THY Denied Boarding for Pregnant Passenger, Luggage Damage, Flight Delays

I wasn’t planning to share this experience publicly, but after my recent international flight, I felt compelled to do so to highlight how indifferent and unhelpful Turkish Airlines (THY) has been. For our flight from JFK to IST on October 11, my wife—who is 7 months pregnant, with a doctor’s note—and my 6-year-old son arrived at the airport at midnight for our 7:00 AM flight. Surprisingly, the 00:00 flight had not yet departed. We inquired with the officials about the possibility of boarding that flight since there appeared to be plenty of seats (as we checked online). Initially, they said it was possible, but later, after a THY representative from New York arrived, they demanded $500 per person to board the flight. Naturally, we refused and decided to wait. We spent 7 hours at the airport, only for our flight to finally depart at 09:00, over two hours late. To make matters worse, just as we were boarding, an officer complained that despite having a valid report, my wife’s documentation was considered expired, and we were delayed until a new report arrived. We were treated as if we were at fault. Additionally, our two suitcases were damaged, and we were unfairly blamed for it. When I asked how we managed to travel with a pregnant wife, a child, and four suitcases without wheels, there was no answer. In Istanbul, we applied for compensation for the damaged suitcases. Although they initially took our application and assured us that we would be refunded, they later informed us that no compensation would be provided and closed the case. I wasn't going to share this until I faced further issues with our connecting flights. None of the planes departed on time, and I had purchased cabin luggage to avoid checking in our damaged bags. Despite this, our connecting flight to Ankara was delayed by 1.5 hours. When attempting to check in, I encountered errors and struggled to reach the call center, where they claimed no seats were available. Fortunately, an airport official helped me check in and informed me that if I had arrived just five minutes later, there would have been no seats left. In conclusion, Turkish Airlines is seriously damaging its reputation and needs to make significant improvements.