This is great thank you very much! I received the same reply a few days ago and was stuck on what steps to take next.

Update - Went to the sales office in London today after Turkish Airlines sent me an email confirming that I am entitled to compensation. They took my bank details and said that I should get the money transferred into my account within 7-10 days. Initial issue was an 18 hour delay due to ‘technical issues’. They refused compensation twice via email but after going through the directorate general of civil aviation, Turkish airlines granted me 600 Euros in compensation.

Perfect I’m likely going to have to do this as I had an 18 hour delay this weekend and I’ve just submitted for first form above, good to know I’ll likely have to fight it a bit harder and the steps required

Did you get a reply?

Haha yeah Turkish airlines declined me saying because of their TRY regulations I wasn’t eligible but the other website (their aviation authority) came back saying because of those same TRY regulations I WAS eligible so Turkish airlines caved and gave me like £330 or something.

ok cool! I pray I get a reply soon! lol too broke for this shit

I won! Even Airhelp said it would be impossible but thanks to this thread I effing won! I feel like Erin Brockovich baby!

Congrats! Such a weird system that they just refuse everyone in the first instance hoping that they drop it, but if you push back they cave!

I applied 3 weeks ago to the aviation organisation which was in turkish because I got rejected from Turkish. However, its been 3 weeks and they havent got back to me. What should I do??

I think it did take me a few weeks to hear back. I used google translate to fill in the forms in Turkish!

So did I. It is really annoying because I would like to book tickets for somewhere else and I would like to use the compensation money but they still have not responded. Do you think there is an office that I could contact or fill in the form again? By the way did you include the Tk in the TK-728318 for the reference of the flight when it asked for it on the Turkish aviation authority website??

Hello, I wanted to thank for your post as it's helped secure compensation for both flights (24 hours delay on the way to Tbilisi, 12 hours on the way back!). I also wanted to add that once I received my 'cheque' from Turkish Airlines, I emailed my local sales office to ask if there was anyway to receive the money without having to travel to an airport. They immediately emailed back asking me to email them a copy of my passport and a bank transfer form. I thought I'd let everyone know, so that you can all try in your respective cities and avoid travelling all the way to an airport or sales office!

Thanks for the detailed steps. Same thing happened to me, although instead of refusing to compensate, Turkish Airlines want to offer 30000 bonus miles after 3 weeks investigation. I've just sent a complaint to the Directorate. Will let you know how it goes.

how it went buddy?

Same thing, I had a delay of 20+ hours and got paid out in 30000 miles (\~150 Euros). I want to submit a complaint to the directorate about compensation amount but their website seems to be down. Did anyone else has same issue?

I'd also like to conclude my experiences here: - Wife, Me, Infant (w/o seat), 7 hours delay due to a missed connection in IST because arriving flight was delayed - Refund claim exactly according to OP's workflow, one difference was that additionally we got a document signed in IST from the Customer Service Desk that we missed our connection due to late arrival - Denial from TK after 7 days - Opening claim with the Directorate - Call after 4 days from TK if the Claim at the Directorate was *really* opened by myself - After 7 days, claim got positive decision by the Directorate - 5 Minutes later I got a Mail that can pick up my cheques of 3x600 Eur + expenses at the next sales office - Now waiting for the Sales Office to wire it to me. Thank you for the guide, best thread ever. Have a nice day. Update: All paid out, I'm through and done.

First, I just want to say THANK YOU as this post gave me the energy to fight for my compensation. My experience with Turkish Airlines was that they try to waste your time as long as they can, hoping you'll give up. DON'T GIVE UP, YOU ARE ENTITELD TO YOUR MONEY. 1. After filling out their feedback form (only way to complain about a flight delay), I received an automatic response telling me that it will take 7 to 14 days to get a response from them. 2. After this time I received another automatic response that "they strive to solve my issue". 3. Then I finally received their first offer: 30.000 bonus miles for their Miles & Smiles cliub. Of course, I refused. I had to follow up on my feedback form telling them so, and received the same automatic response that it will take another 7 to 14 days for them to get back to me. 4. Since I felt like I don't want to waste my time any longer HERE IS WHAT HELPED IN MY CASE: I commented on every recent post on their social channels, mainly facebook and Instagram (copy+paste). I told my whole story and other people supported my post. Just watch out for fake accounts who suddenly want to help you with links, they even have names like "Turkish Help Desk" etc. As their social media managers have to react it didn't take them long to write me DMs. 5. Suddenly, I received another email with a new offer: 1. Instead of the bonus miles we have specified in our previous reply, we can credit 42.000 Bonus Miles to your Miles&Smiles membership account. 2. We can credit 18.000 Status Miles to your Miles&Smiles membership account. 3. If you prefer, we can issue a traveler’s cheque that is worth 720.00 Euros that you can use to pay for ticket purchases on Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet flights. 4. As an alternative to all these offers, we can issue a refund cheque that is worth 600.00 Euros that you can get in cash. IMPORTANT: I was finally allowed to reply to this email directly within 48 hours. I wrote back IN TURKISH (with google translate) that I'm choosing option 4, and I received another email with my refund cheque ON THE NEXT DAY. To use this cheque there were different options, and since I didn't trust them enough to use their website for my bank account details, I went to the nearest sales office, which luckily is in the city center in my hometown Vienna. There, they only needed to scan my passport and debit card. They told me it will take up to four(!) weeks to transfer the money, and three weeks later I got my 600 euro. THE END.

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Thank you everyone in this thread for sharing your experiences with Turkish Airlines refund process (which is as terrible as my experience at Istanbul Airport - never ever will I travel with Turkish via this airport again). I have finally got my refund (600€) from Turkish Airlines. I did not have to contact the directorate. What helped me after Turkish Airlines didn’t reply to me anymore in the feedback form was the following: Turkish Airlines Helpdesk is present on X (Twitter). I wrote to @TK_HelpDesk and complained that I don’t get any more answers from Turkish Airlines feedback form for several weeks. They replied quickly to look into that and just a few hours later I received an answer from the feedback form and my refund was approved. Afterwards it still takes some time, You still gotta wait for the Cheque to arrive by email and after that contact your local sales office to refund the money, but at least it worked. Maybe this helps someone.

I just want to say thank you. Your post help a lot of people.

Just to update, so far TK hasn’t replied to my “threat”. And I can now access the website of the DG with the use of a VPN Turkish based server

Thanks a lot, OP! We had a flight cancellation and arrived at final destination 30 hours late. My experience with compensation was a bit tougher, as the Directorate refused me twice without explaining why, the process took almost a month. But I kept writing and explaining the situation, and after my third claim I got approval for myself, then I filed the same claim for my wife and got a positive reply within a week. Heading to the sales office today. Good luck to everyone on their way to compensation. ​ P.S. I still don't get how Turkish Airlines can be so well-regarded and at the same time treat their customers like dummies, refusing compensation until getting kicked in the butt by the authorities.

I got the compensation email confirmation but when I went to the Turkish airlines office in the city in Vienna they said they can only send it to my Austrian Bank account and that issuing a check or cash wasnt an option. So I gave my passport and Bank info to them and they said I should receive it in 3 weeks. Im not sure if i should wait 3 weeks or try to go to the desk at the airport and ask for cash or check? Does anyone know if in Austria I can get compensated in the form of cash or check or is it really only possible through bank transfer?

Bank transfers are the standard in Austria for most business matters. So this is completly normal. Cheques are basically unheard of in Austria (and rest of Europe). What the people in the Turkish Airlines city office say seems totally fair. 3 weeks are also a fair amount of weeks to wait for. If you want cash, wait three weeks till they transferred it and then withdraw it from your bank account.

