Passengers are entitled to claim compensation from Turkish Airlines when their flight is overbooked

Besides delays, flight cancellations and baggage incidents, another common problem when traveling by air is overbooking.

Overbooking or denied boarding occurs at Turkish Airlines when the latter sells more seats than the plane has. This is a legal business practice, allowed in the European Union.

Flight overbookings happen quite often at Turkish Airlines. Hundreds of travelers are affected every day. And fortunately, in this entitles them to monetary compensation.

In most cases, air carriers including Turkish Airlines do not inform passengers of their rights if there is a problem with the flight.

Passengers have also neither the experience nor the time to seek compensation for problems encountered along the way. Here’s what you need to know if you’re having trouble flying due to overbooking.

What can Turkish Airlines offer overbooked passengers?

What the airlines do is detect that there is a small portion of travelers who do not show up for boarding or who cancel their flights, and for this reason they issue a number of tickets slightly higher than the number of seats available on their plane. In the event of overbooking, passengers on a flight may be denied boarding by the air carrier.

Passengers should be aware of the reasons and timing of flight delays. You can try to get this information at the airline’s counter or on its website.

If you are at the airport and the flight was canceled due to the fault of the airline, the options are:

– Replacement flight as soon as possible;

– Change reservation to another suitable date;

– Refund of the ticket within one week.

For these options, please contact the airline counter. If you can’t find one, call the carrier’s office. However, you don’t have to pay anything. All costs are the responsibility of the carrier from which you purchased the ticket.

How to react at the airport and what are the documents to provide?

According to European law 261/2004 EC, if your Turkish Airlines flight is delayed for two hours due to overbooking, then you must receive cold drinks and snacks, the possibility of making two phone calls or sending two e-mails . Children and their companions must have a mother and child room.

After four hours of flight delay, a hot meal must be arranged. In Europe, in this case, vouchers are issued to visit a catering point. In Turkey, they most often do the same thing: they issue coupons for food in one of the restaurants or cafes at the airport.

After eight hours of daytime waiting or six hours of nighttime waiting, a hotel must be provided.

Passengers are transported free of charge to their accommodation and back to the airport. In this case, the carrier must take charge of your baggage and organize its storage, knowing that if the cumulative delay is five hours, you have the right to ask Turkish Airlines for a full refund of your ticket without this affecting your right to financial compensation.

Compensation granted to passengers who are victims of overbooking with Turkish Airlines

The amount of compensation for overbooked flights depends on the legislation governing the flight.

Substantial compensation of up to 600 euros is due if the flight falls under EU Regulation 261/2004. This document applies to flights within the European Union, departing from airports in the EU and Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, as well as flights from European carriers arriving at airports in the EU. If a European airline flies from America or Asia to Europe, this is also assessed under European law.

Compensation can be claimed for a flight delayed by more than three hours, denied boarding, flights delayed or canceled for technical reasons, due to the fault of the airline. The limitation period for a claim varies from three to six years, depending on the laws of the countries to which the air carrier is subject.

The compensation paid to the passenger suffering the overbooking is assessed according to the distance of the flight. Knowing that the delay that must be accumulated on the arrival of the replacement flight must be greater than three to have access to this right, the compensation offered to the traveler is:

– 250euros on a short distance flight (- 1500km);

– 400euros on a medium distance flight (+1500km / -3500km);

– 600euros on a long distance flight (+3500km).

The examination of the claim for compensation lasts on average twelve weeks.

What are the types of overbooking?

There are two types of overbooking namely:

– Voluntary

The airline must reimburse the ticket, offer alternative transport, and other benefits such as checks or travel vouchers, cash, upgrade to Business class, etc. This action prevents any subsequent claim.

– Non-voluntary

The airline must reimburse the ticket, offer alternative transport and financial compensation.