interest rates for the 3 months period, had I invested that money, and I would pay much more for other airlines since prices had gone up. So I was reluctant to go for that.

boosh

ALthough I agree with you 100% about TK I don't think BA is any better.

Forrest Bump

This is even worse than a poor customer service.
It's a choice of the management to not give a crap about a contract they offered and the customer accepted, just to make toilet paper of such contract when suits them.

Honestly this is for me as serious as to routinely strand thousands of passengers for days with no assistance.

Amazing how TK seems stubbornly not addressing any single issue in their operations. Not even under financial crunch and pax losses.

moeser

When it comes to cancellations,TK is not yielding.

TK canceled my flight to ISB due to a technical and obstinately refused to book me on any other airline.

Explanation was, that all other flights available were 2 stops and the IATA rules would not permit it.

MightyTravels

Isn't the failure to rebook a blatant violations of IATA rules they signed? There must be a way to complain to IATA - they take this seriously usually.

YuropFlyer

If they cancel the flight 2+ weeks out, there is absolutely no protection or compensation. Yes, full refund of the fare, or alternatively a rebooking "at the likes of the airlines".

This is one of the hard situations - 3 weeks before the flight, another booking much more expensive, airline playing hardball. You've close to zero legal possibilities.

tcm

Unfortunately TK is consistently failing customers when IROPS are involved. There is a serious problem in their Corporate Culture in this regard for years. And I don't see them changing soon. As posted by others before, try to have a contact at outstation offices. That might be of some help. If you have important business then beware that there is a chance of around %20 (based on personal experience) that your schedule will be disrupted. Beware of the winter months, strong winds disrupting IST traffic capacity (March-April) and TK canceling flights with poor loads (SFO ) when possible Also be prepared to leave behind your checked luggage on tight connections. Once you are in the air the whole experience is much better.

boosh

And they should be experts by now

MightyTravels

I think you are referring to EU compensation for EU flights. This does not apply to US flights anyways. But IATA demands certain minimum rules - especially for IRROPS from members.

We should start citing this manual https://www.iata.org/publications/Do...24-ed-2012.pdf to TK and reach out to IATA. They simlpy fail to honor the IATA rules in case of IRROPS and need to be banned from IATA.