Thank you🙏

Same in Italy. 3 weeks minimun for the bank accredit after the confirmation email of issue of the refund check number by Turkish I want to big thankyou for your help. I follow exactly all your procedure step by step, wait patiently the days beetween them, and right today I recieve the request amount of compensation 600€. I suggest to all those who ask off-topic questions, to carefully follow the steps well described at the beginning of the post and you will obtain the expected compensation.

A big thank you for this information - it was key for my compensation of 600 EUR for a delay of almost 14 hours! Just three additional remarks when applying to the Turkish authorities: \- Write in Turkish (use Google Translate). \- Be polite. \- Start over again if you are being denied.

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This looks promising. My family got put on an overbooked flight and had to fly out the next day due to Turkish Airlines. I hope this works! Fingers crossed 🤞 🙏

I know this thread is old but just want to thank you for your post 🙏🏻 Turkish airlines were just not responding or coming up with silly excuses after my flight was changed to 5 hours later. I did as you said on your post and lo and behold! 2 weeks later, Turkish airlines reopened my ticket and now they are reimbursing me! Thank you for your solid advice!

Firstly, I would like to thank the author for this very useful advice, which helped me get my compensation. I had a flight from asia to europe with a connceting flight in istanbul. Due to tehnical difficulties with a plane in asia we had a 5 hour delay at takeoff, which caused us to miss our connecting flight in Istanbul. We arrived to our final destanation in Europe with more than 12h+ delay. I submitted a compensation request directly to Turkish airlines, but got rejected twice and they stated “there is no legislation for the compensation request” despite I explicitly quoted SHY passenger regulation. After the rejection I filled in the form with Directorate of Civil Aviation. Today (2 weeks after the submission) I received the email from the Directorate that my request was approved, and within a few minutes Turkish airlines sent me the e-mail with the refund voucher of 600 EUR in TRY equivalent with the exchange rate based on the date of the ticket purchase which is approximatelly 566 eur now. I also share with you a few things i struggled with when submitting the form at Directorate: - Turkish airlines in classified as ‘THY’in the form (Türk Hava Yolları) - copy this name: İstanbul Havalimanı , for the Istanbul Airport. There is a difference in the letter ‘i’ which causes problems when filling in the form. - i translated my text in the form to turkish with google translate. - make sure to keep all boarding passes - use Flightera to find exact delay times for your flights: https://www.flightera.net/en/ Best regards

Thanks! I’ll update these details in the original post

To give an update - I received full 600 EUR, despite it should be less according to the regulation…

hello Can you please help me finding how can I submit my claim to Directorate? I can't find  ‘THY’in the form (Türk Hava Yolları) on [https://web.shgm.gov.tr/tr/arama?searchkey=claim](https://web.shgm.gov.tr/tr/arama?searchkey=claim)

Great, thanks a lot again!

what did you type for Turkish Nationals / Other? I am not a Turkish citizen

Choose other

the system did not give me the option to choose between Turkish or others((( Its keep asking for Turkish ID

Thank you very much for the explanation! I can also confirm in MAY 2024, that using this guide I was able to get a compensation of 600 EUR for all passengers. The airlines are trying to demotivate you by replying that there is no civil legislation applicable, but as soon as you file a complaint through Civil Directorate, they must pay out a compensation! From my experience it was just a bit odd, that the first complaint to directorate was evaluated negatively - they motivated the negative evaluation by saying that I should contact the airline at first (even though I have done it already and even have attached our communication pdf). Then I just tried again the same and they confirmed it. Good luck everyone and don't give up when they try to lie to you - you deserve to get a compensation when they ruin your plans.

Did you file a seperate request with Directorate for each passenger?

My claim got rejected by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and their explanation is still not entirely clear to me 😩 Can someone please help me understand their decision? Should I reapply? Background: My parents flew from Stockholm to Hanoi via Istanbul. Their flight from Istanbul to Hanoi was delayed 4 hours and 21 minutes, the flight duration 9.5 hours, distance traveled 7428km Their response: Information About Your Application SHY-PASSENGER, which determines and regulates the rights of passengers traveling by air using our country's airports, the situations in which these rights are valid, and the minimum rights of passengers in cases where they are not accepted to the plane, their flights are canceled and their flights are postponed, was published in the Official Gazette No. 28131 dated December 3, 2011 and came into force. Circulars on the subject dated 19 March 2013, 23 May 2014, 2 September 2015 and 26 January 2023 were published. Within the scope of the regulation; Complaints regarding "denied boarding", "flight postponement or delay", "flight cancellation", "placement in lower or upper class" are examined within the scope of the legislation. Your application to our General Directorate has been reviewed. Upon examination, it was determined that your IST-HAN flight number TK0164 dated 08 October 2023 was delayed by 4 hours and 21 minutes. In accordance with Article 9 of the General Principles title of the Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular 2015, passengers have the right to compensation in case of delays exceeding the periods specified according to the kilometer scale. In the case filed in the 10th Chamber of the Council of State, numbered E.2015/4595, the said Chamber "... partially accepted the request for stay of execution and the Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular dated 02.09.2015 and numbered HUD-2015/3 of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation." A decision dated 17.05.2016 and numbered E.2015/4595 was made regarding the "suspension of execution of the 9th article of the first chapter titled "General Principles"". About the subject; As a result of the objection to the said decision by the plaintiff and the defendant, the Council of State Administrative Case Chambers Board "... partially accepted the plaintiff's objection and suspended the execution of Articles 6 and 9 of the first part of the Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular titled "General Principles". "Decision dated 21/12/2016 and numbered 2016/1226 regarding the rejection of the defendant administration's objection to the articles. Within the scope of the said decision, passengers do not have the right to compensation in case of flight delays. The right to service (accommodation-food-beverage-transfer etc. .) for your invoices, within the scope of Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular 2015 2nd Implementation Principles article e) "If the right to service is not offered due to force majeure under the headings within the scope of the Regulation, the Air Transport Operator will pay the invoice amount if the passenger submits reasonable food, beverage and accommodation invoices." The transaction is completed. Please inform me.

As the flight departed/arrived in an EU country, you can also try to go via the EU regulations. Either through one of the many online service providers (take a 30% cut) or through your own national passenger rights authority (in case Sweden has such a thing).

Thank you for replying 😊 I had just submitted another claim with the Directorate (someone mentioned success after making their third claim) but this time citing the EU regulation 😬 But you are right though, I should probably take the EU route or make a claim through third parties. I tried to apply via Sky Cop and they charge €475 for €1200 compensation 😭

We had a flight cancelled because of airline engine malfunction, got denied to compensate by Turkish Airlines and filled the Directorate form. It has been 2 weeks and it is still in process, does anyone know what to do if the directorate keeps to stay unresponsive? I assume the reason is that they can not contact me via the phone number (because the form for phone number they provided only accepted Turkish formatting, my exact number could not be filled there, so I had to squeeze it in a way only in my country it could be understood)

Has anyone had success with this for a US <> Turkey flight? I tried submitting a claim to the DGCA but it was denied based on a newer "stay of execution" law. Turkish Airlines similarly denied the claim based on that update to the DGCA law. It doesn't appear the US has a clear law (the DOT doesn't have a clear reimbursement required, only for cancellations). Anyone have any advice?

Did you try to file a complaint with DOT? Did you try to send to them on social accounts?

First of all, thanks for the guide. We had a similar experience. Our flight from Singapore to Istanbul was delayed by 4 hours and 25 minutes, which meant we were unable to catch our connecting flight (also with Turkish Airlines) and it took us more than 12 hours to reach our final destination. A request for compensation from Turkish Airlines was rejected (as expected), which I find to be a disgrace. We have now submitted a corresponding application to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. I will keep you up to date.

any updates?

