[john_stef]

Please consider the following complaint concerning your company.
I am expecting a serious answer, which would be commensurate to your company which is supposed to be one of the best in the world.
On Thursday 01/02/2024 my wife and I were to travel by flight TK78 at 22:30 from Miami with final destination Athens and stopover Istanbul.


Tickets ATH-MIA-ATH Turkish

Booking Reference: SAE6YR
E-TICKET PETRONIKOLOU: 2353402779606
E-TICKET STEFANATOS: 2353402779607

While we were going to the airport, I received an email from Turkish about the delay of flight TK78 and a new departure time on Friday 02/02/2024 at 00:30, while the flight to Athens would be 12 hours and 10 minutes late, since the new departure time was the next day 02/03/2024 at 07:55. (please check the photos below)




When we went to the Turkish gates to drop off our bags and get our boarding passes for flight TK1845 (IST-ATH), since they were not available at online check-in, I asked your colleague about the email I received and the possible delay since she didn't mention anything at that time. He assured me that after all there is no delay and that there will be no problem with the flight to Athens and that it will take place as scheduled. (please check the photos below)

Tickets Turkish MIA – ATH


Given the above, we thought there was no delay, because apart from the false - as it turned out - information we had from your employee, both at the gate and on the Turkish app the flight appeared "ON TIME". At this point, I should point out that on the Turkish app, the flight appeared "ON TIME" at 19:04, while at 19:01 it appeared "DELAYED". (please check the photos below)


As it turned out, with the exception of your emails which were not received by all passengers, there was complete misinformation to us by your company. We were never informed about the upcoming delay, nor the reason for it, while both on the gate to board and on the Turkish app the flight appeared "ON TIME" even though the time had passed. At 00:30, they simply informed us that the flight would leave at 01:50 without giving any other information at all. Of course, me and the passengers receiving email updates were aware of this and had already asked the gate attendant who simply told us that he has no such information.




Even Booking, which informs you about everything, was only aware of three of the five-time changes, and also this with a very long delay. Kindly note, the date is 02/02/2024, while the flight was February 1st. Your airline is obviously completely responsible for this and therefore fully liable. (please check the photos below)

Booking Notifications about flight TK78 MIA-IST

As you already know the flight time was officially changed 2 more times and we finally left 50 minutes late from the last scheduled time at 03:40. At this point I should emphasize that there was never the slightest announcement about food, water, etc. There were very few tiny sandwiches and few soft drinks. 5.5 hours delay, not even a bottle of water was given to us.
Before we got on the plane, I asked the Turkish employee what will happen to the flight we missed and if we are entitled to a hotel etc. Your employee told me not to worry and that everything is arranged when we arrive in Turkey.
After finally leaving Miami, almost 5.5 hours late, we eventually arrived at Turkey and there was no Turkish Airlines employee to provide us us with directions. I've been around the world and I have travelled in other places, I've missed a connecting flight again in the past, however this is the first time I've encountered such inappropriate situation and mishandling from an airline. After searching for the Turkish employees ourselves, they informed us that we are not entitled to a hotel room and that we had to stay at the airport for 10 hours!!! They didn't even give us a bottle of water. We did not even have internet, which is free in all airports except yours (only one hour free, absolutely unacceptable). We felt extreme disappointment, deep dissatisfaction, discomfort. On top of all that, the Turkish Airlines employee who supposedly was there to serve us on your behalf, considered that the room we requested was an excessive and unreasonable request, while he could not provide us with free internet access (with the excuse that this is a service of the airport and not of the airline) and while also always being rude, ironic and disparaging towards us. Your employee told us that all he can do is give us.
QUOTE
LIMITLESS FOOD
UNQUOTE
Having no other choice, we had to accept his proposal and he gave us a list of restaurants where we could have “LIMITLESS FOOD” until 04:30, when this expired. After 04:30 he told us to come back to give us new coupons.
To our great surprise we found that the “LIMITLESS FOOD” he literally said, was only one burger for each person and we only had two choices from the menu, not even the whole menu to choose from.
At 05:00, after we had already been at the airport for 6 hours without sleep (over 36 in total), without internet, without water and almost fasting, we went to the Turkish offices again and I asked for new vouchers, as your employee told me. Once again, another employee who served us on your behalf told us that we were not entitled to anything because we already got what was available for us from your company. Although we tried to explain and find the previous employee of yours to confirm that we are entitled to more, but he was not at his post and we could not prove any of his false words.
Within 23 hours from the time we checked in in Miami and up to the aforementioned time, Turkish Airlines and their employees (executing orders) had blatantly fooled us multiple times!!
So, I decided to go buy breakfast for me and my wife. That's where the real Calvary began!!
As I already mentioned we were sleepless for almost two days due to the huge delay and inconvenience we had suffered from Turkish Airlines and their paid liars!
At 05:15 I left my wife where we were sitting and went to buy food. As I was going to buy food, due to exhaustion and sleeplessness, my eyes were closing and I was not able to remember where we were sitting in order to find my wife. Of course, Turkish Airline is not directly responsible for this, but I, who did not pay attention to the route. However, this was a result of course of the physical and mental exhaustion that your company had caused me from the aforementioned. Also, as I already mentioned, we didn't have internet on our mobiles and we hadn't inserted the Greek SIM cards, so we couldn't communicate in any way.
After buying food, I headed over to where my wife was sitting. I didn't find her and started looking. At first, I wasn't worried even though there was no way for us to communicate with each other and I continued to search the entire airport.

