tomalan

I came down with a very bad case of food poisoning on a journey from Hong Kong to Toronto where I travelled on a Business Class ticket with Turkish Airlines.

I started coming down with the symptoms in the last few hours of my second leg to Toronto. From the time I boarded the flight in Hong Kong to the time I arrived in Toronto, I was on a Turkish Airlines plane or in their lounge for 37 hours and the symptoms started near the end of this journey. During my layover in Istanbul, I was in their very good lounge the entire time.

I cannot be certain where the tainted food was consumed, I have a strong suspicion it was from the seafood appetiser that was served to me at the start of my second leg, as my symptoms started about 6 hours after that. From the research that I have done food poising can be either from a bacteria or a virus, and symptoms are most likely to start within 6 to 12 hours, but can be as much as 3 days.

Apart from enduring over 5 days of suffering, my biggest disappointment is how Turkish Airlines has handled this after I made them aware. The only reply I have received from them was a flippant “too bad, we hope your next flight with us is better”. Their ‘contact us’ system only allows communication to them through their difficult to navigate Customer Feedback webpage. I have asked to speak to someone directly but have not received a reply.

I would appreciate any suggestions from some of the more senior members here.

This is my first post here, and I apologise that I am starting off asking for help, as opposed to contributing.


Thank you

UAPremExecflyer

Sorry to hear about your experience.
TK is not renowned for its customer service.
That said, it's very hard to trace what happened to you back to a particular meal. It could have been something you ate before the flight or in the lounge (or anything else you ate). Unless several other people on your flight report being sick, it's doubtful TK will do anything.

LondonElite

Welcome to FT, tomalan. Hopefully your next posts won't be due to such a poor situation.

That said, I'm afraid I have to agree with UAPremExecflyer. Unless there are several reports of food poisoning on that flight, I doubt they'll react.

tomalan

Yes you are correct, it will be impossible for me to prove the tainted food was served to me by TA, and also to know how many other people also became ill (as only TA will know this).

The business class flight was half full, and if half of those had the same appetizer, that would less than 10 people in total.

All I can say is the likelihood is quite high the the tainted food was served to me by TA, as the symptoms started during the last few hours of a 37 hour journey with them, and I think this should at the very least deserve a serious reply by them to me, by means of a direct discussion.

Thank you for your reply

gr8pirate

Being sick from a stomach bug is awful, I'm sorry this happened to you on a long haul flight.

TK customer service has plenty of room for improvement, but I doubt that many other airlines better known for their CS will respond to an isolated case of food poisoning with anything else but a blanket apology.

gr8pirate

try getting in touch with the TK help desk on twitter, I hear they have a better track record than their non-visible/public counterparts.

danielonn

OP I am sorry for your bout of Food Poisoning. If this had happened on land a restaurant would ask when was the last meal you consumed? Are you allergic to anything?

Food poisoning has an incubation period and also if others have had the same dish and symptoms. At a restaurant a lot of the patrons who consumed the same dish would potentially exhibit the same symptoms.

The only way to prove it is to go in for testing at a hospital or Doctors office.

I am not sure what compensation Turkish can give you other than a few thousand miles or a "We will look into it e-mail and thanks for bringing it to our attention". Unless you can prove it and you are exhibiting severe symptoms there is not much you can do except ride it out.

I would take Probiotics, Kefir, Kamboucha, liquids and rest. Ginger Ale, Peptbismol etc.

LizGross144

I've been unlucky enough to have food poisoning twice. Symptoms generally pass within 24-36 hours. If you were ill for five days, I'd be concerned that you had something more serious than food poisoning.

smellme

I just want to add that the food poisoning doesn't always come directly from eating food - you can easily catch it from someone who is already sick or something that they touched, especially in the toilet.

DaveS

Or from tainted water. This is where testing is useful as it should tell you what the pathogen was and whether it was water-born, bacterial or viral. Cryptosporidium for example is usually caught from water and can take a week to clear.

tomalan

I would like to thank everyone for their comments.

Also just to clarify a couple of key points;

1) I was in TA’s care for about 37 hours, this started from the time I entered their business class lounge in HK, 90 minutes prior to my first flight, to the time I arrived in Toronto and left their plane
2) Prior to this I had not consumed any food since lunch of that day, about another 6 hours, as I planned to have my dinner in their lounge
3) In total, over a 43 hour period, the only food I consumed was served directly to me by TA, or through one of their sub-contractors in one of the lounges
4) The first primary symptom, a very painful stomach ache started about 90 minutes before landing in Toronto
5) The vomiting and diarrhea, started 2 hours after that when I arrived home, this was the first time I realized I had food poisoning
6) I was able to get this this under control after a day and a half, but I was very weak for another two days as I had lost over 5% of my total body weight

I would be skeptical too if someone told me that they were sure they got food poisoning from an airline, but I think my case is unique as I was in TA’s care for such a long period, more than enough for tainted food to be consumed and the symptoms to manifest. I also maintained an on line Whatsapp conversation with my girlfriend in HK documenting the progression of the symptoms while on the plane and for the next two days afterwards.

As for other people not coming down with the same symptoms, I do not know this as TA has not responded, but being in business class that was only half full, the permutation of menu items that are available is extensive, so there may only a handful of people that consumed the same food that I did.

I realize all of my evidence is circumstantial, but I think it is compelling enough to at least have a direct conversation with TA, and my disappointment is how dismissive they have been

Ericka

Unfortunately, it's hard to tell whether someone has food poisoning or a viral stomach bug. The OP could have caught this from a fellow traveler.

89703511961

OP, have you been to a doctor/hospital and got proof that the illness was food poisoning?

Greenpen

Is she still your girlfriend? If she is after all that gruesome detail she's certainly a caring person with an unusual degree of tolerance.

IAN-UK

Your evidence is by no means compelling. An indication that others had suffered as you have could be something of a clincher.

Did you ask them if there had been others suffering as you had ?



If TK seems dismissive, it's probably because there's little constructive they can do, apart from wishing you well. If you want something from the carrier, you could help them out by asking for it.