[adesai_2010]

I am writing to address a serious issue regarding my flight and how my cousin and I were mistreated by the staff. I hope this document is read thoroughly. I have flown around the world a few times back and forth and always have had a pleasant experience with all different airlines. I had never flown Turkish Airlines so I decided to try it out hoping it would be good. When a lot of my friends found out I was flying with Turkish, they had told me negative things they went through with Turkish yet my father had told me positive things so I figured that my friends might have just had a bad experience which I understand happens at times. This letter is regarding two passengers. The psecond passenger is overweight so we had purchased two seats under his name which was approved by Turkish sales office. I had only purchased one seat under my name. Our flight was from Houston, TX to Istanbul, Turkey to Mumbai, India.

Our flight was on December 8, 2016 at 9:00pm from Houston, TX. The first problem that arose was once we got in the plane departing from Houston. My cousin and I had a total of three seats, two for him and one for myself. Most people had sat down in their assigned seats and there was one more passenger looking for a seat. Which absolutely makes no sense, the passenger looking for an extra seat should have already had an assigned seat. The flight attendant came by us and told us to let the passenger sit there because my cousin was on both seats and I immediately told him that we had actually paid for all of our seats and he was talking to us as if he was doubting us and made both of us get up and show him our boarding passes. We were standing there for a few minutes and it was really humiliating because everybody was looking at us. Anyways, once he realized that we were telling the truth and had actually bought the tickets, he apologized and left. One big selling point was that Turkish advertises free Wi-Fi which made us prefer this flight over the others. The Wi-Fi did not work, the only thing it worked for was to log in to the Turkish flight to purchase Wi-Fi which is false advertisement. Anyway we both purchased the 24 hour Wi-Fi package for $15 USD because we thought it would come in handy for the flight from Istanbul to Mumbai. That was a waste of money because we didn’t even get to use it.
We arrived in Istanbul, which we had a three hour hold there. When it came time to board the flight, my cousin and I went up to the counter. I explained our situation that had happened in the flight at Houston and told her that we do not want to be humiliated like that again and to make sure that our seats were secured. The lady at the counter said not to worry and said to wait right there, she would go check and be right back. We had waited and waited and by this time most of the passengers had already been taken to the plane so I asked another person at the counter what the status is and she said “Sorry, your flight boarded five minutes ago.” I told her that the lady that was just right there told us to wait and went to make sure our seats were secured and all the lady at the counter could keep saying is sorry over and over again. We missed our flight because of the Turkish Airlines employee who told us she would take care of us and be right back. Then she told us to go to the help desk upstairs. Once we got to the help desk they sent us to another department and pointed us in one direction to let them know. About 5 minutes into walking that direction, there was a guy on a Segway that worked for Turkish Airlines and he told us that we needed to go to the Turkish help desk so we went back over there. At this point, there was a different person there who we explained our situation too and he told us to go stand in the line that was right behind the help desk. We waited in that line for about 30 minutes and once we got to the front, we complained about what had just happened and the guy said that that was only the line to complain or make changes to the meals on the plane. He then advised us to go downstairs outside to the Turkish desk. It took us almost an hour to two hours to get to the right place because we were given so many different directions.
We finally made it to the right department and we had to wait approximately 30 minutes in line. Once we got to the counter, we had explained the full situation in detail to the gentleman that was on duty. He had talked to his manager and tried getting the proper solution for us. He said he would be able to get us another flight and not charge us an extra fee because he knew it was not our fault. However, he told us that the next flight he could book for us was about 4 days out and that we would have to pay for hotel rooms and any conveniences, they would not accommodate us. We told him we could not do that because we had a wedding to attend soon. He said there was another flight leaving the next day to Mumbai but we had to pay for that if we wanted to go on that. It made no sense why he was going to book our flight for the first flight free but was going to make us pay for the flight going out the next day. He said he had to make us pay for that one because that is just how it is. The gentleman also told us our bags were still at that airport. That part I did not understand at all because I know there are at least 900 bags if not more, how did they know that mine and my cousins bags were not going to leave the airport? The only way I was able to get in touch with our family was through Wi-Fi and I had to update them of our situation. The only place I was able to get Wi-Fi was the Starbucks inside the airport. So I had to pass security and walk about 15 minutes to get to Starbucks, talk to my family about what I should do, and walk about 15 minutes back. The entire time at the airport I had to do that at least about 8 times. Anyways, I went to go ask my family if I should just take the flight four days out. They said that wouldn’t be possible because we had to be at the wedding. I walked back and told him that we were definitely not able to do that. He then asked if we were able to go to another airport in India and that he would book us a flight there. The other airport he said he was able to book us a flight to was to the New Delhi airport and if we did do that then we would have to pay for the flight from New Delhi to Mumbai. I personally did not know how faraway that was so I went upstairs to Starbucks and asked my family and they said that was way too far away. I went back down there and told him and he said those were the only two options. I told him I would be back and I was going to discuss it with my family. I talked to my cousin and he said he would try making arrangements from New Delhi even though the flight would be inconvenient and late for us. My cousin said that we needed to be in India soon no matter what so we would not miss the wedding.
