Powerbird101

So just to point a few things out before I dump the information here I am the flyers brother who was on a WhatsApp phone call with her when she frantically called me stating they had refused to let her board. Her first return flight had been canceled by Air China for obvious reasons along with the fact that I wouldn't have let her fly back through Beijing anyhow. Her flight from IAH - Beijing - Mumbai was on January 25th. This was when there was no travel ban to China. She did not get out of the airport into mainland China and stayed in the lounge for the time she was there before the next flight. Going on, as her flight was cancelled and Air China refunded it back to her for the second leg, I noted I needed to get her back home and they stated I would need to book another return flight back. It would have been already 14 days so I booked it on February 7th morning leaving through Mumbai to Istanbul to IAH (Houston). She was able to check in and get both tickets in Mumbai from Turkish Airlines.

The entiree fiasco started when she was about to board her Istanbul to IAH flight where they pulled her with no explanation. At this time she called me via WhatsApp and I was listening on speaker to everything happening and tweeting to Turkish Airlines about resolving it as the staff refused to communicate about the situation.

The staff who pulled her out had absolutely zero communication to her and just verbally forced her to another ticket counter far away from the check-in and left her there without explaining anything to her nor an agent. When the ticketing agent did arrive he asked why she was there and she explained she was pulled out without explanation and placed here. The agent also did not offer an explanation and stated that she would have to buy a new ticket for missing her flight. Then they stated that she must have been there since she traveled to China and she kindly explained that she traveled in transit which was 14 days ago which would clear her anyhow. The agent refused to listen to anything and instead ended up pointing her to someone else. Those two Turkish Airlines staff members went on to start communicating in Turkish amongst themselves completely ignoring her. This went on for about 15 minutes when she once again asked what was going on. They both stipulated that she would need to buy a new ticket to Chicago, a minute later that changed to JFK New York, then to Orlando FL. One agent also clearly made a comment saying to choose the location closest to her. Now note Orlando FL, JFK New York nor Chicago are "close" to Houston Texas. Beyond displacing her and offering any communication (I mean no solution on a paid ticket, I was on speaker the entire time at 3am CST till 7.35am CST) they completely failed to accept any responsibility regarding the matter for the customer itself. I understand the requirements but the 14 day mark had passed for her already so this was completely unprofessional and irrational isolation of someone who has already passed the time markers but beyond that never entered the country at all.

She ended up paying for a ticket to Los Angeles at 1:50pm the next day, I then booked her on a Southwest flight back to her final destination. She submitted a complaint to Turkish regarding this and this is the response she got back devoid of anything that could remotely be considered customer service not accepting responsibility for their actions.

There response:
"Dear NAME OMITTED,We’re sorry this issue prevented you from traveling.

We would like to state that your entry was denied by local officers in Los Angeles due to the fact that you have been in China 14 days prior.

Because the reason you were unable to travel was not the fault of Turkish Airlines, unfortunately we’re unable to fulfill your request.

Visa and passport requirements may vary from country to country, and meeting these is the responsibility of passengers. Turkish Airlines always aims to prevent unexpected situations that may disrupt your travel.

To avoid similar problems in the future, please contact the consulate of the country you’re traveling to before your next flight, or check the details at mfa.gov.tr.


We’re sorry that we were unable to take you to your destination, but hope you appreciate this was outside our control. We hope to fly with you soon.

Sincerely Yours,

Umutcan B.
Customer Representative


TURKISH AIRLINES INC.
Customer Contact Center"


Her response back:
​"​First off this is not true whatsoever. My original ticket was to IAH NOT Los Angeles. Second I have already gotten the state department involved regarding this issue. At the desk not one person offered an explanation regarding what was going on. If this was even the case why issue both tickets in Mumbai instead of telling me then and there? Along with this giving no reason for an explanation and telling the client the only option is to buy another ticket to another city, then you have to figure out your way home in your own is completely unprofessional and unethical. The entire staff in Istanbul has made it a point to displace individuals in situations this entire time and beyond. The more bizarre thing is you charged me (actually backhanded forced me) into buying a new ticket to a city which I don't live in (Los Angeles) and then abandoning me there. If this isn't gross negligence then I do not know what is. There is absolutely no supporting documentation that stands on your point. I have wasted so much time and effort trying to explain this situation to your frontline and backline staff but instead of accepting responsibility for the mistakes made, I have received a response putting blame on me. Any airline in the world would understand how to communicate appropriately with it's customers but this has been by far one of the weakest forms of customer service I have ever seen. I pray you expect better of your own staff as well.
My expectations at this point from Turkish Airlines are compensation for the changed ticket and flight back to my destination from Los Angeles. I haven't been offered a hotel or any accomodations nor apologies regarding this matter and from the point of my first submission to the feedback form I will be in the airport stuck for here 20+ hours. Attached is the invoice for the new ticket."

