Airline review: Aegean Airlines--excellent; Turkish Airlines--terrible!

view of Santorini's caldera

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

We’re in Istanbul at the end of a trip to Greece, Albania and Istanbul.  We’ve flown Aegean Airlines, which we’ve never flown before, and Turkish, which we’ve flown many times, all over Turkey and Central Asia, for many years.  I’ve had great experiences and always recommended Turkish to other travelers.  Until now.  Never again will I recommend them nor will I fly Turkish unless I have no other choice.

Booking logistics:

I booked our flights to Athens and home from Istanbul on United because both Aegean and Turkish are Star Alliance partners, so booking on United was easier and cheaper than booking 3 different itineraries. Plus, when United changed our flight from Denver to London by 3 hours, it also automatically changed our flight from London to Athens on Aegean.  United gave me locator numbers for both Aegean and Turkish flight segments in addition to United’s locator number.  

We flew Aegean 6 times, from London to Athens, Athens to Santorini and back, Athens to Rhodes and back, and Athens to Tirana, Albania.  I booked the London to Athens flight on United and the rest on Aegean’s website.

I booked Tirana to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines’ website and Istanbul to London, as part of our round trip, on United’s website.

Why I'll never recommend or fly Turkish again:

First, the bad news.  Turkish canceled its flight from Tirana to Istanbul and moved us to Air Albania, which it said was a partner and code share airline.  When I tried to book seats using my Turkish reservation, Turkish told me they couldn’t book the seats because it was a code share flight, not a Turkish Airlines flight.  Air Albania said they couldn’t reserve the seats because it was a Turkish reservation.  I was not able to check in on either Turkish or Air Albania websites, so had to wait in line at the airport in Tirana to get seats and boarding passes.

I tried tor 2 months to reserve seats on our flight from Istanbul to London, the one I booked as part of our round trip on United’s website.  Turkish customer service, if you can call it that, insisted they could not reserve seats because it was a United reservation.  United said they couldn’t see a seat map for Turkish—and the Turkish website told me that I could not access my reservation on their website even with their locator code.

I even went to 2 Turkish customer service agents at the Istanbul airport and both told me I could not reserve seats or check in online, despite having the Turkish locator number, because I’d booked via United.  This, of course, is ridiculous as every other partner airline I’ve used can let you reserve seats and check-in online or by calling their customer service representative.  Consequently, we had bad seats at the back of the plane on a seriously overbooked flight from Istanbul to London (at least we had seats).

Contrary to all our past experiences, Turkish customer agents and flight attendants were surly and rude.  Not an experience I want to repeat when there are much better choices for flying.

Why I'll recommend and fly Aegean from now on:

Now, to the good news.  Aegean Airlines was terrific to fly.  We flew a total of 6 flights on Aegean and had a great experience on every one of them, from booking to selecting seats online to checking in online to actual flying.  Their website is easy to use and, if you have to call them, their customer service agents are helpful.

I always book seats in advance because, if you don’t do, you can get to the airport and find that your flight is oversold and you don’t have a seat.  Booking seats in advance on Aegean was very easy.  For the flight I booked via United, I simply used the Aegean locator number United provided and my reservation came up with all the options I needed for the flight.  Check in was very simple, as well.  I added the Aegean app to my phone and the boarding passes popped up as soon as I checked in.  No fuss.

For the flights I booked on Aegean, I booked seats on their website and checked in easily on their app on my phone.  The airport staff were helpful and pleasant and the flight attendants, likewise.

Our plane from Rhodes to Athens had a mechanical problem and couldn't fly.  Rather than cancelling the flight, as most airlines would do, Aegean flew in another plane, so, amazingly, we landed in Athens only an hour late.  I’ve never seen that kind of operations readiness and customer service before on any airline.

Whenever I travel in this region again, I will avoid Turkish and fly Aegean.  The former is unprepared and unprofessional while Aegean provided excellent service.