This time my experience was very bad. The Turkish Airlines changed my flight from Erbil to Istanbul from 8:15 AM to 11:20 AM few days before the trip. This made my transit in Istanbul about ONE hour. I have a special needs child and need extra time to navigate the huge new Istanbul airport with a child. To make the matter even more stressful the flight took off about 20 minutes late from Erbil which made our transit even shorter (around 40 minutes). The Turkish Airlines failed me on too many points despite clearly asking for help and as follows: 1. I asked the checking agent in Erbil for seats at the front of the plane to exit first and he stated the closest one is in the middle of the plane and I should ask the flight crew for help 2. I asked the boarding agent in Erbil to ask the flight crew to let us out first since we don’t have much transit time and she said she can’t and they wouldn’t listen to her anyway. 3. When we boarded I specifically asked the cabin crew chief the same request and after some discussion he wanted to get rid of me and said, they will help when we land. I again politely reminded the same person to help us when we exit before landing and this time he stated he would NOT be able to even announce to the passenger to let the people which short transit first and I should just deal with it like other passengers. He also told me to ask for help from the airlines staff at the gate when we get to the airport. This is very rude coming from the Cabin Crew chief. 4. I asked the airline crew at the gate which he had a cell phone to call the gate of my flight to inform them we are on our way and the agent pretended he didn’t speak English… Frustrating 5. I went to the Golf Card station (used to transfer passenger in the large airport) and asked for a ride and the driver there “shooed” me away pretending he doesn’t understand English while looking into his phone constantly telling me “Go this way, Go this way”. I saw first-hand other well able passengers on these cards and Turkish looking families get help on our way … which is clear discriminations. 6. We finally got to the Gate as one of the last people and we didn’t even use the bathroom on our way and made it back to Canada. I am extremely frustrated with the TKY this time and feel discriminated against just because I look from the Middle East despite I am and my child are Canadian. The Turkish Airlines operations failed me on too many points this time.