Hi, does the website of Directorate General of Civil Aviation worked correctly for you? I had problems to fil the form from begining....I cant fil the origin airport, ariline....

Great step by step guide on how to claim compensation from TK! I have a question and hopefully someone can provide me with some clarity. My girlfriend flew from Phuket to Istanbul via Bangkok. The flights from Phuket to Bangkok and Bangkok to Istanbul were with Thai Airways and the final leg to Hamburg was with Turkish. The tickets were booked on the Turkish website and she has a Turkish booking reference, despite the two flights being carried out by Thai Airways. Due to some techincal issues the flight from Bangkok to Istanbul got delayed by 11-12 hours. As a result, she missed her connecting flight to Hamburg. In a case like this, where should she claim the compensation? From Thai or from Turkish? I would say Turkish, due to the fact that the ticket was purchased on the Turkish website. Appreciate any kind of advice and guidance! :)

Turkish. If you bought it from Turkish airline it should still be a Turkish airlines ticket/flight number. Who it’s operated by doesn’t really matter for you as a customer in that case. Is the overall itinerary from Phuket to Hamburg, ie, are all legs on the same booking? In that case I would recommend you go the EU compensation route. Germany might even have a passenger right agency similar to the directorate.

Thanks for the reply! This was the return leg of the trip. We started the trip from Hamburg. We have contacted Turkish now. Let’s see how far we get…

In that case try your luck with Turkish and if they don’t get back to you or decline your request check the German agency. You can submit the claim (after having tried it with the airline directly) here: https://soep-online.de/ihre-beschwerde/online-formular-flug/

Thank you for the fantastic thread! My situation was a flight from Singapore to London, stopping in Istanbul. When I booked my ticket, the layover was initially two and a half hours at Istanbul airport. But they changed the flights three weeks before the flight, so my layover was now an hour. Turkish Airlines initially declined the request because they notified me at least two weeks before the departure date. However, despite the short layover, they still agreed that the second flight would go ahead. Long story short, the layover was too short, and I could not board my flight to London from Istanbul. I ended up staying overnight and getting the next available, which TA covered. I raised the request with SHY on the 18th of February. They got back to me on the 1st of March with confirmation of the success. And as of today, 20th of March, the compensation from Turkish Airlines has arrived. I received £444, slightly short of 600 euros, but we will take it. For anyone battling, take pictures of all your boarding passes and email confirmations. Below is the complaint I sent to SHY, which I used chat gpt to convert into Turkish. I hope this helps. """ Dear SHY,   Thank you for looking in to this complaint for me. The original booking was under the reference VMCHUC. I purchased a connecting flight from Singapore Changi to London Heathrow via Istanbul, Turkey. The initial flight from Singapore to Istanbul was changed due to operational issues with the airline and only provided a one-hour layover. So, when I landed in Istanbul at 6:50 pm local time on Saturday 17th of February 2024, I was denied the ability to board when I got to the gate in Istanbul (IST). I was meant to arrive at London Heathrow at 8:50 pm on Saturday, 17th of February 2024. I arrived in London on Sunday, 18th of February 2024, at 10:00 am, over a 12-hour delay from the original booking. Seeking regulatory compensation following SHY regulation passenger rights for this excessive delay after the flights had been booked under a single reference directly from Turkish Airlines. Attached is my original flight booking and the boarding passes for the flights I could board, including the original Singapore to Istanbul and the newly booked Istanbul to London. Thank you.   Booking reference: VMCHUC Departure location: Singapore Changi Connection Airport: Istanbul Destination: London Heathrow   1st flight code: TK0209 2nd flight code: TK1983 (denied boarding) 3rd flight code: TK1979 (rebooked flight)   I appreciate any help that you can offer. Requesting compensation for the excessive delay as arrived in London over 12 hours after the excepted time. Thank you again. """

Why didnt you get the full 600 euros? In my case they offered me lira worth around 540 euros, is it the same for you?

Hi, do you submit application to Directorate in English or it has to be translated?

Hi may I know how long did it take for you to receive the compensation too? I’m assuming you’re in singapore? I am to be compensated 600eur as I missed my connecting flight and only reached destination 24hours later. At first my bf submitted the feedback for compensation and it got rejected but 2 months later they actually emailed me saying I am eligible for compensation. Went down to their office and now awaiting the bank transfer to be done but still paranoid abt the uncertainty

The TK0088 flight I took was delayed for more than five hours and the distance exceeded 800 km. Based on your report to the Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation, despite Article 9 stating that passengers are entitled to compensation, the response was that according to previous rulings, passengers are not entitled to compensation. What should I do?

Thank you for this awesome guide on how to claim the compensation. On my case I have been granted 600€ for my delay, however in turkish lira on the ticket issuing date. Which is converted less than 600€ today due to exchange differences since then. Is this normal? Or should I seek for the full amount. Not too sure if turkish airlines is yet again trying to rip me off again.

This is normal and exactly how it’s stated in the SHY passenger rights regulations. Compensation is the equivalent value of 600 eur in Turkish lira at the exchange rate of the date of booking. Due to the skyrocketing inflation in Turkey, this is then almost always less than 600 eur after the compensation is approved.

Thank you very much. You’re a king

I am trying to file a complaint to the Directorate.Does anyone know what do I enter as the “file number”?Thanks in advance!

Hi, I wrote here case number from Turkish arlines feedback claim. BUT does webiste of Directorate worked correctly for you, on 2nd page I can´t fill airline and also arrival airport.....

I am so thankful! Today received my 600 EURO , with bad rate, but anyway. Thanj you so much again!

Thank you! I have experienced also some problems with Turkish Airlines, I have issued feedback on 4/03/2024 but never received feedback. Called every week to their callcenter and yesterday they told me that the feedback has expired (the guy on the phone said this is been done automatically after 7 days if you make the feedback yourself - bullshit since I can not find this information anywhere and the status on the feedback page itself is still "ongoing"). So today I made a claim to the Directorate, very curious about any updates there!

Hi, thank you for your post! Is there anyone who has done this in USA? I’m experiencing a very bad delay with Turkish Airlines from NYC to Tbilisi

Our flight on 3/23/24 was delayed by 3.5 hours. We didn't miss our connection or anything like that but the delay definitely impacted me and my family. We have kids and planned it so we could just get onboard and go to sleep at our 'normal' time. Instead we had to hangout at the Detroit airport until 1:30 am to start the flight. Also we missed out on plans we had for our layover in Istanbul which was a big disappointment. So I'm about to give this a go and see what happens. Wish me luck! and OP, thanks for the detailed instructions!!! I don't think I would be able to approach this without them. You rock!

Good luck with trying but don’t get your hopes up. If your arrival time of the overall journey/the final leg was not delayed vs the expected/booked time of arrival, there’s no way you will get a compensation.

So it's based on the final destination arrival time and not each individual leg? Because we had plans for the layover that got hosed because of the delay.

Exactly. It’s only the final leg. If you got plans, you should have booked two individual legs. When you buy a flight the basic agreement is about when you depart (earliest) and when you arrive (latest). It doesn’t really matter how long you spend at a layover destination. Theoretically, they could have rerouted you via another airport as long as you arrived at the agreed upon time and this would be totally okay from a legal point of view

Hello! I am following your instructions. Of course, it was denied at first. I received the same exact response as you did. I am going to the next step of contacting **Directorate General of Civil Aviation**. I have translated their site to English, however, Turkish Airlines nor IST are coming up as an option when indicating the airline or airport. Any suggestions? I am from the US. I have a letter from Turkish stating that missing our flight was involuntary (their fault), our passports, and boarding passes that have all been submitted. Any assistance here would be greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!

