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Delayed with Turkish Airlines

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Turkish Airlines flight delays and cancellations

Turkish Airlines lose strike ban protection to avoid delays

Based in the Turkish General Management Building, in the grounds of Ataturk Airport (IST) Istanbul, Turkish Airlines is the fourth largest according to the number of destinations that it flies to, over 240 in more than 100 countries. The airline also owns a small fleet of cargo planes that fly to 47 airports. This is in contrast to its modest beginnings in 1933, when it consisted of five planes, two Curtiss Kingbirds, two Junkers F.13s and a Tupolev ANT-9, and was a department of the ministry of defence. The airline developed as a domestic carrier when it was taken over by the ministry of public works until 1947 when an influx of Douglas DC-3s and C-47s enabled a modest expansion into the international market. Today Turkish Airlines transports over forty eight million passengers a year, travelling a combined total of ninety two billion kilometres. It is now one of the fastest growing carriers in the world.

Airline past tarnished by poor service and delays

During its history, Turkish Airlines has suffered from a reputation of poor customer service, cancellations and delays. This was compounded by a series of high profile hijackings in the 70s and early 80s. Since then Turkish Airlines have waged a major publicity campaign to raise the company’s reputation and profile. Part of this strategy was to ally itself with universally recognised sports stars, culminating in a viral video that starred Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi; that was viewed by more than 101 million viewers. In a similar move, an endorsement by Manchester United soccer team boosted the company’s level of followers on Facebook so that it now ranks in the top five airlines in the World on the social media site.

Turkish government backs down on airline strike

In 2012 the Turkish parliament passed laws that seriously the rights of aviation workers to go on strike, causing massive delays and cancellations. The previous year, industrial action had resulted in over 200 flights being cancelled, affecting in excess of 100,000 passengers, which cost Turkish Airlines almost $2 million. However, protests have since lead to these laws being rescinded, leaving the way open to further delays and disruption as the company negotiates with a belligerent workforce.

Service improvements but compensation claims are still an issue

Despite a poor reputation that will take many years to shake off, Turkish Airlines has been working hard to improve not only its image but its service as well. Their 20 busiest routes during the two month period from mid-June to mid-August, had the following outcomes: 71% flights arrived on time, 14% were classed as late, 6% very late and 6% were excessively late, with zero cancellations according to FlightStats. Although this still leaves room for improvement, and a number of passengers keen to exercise their right to compensation for travel delays, it puts them ahead of most of their competition. In fact, in Turkish Airlines has won the Skytrax Award as Europe’s Best Airline four years in a row, along with a number of other prestigious customer service and catering awards.

Most popular routes

Turkish airlines are rapidly expanding their list of destinations around the world, but these are the countries that currently have the highest numbers of airports that the company flies to. Germany comes top with 13 airports receiving Turkish Airline planes, including Frankfurt (FRA); Russia is next with 10 airports, amongst which is Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO), Naples (NAP) is one of the nine in Italy, and Saudi Arabia has seven destinations, of which, King Fahd International (DMM) is the busiest.

Delay, cancellation, overbooking or missed connection flight? You are entitled to:

Short distance up to 1500 kmMedium distance up to 3500 kmLong distance from 3500 km
e.g. London – Edinburghe.g. London – Athense.g. London – Tokyo
250€400€600€

What rights do I have?

Under EU law, you can get up to 480£ compensation in the event of a delay, cancellation or overbooking of your flight.
This is true regardless of the ticket price and up to 6 years retrospectively.

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS

What to do when delayed?

  • gather information
  • Take photos
  • You are entitled to vouchers
  • Keep documents from the airline, such as letters, tickets, vouchers
250 €
< 1,500km
3H Delay
400 €
1,500km – 3,500km
3H Delay
600 €
> 3,500km
3H Delay

I WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION

  • Useful tips if your flight is delayed
  • Checklist for printing
  • Read Reviews
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11.000.000 Over 11,000,000 passengers from more than 14 countries have already used Flightright. Thank you for your confidence in us!

Picture from customer Mirjam Bigger

I’m glad I made the decision to make a claim through you! The 843 EUR has arrived! With this money we will treat ourselves to an unplanned getaway. Thank you so much – we will drink a toast to you!

Mirjam Bigger Schweiz

15 Over the last 3 days 15 other passengers have already filed Turkish Airlines cases with us.

STILL NOT CONVINCED? ALTERNATIVES FOR YOUR COMPENSATION

Doing it yourself

annoying and unpromising
  • cost risk: €0
  • very time-consuming (paper-warfare with the airline)
  • small chances of success
  • often no experience (complex field of law)
  • high stress factor (paperwork, phone calls)

Flightright

simple and straightfoward
  • cost risk: €0
  • takes little time (2 minutes)
  • high chances of success
  • experienced travel legal experts (enforced more than 100.000.000 €)
  • absolutely stress-free (We enforce the compensation for you.)

Lawyer

expensive and complex/effortful
  • cost risk: several hundred euros
  • very time-consuming (several hours)
  • chances of success unclear
  • experience unknown (depends on specialty)
  • high stress factor (meetings, paperwork, phone calls)

Had flight problems with Turkish Airlines?

Flightright takes care of your rights in the event of flight delays, cancellations and overbooking and is committed to ensuring that you receive your compensation from the airline.

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