Guide thread: Cv-19 ticketing, changes, rebooking, cancellation, open ticket options
 

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Dear FlyerTalk community and visitors,

Welcome to the first brand new GUIDE thread of the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles forum which would contain essential information Coronavirus related booking, re-booking, change, cancellation policies of Turkish Airlines.

In this GUIDE THREAD, you would be able to find these essential bullet points in the first 11 posts of this thread

2- Turkish Airlines’ Zero Change Fee Policy for New Bookings

3- Changing Turkish Airlines tickets

4- Cancelling Turkish Airlines tickets

5- Advantageous offers of Turkish Airlines during Involuntary Situations

6- Questions Regarding an Open Ticket

7- Changing/Cancelling Award Tickets issued by Turkish Airlines through Miles&Smiles


8- Reserved for future use

9- Reserved for future use

10- Reserved for future use


11- Links to all Guide Threads and other useful threads


Before going through the bullet points, in this link, you could find where to contact TK, international hotline numbers, and sales office contact details if you need them.

You could find the Miles&Smiles award region chart here which was described in some of the info-posts below.


Also, a kind reminder that please do not open case-specific threads for your situation if it is related to one of the bullet points above. This allows us to make the forum more organized and have all similar discussions in the same thread which would allow other members and visitors to browse through the forum in a much convenient way.

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For Turkish Airlines booking made from now through 31 March 2021 for travel up to 31 December 2021, you would have the option to benefit from the Zero Change Fee policy and make unlimited changes on your ticket for free. In addition, you would also have the option to convert your ticket to an open ticket without any penalty. For the open ticket option, the ticket must be converted to an open ticket before the itinerary starts and the first flight has been flown. For more details about open tickets, please refer to post 6 in this thread.

You are also welcome to make free destination changes within the same region.

Although, it should be noticed that cancellation penalties apply as usual and non-refundable tickets could not be refunded voluntarily. Plus, during a voluntary change, a fare difference may apply. For more details about voluntary and involuntary changes and cancellations, refer to posts 3 to 5 in this thread.

For those who have booked their tickets through a third party channel; a reminder that you would need to contact your travel agent to perform any transaction. Turkish Airlines would deny touching booking made through third party channels.

UPDATES:

22 Dec 2020: Zero-change fee policy extension until 31 March 2021 indicated

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Involuntary cases:

If one of your flights in your reservation is cancelled or if one of your flights had a schedule change over 15 minutes, your case would be considered as involuntary.

In case of the situations above, you would be permitted for a free change without any fare difference for any TK flight within the -7/+30 day period of your original flight if there is availability in the same cabin you’re travelling on. Fare differences would not be collected in these cases. Free origin and destination changes are also permitted during involuntary situations within the same regions of travel. Although the official region interpretation by TK is not defined somewhere online, the Miles&Smiles Award regions table could be useful to interpret the regions. For example, when your Beijing to Moscow ticket is cancelled, you would be able to convert it to Singapore to Venice with no extra charge.

A slight note that, most of the changes could be made through the Turkish Airlines website; however, on some occasions, you might need to call the hotline or contact a sales office.

Another reminder that in involuntary situations, only your first change would be considered as involuntary and unless there is another involuntary situation in your itinerary, the second and subsequent change requests would be considered as voluntary.

Also, in most cases TK would suggest an alternative itinerary for you, if you’re not happy with that itinerary or want to make modifications, please do not press “Confirm the changes” in all circumstances as once you pressed that pop-up button on the Turkish Airlines website or mobile applications, you would lose all your rights as an involuntary situation and you would be considered as you accepted what the system gave you.

If you would like to rebook on another airline when EC 261/2004 or Turkish SHGM regulations apply, you would need to fill out a feedback form or contact a sales office without making any previous requests to your reservation. Unfortunately, hotline agents do not have the power to book passengers to other airlines so calling the hotline would not be useful in this case.

Following border and entry restrictions, being hold in quarantine, complying with local laws not asking you to travel, etc… would be considered as a voluntary change. If your case does not involve a cancellation or schedule change, please refer below to the voluntary cases section.