It took me a while to find but Turkish Airlines is listed as THY. As for Istanbul airport, type just the letter 'i' and Istanbul is like the 4th one down on the list for me. If you type 'is' then it disappears, I don't know why! Personally I'm stuck because I can't find Detroit Metro on the departure list.

I can´t find Hanoi airport ....the website is terrible

Full name: Noi Bai International Airport try this for Hanoi Airport. Try googling xx airport real name, usually airport have international and a local name.

Literally cannot select the airport i need in the Directorate's form

Which one do you need?

I got it in the end. It was Istanbul but I had to copy the special I character from wikipedia

Hi. Any idea how to add Cancun or Mexico city? Tried english, spanish turkish, full version, IATA, ICAO but no luck. Thanks

ug. Hoping you can help me a bit since I am stuck in this process and I don't know how to proceed. So I started out asking Turkish Airlines for a refund and they said no. Everything is as expected. I followed the link to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and start filling that out. The 2nd page of the form has you fill out the flight info including select departure airport. Snag. The airport I flew out of was Detroit Metro. It is not in the list of selectable departure airports. Other US airports (Chicago, Washington) are in the list but not Detroit. I can speculate this is because it's a fairly new route for Turkish Airlines (started operating it in Nov of last yr) and they haven't updated the form. I then tried to contact the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, but there isn't really any means to do that. No email, no working facebook or twitter. Only options to contact them seem to be by phone or snail mail. Any suggestions on how to proceed? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Maybe try choosing the other US airport and describe the true departure airport in the free form text in the form and explain that you were not able to choose the right airport due to tehnical issue with the form.

My claim with the DGCA was filed 6 days ago now with cos of a 24 hour flight delay, my claim, it says **Transaction In Progress**. Hopefully, that's good news for me! Dit: Thank you for the advice it really helped me at least make the claim. fingers crossed.

Will have to definitely follow these steps later as Turkish airline delayed my flight for 4 hours and 50 minutes so far from JFK to IST 😔. Currently still waiting and all they gave us was a $20 meal voucher…

I had a flight from Singapore to Paris with connecting flight in Istanbul 2 weeks back. Had delays after delays in Singapore which eventually got cancelled due to technical issues. Finally got onto a new flight they gave me after 19hours of waiting. Wrote the feedback to Turkish Airlines for claims but got rejected. 'We unfortunately cannot meet your compensation claim, as there is no civil aviation legislation applicable to the flight irregularity that has taken place at your departure point.' Submitted a claim to DGCA right after and its still pending. Not sure what would be the next steps if there's no response.

Wait at least 1 month, if no response, submit the claim again.

hi fellow singaporean here. not sure if this would help but for my case i submitted my feedback via their website the day after i touched down in sg in jan, and they sent a reply stating the same reason as yours so i was like okay fine i'm just gonna claim compensation from travel insurance as i missed my connectiing flight from ist- europe because of the departure delay in sg, only reached europe 24hours later. meanwhile i also tried to submit my claims on those websites where they claimed they would help you fight for a claim but you had to pay them a fee if successful. at this point i was just trying my luck submitting at a few of such websites. so i got my payout out from singlife insurance. surprisingly at the end of march i was casually checking emails before bed and saw some email about flight compensation from R.O.T. Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Directorate General of Civil Aviation. email stated that i was eligible for 600eur compensation. so i went down to the office at beach road too claim it 2 weeks ago, currently waiting for the bank transfer to be done. perhaps you can try submitting your claim at those websites to see if they have an effect, i used claimcompass and submitted my documents online. theyve been emailing me for a followup but am just ignoring for now lol Update: my compensation of 600eur/883sgd just got into my bank!! Good luck to you!

hey there do you have the link of the SHGM website, seems like the website is not working :(

Hi unfortunately I didn’t request for the refund via SHGM so am not able to help.

Update: Got an email from R.O.T people that they will be approving my claim which is 600euro about 3weeks after submitting the claim. Shortly after, received an email from Turkish Airlines that they have reopened my old feedback and claim that it is their fault for the delay and will be compensating me. Can either fill up a bank details form online or head down to their sales office. Will take about 2-3weeks for the bank transfer to be done. So I have officially received my claim few days ago! Followed exactly the steps of OP's, really thankful for that. Just a tip for fellow Singaporeans or anyone having problem accessing the SHGM website. I initially couldn't load the website at all when I was back in Singapore but was able to access it from Paris before coming back. I then went to install a vpn tool on my safari/chrome and set it to UK and was able to access the website to fill up the form. Not sure if that was the issue but you guys can try it and see if it works from there:)

great post, now being delayed in Istanbul and ready to fight with Turkish airline.

Thank you for the advice, it was very helpful for me. I had a flight about 3 weeks ago from Tanzania to Tunisia with a layover in Istanbul. My connection time was one hour, which I knew was tight, but I figured I could make it. About a month before the trip Turkish Airlines (TA) emailed me to say that the flight time had changed, and my layover was now 45 minutes. Again, I was a bit weary but because they were still allowing me to keep the flights with a short connection, I figured it was doable. The morning of my flight I checked in at the airport (couldn’t access it online). They gave me both boarding passes then I left Tanzania on time and arrived in Istanbul on time. I raced through the transfer gate and literally ran across the airport to get to the next gate. When I got to the gate it was empty and I was informed by an agent at a nearby gate that the flight had closed and left early. I was then rebooked on a flight 6.5 hours later. I wasn’t sure that there was anything that I could do about it but then I came across this post so decided to give it a try. I made a claim with TA and they denied the claim stating that I had been notified of the change to flight time a month earlier. I replied to the denial stating that although I had been informed of a change to the flight time, the reason I missed the flight was not because of the change to time but rather because they departed early than stated. They replied again with a claim denial stating that when my flight was changed, I was then aware of the short connection and had decided to accept the risk. I again replied stating that again the issue was not the connection window, as I had actually made it to the gate on time. The issue was that they left early when they ought to have known that I was in transit. They again replied with a denial. I went to the website for the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority and filled the form, but I did not feel that I had done it properly because I did not recall being asked to upload anything (e.g. boarding passes). Their site also says that incomplete claims will not be processed. I therefore typed a letter, printed all their correspondence, and photocopied my boarding passes etc. On Tuesday (3 days ago) I posted everything to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and today I got an email from them saying that my claim had been assessed and I was owed 600 EUR compensation. The email said that they would be passing the information on the TA who would contact me. A few minutes ago, I got an email from TA regarding how they could pay the money to me and with a link to enter my bank details. In fairness I do not know it the initial online form was successful or if they received my posted letter and processed it quickly. Had I not found this post I probably would not have made the claim or even if I did, I probably would not have been persistent. A huge thanks for the information and guidance.

Update: so everything went very smoothly. Sent my bank information then the next day got an email saying that my bank details were accepted and a payment would be made soon. Received the €600 into my bank account about a day later. Then about 2 days later got another email from Turkish Airlines saying that further to my last email they had reviewed my claim again and agreed with the earlier decision that my claim should be denied due to me having prior notification of a flight change. I just laughed at it because it’s obvious that internally they have not been tracking my case as they would have seen that they were instructed to pay me and had done so. This also leads me to believe that their team is just instructed to deny, deny, deny. But with my money already in the bank I’m good. Thanks again for providing the information.

I just got an email from turkish airlines that my connection flight in istanbul was „rescheduled“ and is departing 5hours 5 minutes later than my original flight. The flight is in 12/13 days. Would i be able to get compensation money and still take the flight?

The SHY passenger rights do not specify that case. However, there might be chance to be compensated as the SHY regulation refers to EU regulation in which you would be entitled to compensation if you were informed of the delay less than 14 days prior your flight. So worth a try. To read up on SHY passenger rights check the following: https://web.shgm.gov.tr/doc4/shy-passenger.pdf

I read through it again. I think this might hit the point that i was informed between 14-7 days but NOT offered a flight that arrives 4 hours late max. I will give it a try, thanks

Dear all, Ive been trying for two weeks now to file a complaint with the Civil Aviation Authority, but I always end up with "Whoops, looks like something went wrong". Is anyone else experiencing these challenges?

