Turkish Airlines Check-In Ordeal: Discomfort for Disabled Passengers

On June 4, 2024, at 01:30, my father, who is disabled, had a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Samsun. Around midnight, I entered Istanbul Airport and informed Turkish Airlines at the gate about the wheelchair. I sent my daughter to the Turkish Airlines counter for check-in, but unfortunately, the staff there said they couldn't proceed without seeing the patient and delayed sending the wheelchair for 10 minutes. By the time it arrived and we cleared security, considerable time had passed. They didn't check us in until 00:45, causing the flight to depart 30 minutes late. While we sometimes wait hours for a flight to depart, it's shameful that the system doesn't allow for a two-minute delay for a disabled passenger. A company named Turkish Airlines should not subject a disabled Turkish citizen to such treatment. Ultimately, even if the passenger arrives slightly late, they're still disabled. Procedures should be flexible for disabled individuals. If the check-in process were done online for disabled passengers, we wouldn't encounter such issues. They canceled the ticket just because the lady at the check-in counter insisted, forcing me to buy a new ticket. While purchasing the ticket, the person issuing it even said, "The plane is already delayed, why didn't they process your check-in?" They tried but couldn't do anything. While one staff member tried to resolve the issue, another refused to assist the disabled passenger. Their defense was, "You should have arrived two hours early" or "one hour." Because check-in takes a long time. Not only did they refuse to check in, they also removed the disabled, 75-year-old passenger from the wheelchair. Shameful. I fought hard to avoid conflict. (Everyone is a potential disabled person.) How can you make a disabled citizen wait two hours at Istanbul Airport? They're already struggling. And now we're told we should have been there two hours early for check-in. Look at their defense. May God save us from Turkish Airlines. They're ruining people's tickets like this. Otherwise, how will they pay the 1,200,000 TL salary? Even foreign companies operating airlines are far better than Turkish Airlines. And then they say, "Let it be national." If a Turkish company does this to a disabled Turkish citizen, woe unto us.