Turkish Airlines made a long flight from YVR to IST a great flying experience. From the attendants, to the food, to the entertainment program to all the extras, a twelve hour flight ‘flew by’. Late departure and arrival was not the airline’s fault.
Flight got cancelled for good (apparently due to jet fuel concerns), and we had to re-book to Hannover, Germany instead.
Both of our Business Class seats were broken. I'm sure they didn't just break before we boarded but were broken prior. They would not recline. We could sit up straight or lie down, nothing that would allow us to sit back and relax on a 12 hour flight. Totally unacceptable. Very expensive and a waste or money.
Chicago to Istanbul was a much better experience than I expected since I’m more accustomed to Qatar Airways business class. The business lounge in the Istanbul airport was amazing - loved the lockers and phone charging stations, and the bathroom was a spa experience in itself. The onward leg from Istanbul to Karachi was utterly disappointing. Terrible plane, and I felt like I was in economy - the seats don’t come near to lying flat and the food was mediocre. What a sad downgrade - it isn’t as though the ticket on that leg was cheaper. So, on that front, there’s no contest with Qatar airways.
The prices and many to choose from: Very unfriendly unprofessional and difficult staff and lacked English skills. Had the pleasure to go to Istanbul in 2022 but went on Jordan Airlines and found Turkey a wonderful place with kind people. The experience as a first time flyer on Turkish Airlines was so disappointing that received not to go into Turkey was so upset about this cruel treatment
Seat changes at the last minute Horrible checkin process Sad to see excellent airport with very poor service
Terrible boarding experience, with an incomprehensible assignment of priorities. “Fast track” was the slowest. Poor system planning.
Lost long time boarding because of a system anticipation done and they took to long to rectify when travel avant told them .
There was a Turkish Airlines employee sat in 16A in the row in front of us. We understood that she was a Turkish Airlines employee from her interaction with the cabin crew and the fact that she boarded business but was sitting in economy with us. What annoyed us was the extremely loud conversation she had for the majority of the 12 hour flight with two men, one of which was leaning over the chair in front of her. This was annoying as they were so loud that my wife and I could still hear them despite wearing our noise cancelling earphones. No intervention was taken by the cabin crew. Secondly, she ordered some extra meals from the crew, which we believe to have come from business class, for her male friends. Seeing this in economy is very disheartening. Lastly, one of her male friends pulled out an e-cigarette and was only mildly reprimanded by the cabin crew. Overall, we consider this behaviour completely inappropriate of a Turkish Airlines employee. Next time we will book with Emirites, I don’t think that their employees would be allowed to behave in this manner.
I requested a special meal (kosher) several months ahead of the flight . It was listed on the Turkish air website that I had a kosher meal. In-flight, there was no kosher meal. I was not able to eat during the nearly 8-hour flight. There also was no kosher meal on the second leg of the trip. The flight attendants said there was nothing they could do. They had no idea why the kosher meal was not provided. Very bad meal service.
