Turkish Airlines flight compensation

After thoroughly planning your vacation, you receive a call from Turkish Airlines one week before your trip. They explain how your flight was cancelled, without offering too many details about what happened or what you can do about it. The airline provides reroute or the full refund of your ticket, though. What should you do? Are you entitled to claim flight compensation from Turkish Airlines?

Should you accept vouchers or claim flight delay compensation?

The national flag carrier of Turkey flies to over 300 destinations found in 122 countries, which is more than any other airline. Turkish Airlines has a fleet of approximately 340 aircraft and carried over 75 million passengers in the last year. When you book a flight with this airline, you never expect it to be delayed – or your boarding on the plane denied due to overbooking. What if Turkish Airlines offers vouchers as flight delay compensation? Should you accept it?

Before saying “yes” to their offer, ask the AirClaim experts about this situation. According to the European legislation EU 261 from 2004, if you travel from or to a European destination and your air journey is delayed by more than 3 hours, you may be entitled to up to 600 EUR in compensation. The exact amount of the reimbursement depends on the distance of your flight – but you will receive your flight delay compensation only if the disruption was caused by the airline or it was under Turkish Airlines’ control.

Therefore, their voucher might have less value than what you deserve for your loss of time. Plus, these vouchers can expire and can be used with only one airline. The AirClaim staff recommends requesting cash, cheques, or bank transfers when Turkish Airlines try to give vouchers for the delayed flight.

Can you get flight cancellation compensation one year after the event?

Whether your air journey with Turkish Airlines was delayed or cancelled one month back or one year ago, you might still be eligible for flight cancellation compensation. It depends on the country’s legislation – but as a general rule, compensation claims can be made up to 6 years ago. For more details about how far back can you request reimbursement, introduce your flight details on the AirClaim calculator and find how much you should receive from Turkish Airlines.

Was it cancelled because of “extraordinary circumstances”, or was the airline to blame? If it was a mechanical problem or other reasons that were under Turkish Airlines’ responsibility, they will probably rebook your flight as early as possible – so that you could reach your final destination at the original scheduled time. But if the reroute arrives with a delay of more than 3 hours, you are entitled to claim flight cancellation compensation from the airline – even if it happened over one year ago.

The AirClaim team recommends claiming flight compensation from Turkish Airlines as soon as you can. You shouldn’t wait for one year to write your compensation letter – you might forget details that are significant to request and receive reimbursement.