Time passed and I was still searching. I started to get anxious so I decided to ask two policemen for help. I explained the situation to them and they told me that in order to contact her I should go and tell A person they waved at the time. This person was a waiter making coffees in an airport cafe and they were laughing! I mention this, even though it does not directly implicate Turkish, but because it is an unacceptable fact your clients had to go through!! The police of a country that has been trying unsuccessfully for decades to join the European Union is laughing to a foreigner at a time of need. This does not happen in any civilized European country!!!
Also unacceptable is the fact that people working at the airport do not know basic English. I turned to the airport information, selected "English" and could not understand anything. unacceptable to airport staff with most responses.
It was 06:25 and the gate of the flight to Athens had just opened. I decided to go to the gate to see if my wife was there. Unfortunately, she was not gone and I was asking for the help of the Turkish Airline staff who were at the boarding pass check for Athens. I asked them to make an announcement and they told me that it is not allowed, that they cannot help me and to continue looking for her.
I circled the airport one more time, the cops were still laughing and I was trying in vain to spot her in the crowd. The time had passed and at 07:00 I go back to the gate for Athens and again ask for help from your staff without any result. I was really begging them to make an announcement and they were looking at me blankly. I should emphasize that the board read "LAST CALL" since the flight was scheduled for 07:55. I asked them why they don't make an announcement about the passengers who have not arrived at the gate and I got no answer at all.
Since there was no help from your staff, I approached a Turkish Airline employee at the opposite gate, explained the situation and asked her to make an announcement. She was willing to help me, but told me that this must be done from the gate of the flight to Athens. I told her that they are not helping me and that they are not making an announcement and she said "I'm sorry, I can't do anything".

I had to leave to search again to no avail. The time was 07:25 and I decided to go to the gate to Athens and wait for my wife to appear. Luckily, she eventually got to the gate and we barely made it to the flight. When I saw her she was crying because she thought something had happened to me after I was gone for two hours and at the same time she had experienced exactly the same disrespect from the airport and Turkish Airline staff.
At this point I should point out that both me and my wife when we went to the gate for Athens, we showed photos of our faces and our names to your staff. I had already gone twice and was looking for her before my wife went too.
Why didn't they inform her that I was looking for her?
Why did they never make an announcement?
What if we missed the flight? Is all this lying and behavior a policy of Turkish to make people miss their flights and have to re-buy tickets?
Could it be that the reason the hotel does not provide internet and food for a 12-hour wait is so that the travelers spend their money at the airport?!
I am expecting a serious answer, commensurate to your company which is supposed to be one of the best in the world.
FYI, from 07:30 when we got on the bus to take us to the plane, we waited at least another 15 minutes before we left, so they weren't waiting for us!! All this can be very easily verified by the hardware in the cameras.
In total we had six hours wait in Miami and ten hours in Istanbul, no accommodation, no water, no meals at all, no internet, we arrived in Athens one day late and we couldn't go to work on Saturday!
I hold your company fully liable for all the above inhumane and unacceptable treatment and service as well as the discomfort, disrespect, both the physical an psychological torture you put us through at the time as well as for all the negative repercussions that we had to handle and/or suffer because we could not meet our work and other responsibilities timely due to your delays!
All of our rights remain fully reserved.