[amitsharma]

It’s a shame that the inconvenience caused to me and my husband is not considered important enough to be looked into by the airlines. The incident occurred on the 17th July and Turkish Airways could not decide to apologise before 22nd July.

I also have sent a written complaint for the unpleasant experience my husband I had with Turkish Airways much before Airlines could decide to write an apology email for the complaint made on the airplane. Unfortunately the complaint team also doesn't seem to be interested in taking care of the customers and their complaints.

It’s a disappointment and has given me all the reasons not to travel by Turkish airline “The Airline which has no sincerity towards its customer”.

Following is my experience with Turkish airlines on 17th July 2016, I hope after reading this you and your directors will be mortified of the poor service Europe’s best airline has offered us.

Experience at New Delhi Airport 17th July 2016
My husband and I were supposed to board the flight from New Delhi - India to Istanbul - Turkey at 6am. Hence we reached the airport at 4am and queued up to see Turkish Airways agent at check-in desk and waited 40 minutes before reaching the desk.
a) Shan Mohammad - the officer assigned to one of the check-in desks informed us that our flight is delayed by 3 hours (no sorry, no apology, no apology ).
b) There was no information of delays on Turkish Airlines on any of the display screen.
c) Due to delay of 3 hours we would miss our connecting flight from Istanbul to London and the next flight available was after 5-6 hours. Which ideally mean that we were now going to cover our 12 hour journey in approximately 23 hours.
d) We informed Shan that we had important meeting to attend and that is the reason we have booked a flight early that morning. To this Shan said he cannot help we can leave his counter and queue to see the supervisor as he has to serve other travellers in the queue.
I fail to understand why the airline would not train people they hire to at least provide desired customer service if not anything? Why would any help desk agent tell the customer they are serving to bugger off as they have to serve the rest of the queue?
I immediately advised Shan that this is not the right attitude and service we expect, he should serve me first rather than trying to ignore me and my problem which by the way is not created by me - just to remind its airline that is delayed I have not reached the desk at the last minute.
e) Shan also did not check any other flights he could offer us or suggest any alternative.
f) On the next counter there was a gentleman travelling through same flight and he was presented a supervisor to take care of his issue. The traveller mentioned that he needs to board any flight with same hour of travel as he has to report to his duty. To which the supervisor "Ravi Kuamr" immediately arranged something. Unless I would have heard the conversation on the next desk I would not have known if I could also be offered similar service. “WHY TREAT CUSTOMER’S DIFFERENT”.
g) We requested Shan to call Ravi Kumar (the supervisor) and help us find alternate flight. Ravi Kumar asked Shan to check options and left. Shan just called someone and said we need to wait for 10 - 15 minutes so that he can get the confirmation for us in alternate flight. On asking Shan which flight is and what time he has requested, Shan replied it was 02: 30 am on 18th July 2016 on Air India.
Again the staff had no respect and value they could give us and our situation, Shan did not even bother to ask us if we were alright with the time and flight he was searching. Since I overheard the conversation on the next desk I came to know there was Air India flying that afternoon as well and that would certainly mean I would reach London in almost the same time and would not miss our appointments and meetings. When I requested Shan for this flight he again tried to ignore hence we had to ask for Ravi Kumar again. Ravi Kumar suggested that the airline staff was not available before 2 hours so they cannot confirm the availability to us. I was stunned, just a minute ago Shan had requested someone to confirm if the flight on 18th at 2:30 am was available or not and now to confirm availability of the flight on 17th afternoon I was informed of a waiting time which was Ridiculous - I am sure you would also say the same.
h) So finally because Turkish Airways agents were not willing to be helpful and understand our situation we agreed to board the flight. We requested that we should be given lounge access as at Turkish Airport so that we could rest as the airport is quite busy and people actually sleep and sit on the walking passage. As expected the answer from Shan was a clear and loud “no”. He said to avail this feature we should have a total delay of 24 hours. Great so practically the staff was least bothered to accept the fact that we were going to go through so much of difficulty because we chose to travel by so called the best airline.
g) We were informed that we will be given food vouchers. On Delhi Airport we were given food vouchers by Shan and I was informed that the same would be provided when we reach Istanbul (I will certainly share the experience at Istanbul airport shortly).
When I reached the food vendor at Delhi airport I wanted to buy something which costed more than the voucher amount and the vendor refused to take the extra money. So it clearly meant I either had to buy food without using voucher or something which was less than the voucher money – certainly not something I fancied eating early morning.


Experience in flight from Delhi to Istanbul TK0717
When the food was being served, I expected Asian Vegetarian meal which is what I had saved at the time of booking. I was informed by the steward that they don’t have any special meals for us and we could only select from the standard Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian meal. I did ask him that i did not have any such problem when I was flying back from London to Delhi via Istanbul on 4th July so why is there such a mix up. I got no response. Exhausted and tired we simply took vegetarian meal and ate few spoons. We were hungry and tired but didn’t have any choice apart from sleeping.