Voluntary cases:

For voluntary situations, on tickets booked after 20 March 2020, the following would apply. For tickets purchased before 20 March 2020 and for travel until 31 December 2020, please consult the following link on the Turkish Airlines website.

In case of a voluntary change request, no change fees would be collected, though the passenger would be responsible for any difference in fare. Most changes could be done online though in some cases, you might need to call the Turkish Airlines hotline or contact a sales office. Origin and destination changes are still permitted but any fare difference would still apply. If you only like to postpone your travel and have no intended travel dates, refer to post 6 as you would still be allowed to convert your ticket to an open ticket.

For those who have booked their tickets through a third party channel; a reminder that you would need to contact your travel agent to perform any transaction. Turkish Airlines would deny touching booking made through third party channels.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...10957724fa.jpgInvoluntary cases:

If one of your flights in your reservation is cancelled or if one of your flights had a schedule change over 15 minutes, your case would be considered involuntary.

In the case of the situations above, you would be entitled to a full refund regardless of any other reason. You do not have to accept any rebooking option or convert your ticket to an open ticket. To request a refund, you would need to contact TK by phone or through a sales office for a refund. The website would not allow you to refund and direct to the advantageous offers that are mentioned in post #5 . Once you have accepted rebooking your ticket or one of the advantageous offers, you would not be eligible for a refund unless your new ticket has been affected. Also, when viewing your booking on the Turkish Airlines website or mobile app, if you are seeking for a cancellation, do not attempt to press the “Confirm Changes” button; if you do so, you would not be able to get a refund.

At the moment Turkish Airlines is processing refunds and refunds should be made within 5-10 business days after the confirmation of the refund; if you are expecting a refund outside of Turkey, please allow some extra time for the refund to be processed.

For those who have booked their tickets through a third party channel; a reminder that you would need to contact your travel agent to perform any transaction. Turkish Airlines would deny touching booking made through third party channels.

Following border and entry restrictions, being hold in quarantine, complying with local laws not asking you to travel, etc… would be considered as a voluntary change. If your case does not involve a cancellation or schedule change, please refer below to the voluntary cases section.

Voluntary cases:

Unfortunately, Turkish Airlines does not have any waivers for cancellations at the moment, so the regular cancellation fees apply when asking for a cancellation. If your ticket is non-refundable, you would not have the option to get a refund if your case does not apply in one of the involuntary cases above; although, you would be able to convert your ticket to an open ticket that you could use until 31 December 2021.

For those who have booked their tickets through a third party channel; a reminder that you would need to contact your travel agent to perform any transaction. Turkish Airlines would deny touching booking made through third party channels.

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Instead of getting a refund, passengers could benefit from one of the two options below in case of an involuntary change in your ticket. Turkish Airlines considers a change as in involuntary when a flight is cancelled or when there is a schedule change over 15 minutes.

Option 1: A voucher worth 115% of the affected ticket

You could get a voucher worth 115% of the ticket if you decide not to get your money back and plan to travel with Turkish Airlines in the next two years.

If your original ticket was cancelled and if you have paid 400 Euros for that ticket, when choosing the voucher option, you would get a voucher worth 460 Euros for future travel on Turkish Airlines.

The voucher is valid for 2 years after its creation and should be used in Turkish Airlines or AnadoluJet revenue tickets.

According to the recent changes, you could only use this amount when purchasing a new ticket; you would not be able to use this amount when paying for seats, purchasing excess baggage and similar transactions.

Vouchers are individual and the passenger name could not be changed when utilizing it.

As of December 2020, these vouchers could now be redeemed online or through the hotline; previously this was not possible. However, you could continue you to use your vouchers through a sales office.

If your ticket issued by a voucher is affected ( eg. During a cancellation ), you would only be able to get a new voucher; they wouldn’t be refunded in cash.

If the voucher amount is higher than the new ticket you intend to purchase, the difference would be applied in a new voucher and would be handed to you during the booking process.

To benefit from this offer, you could either call Turkish Airlines or claim it through the website when your booking is affected by an involuntary situation.