I made a trip back downstairs to tell the guy who was helping us, but the guy who was originally helping us was not there. We spoke to another guy that was there and vaguely explained our situation to him, told him that we would just go ahead and take the New Delhi flight. The guy said that we would have to pay for it. I told him that we should not have to pay for anything because none of this is our fault. I also explained to him how the previous guy that was there told us he can book our flight either to New Delhi or Mumbai. The guy at the counter said that he called his manager on his phone and she said they can’t help us and that we would have to buy a ticket. I told him that was no way to treat a customer. I asked him how much the tickets were and he said he was unable to tell me so I had to go to the Turkish Airlines sales office. I asked him where that was and how I can find out. He told me I had to wait 2 hours because they are closed right now. He told us if we wanted to complain then we would have to call customer care. They had a phone there that he said I could call customer service from which I tried calling them but it kept coming up busy so I figured that I was dialing it wrong. I went back to the counter and asked the guy if he could dial their number for me but he said he was busy so he was unable to do so. This guy had absolutely no sympathy for us whatsoever and was smiling as we were walking away.
At this point it had been at least 9 hours since we were at the airport and my cousin and I were completely exhausted. We tried going in the Turkish lounge and they said it was for business class members only. So we tried getting a hotel room at the airport but they were sold out. We basically spent our entire time in Istanbul at the Starbucks and the Turkish line. I called my cousin and he said he was going to see what the cheapest flights out of Istanbul to Mumbai are because we needed to be there but he told us to go check the sales office. We went back downstairs and saw the guy who originally was helping us and asked him if he could go ahead and book that New Delhi flight for free. He went ahead and booked it for us. He was honestly the only guy who helped us throughout the entire time there. I knew the Turkish Airlines customer service in Istanbul was terrible when I found out one guy had been at the airport for four days and then the staff lost another lady’s handicapped daughter which they eventually found.
My cousin and I went back upstairs to inform my cousin, and by this time my cousin had already booked us another flight with Egypt Air to Mumbai because the Turkish Airlines flight would have made us get to our location too late. We went back downstairs to get our bags transferred and so we went to the Turkish desk and they said that they would go ahead and do it. We went to the Egypt Air desk just to let them know and right away the Egypt Air staff was a lot friendlier and helpful the first 5 minutes than Turkish Airlines was the entire time at the airport. The last hour of us being at the airport we finally paid $65 USD in order to get lounge access to one of the lounges just to get a hot shower because we were at the airport for a very long time. My cousin and I were at the Istanbul airport for about 23 straight hours completely exhausted because most of our time was sent sitting at Starbucks or walking back and forth from the Turkish desk.
We had arrived at the airport in Mumbai and my bags were not there so the baggage department said that they would try getting in touch with both Turkish Airlines and Egypt Air and would contact me. I had contacted the third party agent every day for two weeks straight and they had no idea where my bags were. Finally I got in touch with the airport directly and they said they would try finding them and contacted us two days later. They had found our bags at the Istanbul airport where the Turkish Airlines guy said that he would transfer my bags for sure. I was without most of my clothes for about two and a half weeks. Once I did end up receiving my bags I found a lot of stuff wrong. I had three bags; one bag was completely ripped from the bottom, another bag had a bottle of liquor missing, the last bag had about 12 packed dress shirts missing and a couple of smaller things.
I never write complaints but I have never been in my life treated as horribly and unfairly as I have with Turkish Airlines so I feel like this had to be written. My parents recently signed up for the Miles & Smiles program. I suggest that Turkish Airlines trains their employees a lot better on customer service and how to find better solutions especially if it is not the customers fault. I was originally going to wait until I got back to the United States to file a complaint but I do not want to go near this same thing again on my way back, my flight leaves on the 24th from India and I want to make sure I get there without any hassles. I am requesting a solution from Turkish Airlines to repay me and my cousin for this absolutely horrendous experience. I also ask that this is read from a customer’s perspective, how would you feel if this was your experience on a first time airline?