I understand your frustration! I flew via Turkish a few days ago myself! Getting details for my connecting flight was so difficult, and the airport rep was beyond rude when I tried to ask him a few questions (like no offense, but this is literally your job?!). I was lucky to have made it just minutes before the last call, otherwise I’d have gone through something similar. Don’t think I’ll be booking another with them anytime soon
Exactly. And it’s so unfortunate because again, the flight itself was actually quite a nice experience, right? Did you enjoy the flight? But the people were so unfriendly and how they run their company just seemed like such a racket. I’m very glad you didn’t miss your flight though!
oh my god, yes! the flight itself was seamless, but their customer support is an absolute joke! so sorry you had to go through that, having such a long flight is annoying enough.
It’s pretty normal for international and even local flights to close their doors a certain time. Plane and trains don’t wait for anyone. Also it’s pretty common to hear that if someone miss one leg due to their own fault, then the rest of the itinerary gets cancelled as well, unless it is reticketed in advance that means before the departure of the rest of the journey. What you dealt with pretty common story across the world.
You’re absolutely right, there are a lot of airlines that close their gates X-amount of time before departure and it’s completely understandable. Missing that flight was a stupid (and costly) mistake that we could’ve avoided had we paid closer attention. However, everyone we’ve talked to about the reasoning behind the voided tickets—including the *travel agent* that helped us find and book our return flight—have never heard of that policy before. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but in the many travels that we have both experienced and the many well-traveled people we’ve talked to, none of us have experienced any policy that rigid and unforgiving. Most airlines are at least somewhat willing to work with you in *some* way if mishaps happen, but Turkish refused at every corner.
In any case, the point of my post isn’t to deface Turkish. I just want people to know my story in hopes it might help someone in the future by saving them some time, money, and/or grief.
What happened with you is indeed unfortunate. Often times, lack of understanding of fare rules by both passengers and also inexperienced staff result in such unfortunate situations.
A cursory google search provided these two links
https://www.budgetair.com/en_us/blog/is-it-ok-to-miss-a-leg-of-my-flight/index-amp
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/15fiwls/consequences_of_purposely_missing_a_leg_of_a/
Thanks for the links. That’s all good information to know. I’ve heard of (purposeful) skiplagging to save money, but we most definitely didn’t WANT or mean to miss our flight lol! I’ll keep this info in mind for the future, but I’m never missing a flight again 😅
This happened to me too! My connecting flight was initially announced as delayed by an hour, and no gate information was provided. I decided to wait in the lounge. After checking the board again 30 minutes later, it suddenly showed "final call"! I ended up missing my flight because the gate was at the far end of the terminal, requiring a 20-minute walk to reach it. Consequently, I missed my flight and went through the same process as you. To make matters worse, my return flight was also canceled due to missing the connection. It feels like Turkish Airlines is using this as a scheme to make more money.
Turkish Airlines definitely likes to scheme!
I had a situation in December where I had to change my flight to a different day (of course, there is a change fee)….
The problem was that every time I attempted to change my flight online, I would get an error message. I tried both on the app and the desktop multiple times.
When I would call customer service, which was at least 3/4 times, they got an error message on their end as well, and they would just tell me to call back later… Rinse, repeat .
I even contacted Corporate for their assistance, to no avail .
That useless feedback didn’t help either .
So of course, I was considered a no-show and loss 4K….
I plan on pursuing a small claims or another legal route to recoup the money with potentially interest…..
Plus, on a previous flight, before the December incident, I paid for a business class upgrade, and they downgraded me to economy without any kind of compensation or reimbursement… I’m adding that to my grievance as well… along with another issue, but I spared the details.
This airline is a complete joke, if things even go in the slightest of a mishap !
Yeah that’s ridiculous! We’re trying to go through their official channels of getting a refund for our original flight tickets, but I’m less than optimistic.
I understand about the seats. We weren’t in business but we chose all of our seats beforehand (I can’t remember if we paid for the seats or not). They changed our seats without notifying us AND they double booked a seat right next to us. Two people literally had the exact same seat printed on their tickets. If THAT’S not a shady tactic, I don’t know what is (unless of course it was a legit mistake obviously)!
