book passenger on award ticket?
Aug 4, 2022, 12:35 pm
#17
Join Date: Sep 2021
Location: New York
Posts: 17
Some people say use the app instead but the only thing the app allows you to do is search for more than 1 ticket. When you try to book it gives you the same error and tells you to call instead.
If anyone finds a resolution it would be so helpful but I've resorted to just using the call center everytime.
Aug 4, 2022, 12:41 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 770
Turkish airlines has terrible IT and terrible customer service. thats a terrible combo. Needed to book an award ticket for my dad using my miles. With any other airline this is a simple 5 minute procedure that can be done online. Not with turkish. Call the call center and first rep cant see any award availability. hang up and call a few years later. This guy can see it, but after 15 mins on hold he tells me their system isn't accepted payments. So he gives me a reference number and tells me to call back within 24 hrs and i can pay with the fare locked in (30k miles business class from IST to LHR). call back 12 hours later, give the reference number and the rep says she can see the fare but that the price changed to 60k miles. Interestingly i can still see the fare at 30k miles online. she tells me the website is wrong. At that point i tell her to simply do a new search and she says "at this point i no longer see any point in our conversation" and hangs up. I coulda killed somebody. Ended up simply calling again a day later and at this point the guy saw everything and we proceeded to book with no issues. So what should have taken 5 mins took two days and hours wasted. What terrible customer service
Aug 4, 2022, 1:07 pm
#19
Join Date: Sep 2021
Location: New York
Posts: 17
Turkish airlines has terrible IT and terrible customer service. thats a terrible combo. Needed to book an award ticket for my dad using my miles. With any other airline this is a simple 5 minute procedure that can be done online. Not with turkish. Call the call center and first rep cant see any award availability. hang up and call a few years later. This guy can see it, but after 15 mins on hold he tells me their system isn't accepted payments. So he gives me a reference number and tells me to call back within 24 hrs and i can pay with the fare locked in (30k miles business class from IST to LHR). call back 12 hours later, give the reference number and the rep says she can see the fare but that the price changed to 60k miles. Interestingly i can still see the fare at 30k miles online. she tells me the website is wrong. At that point i tell her to simply do a new search and she says "at this point i no longer see any point in our conversation" and hangs up. I coulda killed somebody. Ended up simply calling again a day later and at this point the guy saw everything and we proceeded to book with no issues. So what should have taken 5 mins took two days and hours wasted. What terrible customer service
Aug 5, 2022, 5:57 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 770
It's almost comically frustrating to deal with them and I've had similar experiences. Some of the worst have been when I actually get a supposedly helpful agent they hang up mid way and then I'm back to square one. A strategy I've used is filing a feedback form right before I call and then when I reach the call center I tell them I want to talk to customer service right away and mention my number. The customer service has almost always been more helpful then the call center so give that a shot next time. Still at the end of the day their service reps are beyond terrible and it takes attempting to find the few decent ones to get anything done.
Apr 30, 2023, 1:12 pm
#21
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,943
I thought I'd provide my experience for others trying to book awards. I had zero points to start, had never booked or flown an award or paid TK flight, and I wanted to see what was available for a TK-only nonstop flight award before transferring points over from Cap One. Here's how it went down:
1. Website says "must book first award for self" (or similar) when I try to search for more than one. Dead end.
2. Phone app allows me to get all the way to payment screen with 5 pax but, bc I have zero points, says not enough points to continue. But I can see that the tix are available for 5.
3. Transfer CapOne points over. They hit instantly, despite screen saying could be 24 hours. (I signed out and back in on TK.)
4. Go back and try the app again. I get past the "not enough points to continue" screen, but am then told again that I must book first award for self.
5. Didn't want to risk anything, so I called 800-874-8875 and agent was able to book all 5 awards.
The 45-minute call with the agent was a bit tedious as I had to spell every name (despite each person being in my TK account as a family member/travel companion--something agent couldn't see evidently). I was also fairly concerned about these tickets getting issued correctly bc I think both agent and I had difficulty with each other's accents. On my own TK account, I can see two PNRs (not sure why two...maybe mine is the first one and others second?) now but no names with those PNRs. If I click on manage booking, same thing. I can only see name and date and flight # if I enter the ticket number itself. Ask for ticket number when still on phone so you can confirm if you want to. Got individual emails for each of the tickets but they had no information about the flight, just had "an award has been issued for PAX 1" etc.
