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An African friend of mine was traveling from Dar es Salaam to the UK (Manchester) and had an "Indefinite leave to remain" visa. His wife and children live in the UK.

He was flying on Turkish Airlines and was denied boarding the plane to Manchester at Ataturk Airport Istanbul when he was at the gate. The Turkish official would not explain the reasons or respond to questions of my friend but said the documents were not adequate and kept shouting "don't talk".

After 6 stressful hours and a lot of unpleasant chatting to other officials, my friend begged the police to help him. They organised a flight back to Tanzania using my friend's return ticket (which should have been in Jan 2017). He had no food or drink until he arrived back home.

Two days later he did fly to Manchester on another airline (Etihad) using the same documents which where accepted by both the airline and the immigration.

  1. How can you complain about the behavior of the offical at Ataturk airport?

  2. How can you claim compensation for the ticket if my friend has wrongly been denied boarding?

This cost my friend £800 and I'd like it to be investigated.

JonathanReez
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chris knibbs
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    Which country? Which airport? – Berwyn Aug 03 '16 at 15:54
  • Aaturk airport not allowing an African to enter UK – chris knibbs Aug 03 '16 at 15:59
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    Do note that immigration officials are allowed (and indeed, required) to discriminate based on nationality. – Peteris Aug 03 '16 at 16:01
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    Who did the official work for? The airline? – Zach Lipton Aug 03 '16 at 16:02
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    I assume this is related to this other post here – mts Aug 03 '16 at 16:04
  • this question doest not make any sense,however my previous travel from Attaturk airport immigration usually never stop people entering into Turkey or boarding to another country.However they are authorized to check and deny passengers borading to Uk with a valid reason – Ali Awan Aug 03 '16 at 16:12
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    I would focus on sending a complaint to whoever employs that official about the actions that were taken and why they were wrong, not whatever racial animosity you believe they held in their heart. Focus on what they said and did and that the documents he presented were valid for travel. If they said something racist, you could certainly include that when you tell the story of what happened. – Zach Lipton Aug 03 '16 at 16:19
  • He did have correct docs as he bought another ticket used ETIHAD airline via Abu Dhabi NOT Turkey no problem . The said official not sure if Gov or Airline would it discuss reasons kept saying " don't talk " – chris knibbs Aug 03 '16 at 16:27
  • Would not discuss * – chris knibbs Aug 03 '16 at 16:28
  • I have complained , they repeatedly argue that his documents were not adequate !! Even though £800 down and another airline same documents he arrived in UK 2 days later – chris knibbs Aug 03 '16 at 16:30
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    What you might find racist, the other person might not. So it will be better to think with a cool head. Is it plausible that your friend couldn't explain their situation properly or he(she)failed to realize that the airport officer couldn't get his(her) point. So rather than going down the racism path, better complain about the inadequacies of the officer. – DumbCoder Aug 03 '16 at 16:49
  • It is not even clear if racism is illegal in Turkey. Don't project your ethics on other countries' laws, that might not work. verify. – Aganju Aug 03 '16 at 18:49
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    @chrisknibbs I have edited your question to incorporate information from the related question (which I suppose is also yours) and comments and re-written the actual question to focus on the complaint and a possible compensation. I think it is more useful in general to other users now and easier to understand, but you can of course undo my edit if it is not what you would actually like to ask. – mts Aug 03 '16 at 22:17
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    @Karlson You know what's worse than people who see something happen and immediately assume it's racism? People who weren't even there but assume they know better than people who were that it wasn't racism... – user56reinstatemonica8 Aug 03 '16 at 22:54
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    @user568458 It may or may not have been racism. The problem is that racism is difficult to prove in any individual case, and the actual harm can get lost in arguments about it. "I was denied boarding with these documents, costing me a two day delay and $800" is less arguable. – Patricia Shanahan Aug 04 '16 at 02:59
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    @user568458 I am making no assumption whatsoever, so far the only clear thing that can be determined is that behavior of the immigration officer may have exceeded the authority given. There are no facts in the question or the comments to suggest that it was because the person was "an african". It is also highly unlikely that the Saudi family and the Turkish security personnel are of different races. Different ethnicities yes but not races. – Karlson Aug 04 '16 at 04:09
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    @Karlson Scroll up, your exact words were "That's not racism"... No might or maybe, no acknowledgement of any uncertainty, apparently you're 100% certain that you know better. Based on what evidence? Do you know the officer in question? Were you there? – user56reinstatemonica8 Aug 04 '16 at 08:40
  • What other reason could it be ? Refused boarding , could see my friend was distressed , no explanation, just stated inadequate visa ??? My friend tried to show evidence of a hospital letter that he was in UK 6 months earlier . He was desperate ! The official just kept putting his hand up saying "Don't talk " " Don't talk " – chris knibbs Aug 04 '16 at 08:57
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    Let's keep the comments about the OP's question please. I don't want to have to clean comments up here again. – Mark Mayo Aug 04 '16 at 13:50
  • For what it's worth, it was most likely THY/TGS staff denying your friend boarding. They're notoriously incompetent with document verification – Crazydre Oct 27 '19 at 11:52