This option is only available for bookings made directly through Turkish Airlines ( website, application, hotline, sales office ). For those who booked through third party agencies, you would not be able to benefit from this offer.

Option 2: Refunds in Miles&Smiles miles

Instead of a refund, passengers are also given the opportunity to get miles for a cheaper value. For every 10 Euros in an affected ticket, passengers are offered 1000 miles.

For example, if your ticket worth 900 Euros is cancelled, if you decide to take the mileage refund option, you would receive 90000 miles into your Miles&Smiles account.

The miles are valid for 3 years after being loaded. For example, if your miles are loaded in a date in 2020, they would be valid until 31 December 2023. If your miles are loaded in a date in 2021, they would be valid until 31 December 2024.

After asking for the miles, you would not be able to revert back the transaction and you wouldn’t be able to get a cash refund instead.

To benefit from this offer, you could either call Turkish Airlines or claim it through the website when your booking is affected by an involuntary situation.

This option is only available for bookings made directly through Turkish Airlines ( website, application, hotline, sales office ). For those who booked through third party agencies, you would not be able to benefit from this offer.

UPDATES:

22 Dec 2020: Indicated that 115% valuable vouchers could now be redeemed online or through the hotline.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a973755109.jpgFor those who have preferred to convert their ticket to an open ticket, they must complete their travel until 31 December 2021. The rebooking fees on an open ticket would rely on whether the situation is voluntary or involuntary. In case of a voluntary conversion to an open ticket, any applicable fare difference would be collected during the rebooking process; in case of an involuntary situation, you would not need to pay any fare difference in case there is no availability in your original fare bucket. You would be automatically rebooked to the lowest available fare in the same cabin.

Unfortunately, converting open tickets on the TK website or the mobile application is not possible. To use an open ticket, you would need to call the TK hotline or contact a TK sales office in order to rebook your ticket.

In case of an involuntary situation, the origin and destination could also be changed free of charge within the same region. Although the official region interpretation by TK is not defined somewhere online, the Miles&Smiles Award regions table could be useful to interpret the regions. For example, when your Mexico City to Madrid ticket is cancelled, you would be able to convert it to Toronto to Stockholm with no extra charge. In case you would like to change the region, you would be responsible for any applicable fare differences.

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According to the zero-change fee policy, Turkish Airlines is now waiving change fees on award tickets issued on 235- stock. This applies both for Turkish Airlines/AnadoluJet awards and Star Alliance awards. Though, this should not be confused with the cancellation policy. The cancellation fee of $25 per ticket on voluntary cancellations and the no-show fee of $50 still applies.

To cancel your Turkish Airlines/AnadoluJet award ticket, you could use the TK website to request a refund. In voluntary cases, you would be asked to pay the $25 cancellation fee with a valid credit card. Within the next 48 hours after the cancellation, the miles would be redeposited into your account and taxes would be refunded into your credit card within 5-10 business days. You could also handle these cancellations through the hotline or a sales office.

To make changes to your Turkish Airlines/AnadoluJet award ticket, you could use the TK website. Simply log-in to your reservation and press the change button. After selecting your new flights, you would be asked to pay any difference in mileage or taxes if applicable. After completing the payment, your new ticket would be issued. To re-issue a mileage award ticket online, there must be award availability on your new intended flights, otherwise, you would be unable to re-book your ticket to those flights which might have revenue availability at the same time.

In case of an involuntary situation, you would have the right to change your award ticket to any Turkish Airlines/AnadoluJet flight within the -7/+30 day period of your original flight without any extra charge and regardless of award inventory. Plus, you would be permitted to make origin/destination changes within the same region. Although, to rebook, you might need to call the hotline to make these changes. There were some reports here in FlyerTalk that the hotline agents were refusing to rebook passengers in flights that don’t have award availability during the rebooking process; this is not true, although as hotline agents do not have the power to open up award availability, you would either need to fill out a feedback form or contact a sales office for rebooking on a flight that has no award availability. If you would like to rebook on another airline when EC 261/2004 or Turkish SHGM regulations apply, you would need to fill out a feedback form or contact a sales office; hotline agents are not permitted to rebook passengers on other airlines.