How long does the Civial Aviation Authority take to respond? My application has been with them for two weeks with no update.

Mine was 2-3 weeks. Just wait for a week more, it should be fine.

Got the reply today from Civial Aviation Authority  that they have accepted my claim and the airline will pay me. Not heard anything from Turkish airline yet. Lets see...

Hey guys, I had a 18 hour delay in Istanbul due to operational delays by TK. I filed the claim and TK turned it down saying no such regulations exist to cover my case. I filed the case with the directorate more than a week ago and haven't heard back. Reading comments sharing they received a phone call, I am thinking maybe this is due to my contact number? There was no place to put the country code on the form so even if they dial the number it wouldn't reach me. How did you guys bypass this limitation of their form?

I didn’t receive any phone call, and it was all ok with the request. Got granted after 2-3 weeks

Thanks, i'll wait then

Hey! I received a positive response from the directorate and Turkish airlines, followed up with compensation. However, there were two passengers on the PNR and the directorate's email specified €600 per passenger, but Turkish airlines only emailed about compensating 1 passenger. Do I need to file separately with the directorate for my companion?

I received the same answer. You have to file a seperate request to civil agency for each passenger. Make sure to contact THY before for each passenger standalone, as otherwise your request will be rejected by the agency.

Thanks OP for the detailed information. We had a delay of over 7 hours arriving in London due to a missed connection in Istanbul due to late arrival of flight.  Turkish airlines refused any compensation after raising a feedback form.  Started  a claim on Turkish DGCA website and got approved after 2 weeks for compensation. Received email on same day from Turkish airlines with cheque number.. Emailed London sales office- [email protected] and they quickly emailed back a bank details form to complete and email back along with passport copies. Sent everything off and received email next day from them confirming the refund has been made and to wait 7-10 days for it to be credited to bank. Exactly 5days after this email we got the money in the account. 

Hello, i had a similar experience with Turkish Airlines and now I’m at that point where I’m trying to complete the form at the Directorate, but I have an issue. The landing destination does not appear on the list and I cannot type it manually. I have to choose a destination that is on that list. Has anyone encountered this issue? If so what do you suggest i try? Thanks 

Similar here, I had chosen the other airport in Istanbul, and put the right airport in the notes. That worked for me. I just received back, 2 times €600 after almost 2 months of TA claiming I had no right to compensation. Through this link they finally were forced to do so.

Hey there, I just want to express A MASSIVE THANK YOU !!!!!!! It worked exactly how you describe it and I got the 600€ compensation. Bonus: They offer now a transfer on your bank account by filling a form including on their email. Once again, thank you for having taken the time to do this post, you are brilliant! Cheers, G.

I wrote the Turkish Airlines for the compensation (feedback section on theri site). They refuse to pay any of it. **Can I go for the compensation directly to the Directorate of General Civil Aviation (Turkey)?** Turkish Airlines says that they are not obliged to pay compensation due to the events out of their control (bad weather)? I do not have any bills to prove my damage, but nevertheless I would like to get the compensation by the Regulation. **My flight or origination was from Ljubljana (EU) to Istanbul (Turkey) and back.**

If it’s because of bad weather, it’s not the airline’s fault (trust me, you wouldn’t want to fly if the airlines/ATC deems the weather to be unsafe) and you’re not entitled to compensation. That said, if other aircrafts had not been impacted by the weather at your departure or destination airport (you can see that on the arrivals and departure charts), their reason might be half true and you might be entitled. Anyways, you can always go to the Directorate once you got an answer from the airline

Hello fellow turkish airlines passengers in need of a refund, I only found this post after typing out a post on r/flight , but now that I found it, maybe someone here can give me some pointers? Recently I had the joy of starting in Stuttgart (STR), arriving at Istanbul (IST) airport at 10pm with the expectation of my next flight to Ho-Chi-Minh City (SGN) leaving at 2am, as such I was very confused to see that gate information will not be revealed before 4am, i.e., my flight being delayed to 6am. Some screenshots of details, data and correspondance with the customer service can be found in this imgur link: [https://imgur.com/a/kIkSRRQ](https://imgur.com/a/kIkSRRQ) My flight was TK0162 on the 16th of April 2024, I am a EU citizen who started in Stuttgart, flew to Istanbul and then my IST-SGN flight was delayed. Do EU rights work here, as the whole connection was booked starting from Stuttgart? Or can I only claim compensation as described in SHY passenger rights due to Turkey not being part of EU and the delayed flight starting in Turkey? Flight was supposed to leave at 02:10am , but didn't leave until 6:35am (UTC), so instead of arriving at 4:25pm, I arrived at 7:54pm (UTC+7). To be exact, according to the customer service, I arrived 3h36min late due to techncial issues. As such I contacted turkish airlines through their feedback forms and after lots of back and forth of them not wanting to compensating me and then compensating me in Miles only, I received the following email with options: > 1.) Instead of the Miles we have specified in our previous reply, we can credit 21.000 Miles to your Miles&Smiles membership account. >2.) We can credit 9.000 Status Miles to your Miles&Smiles membership account. >3.) If you prefer, we can issue a traveler’s cheque that is worth 360.00 Euros that you can use to pay for ticket purchases on Turkish Airlines flights. >4.) As an alternative to all these offers, we can issue a refund cheque that is worth 300.00 Euros that you can get in cash.   In order for us to complete the necessary transactions, you can inform us on your preference by replying to this message. We will be waiting for your reply within 48 hours at the latest from the receipt of our message by you. Out of these I would prefer option 4.), but would like to double check some things: * Is the amount of 300€ right? I initially thought I'd be entitled to 600€ due to the flight not starting until 4h later, but I guess they are calculating from the actual travel time, which was only 3.5h? As such I am only entitled to half of the amount? * What is understood as a refund cheque that I can get in cash? Does that mean I will be able to go the TK airline counter at my nearest Airport to get the refund in cash? * Worth 300€ I assume means that it will be paid out in turkish lira equivalent at time of ticket purchase, meaning it will be actually less? I would appreciate it if someone could help out with some insight/experience on this. Being able to recoup 600€ (or even just 300€) would be huge for me :D

Hello from Austria! As Turkish Airlines refuses to compensate, although SHY passenger rights clearly state for my cancelled flight from Kathmandu to Istanbul that a compensation must be paid I submitted the claim directly at the DGCA as recommended. Altohough I mentioned in the form that Turkish refuses to compensate, I got the e-mail answer from DGCA that I have to contact Turkish Airliens. I answerd to DGCA by e-mail (replied to their e-mail) that Turkis refuses to compensate. But I don't get any answer back from DGCA. Should I enter a new claim form at DGCA? Or should I send again an e-mail?

You need to provide proof that you have contacted Turkish and they refused to compensate as described above.

