Turkish Airlines

[bmw]

I have 122k TK miles expiring on Dec 31. Does anyone know if booking a flight in 2024 and then paying the cancellation fee would extend the miles expiration date or will they immediately expire upon the ticket cancelling?

i believe wouldnt

[gubevo18]

Does turkish ever allow mileage redemption for more than 4 seats at a time in business (IAD-TLV)? need to book for a family of 5 and don't want to risk splitting up reservations.

Any suggestions? TIA

[shapsam]

Does turkish ever allow mileage redemption for more than 4 seats at a time in business (IAD-TLV)? need to book for a family of 5 and don't want to risk splitting up reservations.

Any suggestions? TIA

Can book up to 5 in the app.

[gubevo18]

Can book up to 5 in the app.

thanks.  What about if I need to add an infant? Are they easy to deal with if I wanted to do that afterwards? It counts an infant as a passenger even in the app so I can't book all sox

[SHL]

thanks.  What about if I need to add an infant? Are they easy to deal with if I wanted to do that afterwards? It counts an infant as a passenger even in the app so I can't book all sox

Nothing is easy with TK

[Sammy82]

thanks.  What about if I need to add an infant? Are they easy to deal with if I wanted to do that afterwards? It counts an infant as a passenger even in the app so I can't book all sox

Horrible customer service

[gubevo18]

Horrible customer service

Nothing is easy with TK

So basically if I need to add an infant I shouldn't bother? how else do people book with more than 5 pax?

[shapsam]

So basically if I need to add an infant I shouldn't bother? how else do people book with more than 5 pax?

You should be able to add an infant over the phone.

[SHL]

You should be able to add an infant over the phone.

Should is a big word with TK
The phone agents are very good at saying (cue the accent)"it is out of my abilities please fill out a form online"

[shapsam]

30% off award tickets to over 150 cities.

The offer is valid for tickets issued between 18/12/2023 - 27/12/2023, with travel dates between 18/12/2023 – 31/05/2024.

https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/miles-and-smiles/campaigns/special-30-percent-mile-discount-for-the-end-of-the-year/

[Elikip]

Have 15k Turkish airline points expiring end of month, is it possible to extend? If not, any ideas for potential redemptions?

[UKinNYS]

transfer minimum amt from citi - worked for me.
 

Have 15k Turkish airline points expiring end of month, is it possible to extend? If not, any ideas for potential redemptions?

[Aerial Dag]

transfer minimum amt from citi - worked for me.
 

What? I thought they can only be extended by paying money.

[UKinNYS]

worked for me

What? I thought they can only be extended by paying money.

[Aerial Dag]

I just transferred 1,000 to TK from Cap1 and confirmed that the miles are STILL expiring on 12/31/23. The additional 1,000 miles are not expiring, only my old miles.

[mgarfin]

Interesting

https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/137fp2l/claiming_flight_compensation_with_turkish/


Hi everyone,

As I could not find lots of helpful information on claiming compensation from Turkish Airlines when a flight is delayed or cancelled (including when you miss your connecting flight), I wanted to share my experience and how I got my compensation even though the flight is not eligible under the EU regulation.

Situation:

I had a booked a flight from Africa to Europe with a 1h layover in Istanbul. The flight from Africa was delayed by 50 min due to technical issues, which caused me missing the connection flight in Istanbul. I was rebooked to the next flight and eventually arrived 4h 51min after the planned arrival time.

As Turkish Airlines is not an EU airline and the starting airport was not an EU airport, the flight does not qualify under the European Regulation No 261/2004 that would have entitled me to a 600 EUR compensation for a flight of >3,500km.

However, Turkey has a similar regulation called SHY passenger rights (https://web.shgm.gov.tr/doc4/shy-passenger.pdf) that is basically a copy/paste of the EU regulation and includes all Turkish Airlines flights. Your total delay has to be between 2h and 4h, depending on the distance of your flight to be entitled to a compensation of the equivalent of 250 to 600 EUR.

Most people do not know about this Turkish regulation, including the online tools that help you claim compensation for flight delays in Europe. Therefore, you have to do it yourself if you want to get your money.

How to claim the compensation yourself:

You need to submit a feedback via the Turkish Airlines website (https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/any-questions/customer-relations/feedback/) in which you outline the delay and request the compensation in accordance with the SHY regulation. Specify the exact total delay of your arrival and the bank account of where the compensation should be transferred. If you were rebooked, to another flight your actual arrival time matters. To make matters more smooth, you should attach to your claim:

A copy of your passport

Copies of the boarding passes used (screenshot of mobile passes are fine)

A confirmation that the bank account is actually yours (if your debit card states the IBAN, that is fine)

Optional: If you were rebooked, the confirmation email that you were rebooked to another flight

Optional: Additional costs incurred due to the delay (food, drinks, hotel, transport)

In my case, they got back to me within a couple hours. They acknowledged the delay but were unwilling to pay the compensation due to some (invalid - more about that later) court ruling:

However, we regret to inform you that we’re unable to pay compensation for flight [...], which was delayed by 47 minutes due to technical reasons and caused you miss your following flight. We have found that you had completed your trip with the flight [...].

