Turkish Airlines Experience

Thanks for the candid and balanced review. You two have my sympathy for the phone loss. That really bites. Hopefully you can succeed with the insurance claim.

Based on your description of the flight delay, you and your spouse may/should be
eligible for EC261 compensation of 600 EUR apiece, since you were delayed by a
full day.

You should check the Turkish Airlines website for how to apply. If they agree, there
are various ways the airlines will compensate you. It can sometimes be a fight to get
the compensation approved, but if it was indeed a mechanical failure, it's a pretty cut
and dry situation.

That would ease the loss of the phone.

Just a thought, have you contacted the RS office (assuming you were going on an RS tour)
to see if maybe one of their people could pick the phone up and somehow get it back to the
US?

So sorry about both instances on your vacation. Would it be possible to employ the services of a courier? I'd be very cautious about defining for myself what "theft" is when it comes to filing a claim with your insurance..

That is a bummer about the phone. Perhaps someone in the forum is heading to Istanbul soon and could do a good deed. And that is wise counsel about knowing your options. As a west coast flier from an airport that offers very few direct Europe flights, often only one per day (or every other day) that's always a calculated risk for me. I'm sorry it didn't go well for you this time.

Have you asked Turkish Airlines if they would release the phone to someone you designate? If so, maybe someone here could pick it up for you and then ship it to you once they brought it back to North America.

I’d offer to do it, but you would need to be very patient - I’m flying through Istanbul (on Turkish Airlines) but not until next October. It’s a popular airline, I’m sure somebody here will be transiting IST soon. Just a thought.

ETA: Upon rereading your post, I now see that they did offer you the option to have someone pick it up for you. There’s your solution. I’m sure someone here will be going through IST fairly soon. I’d suggest you post a separate post with an appropriate subject line (eg “anyone flying home from Istanbul soon? Reward for bringing my phone home” or something similar, and work out the details. Pick someone with an extensive history here rather than a brand new member.

I’ll do it for you if you don’t mind waiting until October. I’m pretty sure you can do better than that.

You file an insurance claim for 'theft', for an item you left behind, could get you in trouble for insurance fraud. ( you may not get prosecuted, but it would not be surprising if they dropped you and left you with a record of submitting fraudulent claim and making you unappealing to any other carrier)

A bit surprised that Turkish Air is unwilling to send it back by charging a 'handling fee' plus shipping cost..

Personally I would hire someone to pick it up (one of the options they gave you). That and the shipping might cost a few hundred.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. However, I disagree with point #1. If you go with this, you are really limiting yourself and then signing up for taking connecting flights which a lot of folks on this forum are loathe to do. I am happy that I have the TK flights from DEN, albeit only 3 times a week.

2 options. Can you check if TK can sent the phone on their daily flight and hand it to the ground staff in Houston for you to retrieve it? Option 2, if TK will let you designate someone to pick up the phone in IST, I’ll be happy to help out as I will pass through there on my way to West Africa in mid Jan though will only return to the US in mid-Feb. If the latter works, please find out where the pickup point is and the hours of operations.

@ jesteinkamp

Let me summarise the facts as I read them.

You left a valuable item on a Turkish Airlines aircraft, which apparently landed in Istanbul.

Turkish Airlines cleaners found your item and turned it over to management.

Management has your valuable item stored in a secure location for you without charge.

Turkish Airlines has offered you options of how to recover your valuable item. They do not suit you.

I suggest you approach your State Department and request them to have the Embassy in Istanbul recover the valuable item for you and have it returned to you in Houston. Without charge as you are a USA citizen.

It is not theft. To suggest otherwise is possibly libelous.

You have political representatives at both state and federal level. Use them. Best wishes with that.

Regards Ron

I am of the same mind as Mr E. Pay a service. I see there is a post office at the airport and a UPS desk. Also, you might reach out to the airport guest services and advise of your situation. Surely if Turkish air is consistent on their policy, this need must come up all the time. Lastly, Rick Steve's Tours uses SRM("[email protected]" ) Travel as their partner in Turkey. If you sent them a kind note advising of your situation, they might have a recommendation for you. They are connected. Good Luck.