1. Website says "must book first award for self" (or similar) when I try to search for more than one. Dead end.
2. Phone app allows me to get all the way to payment screen with 5 pax but, bc I have zero points, says not enough points to continue. But I can see that the tix are available for 5.
3. Transfer CapOne points over. They hit instantly, despite screen saying could be 24 hours. (I signed out and back in on TK.)
4. Go back and try the app again. I get past the "not enough points to continue" screen, but am then told again that I must book first award for self.
5. Didn't want to risk anything, so I called 800-874-8875 and agent was able to book all 5 awards.
The 45-minute call with the agent was a bit tedious as I had to spell every name (despite each person being in my TK account as a family member/travel companion--something agent couldn't see evidently). I was also fairly concerned about these tickets getting issued correctly bc I think both agent and I had difficulty with each other's accents. On my own TK account, I can see two PNRs (not sure why two...maybe mine is the first one and others second?) now but no names with those PNRs. If I click on manage booking, same thing. I can only see name and date and flight # if I enter the ticket number itself. Ask for ticket number when still on phone so you can confirm if you want to. Got individual emails for each of the tickets but they had no information about the flight, just had "an award has been issued for PAX 1" etc.
May 1, 2023, 2:11 am
#23
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,943
Nope. Received separated emails for each pax, but they only said “Economy class award ticket has been issued for NAME deducting 50000 Miles from your account.” No “eticketitinerary.” I was able to look up each ticket with the long ticket number agent gave me though. But PNR yielded nothing and I cannot see other pax in my TK account when logged in. Should I be concerned?
May 1, 2023, 4:59 am
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denmark
Programs: TK Elite
Posts: 11,848
hmm strange. The emails you refer to is usually issued in conjunction with award ticket is issued; but you also receive a separate email containing "ELECTRONIC AWARD TICKET PASSENGER ITINERARY" with the name, flight details, breakdown of the taxes and charges paid etc.
Most likely all 5 pax are under same PNR but have separate ticket No. You have received all 5 ticket No. and when you look up each of them the details (name) is correct? If yes, I wouldn't worry about the same info not showing up when you search/enter the PNR only; may have something to do with the number of pax. You can't see tickets for other pax under your profile in the TK website.
EDIT: I just checked my TK award on the website under "manage your booking". Under the flight details and "Contact information" you should see "Passenger preferences" with passenger name and ticket No. FFP number and also the possibility of selecting seats, special meals etc. If you don't see this section there is most likely something wrong with linking ticket No. and the reservation/flights.,
Most likely all 5 pax are under same PNR but have separate ticket No. You have received all 5 ticket No. and when you look up each of them the details (name) is correct? If yes, I wouldn't worry about the same info not showing up when you search/enter the PNR only; may have something to do with the number of pax. You can't see tickets for other pax under your profile in the TK website.
EDIT: I just checked my TK award on the website under "manage your booking". Under the flight details and "Contact information" you should see "Passenger preferences" with passenger name and ticket No. FFP number and also the possibility of selecting seats, special meals etc. If you don't see this section there is most likely something wrong with linking ticket No. and the reservation/flights.,
Last edited by SK AAR; May 1, 2023 at 5:07 am
May 1, 2023, 6:58 am
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 770
Turkish airlines website is one of the worst.. honestly they've lost tens of thousands of dollars only from me directly because of that. We fly business class (2 adults 4 children) at least twice a year to istanbul and their website cannot accommodate business class bookings more than 4 people?? its ridiculous. The alternative is to call and spend an hour on the phone with TK rep and pray that they process everything smoothly or simply book with a different airline; which we have. I love the onboard TK experience (i still fly with them when i'm flying alone) but have given up on them otherwise
May 5, 2023, 1:16 pm
#26
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SFO or OAK
Programs: AA 1MM GLD, Hertz #1 Gold, bunch of other programs w/no status
Posts: 1,454
I thought I'd provide my experience for others trying to book awards. I had zero points to start, had never booked or flown an award or paid TK flight, and I wanted to see what was available for a TK-only nonstop flight award before transferring points over from Cap One. Here's how it went down:
1. Website says "must book first award for self" (or similar) when I try to search for more than one. Dead end.
2. Phone app allows me to get all the way to payment screen with 5 pax but, bc I have zero points, says not enough points to continue. But I can see that the tix are available for 5.
