I wish to share with you my recent experience flying with Turkish Airlines. I had known that the Turkish Airlines' customer service is not the best but my recent experience with them was against human rights.
My family and I planned a multi-leg trip with Turkish Airline from Bodrum to Istanbul to Tehran. We were expecting to arrive in Tehran at 3:50 AM on the 28th July but we ended up landing in Tehran at 1 PM.
The flight itself from Bodrun to Istanbul was pretty smooth with no problems. We arrived at Istanbul at 10:30 AM. Our flight to Tehran was at 12:30 AM so we went out in Baghdad avenue in Istanbul ( wonderful place to spend your day if you have long transit in Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport). We went to Sabiha Gokcan Airport at 8 PM. Our plane to Tehran took off at 1:30 AM with 45 Min delay. Once we got in the plane, the captain didn't apologies but just explained that the reason for the delay was a technical problem with the cabin pressurization system and that due to this problem he has to fly at low altitude and the trip will take longer than expected. After 2 and half hour, the captain gave along speech in Turkish and then shortly explained in English that we should go back to Istanbul due to some technical problem and said that we might feel the lack of oxygen and dizziness! We then started getting worried but the cabin crew disappeared, passengers started asking for water but the flight attendants were not showing up. Finally one fly attendant came and told passenger that this is an emergency situation and that she is not feeling well herself and cannot walk along the aisle! My mom has a heart problem, thankfully she was sleeping and didn't realize the situation but I was watching her and felt that she is out of breath. I was very worried and I knew that I cannot expect any help from the Turkish airline cabin crew in case we need any help from them.
On the way back to Istanbul, the captain told us that we can use this opportunity to enjoy the beautiful view outside! I couldn't believe that in the situation where we were all worried and we could hardly breath, he is telling us to enjoy the view!! I recorded the captain speech and listened again and again, he didn't even apologized once or said something to comfort us.
Once we arrived at the airport, they took us to the transit section and told us to wait until they figure out what to do. Most passengers were English speakers with only 4 Turkish nationals but none of the Turkish Airline staff were speaking English. We had to beg them to bring someone to explain to us what’s happening in English. Finally one lady came, she told us that they are trying to see if they can find a plane or send us to Attaturk airport. They didn’t even bring water and at that time, all the coffee shops and the duty free section were closed. There were many children and old people, all tired and frustrated, some had their family waiting for them at the airport in Tehran and they were begging the Turkish Airlines to give them internet connection to call their family. At 3 AM, they send us to the Turkish Airline lounge, a small room, with one coffee machine that stopped working and the staff again were very impolite, acting like they were obliged to serve passengers.
Finally, at 7:30 AM they send us a plane and we got to Tehran Airport 1:30 AM. Again, no one from Turkish Airlines apologized for all the suffering they put us through.
I am flying frequently with different airlines and I know the rules. The way they handled this situation was totally against the law and as I said against human right. My mom is not feeling well today and we had to take her to the emergency after we landed in Tehran.
I wrote to Turkish Airlines customer service but after doing a Google search, I realized that there are many complaints about Turkish Airlines customer service in general. They claim to be the best EU airline but the way they handled this critical situation really made me to give up on Turkish Airlines.