Turkish Airlines Not allowing to cancel/refund

b747400flyer

If anyone else is in the same position as myself, I would welcome any information advice.
I have booked flights with Turkish Airlines for the 1st August, returning 12th August. Because of uncertainty of Coronavirus, I have decided not to pay the balance on my villa, and have therefore forfeited my "non refundable deposit" with the villa management company. That's another story.
Since I will not be travelling to Turkey, I am trying to cancel my flights and get a refund. Turkish Airlines were due to resume on 28th May, then 10th June. So far, as I intended to travel in early August, my flight is not cancelled and therefore, my money is not covered by the airline cancelled flights and subsequent customer rights for a refund.
I am trying to elect to cancel my flights. I understand that as the flight is not cancelled by the airline, I will lose the booking fee. Unfortunately, Turkish Airlines website does not allow you to cancel your flights, there is no response to the customer support email addresses. The only reply I have received is by submitting a feedback email. The response has been that no refunds will be issued until 2 months after flights resume (which is after I am due to fly). The only options that the Turkish Airlines website allows is, change to an open ticket (until the end of the year), re-book another date, or refund in airmails to their airmails scheme. None of these options suit me. I understand that airlines want to hold onto cash at the moment, I also understand that there may be delays to refunds due to the current situation. Assuming flights resume tomorrow (my flight in 45 days), and I have to wait 2 months for a refund, If I do not fly, I will lose that money as a no-show! I would be happy for Turkish to cancel my flight, hold onto my money for a few months then refund, but they are not offering that option. It seems my only choice, to safeguard my money is to accept their offer to switch to an open ticket, and when flights resume, request a refund! I feel this is in contravention of customer rights. There is no-one to talk to on the phone, I only get unhelpful emails in poor Turkish/English translation, what can I do. My credit card company (Amex) will only consider an intervention once all avenues with the merchant have been exhausted, but I don't feel this situation would get the credit card to intervene.

Any help/similar stories?

[Deleted User]

Well the simple answer is that customers cannot choose to cancel the flights.   This has to come from the airlines and nobody knows what the state of play will be in August so IF you are hoping to cancel now and get a refund then I doubt very much you would be successful.

Your only choice at the moment is either accept a rebooking if this is what they have offered OR sit and wait it out to see if the flight is cancelled, in which case you will be entitled to a refund.

b747400flyer

I beg to differ. Turkish Airlines Terms and conditions state;

Under no circumstances is the ticketing service fee refunded. 

Cancelations/refunds cannot be made to a ticket with less than 1 hour remaining before departure. 

Cancelations/refunds cannot be made 1 – 12 hours before a flight. 

A TRY 150 deduction is made on cancelations or refunds made 12 hours or more before a flight and the remaining amount, minus the ticketing servicing fee, will be refunded. No refunds can be made to L/V/P/W/U classes. On Cyprus-Ercan flights, a TRY 180 deduction is made on cancelations or refunds made 12 hours or more before a flight and the remaining amount, minus the ticketing servicing fee, will be refunded. No refunds can be made to L/V/P/W/U classes. 

In case of no-show, ticket refunds cannot be made after the flight. Only landing charges are refunded. 

For flights that include connecting flights between Turkish Airlines and AnadoluJet, Turkish Airlines' cancelation/refund rules apply.

If the airline cancels the flight they are bound by Montreal, Warsaw and EU conventions, to offer refunds.

This is a simple case of Turkish preventing customers from cancelling, which is in breach of their terms. I get that there will be a delay on refunds, but that is not in question. They are preventing cancellation, favouring their other options

Essex_Jim

We have a variation on this with Turkish Airlines.

My daughter and her husband are travelling from Dubai where they have been working as Teachers. They booked with Turkish Dubai - Istanbul, two hours stop over, Istanbul - Heathrow. Booked flights together. Flying Friday 3rd July. Paid with a UK Credit card in GBP. Just found out that Dubai-Istanbul leg is cancelled. Trying to get a refund on Istanbul-Heathrow but Turkish will not refund. Would welcome peoples thoughts.