A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a question regarding Turkish Airlines flight cancellation and rebooking options.
Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll try to cover them here several times a week.
You can access Turkish Airlines here.
Email From The Reader:
I was scheduled to fly from MNL-IST-JFK-BTV yesterday, March 13. When I arrived at the airport for the 10:00pm flight, the flight board said “canceled”. The counter was closed and I was directed to a small basement office where I had no wifi or data. After about two hours I was given a flight departing on March 15. They have put me in a hotel in Manila, but offered no compensation or flexibility.
After I got to the hotel I saw that there was a better flight home, with one leg on their partner, United. I was on the phone and Twitter for about four or five hours today and got nowhere with them. They said that because they had switched my flight for free – how nice of them – any further changes would require me to pay the difference.
And, I still have to get another Covid test and I have a 10 hour layover in JFK. Two days plus ten hours seems significant to me.
What would you do?
Here’s what everyone should do in case of flight cancellation:
Check what options exist between your ticketed city pairs, regardless of the operating airlines.
Carriers have interline agreements with most of their competitors that come in handy when flight cancellations and irregular operations occur.
Usually, the order in which flights are offered:
1. Own Flights
2. Alliance Flights
3. Other Airlines Flights
Airlines tend only to offer their own flights (cheapest for them), but nothing prevents them from moving you to any other airline with whom they have an agreement.
The key here is that you need to find out what options are, actively suggest alternative options, and not accept anything suboptimal.
The reader accepted what Turkish Airlines offered, and it is difficult to get an airline to make further changes.
They should, however, get reimbursed for the additional covid-test.
Turkey has a passenger compensation scheme in place, and reader should be eligible for 600 euro compensation. I am sure that the airline’s representatives at the airport forgot to mention this:
Updated Infirmation
Conclusion
Turkish Airlines is not the easiest one to deal with regarding flight cancellation and delays, as we have previously covered.
Some of our readers have had luck recovering cash from the airline. However, they make it as difficult as possible by first issuing an MCO (Miscellaneous Charge Order) that you can only refund to cash/credit at one of their ticket offices.