2 Answers2

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How can you claim compensation for the ticket if my friend has wrongly been denied boarding?

Assuming the "Turkish official at the gate" was the Turkish Airlines agent (and not for example Turkish government official), then according to what you said and following the Turkish airlines Passengers Right document your friend should be eligible for "denied boarding" compensation.

Here your friend can go one of two routes:

  • Via normal channels (such as using Turkish Airline website, phones etc). Submit the copies of the documents, and the statement that exactly the same documents were presented, and were accepted by a different carrier later. This is typically the best route to start with.

  • Via informal channels (such as explaining the situation in a blog post, and spreading this information through various social media). This may be quite effective when normal channels do not work, depending on your and your friends' social media activity. Turkish Airlines does care about their image and good customer service, so they do tend to resolve the issues when they got nasty in social media (at least here in US) - even in cases where, in my opinion, the airline wasn't really at fault.

Your friend also has an option to sue them, but this is more difficult route, and requires reading at least his condition of carriage and laws of Tanzania (there's possibility, for example, that he'd have to file a lawsuit in Istanbul or some 3rd party country like Netherlands).

George Y.
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Just as George Y. answered the question on how can you claim compensation. There is another way through which you can claim.

First of all, it's clear that it's a mistake on the airline's side.

Secondly, you should know the real reason why he was denied boarding. It can be due to overbooked flights where the airlines have sold more tickets than the number of seats they have on their plane, also you are more likely to be bumped off if you are travelling alone. Hence, knowing the exact reason would help you fight for claim more strongly.

Thirdly, the airline was Turkish Airline and destination was Manchester Airport (both EU members) the EC Regulation 261/2004 applies.

According to EU rule the amount of compensation to which you are entitled varies depending on the distance of your destination; 250€ for flights of less than 1500 km, 400€ for flights from 1500 km to 3500 km and 600€ for flights of over 3500 km.

To claim the compensation you can either write a legal letter to the airline stating the inconvenience caused to you and claim compensation for the same. You can get the format for such a letter online just by searching "flight delay compensation letter template".

Another thing you can do is you can contact a claims expert online with the help of various claiming companies like Claim Flights, AirHelp, EUclaim, etc. You just have to fill out a form with all your flight details and they can help you get the compensation amount from the Airlines on your behalf.

Posting on social media and crying for help might not get you compensation but claiming for one can. To avoid such situations next time, check in before 24 hours, arrive at the destination early and carry all the correct documents.

Happy Flying, Clarke

Pramod K Ram
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Clarke Barry
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    When did Turkey join the EU? – mdewey Mar 07 '18 at 14:27
  • Turkey is not an EU member, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_European_Union But doesn't the airline have to comply with some EU rules to fly in and out of EU? – WGroleau Mar 07 '18 at 15:45
  • @WGroleau It's asymmetric. 261/2004 applies to departures from an EU member state, but when the departure point is outside the EU, it only applies to EU airlines. For this regulation, EU includes Switzerland, but AFAIK not Turkey. – user71659 Mar 08 '18 at 06:43
  • 3% of Turkey is in EU & remaining 97% in Asia. As the passenger was denied to board the plane at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul (which is in EU), he is applicable to claim denied boarding compensation. I hope this information will be useful for the stranded passengers who were denied boarding or if their flight were delayed or cancelled. – Clarke Barry Mar 08 '18 at 15:46
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    @ClarkeBarry the EU doesn't work like that. At all. –  Mar 21 '18 at 14:52
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    Turkey is partly in Europe, not in the EU. – Willeke Jun 20 '19 at 10:09