The mark of a good company is how they handle things when it something goes wrong. In that respect, Turkish Airlines is a disgrace. How can a company hope to maintain its position when it tells complete lies to its customers?
I spent nearly four hours flying from Istanbul to Sulaimaniyeh only to land back at Istanbul. The reason, we were told, was poor visibility. When we landed there was no announcement about what was to happen, just the standard 'we hope you've had a pleasant flight and thank you for flying with Turkish Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance' What, we wanted to know, ws going to happen? No information.
In the absence of information people find out for themselves and the first thing we discover is that there is no visibility problem in Sulaimaniyeh! Did TurkishAirlines not think people would telephone friends and family and discover that other flights were landing safely?
The scenes at the airport would have been hilarious if it were not so distressing. One hapless Turkish Airlines official tried to coral a full flight of passengers who are tired, disorientated, some large families with small children, some old people, some Turkish speakers, some English, some Kurdish, some Arabic etc. One small, softly spoken woman from Turkish Airlines quietly saying follow me and moving off -with only a handful of passengers following.
We arrive at a transit desk where we meet another group of angry passengers who have been there for six hours trying to find out what's happening to their flight to Cape Town. The two groups mingle and chaos ensues. No information from Turkish Airlines so anger builds. Eventually, one official tries to separate the two groups and says 'Sulaimaniyeh passengers follow me'. Those near him hear 'Sulaimaniyeh', those further back just hear 'follow me'. After about 200 metres he realises some of the Cape Town group are with him - hardly surprising because ten minutes ago he was talking to them. He decides to lead them back and hand us over to a colleague and we're taken back to join passengers from our flight who are still hanging around the main entrance from the apron. And they are very angry, now having spoken to people who were waiting to meet them in sunny Sulaimaniyeh. Turkish Airlines try to hold the now increasingly ludicrous line about poor visibility.
There are now two groups of Sulaimaniyeh passengers: those who want to cause problems for the operation of the airport in the hope that this would ensure action from Turkish Airlines and those who do as they're asked in the hope this would achieve the same result. As we are again led up the escalator to a larger space the group follows but with a very elongated line and a number holding out to the last. We are once again gathered together in a wide corridor. We are still on the airside, the corridor leading to immigration controls. At last, a new announcement from Turkish Airlines - and another lie. Apparently Sulaimaniyeh Airport does not have landing assistance guiding technology so planes have to land with fully manual controls and pilots guided only by their own vision. Poor visibility meant Turkish Airlines safety procedures mean they cannot attempt a landing; they can't answer for other airlines policies. This doesn't ring true - and as we later discover, it isn't.
So, we will be taken to a hotel and they will try to sort out a replacement flight. This will require certain nationalities to secure a Turkish visa and they will have to pay for that. 'The airline will pay for the hotel and hotel transfer but visas are the passengers' responsibility. Some of the milder passengers (myself included) get angry at this; why should we pay for a visas when we are in the care of Turkish Airlines? Passengers refuse to budge and the official is given thirty minutes to return with more information.
When he does return we are finally given the truth: a political spat between Turkey and Iraq meant that Turkish Airlines landing slot was withdrawn, and that's why we returned. I'm intrigued; is he saying that they took off without a landing slot at the other end? This doesn't sound like a good safety procedure. They will try to arrange a replacement flight today but if not definitely by 2 April, which is the next scheduled flight. A number of passengers point out that our flight was full so how will they add us to a plane on 2April that is probably also full. No answer.
Anger is now beginning to cause additional demands: nobody moves until we have a signed document guaranteeing that Turkish Airlines will arrange a flight by 2 April at the latest. We have now been in the airport for about 3 hours without anything to drink, not even water, and nowhere to sit. Parents are worrying about children, some people need to take medication etc. Everybody is getting increasingly angry. The man disappears.
When he returns it is with the news that Turkish Airlines will, after all, sort out visas for those that need them and if we go to the hotel they will keep is informed about what will happen next but they guarantee a flight by 2 April, earlier if possible. If they need to merge the flights, they will use a bigger plane. Really, for an airport without automatic landing guidance?
The group divides with some hanging on for the required signed document, others just anxious to get to a hotel bed. I'm in the latter group. Sadly, that doesn't end the problem. It then takes over half an hour to get through a special desk at immigration because the official there isn't aware of the special procedure. And then we get to the luggage...
Go to the Lost and Found desk we are told. And there they seem surprised that we should want our bags. Given the baggage tags they make some phone calls and we wait. And wait. And wait. 'When will the bags arrive?', we ask. The man shrugs his shoulders - 'maybe 12.00, maybe 1.00'. He doesn't care. Another official explains that it's difficult to find our bags among so many. But why not bring all the bags up to one of the 12 carousels. No answer. As more and more refugees arrive they realise that maybe it's better to bring all the bags up. And an hour later we arrive at a hotel in the middle of nowhere.
There was, of course, no replacement flight that day and passengers are waiting to see if they will get away on 2 April.
But not me. I've jumped ship. I can't bare the thought of going through all that again for what will, at best, be two days in Kurdistan before my scheduled return. My daughter-in-law is distraught at not meeting her husband's family; we're all exhausted and angry. Hopefully a couple of days exploring Istanbul will make things a bit better.
So what do Turkish Airlines learn from all this? I wish I'd filmed the entire episode because it is a classic of bad customer service. They had no control of the situation; they tried lying (twice) to their customers; there were no senior staff in view, leaving unfortunate juniors to try and handle an increasingly difficult (and potentially dangerous) situation; the was no contingency plan. How dare they leave people in a corridor for over three hours with not so much as a glass of water.
This is an airline that cares nothing for its customers and everything for its bottom line. As John Fraser Robertson wrote, 'The purpose of a business is not to make money. The purpose of a business is to satisfy customers; the result is to make money'.
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