3. Transfer CapOne points over. They hit instantly, despite screen saying could be 24 hours. (I signed out and back in on TK.)
4. Go back and try the app again. I get past the "not enough points to continue" screen, but am then told again that I must book first award for self.
5. Didn't want to risk anything, so I called 800-874-8875 and agent was able to book all 5 awards.
The 45-minute call with the agent was a bit tedious as I had to spell every name (despite each person being in my TK account as a family member/travel companion--something agent couldn't see evidently). I was also fairly concerned about these tickets getting issued correctly bc I think both agent and I had difficulty with each other's accents. On my own TK account, I can see two PNRs (not sure why two...maybe mine is the first one and others second?) now but no names with those PNRs. If I click on manage booking, same thing. I can only see name and date and flight # if I enter the ticket number itself. Ask for ticket number when still on phone so you can confirm if you want to. Got individual emails for each of the tickets but they had no information about the flight, just had "an award has been issued for PAX 1" etc.
1. Website says "must book first award for self" (or similar) when I try to search for more than one. Dead end.
2. Phone app allows me to get all the way to payment screen with 5 pax but, bc I have zero points, says not enough points to continue. But I can see that the tix are available for 5.
3. Transfer CapOne points over. They hit instantly, despite screen saying could be 24 hours. (I signed out and back in on TK.)
4. Go back and try the app again. I get past the "not enough points to continue" screen, but am then told again that I must book first award for self.
5. Didn't want to risk anything, so I called 800-874-8875 and agent was able to book all 5 awards.
The 45-minute call with the agent was a bit tedious as I had to spell every name (despite each person being in my TK account as a family member/travel companion--something agent couldn't see evidently). I was also fairly concerned about these tickets getting issued correctly bc I think both agent and I had difficulty with each other's accents. On my own TK account, I can see two PNRs (not sure why two...maybe mine is the first one and others second?) now but no names with those PNRs. If I click on manage booking, same thing. I can only see name and date and flight # if I enter the ticket number itself. Ask for ticket number when still on phone so you can confirm if you want to. Got individual emails for each of the tickets but they had no information about the flight, just had "an award has been issued for PAX 1" etc.
May 6, 2023, 10:32 am
#27
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,943
It is incredibly frustrating. And now I’m worried they got someone’s birthday wrong. But I have no way to check. When we were making the rez, the agent added an extra letter one of the pax names (for ex Tomm) and had to redo the whole thing. So now I’m worried. When I go to manage booking it wants me to enter ticket numbers. The only way I have the ticket numbers is because I asked for them and wrote them down. Nothing in email or anywhere else. After entering tix #, I get a screen where I should be able to enter pax FFP number but drop down menu is inoperable. See pics of those pages and of the only email I got (one per pax). Literally no info other than my name, pax name, and my TK# Anyone know where I can access individual pax to check DOB?
May 6, 2023, 4:23 pm
#29
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SFO or OAK
Programs: AA 1MM GLD, Hertz #1 Gold, bunch of other programs w/no status
Posts: 1,454
When you pull up the reservation via ticket number, under "Passenger Preferences" you should see the pax name and then "Details Complete" (assuming you entered passport info) and right next to that a small "edit" - click that and you should be able to edit DOB. At least that worked for me.
May 6, 2023, 7:19 pm
#30
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 5,943
When you pull up the reservation via ticket number, under "Passenger Preferences" you should see the pax name and then "Details Complete" (assuming you entered passport info) and right next to that a small "edit" - click that and you should be able to edit DOB. At least that worked for me.