Experience at Istanbul Airport 17th July 2016
As mentioned above we were advised that we shall get food vouchers at Istanbul airport because of 5 hours delay for our next flight.
Well, we reached Istanbul and were welcomed with a chaotic environment (expected of a busy airport) people were sitting and sleeping on the walking bay. Then we saw a guy arranging water, cake and Fanta. That was a Turkish airline staff (as we could see the batch and it was in front of the Transit counter) stacking water, since we were unsure of where to go for our food voucher I politely asked this gentleman if this is the arrangement for passengers whose flight were delayed. And I was shocked to hear the answer “The staff said - do I look like a manager or supervisor”. I have never had a better response from any helping staff in my life. But certainly his answer is an indication that this staff could never become a manager with his attitude. I still did not lose my patience and asked if the arrangement is for Turkish Airline passengers whose flight were delayed from India and requested him to answer in a simple “yes” or “no”. And the staff simply said yes and moved out of my sight.
Disappointed with this answer and thinking why airline would just give a slice of cake for 5-6 hours delay we moved towards security checking. After security one of the fellow passengers told us that there was coupon available on the airline counter which was before security. Very well thanks to Turkish Airways ground staff who definitely did not know his responsibility towards passengers “ HAPPY NOT TO HELP”. After security check we bought some food for ourselves and managed to get two seats to somehow spend 5 hours before we could board our flight.

Experience in Flight TK1983 17th July 2016 from Istanbul to London
The Steward serving us (could not take his name but was wearing glasses) had no smile whatsoever. No please, thank you, I don’t know what his problem was but certainly after such hectic and unpleasant day I would not expect such a face to serve me.
I was very hungry and was eagerly waiting for food. When the staff came to us he only offered Beef or Chicken. We informed the staff that we had requested special meals (Asian Vegetarian). To this the Steward replied that he only has Beef or Chicken and no other option. Can you believe this when a passenger is requesting for vegetarian (which was booked at the time of ticketing) why on earth the staff would act as if he has not heard the request at all. We politely requested for Asian vegetarian meal, at this stage Steward rudely questioned us on whether we changed our seats. We conveyed our story of the flight being delayed. Also I was amazed that the staff did not know that there were many passengers on flight who had missed their previous flight because of delays on Turkish Airlines and the staff did not even know about it. Well acceptable as it is none of his business is it? We informed him that at Delhi airport we were advised that our meals are booked on all our flights as per our request. My husband is a pure vegetarian and can’t eat either beef or chicken and insisted that staff should check with the kitchen staff. Since I can eat chicken I said I could manage with the chicken meal if there wasn’t any special meal available. Staff called 3 times before he could offer us at least one vegetarian meal. I was very hungry so requested extra bread. While I was eating the chicken meal I found a big insect in my food. This was a caterpillar as big as 2 inch. I lost my appetite the same moment and felt sick, so I rang the bell for assistance. No surprise there was no assistance available, nobody came to help for at least 25 – 30 minutes. Finally a Steward (Seyma Birlek) from Business class cabin came and saw the bell. I showed the insect to which at first she tried to deny and convince me that it was not insect. But when I insisted it was insect she said she would have to investigate and took my food away. She came back and said she will take pictures and report the incident.

But guess what nobody cared to ask if I need anything else may be a drink or something else to eat.

I finally reached London airport and felt very sick. I had heartburn, had abdominal pain and bloated with stomach cramps due to gastritis. As soon as I reached home I started vomiting. I was very unwell and had vomiting tendency next day as well. This was not the end as I suffered from loose motions as well on 18th July. Because of the long journey and unsafe food provided by the Turkish Airlines I had to cancel my meetings and stay home to recover the unhealthy condition. My husband also felt sick with exhaustion and stress and could not go to his job and had to call sick. We were not even in the condition to go to doctors. I called the doctor next day and were informed that there were no appointments available however i was advised to visit pharmacy to get some medication. Fortunately i had some medicines at home which i took over the next few days.

Because of the Turkish Airlines service and food my husband and I had to suffer sickness and would want the airline to at least take the ownership of irresponsible service and negligent behaviour.

I am not happy with the apology as it is forced. Also do not want to travel with the airline anymore hence I am not interested in free miles.

I would appreciate the corrective actions and compensation for the worst service provided by the airline, crew and the staff.
Sending food provider the warning does not help. I did not pay to your food provider they are hired by you. So proving me the right service and food is the sole responsibility of Turkish Airline’s.

I have copied all your board of directors and hope they also would understand the need to improve your service level and satisfy the customer.
Well all business treats their customer as God I hope you can at least try to treat us a human.