For Star Alliance awards, the cancellation process is similar to the Turkish Airlines/AnadoluJet award refunds; although, on some occasions, you might need to call the hotline or contact a sales office. The cancellation fee of $25 on voluntary situations and the no-show fee of $50 would still apply.

To change your Star Alliance award ticket voluntarily, you would need to call the Turkish Airlines hotline or visit a sales office; changes could not be made online. For your new flights, there must be ‘X’ fare availability in Economy or ‘I’ fare availability in Business Class, otherwise, the agents would be unable to rebook you. You would be responsible for any additional miles and taxes required and you would be asked to pay the necessary amount during the process.

In case of an involuntary situation on your Star Alliance award ticket and you would like a schedule change, there must be ‘X’ fare availability in Economy or ‘I’ fare availability in Business Class on your new intended flights. If there is no award availability, the hotline agents would not be able to rebook you and you would be asked to fill out a feedback form as the back office in Istanbul would need to request award availability from the operating carrier. Filling a feedback form is not a guarantee of the operating airline opening award space for your situation so always have a plan B if you really need to travel. Contacting a sales office is a more efficient way to handle these changes compared to calling the hotline and it’s strongly suggested to visit a sales office and ask the agents over there to call the back office as the sales office agents have direct phone access to the back office located in the Turkish Airlines headquarters in Istanbul. When EC 261/2004 or Turkish SHGM regulations apply, there is no need for award availability on your intended travel plans. You would need to fill out a feedback form or contact a sales office; hotline agents are not permitted to rebook passengers on other airlines. A sales office or the back-office could easily rebook you on a revenue fare bucket in these kinds of situations.

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https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4e08e75aba.jpgCurrently, the Guide Thread you’re browsing is the only available Guide Thread in the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles forum. When more guide threads are created, you would be able to find the respective links below.

You could use find the links for some other useful threads here that could be useful about your query, question, or concern.

A reminder that during the TK M&S forum re-building process, some threads may be moved or relocated and the respective links might change.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...trictions.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...ng-issues.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...ng-issues.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...2-lounges.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...ing-rooms.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...t-airport.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...-extended.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...t-changes.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...es-smiles.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...t-airport.html

Also, for non-related issues, you could use the flame-free thread so we could direct you to the appropriate thread which might not be listed above.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turk...ions-here.html

I have some questions regarding to the "flight has been cancelled or rescheduled >15 minutes". As far as I read, I have the following options:
1. Free of charge for changing the flights within the same travel class and region and within -7/+30 days
2. Free of charge to open the ticket for the future use until 31 DEC 2021
3. Full Refund

I am confused for the option 1 and 2, I cannot change the ticket date later than the +30 days period but I can change it to open date ticket and then I can ticket it until 31 DEC 2021?

So, if I have a TK ticket (235-) and one of my flights has been cancelled, however, the first flight (other airlines/trains) has been flown, do I have the above options? For an example, I have the TK flights in January 2021 for XXX-(flown)-AMS-HKG-AMS and I would like to change it to MAN-SIN//KIX-MAN, is that possible without any charge? And I will have a hard time to deal with the OTA and almost impossible that I can call TK directly to make the change?

Thank you very much.

The final sector of a ticket to Egypt was cancelled in March, after I flown all the other sectors on the ticket. I'm told I can reschedule, or change the destination to anywhere in the same region until end 2021. Or get a refund.

As far as Egypt is concerned, that region is the Middle East. This suggests they use IATA (sub)regions, rather than Miles & Smiles regions (which place Egypt in North Africa). But who knows...

https://akhreis.files.wordpress.com/...-world-map.pdf

You are right, in points 1 and 2, the system would not let you or a hotline agent to re-schedule your flight for more than +30 days without collecting any fare difference but the open ticket trick would work. Although, a sales office or the back office in IST might override the issue.