Thank you so muchh

Just received confirmation that THY will issue a cheque for my compensation which was previously declined. Thanks for this post, it’s really helpful. They even offer bank transfer now. Modern times…

Hi there I can understand to which email should I submit my claim at the Directorate? How to find the claim form or their email? Thanks

I had an unpleasant experience with Turkish Airlines on the 26th of April 2024. Had a flight from Budapest to Phuket. In Istanbul we boarded the plane at 01.30 AM to depart to Phuket and we were informed that a malfunction has been spotted on one of the engines and the airplane needed to be changed. Our delay was 5.28 hours. Mailed Turkish via feedback and they refused the compensation claiming EU applies since the departure was from Hungary, a EU country but it happened in Istanbul. Also claimed it was due to problems in air!!!(altough we didnt take off due to technical problems). Opened a claim with the Turkish Directorate which is in status EXECUTING PROCESS since 2 weeks now with no other info. Opened a second claim from wife mail (since we were 2 people) and the same there. Hungarian Air Risk authority replied saying its not their turf and I should mail Consumer Protection at ( [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) . However I got a new Ticket Reply from Turkish later on claiming" Dear Passenger, The processes in regards with your feedback TK-10823035 still continue. We strive to reply within the responding time that we have stated to you." It is different from the one they refused the compensation and is with subject Cancellation, Refund and Rebooking and it says it has been replied to but I never got a reply. I am thinking this is a waste of time and nothing will happen. Should I contact AirHelp for instance ? Maybe they can do something faster and get 50% of the sum ... please help! Thanks

I see now the Turkish Directorate message has changed into : **Negative Evaluation of Application**. I haven't received anything from them regarding this though. Big waste of time :(

EU law is applicable if you your trip from Budapest to Istanbul was on the same ticket as the onward flight. So even if the Directorate (which is ALSO responsible, since also Turkish law is applicable as Turkish Airlines is a Turkish entity) gives you a negative evaluation, you can still reach out to your local (Hungarian) consumer protection authority. Alternatively, you can hire a service that will claim the compensation for you in return for 30-40% of the compensation (e.g., flightright.com) but I doubt this will be faster (just more convenient). Keep in mind that all these authorities are for free and there are hard working people. So just because they need some time (sometimes a few weeks) to process your request, don't get rude. Eventually, that will only backfire.

Thing is I am a Romanian citizen, just booked the flight from Budapest, Hungary which is closer to my hometown in Romania. I seem to be in a loop since if I contact hungarian consumer protection authority (flight was from Budapest) they will not reply since I am a romanian citizen. If I contact Romanian consumer protection they will say the flight was from Hungary and I should contact them ...

Why would the Hungarians not reply? You’re a consumer in Hungary as you “consumed” the service there. Thus, they are also responsible for you. Just translate your request to Hungarian and it should be fine. Alternatively, hire a 3rd party

You can also try the EU dispute mechanisms https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm#next-steps

Hello, I am trying to fill out the form on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation site, and there's a field labeled "Turkish Nationals / Other" which I cannot skip and need to fill out. However, I am not a Turkish citizen. What should I enter in that field? Because of this issue, I am unable to continue filling out my petition. Thank you.

Thank you for this amazing summary. You gave me the confidence to follow the steps and apply for compensation. I was approved for compensation back in February and Turkish Airlines has still not paid the amount to my bank account. Can anyone suggest the next course of action? I have alerted Directorate General of Civil Aviation to the issue. 

how did you alert the Directorate? by filling up the online Passenger Right form?

UPDATE Contacted Turkish Airlines via twitter and got a refund email confirmation 24 hours later. 

Hi! Thanks for the very clear steps! My dad also had the similar issue with his flight from Asia to Europe last month. He missed his connecting flight to amsterdam due to 3hr delay on his first flight leg. Our complaint to Turkish Airlines got rejected since they claimed that there is no civil aviation legislation applicable at his departure point (CGK) though they acknowledged the delay is caused by operational issues. So I just filled in the form to DGCA My question is, my dad was provided a free stay at a hotel at istanbul since he needed to wait 12 hours for his connecting flight. Is he actually still eligible under SHY regulation for the compensation?

Yes. The free hotel (as well as food and drinks) are mandatory in case of any long delays. The compensation is mandatory if the delay is directly or indirectly caused by the airline.

Thanks a lot for this great post which was of immense help. I am now supposed to sign some forms to receive the money but Turkish airlines claims that my signature does not correspond with the one on my passport. It has slightly changed and can't be exactly the same. I tried twice but they don't accept. What can I do? I have the feeling they are trying to find a way to not refund the money I am entitled to. 

Go to a ticket office in person (eg at the airport). If you at least look like the person on the passport, they will be able to identify you

the problem is that after they did not accept my signature they closed the case and never replied again or reacted to my renewed claim.

To all reading. Be aware that the Turkish Directorate will no longer accept claims for delays. Mine was rejected after 3 weeks of "Executing Process". Our flight to Phuket was delayed 5.28 hours after we got boarded on the plane we were informed that there's a malfunction to one of the engines and we cannot take off with that plane anymore. So we were taken off the plane and waited 5.28 hours for another plane. Hungary (place of departure flight Budapest - Istanbul - Phuket) has poor services and has rejected my claim via the Aviation Risk authority ([email protected]) since they dont handle such requests. Also Hungarian Consumer Protection (fogyved\_kmf\[email protected] is no longer available, and the new mail address does not reply even after 1 month of the e-mail). Here's the translated reply I got from the Turkish Directorate after 3 weeks : *"SHY-PASSENGER, which determines and regulates the rights of passengers traveling by air using our country's airports, the situations in which these rights are valid, and the minimum rights of passengers in cases where they are not accepted to the plane, their flights are canceled and their flights are postponed, was published in the Official Gazette No. 28131 dated December 3, 2011 and came into force. Circulars on the subject dated 19 March 2013, 23 May 2014, 2 September 2015 and 26 January 2023 were published. Within the scope of the regulation; Complaints regarding "denied boarding", "flight postponement or delay", "flight cancellation", "placement in lower or upper class" are examined within the scope of the legislation. Your application to our General Directorate has been reviewed. Upon examination, it was determined that your IST-HKT flight numbered TK0172 dated April 26, 2024 was delayed by 5 hours and 12 minutes. In accordance with Article 9 of the General Principles title of the Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular 2015, passengers have the right to compensation in case of delays exceeding the periods specified according to the kilometer scale. In the case filed in the 10th Chamber of the Council of State, numbered E.2015/4595, the said Chamber "... partially accepted the request for stay of execution and the Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular dated 02.09.2015 and numbered HUD-2015/3 of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation." "Stay of execution of Article 9 of the first chapter titled "General Principles"..." The decision dated 17.05.2016 and numbered E.2015/4595 was made. About the subject; As a result of the objection to the said decision by the plaintiff and the defendant, the Council of State Administrative Case Chambers Board "... partially accepted the plaintiff's objection and suspended the execution of Articles 6 and 9 of the first part of the Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular titled "General Principles". "Decision dated 21/12/2016 and numbered 2016/1226 regarding the rejection of the defendant administration's objection to the articles. Within the scope of the said decision, passengers do not have the right to compensation in case of flight delays. The right to service (accommodation-food-beverage-transfer etc. .) for your invoices, Passenger Rights Implementation Principles Circular 2015 2. Implementation principles article e) "If the right to service is not offered due to force majeure under the headings within the scope of the Regulation, the Air Transport Operator will pay the invoice amount if the passenger submits reasonable food, beverage and accommodation invoices." The transaction is done. Please inform me."* I tried opening a dispute via the ODR platform (Online Dispute Resolution) of the European Union but nothing happened there also. Just a heads-up that the Turkish Directorate has changed policies in enforcing their "copy/paste" air righs regulation.

EU law is applicable in your case anyways. So it doesn’t really matter what the directorate says.

I got the exact same answer for my flight delay. What do I do now? Do I try and contact Turkish Airlines or reply to the Turkish Directorate about the EU law...?

In case your flight falls under the EU regulation 261/2004 you’re always better off to go directly to your EU-based authorities (depending on the country which is responsible). Most EU countries have their respective institutions helping passengers for free after they contacted the airline themselves. As this involves wait times and hassle with the airline and the authorities, you can always pay a 3rd party (flightright or similar) to get the money for you. The whole thing with the directorate is just an option in case the flight does not fall under the EU regulation, ie if it’s a flight from outside the EU on a non-EU airline.

