Turkish Airlines

My name is Rafiqul Islam and I live in Boston, USA. My wife, my daughter and I had been travelling business class to and from New York/​Boston, USA and Dhaka, Bangladesh via Istanbul for the last three years. We travel at least three times a year. The timing suits us, and the service had also been reasonably good. But the service had been going downhill for the last year. You don’t get a boarding bridge at Istanbul; you have to climb up and down the stairs with hand luggage which these days are not pretty or convenient. The airport is so chaotic.
On June 4, 2015 we were scheduled to fly from Boston on flight 0082. We had fully confirmed business class tickets. When we arrived at the airport, we saw an incredible scene. The passengers and check in crew were shouting at each other, very close to an all out fight. Apparently, the airline has over booked the business class and was unable to provide seats to us all. It got very ugly and the Turkish airline supervisor was trying to persuade passengers to either fly economy class or fly the next day. Very ugly situation because so many people were involved. We had terminated our lease the day before and it was impossible to get back to our previous apartment. So we had to fly.
I all my years of international travel I have never seen anything like this involving fully confirmed business class tickets. We later heard that apparently this is the current Turkish airline business model these days. They offer discount online and overbook, hoping there will be some last minute cancellation. When there are no cancellations, people are asked to fly economy or fly next day. Apparently, these happen quite frequently in Boston.
Anyway, to get to my experience, we did not get our seat. They offered us hotel and flew us the next day. Faced with no alternative, we had to accept their offer and we flew the next day. Turkish airline also promised token compensation of money back, and double mileage earned.
Have you seen how difficult it is to communicate with this airline these days? You have to try again and again to log in and claim miles. The web site is a mess and trying to speak to them over phone is nearly impossible.
I write this post to alert Turkish airline customer to let you know whats happening to a good airline. Success seems to have made Turkish airline reckless, rude, and uncaring. If overselling is truly their business model, obviously we need to look for alternative airline. I am due to fly again late august, 2015, but now I am hesitant to fly Turkish airline. What if the same thing happens again? The management needs to rethink their business plan and concentrate on the customers who made TK a big player in international aviation.

COLD, UNSYMPATHETIC BUREAUCRATS: While the flight, aircraft, food and performance were fine (on-​time, clean, tasty) their service on the ground is lacking. Especially in Turkey.
I had a simple problem as I boarded in Istanbul. (It was my fault — a visa issue with my destination) But, the gate agent was stone faced and very unsympathetic. The other Turkish Airlines staff I encountered throughout the airport were much the same — seemingly distracted, cool, unsympathetic (I would call them bored bureaucrats). They may operate flights in a satisfactory and safe way, but their at airport customer service (at their home airport) was far below the standard of leading European and US Airlines.
Finally, knowing that I would need to visit my embassy, I sought the re-​ticketing desk. No one in Istanbul could clearly point me to the proper place. (this was NOT a language issue). After 3 or 4 efforts and then a long line, I met the agent. He pointed out that, by then, the flight had departed, therefore I had forfeited. Thus I would have to pay a fee for missing the flight. I explained that I had been at the gate on time and had a problem. He didn’t care. (had I been at the re-​ticketing desk prior to the departure time, there would have been no fee). Again… cold, unsympathetic and bureaucratic. That is how I would describe the agents of Turkish Airlines Istanbul.

First impressions last forever.
I flew for the first time with Turkish Airlines after flying with Qatar and Emirates for 7 years.
The seats in economy are «OK» but if you pay a bit extra you can get Comfort Class which is Business but for those who can’t afford Business class.
I chose to fly Economy, and it was flawless.
Everything form service to food to aircraft was nicely done.
Choice of movies aren’t that great, but I can live with it.
Direct flight from Boston to Istanbul (8ish hours), and from there you can connect to anywhere in the world. Low season tickets are as low as $ 800 to Europe!
Food is great with several choices: meat or fish. Or you could order vegg in advance.
Their chef is an actual CHEF who walks around in chef uniform, it’s a great experience.

Worst airlines and worst customer service… flew twice with them and they lost my bags in each and every flight. And good luck getting in touch with them. Worst customer service!!!