Don't fly on an airline that has only one departure per day from your home airport.

This is the typical flyer situation, not something that can be easily avoided.

You are not clear what insurance you want to use (phone carrier, travel, homeowner’s) but the coverage for loss whether theft or carelessness should be identical. The deductible for homeowner’s will be greater than the cost of the phone.

Thanks for all the responses. Great suggestions from the Forum which I plan to pursue!

Honestly, can’t wait to hear what the embassy and our elected officials do.

But honestly, do we really think a lost phone is worthy of an international incident?

What’s next if they don’t give it to the embassy does Donald declare a travel ban on Turkey?

Personally I would hire someone to pick it up (one of the options they gave you).

I would definitely check into this and see what can be done. You can reach out to Rick's office and see if they can provide you with one of their guides or contacts. You going to need someone in Istanbul that has the necessary contacts with Turkish Air to see what can be really arranged.

Honestly, can’t wait to hear what the embassy and our elected officials do.

Nothing as this is not a diplomatic issue.

The reason that they wont ship it for you is that no good deed goes unpunished; and this would be a perfect opportunity to prove that. They arent going to carry your phone around to a shipping company, fill out customs forms and address labels. and make payments on your behalf. What if they make a mistake? This is not their business. If it never shows up are you going to say, "well, you tried"? or are you going to demand that they replace it because they lost it or did an address wrong or US customs rejected it or ..... I think I know the answer. Call and tell them you are going to send someone and ask what form of ID they will require to hand over the phone then get on the internet and find someone. I bet I could in less than a day.

—-Honestly, can’t wait to hear what the embassy and our elected officials do.—-

This reminds me of the posters who told Paris metro ticket controllers who were giving them fines that the American Embassy would be hearing about this.

No, not a State Dept, Embassy, or elected officials incident Tassie. At least not in the giant USA.
His wife forgot her new phone and they have to hire a private service to get it back.

Ask the consulate if they can stop by Yalla Falafel in Beşiktaş and pick you up a few dozen to ship with the phone. That would be great.

Here's the issue.....you left the phone. Technically, this is not Turkish Airline's problem or responsibility. It was not checked luggage.

Someone found it and turned it in. They are nice enough to hold it for you and said you, or someone you designate, could come pick it up.

They won't ship it to you. If they do, they are agreeing to be responsible for the phone. If i gets lost, if it is broken, and the like, they have agreed to take responsibility for the phone. If it arrives broken, technically, you could hold them responsible. You could sue. They don't want that.

The US embassy or consulate is not a messenger service. They also don't want to take responsibility.

Unfortunately, in this situation, you have two choices....go to Istanbul to pick it up or find someone willing to take on the responsibility.

If neither, then I would also suggest looking at your insurance policy. Are lost phones covered? If so, what is the coverage and what is the deductible. Does it pay to put in a claim?

Don't not put in a claim for theft. This is not theft. Should the insurance company investigate and find out your phone is in Istanbul, and you knew it, you could get in trouble for insurance fraud. If anything, you'll lose your policy and may have trouble getting another one. At worst, they could have you prosecuted.

The US embassy or consulate is not a messenger service. They also
don't want to take responsibility.

FrankII does that mean no falafels?

But I would call a flight attnedant I know that works for Qatar Airways and does the Doha to Itanbul flight every day. I imagine the most it would cost would be a really nice meal at Felix the next time she is in town. I suspect we Turkish Air would be happy with a statement giving them permission to hand it over to her with out a lot of power of attorney nonsense. The point, is, ask Turkish Air. Find out what they require then try and find someone outside of a professional channel. Because doing this professionally might cost more than the phone is worth. If you have already insulted them, then maybe not. But it might be a good opportunity to thank them for finding it and taking care of it. An organization with less credibility and you might expect it to be on display in a shop on a local street corner by now.

I expect that you are going to have to jump through all of the hoops to get it shipped to you. Terrorists and criminals would love to get their hands on an iphone. Both Turkish and American customs officers will probably scrutinize it on its journey back to its owner.

A round trip nonstop flight from IAH to IST in economy is $1749. You can buy a new phone for less than that.

It would be worth a phone call to both your carrier and Apple to see what can be done.