Open letter to Turkish Airlines > Lost Luggage

Italian version : Turkish Airlines complaint – M. BEVERARI flight TK0825 – ITA
French version : Turkish Airlines complaint – C. MAZEROLLES flight TK0825 – FR

Turkish Airlines
ATATÜRK HAVA LİMANI DIŞ HATLAR TERMİNALİ YEŞİLKÖY
(0212) 465 23 88

Paris, 10^th January 2015

Dear Sir/Madam,

THE FACTS

Sunday 4th January 2015, on bord Turkish Airlines flight TK0825 from Beirut to Istanbul.

We boarded the flight at 3pm at Rafic Hariri airport in Beirut with our hand luggage but, on arriving at our seats (30E, 30F), we found there was no space in the overhead lockers. The air hostess at the rear of the plane (blonde with blue eyes) therefore took our hand luggage (1 grey bag, 1 black bag) and asked us to sit down. She assured us she would come back to us once boarding was finished.

On taking our seats, we clearly saw the hostess take our 2 bags to the front of the plane and hand them to one of her colleagues, a tall and dark-haired man. 5 minutes later (before take-off), this steward came over to us and requested our boarding passes. He only took one and went back to the front of the plane. Please find below a picture of the remaining boarding pass, which we kept.

The plane took off without any more news from the hostess or steward regarding our hand luggage.

90 minutes later, we landed at Atatürk airport in Istanbul. Before leaving the plane, we asked our air hostess at the back of the plane for our hand luggage. In broken English, she told us that our bags were put in the hold of the plane and that we would find them along with all the other hold luggage on the airport conveyor belt at arrivals.

As you may have guessed, our hand luggage never arrived on the conveyor belt, either in Istanbul (our stop-over) or in Venice (our final destination).

OUR QUESTIONS FOR TURKISH AIRLINES

1. All airlines give customers the right to keep their hand luggage with them on board in order to protect their most precious belongings. Why were we refused this right despite our hand luggage respecting the weight and size restrictions?
2. Airlines have the obligation to give passengers a receipt ticket for all hold luggage. Why didn’t the plane’s crew (air hostess or steward) give us a receipt ticket for our hand luggage if this was placed in the hold?
3. Flight crews must be transparent with airline customers, especially regarding the customers’ most precious personal belongings. Why did the air hostess and steward not tell us before take-off that our hand luggage was being placed in the hold? Why did the steward only take one boarding pass instead of both? Why were we given no receipt ticket for the bags? Why were we given no update on our bags during the flight?

WHAT WE EXPECT FROM TURKISH AIRLINES

1. We demand to know exactly what happened with the handling of our hand luggage by the crew of flight TK0825 from Beirut to Istanbul. In particular, we wish to know if the crew followed standard procedure.
2. If our hand luggage really was placed in the hold of the plane, we wish to know how these bags were registered/checked so as to allow for their identification on arrival at Atatürk airport in Istanbul. Did the crew register/check our bags manually? If so, with what information? Finally, was this information correct or sufficient?
3. If Turkish Airlines has lost our hand luggage, we expect to be fully reimbursed for our belongings and compensated for the prejudice by Turkish Airlines. Indeed, the crew of Turkish Airlines flight TK0825 is entirely responsible for this situation and we are entirely victims.

In case of no due answer from your side, we will be reporting this as a theft with relevant authorities.

Yours faithfully,

Magda Beverari & Charles-Louis Mazerolles
presse@levinparfait.com