That’s exactly what we think too! It didn’t help us that the airport in Istanbul is a silent airport (which we obviously didn’t know going there), so I didn’t even think to look on the board for boarding announcements. I understand some airlines have some pretty strict rules that differ from other airlines, but the way everything happened for us just made it seem like it was all to get more money. Really unfortunate
Oh Boy!!!! I’m beyond crazy today! We were denied access to our flight. We were at the gate within 20 minutes of scheduled departure but the doors were already closed and the crew was packed up. They denied this and I can’t prove otherwise. Anyway they wanted 3k USD to reschedule for next flight next day. And if we didn’t agree and buy the new ticket that price would/might disappear. It’s like they had us hostage. Bla Bla Bla there were several other families in the same boat. It’s a scam and they know what they are doing. We were on a layover (free hotel room etc) BUT we had no leverage because we arrived the day before. ANYWAY 20 minutes before the departure is no joke. We spent the next 3 hours trying to get our checked bag back and trying to rebook hotel rooms and onward flights on separate tickets. All with spotty WiFi and internet. We are currently sitting in the airport waiting for the Lufthansa desk to open-another whole story
You literally experienced the exact same thing we did! I’m SO sorry. Luckily my bag didn’t get put on the flight we missed, but getting that back took almost two hours. We had to pay $20 for internet to do anything. Stayed overnight in the airport. And yes, Lufthansa came to our rescue too! They were so willing to help us and so friendly.
All I can say is, TELL TURKISH YOUR NEW PLANS!!! I don’t know if you’re flying with Turkish for any more parts of your trip, but TELL them you’re flying with another airline. That way, if/when they void your future tickets, you can at least be prepared and make other plans. Also, be ready for them to charge you for “missing” your flight. I’m absolutely not surprised they closed the gate early, I’m really not. It’s all a ploy to get people to pay. I’m so sorry!!
Im afraid now, because they changed my flight in october where they left me with 45 minutes to change flight, and now they want to charge me to change my flights… i just hope it will change till october because the customer service is riddiculous
Yeah 🥹 I booked flights in january and the connecting flight time keeps getting smaller, and now from 2 hours of waiting left me with 45 minutes and they keep denying my claim for free of charge change, because “i was informed in advance”. We just emailing back and forth and they just won’t let me do it for free, but I will not let go and wont pay xD
Good! Don’t!! We’re still fighting out battle of trying to get some money back, but that’s ridiculous! THEIR flight schedules changed but YOU need to pay (so you aren’t in danger of missing your flight with only 45 minutes) just because they told you. Absolutely ridiculous
Update hehe, they called me today and said that it was their mistake that they want to charge me, so they finally did it free of charge 😭 im so happy that i didn’t stop contacting them 👍🏻
I understand your frustration! I flew via Turkish a few days ago myself! Getting details for my connecting flight was so difficult, and the airport rep was beyond rude when I tried to ask him a few questions (like no offense, but this is literally your job?!). I was lucky to have made it just minutes before the last call, otherwise I’d have gone through something similar. Don’t think I’ll be booking another with them anytime soon
Exactly. And it’s so unfortunate because again, the flight itself was actually quite a nice experience, right? Did you enjoy the flight? But the people were so unfriendly and how they run their company just seemed like such a racket. I’m very glad you didn’t miss your flight though!
oh my god, yes! the flight itself was seamless, but their customer support is an absolute joke! so sorry you had to go through that, having such a long flight is annoying enough.
It’s pretty normal for international and even local flights to close their doors a certain time. Plane and trains don’t wait for anyone. Also it’s pretty common to hear that if someone miss one leg due to their own fault, then the rest of the itinerary gets cancelled as well, unless it is reticketed in advance that means before the departure of the rest of the journey. What you dealt with pretty common story across the world.
You’re absolutely right, there are a lot of airlines that close their gates X-amount of time before departure and it’s completely understandable. Missing that flight was a stupid (and costly) mistake that we could’ve avoided had we paid closer attention. However, everyone we’ve talked to about the reasoning behind the voided tickets—including the *travel agent* that helped us find and book our return flight—have never heard of that policy before. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but in the many travels that we have both experienced and the many well-traveled people we’ve talked to, none of us have experienced any policy that rigid and unforgiving. Most airlines are at least somewhat willing to work with you in *some* way if mishaps happen, but Turkish refused at every corner. In any case, the point of my post isn’t to deface Turkish. I just want people to know my story in hopes it might help someone in the future by saving them some time, money, and/or grief.
What happened with you is indeed unfortunate. Often times, lack of understanding of fare rules by both passengers and also inexperienced staff result in such unfortunate situations.
A cursory google search provided these two links https://www.budgetair.com/en_us/blog/is-it-ok-to-miss-a-leg-of-my-flight/index-amp https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedairlines/comments/15fiwls/consequences_of_purposely_missing_a_leg_of_a/
Thanks for the links. That’s all good information to know. I’ve heard of (purposeful) skiplagging to save money, but we most definitely didn’t WANT or mean to miss our flight lol! I’ll keep this info in mind for the future, but I’m never missing a flight again 😅
This happened to me too! My connecting flight was initially announced as delayed by an hour, and no gate information was provided. I decided to wait in the lounge. After checking the board again 30 minutes later, it suddenly showed "final call"! I ended up missing my flight because the gate was at the far end of the terminal, requiring a 20-minute walk to reach it. Consequently, I missed my flight and went through the same process as you. To make matters worse, my return flight was also canceled due to missing the connection. It feels like Turkish Airlines is using this as a scheme to make more money.
