Aug 05, 2009 04:55 PM
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I booked my journey in business class from Mumbai to Hannover via Istanbul and return from Amsterdam to Mumbai via Istanbul.
4th June: BOM- IST (TK 1075) connecting to IST-HAJ
When I identified myself as a business class passenger at check in, I was immediately given priority and treated well at BOM.
We were welcomed by a very grumpy crew with warm champagne and a choice of orange juice or water. My jacket was not taken to be hung in the closet by the crew despite requesting them.
After take off I requested the steward to wake me 1.5 hours before landing to serve me a hot breakfast. He conveniently forgot. I woke up 1 hour before landing and asked the flight manager for breakfast. She refused saying it was too close to landing.
This was very odd for me because I wanted to maximize on my rest and sleep and it was the male steward serving business class who forgot to wake me up but 1 hour before landing is sufficient time to service breakfast. They all made faces when I demanded to have breakfast. They just banged the meal tray on my seat and walked away.
They did not dress my table or anything. This was only the cold starter. When I asked for the hot meal, they simply looked at their watches and again resisted but finally served me the main course but cold. I asked for a croissant (basic breakfast item) and the steward told me that for 8 business class passengers they only had 5 croissants and all were eaten so I could only have one piece of cold hard bread. I was very annoyed and so upset and totally regretted flying with Turkish Airlines.
When I tried to press my call button, from seat 2D, the call button of seat 1J would light up. Similarly, if I pressed the light on my seat, the light on another seat would light up. There was a major cross connection to everyone’s remote control. The cabin crew did the disappearing act and did not respond to any call buttons or requests for simple things like water. Is this really what Turkish Airlines is about?
On landing, we waited for more than 25 minutes as there was a problem aligning the aircraft door and the aerobridge. This gave me hardly any time for my connecting flight to Hannover.
4th June: IST-HAJ (TK 1553)
The lounge was very full with no place to sit. So, I walked in and walked out in ten minutes. The crew were friendly and nice and so was the food. Out of all the 4 flights I took with Turkish Airlines, this was the best in terms of the crew attitude and food service. The seat was quite uncomfortable on this 737-800 plane for a 3 hour flight. The movie system had static and so it made it impossible to see the screen and the volume was too low even after setting it to the maximum level.
We arrived a little late in Hannover and my single piece of check in luggage tagged PRIORITY was delivered after the economy class baggage.
So, the entire journey from Mumbai to Hannover was overall poor for the reasons I mentioned above.
13th June: AMS-IST (TK 1952)
I checked in at the business class counter but no priority was given. The lady was checking in all passengers without realizing that business class people were waiting to check in. My pre-assigned seat 1J had been changed to 1D without any prior information. Then they informed me that the aircraft had been downgraded from an A340 to an A320.
On reaching the gate, no business class priority was given. They were more interested in getting us to fill the swine flu health check forms in the first 10 mins of the flight. They were being rude and demanding like we were diseased people or something. This is not the way to treat passengers, specially business class passengers. The smallest demand for water also was being served with bad faces, I don’t know why. They all seemed more interested to chat in the galley than serve passengers. When I asked for water, the crew told me I first needed to fill up the health form. Were we criminals on board?
13th June: IST-BOM (TK 1074)
Warm champagne, orange juice and water were served pre-take off. After take off, I tried to recline my seat but it was stuck. When I asked the crew to help, she simply asked me to change my seat without even checking my seat for the problem. She was not bothered. I was then given a torn menu card, which the moment I opened it I noticed food stains, like it was the same menu being used over and over again. Very poor for business class standard!
Even more than one hour into the flight the purser did not begin the entertainment system. I asked the crew 3 times but no one responded to my request. She told me that we will start it after the meal service. This means at least 2 hours after take off. (To remind you the flight time was only 5 hours and 55 minutes). When the inflight entertainment started, I was extremely disappointed to see that business class and economy class entertainment was the same. Only difference was that we had personal TVs. We could not watch movies of our choice. Definitely not business class standard. The in-flight entertainment was shut off more than one hour before landing. This means they kept the movies running for only 3 hours on a 6 hour flight. I have no idea why. Most airlines would keep it going as long as possible so passengers can keep themselves entertained.
The meal service was extremely rushed. We were only 7 people in the 24 seater business class cabin. The crew literally pushed the food in our face and wanted us to hurry up with eating. They decided to serve no water with the meal and we had to keep asking for everything after pressing the call button at least 2 times for each request. They crew just wanted to stand and chat in the galley. After eating I was trying to sleep but the crew kept opening the curtains with direct light on my face and they were laughing and talking loudly, being very inconsiderate to all passengers trying to rest.
The seat by itself was also a bit uncomfortable. The seat slides down and the foot rest does not extend enough so the entire body weight and pressure is on the passenger’s feet while trying to sleep which is very painful. So, I had to come back the normal seating position to release any discomfort.
Our flight was late by more than 30 minutes but there was no explanation or apology by the crew or by the captain of the flight. Very unprofessional!
The priority baggage delivery was again not delivered on priority. I waited for 30 mins to retrieve both my check in luggage which was tagged priority but not delivered on priority.
I SENT THE BELOW REVIEW TO TURKISH AIRLINES. FOLLOWED THEM 10-15 TIMES THROUGH CALLS AND EMAILS BUT NO ONE RESPONDED AT ALL FROM CUSTOMER RELATIONS. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.
