17/08/2022
I am hoping this reaches the right people.
I have been put in a terrible if not dangerous situation by one of your star alliance members.
That member being Turkish airlines. They have rescheduled my flights that were operated by Air New Zealand and offered no real solution to the problem, leaving me stranded in a foreign country with little assistance and upcoming political unrest.
First point I would like to bring up is that their call center directs you to sales offices even though this ticket was brought on the website.
After traveling at my own expense to this office there was a queue OUTSIDE in the heat for OVER 3 HOURS.
The sales office being
Taksim Turkish Airlines Sales Offices & mini port Office
Harbiye, Cumhuriyet Cd. No:44, 34373 Şişli/Istanbul
An elderly man actually fainted in the heat and required medical attention.
Upon entering the office after 3 hours in the heat outside in a queue I was told the call center can only help me and directed to a phone inside.
When I talked to the call center telling them I was in the sales office they told me only the sales office can help me!
Finally, after one hour of being trapped in this loop the sales office spoke to the call center and I would be given a refund ONLY OF MY RETURN TICKET because there was now NO FLIGHTS BACK to my home country of New Zealand.
The problem being a one way ticket back to New Zealand isn't $640 USD as they where going to refund me but now $1500 and that is if I booked it in 2 WEEKS TIME AT LEAST.
So now I am trapped without the funds to even return home in a country I cannot have the right to earn a single cent in, wonderful.
They refused to help me with any costs I will incurred in such a situation.
Imagine how bad this situation can end for vulnerable people? People who require medications from how? Elderly?
Turkish airlines are essentially dumping people off who spend thousands of dollars on tickets to fend for themselves in a foreign country though no fault of their own.
Is this the customer service people can expect from star alliance members?
Are there any requirements star alliance members must meet?
It seems the only recourse I can have in such a situation would be to contact the media in my country and begin trying to crowdsource a ticket home.
