Turkish Airlines NOT "Perfectly Yours"

On my way home from Seoul i had to fly via Istanbul to get home in reasonable time. Arrived at Atatürk airport this morning at 0500 hours and was scheduled for flight TK 1761 bound for Helsinki at 9.40.

After spending approx  3,5 hours in the Zone lounge I was surprised that the flight was nowhere to be found on the monitors. Went up to the information desk at 8.45 to enquire regarding why the flight doesn't show up on the monitors and was awestruck by the answers I got: "The flight is cancelled due to weather conditions". When I asked for the reason why this information is not available on the monitors I was told that Turkish Airline didn't want to show it on the monitor!!!!! WHY?

Picture taken at 9.06. 34 minutes before scheduled departure.

No info regarding flight TK 1761 to Helsinki

I'm totally fine with the flight being cancelled but what pisses me off is that Turkish Airlines is not informing their passengers about the cancellation.

Went to Turkish Airlines transit desk where I received my new boarding pass for flight TK 1763 departing at 13.15 today. When I asked the staff why TK is not informing their passengers about the cancellation they couldn't give me an answer. The only thing I got was the telephone number to Turkish Airlines flight announcement office: +90 212 463 6363, extension 15588. I asked the transfer staff to make sure the flight status would be visible on the monitors because I guess I'm not the only passenger longing for this information regarding flight 1761.

10 minutes after I made the request regarding flight status updates on monitors nothing had happened (see picture above).

Went back to the lounge and when no info was available on the monitors at 9.15 I called the flight announcement office. I kindly asked them to updated info on the monitors, but without any luck as you can see from the picture below.

Picture taken at 9.33

So here I'm sitting writing out my frustration, waiting for the next flight. To conclude - I have never, ever experienced such negligent behaviour from any airline before. Every time there has been some sort of delays or cancellations the passengers have been informed about it. According to me the minimum demand, we as passengers, should expect from an airline is information about changes in schedules. In fact airlines have an obligation to inform their passengers about delays or cancellations. Based upon today's experience I can clearly say that Turkish Airlines is not living up to the regulations they should follow when flying in Europe i.e. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004.

@Turkish Airlines: Would have been a nice gesture of you to offer some meals or refreshment as stated in Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 article 9! But I guess these regulations are not for you to follow!?

Tickle all senses

As mentioned in my previous posting, colours plays an esential part in creating corporate identity - for good or bad. Most airlines are well aware of this and do their uttermost to create a visually appealing image onboard their planes.

But since traveling should be a holistic experience I think most airlines could improve alot on the audio side. Creating a corporate sound identity should be as important as creating a visual identity.

Finnair is almost done with their revamping of their visual identity except for the launch of the new crew uniforms that will take place on the 15th of this month. However, i still think Finnair lacks a sound identity.

From my childhood I remember when my family took the big white Silja Line ferries to Sweden. As soon as we entered the big ferry we were met by a really catchy theme song. Even today I connect this  song with happy memories connected to traveling. That is something you can call a good sound identity - if it even 30+ years later brings up good memories.



I'm not saying that Finnair should go in creating an annoying theme song like Turkish Airlines'.



However, I'm sure adding another sense into the travelling experience committs a passenger even more to the airline. What do you think?