She is waiting for a response back. I will update this thread accordingly.

​​​​​On a more personal note I have cancelled all of my personal and business travel plans using Turkish Airlines due to this situation. I booked this flight through Turkish airlines expecting quality customer service, as that was not provided neither me nor my businesses will be flying Turkish Airlines in the future going forward.

I understand this is a bit of a sob story but I wanted to point this out to those traveling to Turkey regarding this airline anywhere from Asia as even though there is no issue on her end she was shut out and displaced directly due to the airlines procedures. Also just to note I have reached out to the state department which has no note of communication of direction to stop boarding of my sister.

Any help regarding this matter or guidance on what to do would be appreciated, thank you.

max_kolesne

I don't think TK will take any action to mediate this situation as they have a perfectly valid reason to deny boarding. I agree better communication by the agents could have been helpful, but that would not change the outcome.

Powerbird101

I can agree on that but my question is why stop her in the middle of the booking itself. Why wasn't it flagged when they checked her in that's the real question. Then they had no explanation when this happened. It's hard to solve a matter out of your hands especially when the airline seems to have no idea what they were doing either regarding the procedures.

max_kolesne

The TK agents in Mumbai may be contract employees and they may not have the full information about US CBP rules. Another possible scenario is that TK might have received a negative response following the APIS (Advanced Passenger Information System) submission as their response states that entry was denied by officers at the US.

Tink242424

How is that possible if she was able to buy another ticket and then fly on to the US?? This really makes no sense to me.

nancypants

2 possibilities IMO
1) this was when there was still only 5 approved points of entry for coronavirus health screening (of which ORD and LAX were 2 but IAH was not one), or TK were operating at the time on out of date information and still were under the impression the initial 5 airports applied (it’s a fairly fast paced situation after all)

2) the whole 14 days thing was subject to some kind of opportunity for miscalculation given time zones etc and perhaps TK felt the pax was within a few hours of being past 14 days and as such suggesting an earlier flight to a US gateway city was felt to be more sensible than keeping pax at IST for more time than necessary?

etiene

Jan 25th to Feb 7th is literally day 14 - that’s cutting things a bit too close anyway, but also if she left the US on the 25th she’d have transited China on the 26th, no?

TPJ

1. TGS (outsourced ground handling) employees at IST airport have zero customer service skills
2. I wonder how they knew she flew to BOM via PEK, they do not stamp passports while in transit, did she leave the airport? Then they would stamp her passport with the transit permit
3. If they however knew she flew via PEK, they had a right to deny boarding, I believe this is a list of the approved screening stations:
JFK-ORD-SFO-SEA-HNL-LAX-ATL-IAD-EWR-DFW-DTW

hfly

I am willing to bet that somewhere along the line this was calculated as being 14 days, or even slightly LESS than 14 days, also as specified above they were obviously routing her into one of the 5 cities that at least at that time fit into their instructions. Good luck with the State Dept.............not their jurisdiction. Also I wonder what would have happened if you used Facetime or a regular call rather than Whatsapp!!??!!?

Tink242424

That makes sense then. It was just weird that she was able to fly to another airport on the same day.

If I was her I would have just wanted a better explanation, ie I needed to go to one of the approved airports since I had been to China. Communication goes a long way...

max_kolesne

yeah, Turkey must go a long way about English in customer service first to ensure good communication in the service industry.

warakorn

Do not book TK, if you have such risky itineraries. These contracted employees at IST are empowered to do nothing. They have developed remarkable skills to fob off any problem cases.

Powerbird101

1. I totally agree
2. She never left the airport but spent a few hours in the lounge.
3. She ended up flying through LAX. My curiosity is even more peaked based on why IAH didn't have an approved screening center even though on January 28th they set one up at the airport.