You would be able to change AMS-HKG-AMS to MAN-SIN//KIX-MAN for free, although, as you mentioned, you would probably have a really hard time with the OTA. Unfortunately, as you booked through an OTA, TK would refuse to touch your ticket so you need to persuade the OTA to make the changes.

Has anybody had any experience with converting a ticket to an open ticket with an OTA? I have three separate itineraries booked with three different OTAs (the not super-reputable ones), and would like to convert them to open tickets (would be involuntary in my case, as some flight times have been moved around due to cancellations). Should I prepare myself for lengthy discussions and convincing, or should it be fairly straightforward?

It really depends on your OTA. Some people were successful in doing these kinds of changes, some others were receiving generic copy-paste answers from their OTA.
Worst case scenario, I'll be prepared for a lengthy talk.

UPDATES AS 22 DECEMBER TO THE GUIDE POSTS:

The following have been indicated into the respective posts
1- Turkish Airlines have extended their zero-change fee policy for new reservations made up till 31 March 2022.
2- 115% valuable travel vouchers could now be used through the hotline and through the TK website.

I requested today the conversion of a ticket value into miles. I got a penalty document in my mail right after the transaction confirming it. However, I haven’t gotten the miles deposited in the account yet. It’s been 8h since the call. Is it normal? Any idea on how long does it take?

A penalty document? Why should you be penalized for converting your ticket value to miles? :rolleyes:
Normally, it could take up to 2-3 business days ( 25 Dec counts as a business day in Turkey ) for those miles to be credited to your account.

The subject of the mail I received was ‘Turkish Airlines Penalty Document’, even though the information that it contains makes sense 🤷🏻‍♂️. I was thinking of booking a ticket today but it seems that I’ll have to be a bit more patient. Thank you for the info ISTFlyer ! Very helpful, as always!! :)

I have a UK to Seychelles trip in 3 months. Currently the UK has banned us flying to Seychelles and Seychelles has banned UK citizens.
IF the situation is still the same (highly likely) and we are not allowed to travel but the TK flights are still going, I assume I can only move the flight till Dec 2021 but will have to pay the fare difference, unless TK cancel the flights?

You would be able to rebook your flight until 31 December 2021 without change fees and the travel date does not matter.
To able to rebook beyond your ticket validity, you would need to convert your ticket to an open ticket and use it by 31 December 2021 whenever you decide to fly.
Obviously, the fare difference would apply in both cases if the situation is not involuntary.

Thanks ISTFlyer.

You're welcome :)

If I want to change the origin of a Star award booking but it stays within the same region, is that considered a complimentary change or would a cancel (with a fee) and rebook be required? In this case, I’m looking to change OGG-LAX to HNL-LAX.

Complimentary. However, a reminder that on some occasions, the hotline might not perform a destination change on *A awards and they might suggest to cancel your old ticket and purchase another one; in this case, they are unable to waive the $25 cancellation fee. In order to avoid this issue, your best bet is to contact a sales ( ticketing ) office and ask the agents over there to perform the change. It's not possible to do this change online.

What to do?
 

I don't even know where to begin with this.

I have (had) 4 J class rt ATL-IST-BER (original price a little over 10k) leaving in March coming back mid April.

Because of Covid-19 I emailed our local (ATL) office and requested a change to October 3 - October 22, 2021.

As I hadn't heard back from them I decided to look on the app and see if their technology had improved where I could change it myself. lo and behold it let me change the dates, and even offered me a very small (about $45) refund.

I want to make this perfectly clear that nowhere, and I've gone back and duplicated the change efforts, does it ask about what class of service did I want. I had J class, and ONLY changed the dates. It may be different on the actual computer website, but in the app it doesn't.

I made the changes and by chance was looking at the email confirmation and it shows all 4 tickets in economy. Two phone calls to the US TK # got nothing but a too bad so sad and the local office hasn't answered any emails and I rung over 50 x's and never an answer.

Suggestions?

I priced their most expensive economy tickets for those same dates and it only comes to half of what I have already paid and they want $2900 to put me back in J.

