It’s been just over 12 months since Turkish Airlines touched down in Tullamarine for the first time, signalling the Eurasian carrier’s entrance into the Australian market. But while Turkish’s service in the air has been a hit with some passengers, travel advisors are voicing frustration behind the scenes.
Speaking to Karryon, a number of Aussie agents have reported significant customer service hurdles when dealing with the Istanbul-based airline.
At the top of their list of grievances are the long wait times and inefficient support, raising concerns about how well the airline is equipped to handle the demands of the Aussie market.
Making matters worse for many agents, TK can’t be booked through GDS Sabre.
David Wright, Managing Director of South Australian-based Travel Prospects, said he was initially “excited” when the carrier arrived in Australia given its reputation and “vast European network”.
“I think Istanbul is one of those must-see locations,” he tells Karryon.
“But it’s all gone pear-shaped… with the spat with Sabre… I have lost all real access to my ticketed business class bookings. And as a professional agent, I am now very hesitant in booking TK any longer.”
Wright says he would not book clients with the carrier until the “Sabre spat resolved and there is a BDM or call centre in Australia to liaise with promptly”.
Otherwise, he adds, “TK will be treated the same as JQ [Jetstar] – thus, do not book – and explain to travellers why.”
Ultimately, Wright would like to know where Turkish Airlines “wants to sit with travel agents”.
“I as a Sabre agent… can not make new bookings; I can not monitor clients’ changes of times etc, unless I go to ‘manage my booking’ with TK, but it does not allow the same access as Sabre.”
In a specific example of TK’s poor customer service, David says he tried to call the carrier’s reservations as the airline had seated a business class couple apart.
“I could not get hold of anyone in Australia – and reservations took 30 minutes and then I got nowhere fast, so I hung up,” he explains.
“I did call reservations – but the lady seemed [like] she did not know what she was doing – it sounded like I woke her up. These were business class travellers that I could not assist! How does TK expect agents to deal with any last-minute issues?”
Wright also tried on multiple occasions to email the addresses he had for Turkish Airlines but had minimal and unhelpful replies.
“I am still waiting for a reply for over one week now from multiple emails to all TK emails. All I get is buck-passing… one email back to the other,” he says.
“I guess once the tickets are issued – then TK do not care [about] travel situations with clients or agents.”
While Wright is happy the airline plans to expand it services in Australia, he stresses that it would be “good to expand service” as well.
“It’s a good product, but it’s hard to sell,” he laments. “I have now told specific clients now that I’m not booking TK.”
Another travel advisor, Victorian-based Darren Leckie, echoed Wright’s comments about TK’s onboard service.
“No one’s had a problem with them [in the air]. They keep winning awards for their service in flight,” he tells Karryon.
But Leckie, an MTA Mobile Travel Agent, says he had significant issues dealing with customer service after he discovered a client hadn’t updated their passport to reflect their new married name and he had to deal with the issue.
“So I tried calling the Turkish office in Sydney, but they said you can only do it via email. So I emailed them,” he explains.
After nothing happened for a week, and with his clients’ flight fast approaching, he ended up calling TK’s international number.
“I eventually got through and spoke to a few people there. They were all sort of wishy-washy… and they said, ‘No, you need to send an email’,” Darren says.
“You need to log a complaint through the customer line on the website to get that one sorted. So I did that. I put in a ticket number, I put her old and new passports in, her marriage certificate in. Then I started phoning them. And they said, ‘No, we’ve got it. We’ll get it sorted’.”
You could probably guess what happened next. And it’s not what Darren wanted to hear.
“The final day [before the flight], I ended up hearing from the Sydney office, well after Turkish in Istanbul were telling me they’d sort it: they said, ‘you need to read book them here’,” Leckies explains.
“And I said, well, I can’t re-book them because it’s not showing any seats left, available? They told me it was going to get fixed. So I just went by that.”
In the end, Leckie was forced to book his clients on a Thai Airways flight – but only after having a dispute with Turkish about that client and her partner’s refunds with TK.
“And I’ve heard so many stories since… that anytime something goes wrong, they’re not doing anything, or you can’t get hold of them,” Leckie states.
Karryon has reached out to Turkish Airlines for comment.
