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 An Open Letter to Turkish Airlines
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Posted on 04-02-14 3:22 PM     Reply [Subscribe]
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My parents will be visiting me here in the United States this summer. I am really excited to see them after such a long time. As soon as their visas came through, I started to look for tickets. I found that Turkish Airlines has reasonably priced tickets with reasonable transit times. I was all set to book the tickets through Turkish when a friend suggested that I look at the reviews.

Scavenging through the internet, I found major dissatisfaction among Nepalese travelers. The major complaints were:
1. The flight is almost always late; most of the time more than 5 hours which in turn results in missed connection in Istanbul.
2. The next flight is often the next day meaning the passengers have to spend 18 hours in Istanbul. This would not be so bad if they could rest in a hotel. However, the hotel is outside the airport and the airport staff won't grant visas to travelers with Nepalese passport.
3. Despite the fact that Nepal is a Hindu country where people are vegetarian for religious reasons and consider cow to be sacred animal, Turkish seems to have more beef meals. Some passengers complained that they were hungry in the flight because they didn't eat meat.
4. The customer service staff are terrible; do not speak English; have an attitude; act like they are giving money of their own pocket when asked for the airline provided food vouchers. One of the lady was so busy looking at her iPhone that she didn't even look up to the passenger and just pointed as to where they are supposed to go. The back and forth between staff sending passengers from one desk to another was just terrible.

My father is a retired government officer and my mother is a school teacher. I would hate for them to go through this ordeal. They are old, religious and vegetarian. God forbid someone offers them to either eat beef or remain hungry for the entire duration of their flight!

My questions to you are:
1. Have you done anything to address the above mentioned complaints. If the plane is almost always late, have you thought about just changing the schedule to the late one so that its on time?
2. Have you made any effort to talk to the Turkish authorities regarding short temporary visas for Nepalese passengers to use the hotel or maybe build a hotel inside the airport like every other airport in the world?
3. Does Turkish know that Hindus do not eat beef and that many Hindus do not eat any meat altogether? I think not. Because otherwise it would be very hard to explain the lack of vegetarian options and the abundance of beef options in a flight departing from a country with 80% Hindus.
4. How do you feel about the customer service staff at Istanbul Airport? Apparently, there was a scuffle between a passenger and a staff at one of the counters over there. Are the staff too good to be talking to passengers? Where did they go to for training? I say this because here in the States, with that attitude, you get fired.
5. This is the most important of question. Does Turkish want to make money? If yes, Turkish needs to seriously rethink their strategy in this particular route. Its the 21st century. The internet can have a great impact. I myself write for my college newspaper from time to time. With 30,000 students, many of whom go abroad for studies, Turkish Airlines needs to think what might go in that article. Nepal's economy is heavily dependent on expats. And we expats talk. We have our forums. I would hate to see Turkish lose its business due to bad management because it is such a great route for us.


 
Posted on 04-02-14 3:34 PM     [Snapshot: 24]     Reply [Subscribe]
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ooo..I guess turkish airline will now change its policy.
 
Posted on 04-02-14 3:57 PM     [Snapshot: 44]     Reply [Subscribe]
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I recently traveled to Nepal via Turkish Airlines. So, here are my answers

1. Your question is not clear. They have four flights to Nepal in a week. But just one flight on each scheduled day. So what do you mean by "changing the schedule to the late one so that its on time"?

2. We requested to issue temporary visa so that we can go and stay at a hotel on our own expense. But, they denied on the ground that their govt. policy doesn't allow nepalese to get temp. visa at airport. They do have a hotel inside their airport but they always say that it's full. But, if you want to avoid this situation for your parents, you can get visitor visa to Turkey from Turkish Embassy at KTM beforehand.

3. You have option of choosing your meal while booking the tickets. We chose non-veg hindu meal. So they gave us chicken. We didn't have problem with the meal. You can choose veg hindu meal. You have to re-confirm about the meal one day prior to the scheduled flight date.

4. Worst Customer Service ever experienced in an international airport.

5. Don't have enough time to answer your 5th question.

Hope my answers were helpful for you to decide.
 
Posted on 04-02-14 5:33 PM     [Snapshot: 171]     Reply [Subscribe]
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1. Have you done anything to address the above mentioned complaints. If the plane is almost always late, have you thought about just changing the schedule to the late one so that its on time?
Is the plane late from the US or is it late departing Istanbul??

2. Have you made any effort to talk to the Turkish authorities regarding short temporary visas for Nepalese passengers to use the hotel or maybe build a hotel inside the airport like every other airport in the world?
Thank our fellow country men that misused the visa and stayed in different countries as asylee, refugees etc. Even almost 15 years ago, Germany had on arrival visa for Nepali passport holders and now only two countries in the world issue on arrival visa for Nepali passport holders.

3. Does Turkish know that Hindus do not eat beef and that many Hindus do not eat any meat altogether? I think not. Because otherwise it would be very hard to explain the lack of vegetarian options and the abundance of beef options in a flight departing from a country with 80% Hindus.
Reserve your meal in advance and it will be served whatever you want...Hindu, Kosher, Moslem....but do it in advance no later than 48 hours before the flight. Not defending the airlines but they dont have a kitchen at 35000 feet and cant prepare on demand meal unless you are flying first class on Emirates on their A380.

4. How do you feel about the customer service staff at Istanbul Airport? Apparently, there was a scuffle between a passenger and a staff at one of the counters over there. Are the staff too good to be talking to passengers? Where did they go to for training? I say this because here in the States, with that attitude, you get fired.
If you are not satisfied with the airline, simply choose different airline. Singapore is excellent and so are Cathay, Jet, Korean, Qatar, Emirates (Flydubai), Etihad

5. This is the most important of question. Does Turkish want to make money? If yes, Turkish needs to seriously rethink their strategy in this particular route. Its the 21st century. The internet can have a great impact. I myself write for my college newspaper from time to time. With 30,000 students, many of whom go abroad for studies, Turkish Airlines needs to think what might go in that article. Nepal's economy is heavily dependent on expats. And we expats talk. We have our forums. I would hate to see Turkish lose its business due to bad management because it is such a great route for us. 
It is what it is! Shutting down KTM-IST route is no big deal for Turkish. This route is not the bread and butter of the airline and contributes minimally in their revenue. When they find a different profitable route than KTM-IST, they will fly their planes there. 
Simply, there are a lot of complaints from our people about Turkish and your open letter is not going to do jack shit. Dont go for the cheap price of Turkish....sasto besar khayo bhaney pakhala lagchha......spend couple of hundered more and fly in peace.
Last edited: 02-Apr-14 05:34 PM

 


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