Thanks

CJ

You could visit the local office in person. A much more effective method as they wouldn't be turning you back from the door.
Also, if there is availability on the same fare basis that you originally paid, you could always pay the $45 fare difference and upgrade it back to J.

If the app didn't waive the change fee and charged it according to the original fare rules and then it calculated the $45 refund, unfortunately, your situation would be complicated and I strongly advise you to visit a sales office in person. Filling multiple feedback forms might work, however, speaking with a person face-to-face ( even with masks on ) would be more effective.

Thanks as always ISTFlyer

You're welcome :)
Please don't forget to report your experience after you solve it.

What to do? Update
 

After messaging the local TK office and not hearing back from them yesterday I messaged some other TK offices with no luck. Radio silence.

The 2 US TK phone number representatives were adamant that I knew I had self downgraded myself from J to Y and I would not be getting any kind of refund. It was quite frustrating and infuriating. I have dealt with them in person in Turkey and Iraq and I always felt like I was just banging my head against a wall.

After the ATL representative told me he couldn't help me I was contemplating my next move as to filing a cc dispute (however these tickets were purchased last June, so I don't think that would go anywhere) or waiting to hear back from the complaint I had filed on the website.

About 3 hours after hearing from the ATL rep they emailed me back and said they had found a way to reissue new tickets back in Business class. Outbound is in K and return in J (not sure what that means).

All-in-all a very frustrating 24 hours and one that didn't even need to have been visited if TK could come out of the dark ages in reference to their sad IT.


Edit: thank you ISTFlyer for all of your continued assistance

At least the issue is solved and the TK representative at ATL has helped you.
You should be grateful for that in the world of TK and it's beautiful IT :)

By the way, "K" and "J" are both discounted Business Class fare buckets.

Amazing thread, great job ISTFlyer :tu::tu:

I've got open ticket and now trying to book for new dates, obviously I cant done it online and call centre want to charge me "some fare that systems shows them" which is about 20€ but the new flights are about 40€ less expensive that my open ticket value. Any idea how to go over that fee?

I assume that this is a voluntarily converted open ticket as the fare difference is requested.

Open tickets do not hold a value but a routing with ticketing rules and fare information so I assume that the agent was unable to book you a cheaper fare bucket than your original one. I am not sure if it's possible but you might try contacting a sales office and ask the ticket to be rebooked at the cheapest available fare, however, you might need to forfeit the €20.

The truth is we had promotion "U" on PRG-IST and back "W" IST-PRG, now both flights are "U" so yeah, you are probably right they will get us back to "W", hence the 20€. As far as I know that's exactly the difference between U and W on this flight. Wrote a feedback not an answer yet, called in again and they barely know why they are charging me but...cant do anything else.

Hi,

how complicated is in case of involuntary cancellation to force TK to issue ticket on the same route with another airline? Probably they would be more happy to refund the ticket whatsoever...

Are they pushing to select Star Alliance in such case, or it could be, say, QR, EY?
Are there any different rules based on how early in advance they announce their flight cancellation?

Thanks in advance!!!

Close to impossible unless it is an IRROPS situation. If the cancellation is more than 14 days out there is close to zero chance.

Often your only remedy is to accept a full refund and book with the airline that suit your needs.

Ahh... I was still having some hope, at least as per ISTFlyer in the Topic 3 above: If you would like to rebook on another airline when EC 261/2004 or Turkish SHGM regulations apply, you would need to fill out a feedback form or contact a sales office.
Just not sure if that is something doable/realistic....

I also checked their own document called PASSENGER RIGHTS where they have stated: In case of cancellation of flights "Free of charge reservation / route change" - but they have not dated that document, nor are providing clear guidelines...

I agree, you def. need to contact a local ticket office to succeed. There is no point trying to call TK call center; those agents have no authority to rebook like this. I guess it will also improve your chances if TK is not flying to the destination anymore. If TK is still operating but not on the day that you were booked the chances are slim, but hey, give it a try and report back.

Is this an TK M&S award or revenue ticket? In an award issued by other carrier you can forget about TK even touching the ticket.