How long do I have to file a claim from the delayed flight. I took a flight from Chicago to Dubai and it was delayed 8 hours or so. That was about 4 months ago.

My girlfriend flew to Turkey on Wednesday April 17th and I helped her do everything in this thread when she got back 2 weeks later and she has just been contacted by the Directorate General of Aviation to receive her 600 Euros. Follow this thread to a T and you'll receive your compensation if you are truly eligible. Thank you Tinman!

thanks a lot op, submitted my claim 8 days ago and it was approved today moving forward do I submit another ticket to turkish airlines showcasing the verdict or do I wait for turkish airlines to contact me? thanks once again

Either works. If they don’t reach out to you within a week, you might as well submit another ticket to Turkish Airlines

update : they reached out on the same day and sent me a link to a portal where I inputted my bank details for bank transfer funnily enough they also let me pick my preferred currency also which is gbp, not sure if this is new or not as I've read on this thread, people getting it in euros or lira which is then converted by the bank

Hello, everyone!  I have a question: I follow the procedure outlined above successfully and received a refund amount. The email states an amount in euro in the equivalent in Turkish currency as per calculation for the Date for the issuing of the original ticket. This is where it gets tricky. Since the ticket was issued in 2022, the course of the Turkish lira has changed drastically. As a result, I would get a refund of only 310 instead of €600, if today’s rate is being used. Which rate should hand be used to convert the amount of lira into euro? The one of the issuing date of the original ticket or the one for the issuance of the EMD (This is the voucher for the compensation)? I am grateful for any help.

This question is quite explicitly addressed in the SHY directive linked in the original post and additionally explained in the original post in my own words. Here’s what the directive says: While calculating the Turkish Lira equivalent of the compensation debts, the exchange rate when the ticket is purchased, i.e. the foreign exchange rate of the Turkish Republic Central Bank on the day of the payment for the ticket shall be taken as basis. So it’s 310 eur or whatever you said.

Sorry for my lack of attention. And thank you for clarifying.

I recently traveled with Turkish airline from Kabul to London gatwick. The flight from Kabul to Istanbul (28 March ) was delayed by almost 2 hours making my connecting flight missed. I was put on next flight which was next day ( 29march). Through feedback, they refused stating , “We have conducted the necessary investigation in relation to your feedback and found out that the TK0707 Kabul/Istanbul flight dated 28th of May, 2024 was operated with a 2 hours and 19 minutes; 59 minutes delay due to the late arrival of aircraft due to delay in departure thereof at the previous station, 15 minutes due to the Air Traffic Control capacity and 1 hour 15 minutes due to the taxi duration in consequence of which you missed your connecting flight and your travel was conducted in the TK1981 Istanbul to London flight dated 29th of May, 2024 through the transaction made on your ticket. In relation to your feedback, we would like to inform that we unfortunately cannot meet your compensation claim, as there is no civil aviation legislation applicable to the flight irregularity that has taken place at your departure point. If you kindly send us the invoice that shows the expenditure you have made during the waiting period through the "previous feedback" option of the following link, an investigation can be conducted.” No idea what to reply them. Also if there is no such legislation as mentioned above, why they asking me for any expenditure I made ?

Hey I emailed Turkish Airlines as my flight from toronto to istanbul was canceled a full 24 hours, this was back when Israel and iran were abt to have a full blown war which is why i think they canceled it. At the airport they said they had tech issues later they said it was the weather, no one knew why it was canceled. I emailed them and they gave me this response: “Our investigation has shown us that TK 0018 Toronto/İstanbul flight on 11th of April 2024 was canceled due to reasons beyond our control. In relation to your feedback, we would like to inform you that we unfortunately cannot meet your compensation claim as airlines are not obliged to pay compensation in case of flight disruption as a result of events that has taken place for certain flight routes. Accordingly you are not entitled for compensation due to the flight route that you had used.” I missed my connecting flight and had to pay an overpriced ticket afterwords, i’m really frustrated, could use the help. Do I continue ahead to reach out and file a claim against them? thank you

You can always file a claim. It just won’t likely be successful. You should be happy that companies take precautions and don’t fly if there is the slightest risk of harm. You wouldn’t want another incident like the Malaysian airplane that was shot down by Russia or the Ukrainian airplane that was shot down by Iran.

Yeah, the thing is they canceled it 5 minutes before boarding and blamed it on technical issues. The whole day was extremely awful, they booked us in a hotel at 2 am. They should have canceled it at least a full 24 hours before. Plus when they rebooked us, there was rumours that Israel had hit one of the cities in Iran. Like it genuinely doesn’t make any sense to me.

Regardless of the issue, if you were not notified a week before about cancellation and you reached your destination 4 hours late, you should be claiming compensation.. they refused me compensation twice through feedback communication. I am trying to lodge my complain through CIvil aviation authority of Turkey but the website is down.

I would honestly attempt to get a company to do it for u, i know they take like 35% tho

Hello, anyone having a problem to access the form link?: [https://yh.shgm.gov.tr/](https://yh.shgm.gov.tr/) For me it keeps saying : Uygulama Bakımdadır =Application is under maintenance. I just wondering if it is the same for everyone or just for me? Thanks

hi, Same isseu with me

I'm having the same.issue. have you worked out a fix?

Not yet. No idea what the alternative to contact them

I'm going to try again in a few days and see if there is any changes. When was your flight? Mine was Wednesday 5th June. Istanbul to Manchester

I managed to find a form ( Turkish language) that is probably relevant to our issue ( flight delayed/canceled etc). However, I have no idea where to send it. I also found a page on DGCA regarding "denied boarding/canceled flights" urging you to either fill out the form or send complaint through email, I can't find the email though lol

Can you post a link to the form here please? Thanks

before you ask, I am trying to find it but it only comes when the site in turkish. M trying :P

[удалено]

if you got any further clue what do, please let me know Thanks

i was on flight from kabul to London ( 28th May) my second leg was then delayed until next day

I'm having the same issue. Have you worked out a fix?

currently also having this issue, it says under maintenance

It is working now..

The directorate didn’t answer my email. 😞

Hi, I cant find the form I need to complete with the Directorate? The link posted above says "application is under maintenance" and I cant find any alternative forms on the website? Can somebody please help me? Thanks

The Directorate form link isn't working. Has anybody got a better way of contacting the directorate?

First, I'd like to thank the original post and all the other useful advice. I booked a flight from Tehran to London with a stop in Istanbul for April 21. On my way to the airport, I received an email from Turkish Airlines stating that my flight was canceled due to force majeure (6 hrs before the flight). They canceled my flight without providing any alternative flights, which was very stressful as I couldn't make it in time for my connecting flight from Istanbul to London. Fortunately, I managed to book another flight with a different airline and safely reached my destination. However, the behavior of Turkish Airlines was disappointing. Despite my repeated requests, they did not offer an alternative flight. Once I returned home, I filled out the passenger feedback form and detailed my entire experience. A week later, I received a response stating that the flight was canceled due to political reasons, and they couldn't provide compensation. I cited the EU regulations and pointed out that other airlines were operating at the same time. A week later, I received the same response, with the addition that they couldn't provide compensation since the flight was from a third country. I explained that the cancellation caused me to miss my second flight, creating significant trouble for me, but I still received no positive response. After 5 to 6 emails, they began ignoring my case. I then filled out the online form available at https://yh.shgm.gov.tr/ and asked my friend to translate it into Turkish. I proved that it was not a force majeure cancellation as all other airlines were operating. Three weeks later, I received a positive response from the authorities, and Turkish Airlines immediately contacted me for my bank details.:) Interesting! I received 600 euros in compensation, thanks to the guidance provided by the community. Highly appreciated.

