Summary
- Turkish Airlines and its subsidiary, AnadoluJet, canceled over 100 flights attributable to technology malfunctions.
- Passengers affected by the flight cancelations can request refunds and will likely be allowed to vary their bookings freed from charge.
- The problem with the airline’s system affected not only departures from Istanbul but in addition worldwide flights, causing frustration and chaos amongst passengers.
Turkish Airlines abruptly canceled over 100 flights on Wednesday attributable to technology malfunctions. The problem also involves the carrier’s low-cost subsidiary, AnadoluJet, and reportedly impacts flights scheduled through Thursday.
The airline is offering refunds and no change fees to affected passengers, however the complications resulted in several passengers lined up on the carrier’s ticketing desks at Istanbul Airport (IST). To help travelers, officials on the airport provided free web connectivity
Ticketing and reservation interruptions
Turkish posted on social media, alerting passengers of the problems with its system around 17:30 local time in Istanbul on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the announcement didn’t indicate any flight disruptions on the time.
“As a consequence of our infrastructure works, there are interruptions in ticketing and reservation processes. We’re working constantly to make your channels accessible as soon as possible. We kindly ask you to follow up-to-date information on our Social Media accounts.”
Photo: Ancapital | Shutterstock
Three hours later, at around 20:30, the airline announced that flights from IST and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) with departures between 19:00 and 22:00 were canceled. In accordance with Flightradar24.com, the three-hour window affected 92 flights departing from IST and 14 from SAW. Turkish operates its hub at IST, while AnadoluJet’s hub is at SAW.
Nearly 400 flight disruptions at IST
Although the airline confirmed the cancelations through the three hours, FlightAware data indicates that several more flights were affected at IST, including greater than 200 delays. As of twenty-two:25 on Wednesday, Turkish had 136 cancelations and 237 delays, accounting for 12% and 22% of its operation, respectively.
Among the many delays appears to be a world flight inbound from South Korea, in keeping with Efe Hepkorucu, who said his wife’s flight was delayed.
Hepkorucu wrote on the social media platform X.
In accordance with FlightAware, TK91 was scheduled to depart from Incheon International Airport at 00:15 KST on Thursday but was delayed greater than 4 hours with an updated departure time of 04:30.
Photo: Aermedia | Shutterstock
One other X user showcased the chaos seen Wednesday evening at Turkish’s terminal at IST.
The operator of IST, Istanbul Grand Airport (iGA), said that free WiFi connectivity was activated within the terminal to help passengers with their inquiries.
the operator said.
Adjustments and refunds
Turkish announced late Wednesday that passengers on the affected flights through Thursday will likely be allowed to vary their bookings freed from charge. Moreover, no-show penalties wouldn’t be charged to travelers who haven’t taken motion though the time of their flight had passed. The carrier also said unused tickets, including tickets on partially accomplished itineraries, will likely be refunded with none deductions.
Easy Flying contacted the Turkish for added details concerning the technology issues on Wednesday. A representative couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.