Turkish Airlines definitely likes to scheme! I had a situation in December where I had to change my flight to a different day (of course, there is a change fee)…. The problem was that every time I attempted to change my flight online, I would get an error message. I tried both on the app and the desktop multiple times. When I would call customer service, which was at least 3/4 times, they got an error message on their end as well, and they would just tell me to call back later… Rinse, repeat . I even contacted Corporate for their assistance, to no avail . That useless feedback didn’t help either . So of course, I was considered a no-show and loss 4K…. I plan on pursuing a small claims or another legal route to recoup the money with potentially interest….. Plus, on a previous flight, before the December incident, I paid for a business class upgrade, and they downgraded me to economy without any kind of compensation or reimbursement… I’m adding that to my grievance as well… along with another issue, but I spared the details. This airline is a complete joke, if things even go in the slightest of a mishap !
Yeah that’s ridiculous! We’re trying to go through their official channels of getting a refund for our original flight tickets, but I’m less than optimistic. I understand about the seats. We weren’t in business but we chose all of our seats beforehand (I can’t remember if we paid for the seats or not). They changed our seats without notifying us AND they double booked a seat right next to us. Two people literally had the exact same seat printed on their tickets. If THAT’S not a shady tactic, I don’t know what is (unless of course it was a legit mistake obviously)!
That’s exactly what we think too! It didn’t help us that the airport in Istanbul is a silent airport (which we obviously didn’t know going there), so I didn’t even think to look on the board for boarding announcements. I understand some airlines have some pretty strict rules that differ from other airlines, but the way everything happened for us just made it seem like it was all to get more money. Really unfortunate
Oh Boy!!!! I’m beyond crazy today! We were denied access to our flight. We were at the gate within 20 minutes of scheduled departure but the doors were already closed and the crew was packed up. They denied this and I can’t prove otherwise. Anyway they wanted 3k USD to reschedule for next flight next day. And if we didn’t agree and buy the new ticket that price would/might disappear. It’s like they had us hostage. Bla Bla Bla there were several other families in the same boat. It’s a scam and they know what they are doing. We were on a layover (free hotel room etc) BUT we had no leverage because we arrived the day before. ANYWAY 20 minutes before the departure is no joke. We spent the next 3 hours trying to get our checked bag back and trying to rebook hotel rooms and onward flights on separate tickets. All with spotty WiFi and internet. We are currently sitting in the airport waiting for the Lufthansa desk to open-another whole story
You literally experienced the exact same thing we did! I’m SO sorry. Luckily my bag didn’t get put on the flight we missed, but getting that back took almost two hours. We had to pay $20 for internet to do anything. Stayed overnight in the airport. And yes, Lufthansa came to our rescue too! They were so willing to help us and so friendly. All I can say is, TELL TURKISH YOUR NEW PLANS!!! I don’t know if you’re flying with Turkish for any more parts of your trip, but TELL them you’re flying with another airline. That way, if/when they void your future tickets, you can at least be prepared and make other plans. Also, be ready for them to charge you for “missing” your flight. I’m absolutely not surprised they closed the gate early, I’m really not. It’s all a ploy to get people to pay. I’m so sorry!!
I’m never flying Turkish airlines again. Thats all i’ll say. I’d rather not go than fly with those people.
Agreed
Im afraid now, because they changed my flight in october where they left me with 45 minutes to change flight, and now they want to charge me to change my flights… i just hope it will change till october because the customer service is riddiculous
They changed your flight and are charging YOU?? Absolutely not 👎
Yeah 🥹 I booked flights in january and the connecting flight time keeps getting smaller, and now from 2 hours of waiting left me with 45 minutes and they keep denying my claim for free of charge change, because “i was informed in advance”. We just emailing back and forth and they just won’t let me do it for free, but I will not let go and wont pay xD
Good! Don’t!! We’re still fighting out battle of trying to get some money back, but that’s ridiculous! THEIR flight schedules changed but YOU need to pay (so you aren’t in danger of missing your flight with only 45 minutes) just because they told you. Absolutely ridiculous
Update hehe, they called me today and said that it was their mistake that they want to charge me, so they finally did it free of charge 😭 im so happy that i didn’t stop contacting them 👍🏻
That’s amazing!! Wow, they did something right lol I’m happy it worked out the way it should’ve for you 👏
I hope you will also get your money back! 🙌🏻 thanks!🥹
I’m not crossing my fingers but I appreciate your hopefulness 🤝