The regulation issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (Turkish DGCA) in the year 2012 required us to pay compensation as a result of the delay you suffered. However, we cannot pay compensation for such irregularities starting from April 05, 2017 due to the "motion for stay of execution" adopted by the court.

In this case, you can submit the claim directly to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (Sivil Havacılık Genel Müdürlüğü) via this link: https://yh.shgm.gov.tr/. The website is in Turkish so use Google Chromes translation feature. However, some fields cannot be fille when the translation feature is turned on. So you might need to turn it on and off when filling the form. I myself adapted the claim I made to Turkish Airlines and added that the airline is not willing to compensate me. I used Chat-GPT to translate the claim to Turkish (I would assume they just ignore English claims). I also attached the email I got from Turkish Airlines to proof that I tried contacting them directly.

A few hours later, I was called by a Turkish Airlines agent on the phone number I left with the Directorate. The asked if I personally submitted the claim which I confirmed. They then hung up without specifying anything further. I don't know why they do that, but I guess you need to file the claim yourself otherwise it could be invalid?

A few hours later, I got an email in Turkish from the Directorate (received from yh@shgm.gov.tr) that stated that I am entitled to the compensation of the equivalent of 600 EUR in Turkish Lira and just a couple minutes afterwards I got an email from Turkish Airlines (received from noreply.tkcustomer@thy.com) in English that they accepted my request and that I can pick up the cheque from the next Turkish Airlines ticket office (they do not seem to transfer the money directly). While I traveled alone, the compensation you're entitled to is on a per-passenger basis and is not to be shared across the passengers on a booking. Meaning that if I had traveled with 2 other family members, I would have been entitled to 1,800 EUR (3x 600 EUR) instead of 600 EUR.

A few days later, I went to the Turkish Airlines ticket office in the city I live in (they also would have had one at the airport) where they requested my passport and the confirmation of the compensation. At first, they had trouble finding my claim as the confirmation email did not state any cheque-ID. The staff was friendly and did some 10 min manual search in the system. They then told me that they (i.e., the ticket office) will do a wire transfer to my bank account within 21 days. I got a printed confirmation of this and an hour later or so an email confirming this.

10 working days (or 12 days) after my visit at the ticket office, I had the compensation of 600 EUR in my bank account. Surprisingly, they transferred the full 600 EUR and not the complicated calculation of the equivalent of 600 EUR in TLR based on the exchange rate on the day of booking

All this seems complicated but due to the super fast response times from both Turkish Airlines and the Directorate, from the first contact to the confirmation of the compensation entitlement took less than 24h. Definitely a good use of time for a 600 EUR payout.

Hope this helps some fellow Turkish Airlines passengers getting their compensation payments which they are entitled to!

[baron]

Any way to add mileageplus number without calling turkish?

[ShlomoI]

Did anyone else just receive notice from Turkish that their flight to Israel is canceled? I just received the below notice

 Dear xxxxxxxxx, your flight TK0792 from Istanbul (IST) to Tel Aviv (TLV) on September 26 has been cancelled due to force majeure/operational reasons. For more information and free changes to your reservation xxxxxx, visit our MOBILE app / WEBSITE air.tk/ticket. Thank you for your understanding.

When I go to view the reservation online it appears the canceled the IST to TLV portion but not the JFK to IST potion. Complicating factor here is that I booked this flight in business class via Aeroplan miles which were converted from Chase… so I’m a bit stuck….  Has anyone had luck in a similar situation having Turkish book you onto another Star Alliance partner’s flight?

[ShlomoI]

Did anyone else just receive notice from Turkish that their flight to Israel is canceled? I just received the below notice

 Dear xxxxxxxxx, your flight TK0792 from Istanbul (IST) to Tel Aviv (TLV) on September 26 has been cancelled due to force majeure/operational reasons. For more information and free changes to your reservation xxxxxx, visit our MOBILE app / WEBSITE air.tk/ticket. Thank you for your understanding.

When I go to view the reservation online it appears the canceled the IST to TLV portion but not the JFK to IST potion. Complicating factor here is that I booked this flight in business class via Aeroplan miles which were converted from Chase… so I’m a bit stuck….  Has anyone had luck in a similar situation having Turkish book you onto another Star Alliance partner’s flight?

Update - I spoke with Aeroplan's customer service line (miracle I was able to get through given past experience) and they rebooked me onto an Air Canada flight LGA to YYZ and then YYZ to TLV!

[Aerial Dag]

Update - I spoke with Aeroplan's customer service line (miracle I was able to get through given past experience) and they rebooked me onto an Air Canada flight LGA to YYZ and then YYZ to TLV!

Wow that's great!