Stranded at the airport

My wife and daughter travelled to Manchester, England last month via a Turkish-based airline. They departed on July 29 and had a two-hour layover at the Istanbul airport. While they were waiting at the boarding gate, the airline’s ground staff informed them that their connecting flight was cancelled – although there was no official announcement and surprisingly the flight departed as per the schedule.

My wife and daughter protested but the manager misbehaved and forced them to purchase a new ticket for a Istanbul-Manchester flight, which cost $505, and was scheduled for the next day. They had to incur other expenses as well – food, accommodation, visa for staying in Istanbul for a night. The purpose of sharing the incident is to alert travellers. The relevant authorities should also investigate why such incidents keep occuring. It is dishonest to not let ticket holders board the plane.

Arif Majeed

Karachi