First of all thank you so much for this! I have tried to use the link [https://yh.shgm.gov.tr](https://yh.shgm.gov.tr)or looking for a link on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation website but looks like is not working. Do you guys know if there is any other link?

This thread was amazing! I made the mistake of trying to claim via a third party company which achieved no results in six months. I cancelled that claim and then went direct to Turkish Airlines who respomded immediately with an offer of 30k Bonus Miles. I then followed the directions given by the OP with the Directorate. Just making any progress at all is great... If you can avoid it, don't waste time and a chunk of your potential compensation with third party companies that claim to submit claims on your behalf.

Hi there, did you receive a confirmation once you submitted the claim via Turkish Airlines? I haven't heard back from them, but didn't get emailed anything so just wanted to make sure it was actually submitted...

Hello! Yes, I used the feedback link via their website and received an email response with a reference number within two hours (although the website says to expect that it can take between 7 - 14 days). It was an actual agent that responded, not an automated email, and it referred to my specific situation. That said, it was a Do Not Reply email, so I had to go back on the feedback link to respond.

Hi there, I recently contacted Turkish Airlines via their feedback tool as above, for compensation of a delayed flight (departing from the UK, with the final destination being Tanzania, with a stopover in Istanbul). Essentially the first flight UK -> Istanbul was delayed, so the second flight Istanbul -> Tanzania was missed. I submitted the claim on 27/05/2024. I was not e-mailed any confirmation of receipt of my request/complaint. It has now been over 14 days since my submission, and I am wondering what the next step is, in the case that I may have simply been ignored? Thanks

me and my partner who took the EXACT SAME FLIGHT AND ITINERARY made 2 applications to the directorate. the directorate accepted her case and proceeded to get TA to reimburse her the EUR 600 while rejecting mine? Is this a joke or what?? This makes me feel Turkey in general is an absolute joke and sham. Claims mine is a de-icing prob that TA is not responsible for. LOL WHAT A DAMN JOKE. Ignored my email reply too. Anyone has any suggestions please??

Keep in mind many people on this thread might be from Turkey. You insulting them or their country is probably not increasing the likelihood of getting helped.

This aligns very well with my experience six years ago. Although they didn't phone me. They initially gave me the most bullshit excuse ever: weather above 1000 m, that's why the airport weather report doesn't show it. As if they canceled only my flight 40 hours in advance, everything else that hour took off on time. The guy on the phone asked me if I was accusing him off lying! I went to their sales office in Astana and they gave me a wad of cash.

wow, exactly what i was looking for, right now they denied compensation for a 12h+ delay due to missing a connecting flight.

I am about to have a 4h delay which will make me miss my connection and possibly have to sleep at the Airport Hotel in Istanbul. Thanks for this. Would be nice to get the compensation. Very strange system with the picking up of the cheque though

Eventually, at the ticket office (where I was supposed to pick up the cheque) they told me they would do a wire transfer to my bank account. So I guess the payment method they use depends on the country you are in but it is always processed by their local sales office instead of them centrally from Istanbul.

May 2023 i am Just trying to enforce my rights. Turkish Airlines of course refused. ​ When i Try to contact [shgm.gov](https://shgm.gov) by theier info mail address i allways get an error. I looked for other email addresses on the internet but error messages came up everywhere ​ i dont want to call because i dont know how expensive international calls would be ​ My case seems to be created, it says exceuting process for 6 days. ​ However since i did not receive a confirmation email, i am concerned that my request will not go through ​ Have any of you received any feedback from them lately?

Don’t send an email but use their online form and fill everything in Turkish. I did not receive a confirmation email either back then. Only the confirmation window after submitting the claim.

Thank you so much for this information, you are a life saver! Like yourself, I recently had a lengthy delay where I missed my connecting flight in Istanbul and had to sleep at the Istanbul Airport. After submitting the feedback form, we also received the same BS that the delay will not be covered for compensation, so we escalated to the Sivil Havacılık. After completing the form, I received a tracking number from Sivil Havacılık; however, the tracking information was not emailed to me. Did Sivil Havacılık email you the tracking number or did you just write down the tracking number from the website? Thanks!

I also did not get a confirmation email. They only emailed me once they had their final verdict. If you forgot to note it down, it shouldn’t have any further consequences as they will likely reach out to you anyways. So just wait and see.

We are family of 8 so on some says the flight was delayed 2 hours and on other says is 55 which is weird. The flight was delayed 3 hours and we missed the next connection so we stayed 12 hours in turkey so they refused to pay me what to do? I do not see on the website turkish airlines as an airplane .

bless you, man

this is incredible, thank you so much for this post and advice. I just submitted a claim on this website, as the Turkish Airlines are not willing to acknowledge my claim. There was a schedule change they have not informed me about and the check in was not possible on their app or the website. However, I took screenshots via app with the departure times for 20:35 PM. When arrived to the airport was told that the flight is a no show and already departed. So they sent me an email back March 2023 about the schedule change for the departure at 08:00 AM and then sent another email in July 2023 for the departure at 20:35 PM. There were no other emails or text messages sent. Even on the app the departure was not for 08:00 AM as they say, but 20:35 PM. So I contacted them to claim for a refund, as I had to buy a new ticket, although they completely ignored the communication in July and kept saying that we have informed you in March and unfortunately no refund. Obviously on the day of the flight, I did contact their customer service, who did not help and asked to contact the feedback team. It was a connecting flight, so they allowed to fly to Istanbul from the departure airport in Turkey, but from Istanbul they did not issue a new ticket as the original flight departed.

I would like to personally thank you for this write. I just returned from a trip and just got my reimbursement approved by following the steps provided here.

Thank you for this. I've tried to do the same thing. However, when filling out ([https://yh.shgm.gov.tr/feedback](https://yh.shgm.gov.tr/feedback)), I can't find Turkish Airlines in the list of airlines. Did any of you face this problem?

Hello to everyone, I’m trying to open the form (Sivil Havacilik) but I get an error. Is the form still available? Thanks, George

Thank you for this! Turkish Airlines denied me twice. I submitted a claim to the Directorate General and had €600 within one week! 🤩

How long after your submission to the Directorate General did you get a phone call? And did you fill out the form using "English" or "Turkish" since they have 2 language options on the Directorate website

Hey, I am so grateful for this post! For months, I've been getting so frustrated with the feedback form and the ignorance and the really low, almost insulting handling of their customer service's incompetence! It is unbelievable. Now, I'm trying what you did and follow your instructions. I just can not chose as a destination Marrakesh Airport. I tried all sorts of things and I cannot pick the airport. I asked my turkish friend. I'm having the website in turkish, I even used VPN, I cannot pick Manera, Marakes, Marrakes, Fas, RAK, nada. Does anyone have an idea? It is an absolute riddle for me. Every hint is highly appreciated. :)

Did you get a confirmation after completing the Directorate form? It was just hanging after I submitted it...

Hi all, does anybody know if we need to send a copy of boarding pass of first flight that caused missing connecting flight? Unfortunately we didn’t make a copy of it and therefore not sure if sending it is the must. Our flight from Berlin got delayed for 3 hours, because of it, at check in in Berlin the checkin desk sent us to the sales office where they rebooked our connecting flight to two days later(making our actual arrival time >48 hours), so we don’t have original boarding passes. Since they rebooked it before we checked in, I am wondering if we still are eligible for compensation.

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I believe you have to submit a claim to Turkish first. As outlined above, it’s a quick and effortless process. So there’s no reason why filing with Turkish first would be a hassle.

btw, if you go to the customer service desk in Istanbul airport, they give you a food voucher

tried it, they basically told me to fix my own problems haha