Turkish Airlines has now canceled flights to over 70 countries and they are trying to keep up with the thousands of customers who have been trying to rebook or figure out what happens with canceled flights. Fortunately, Turkish Airlines has updated the policy about changes – which is great if you still want to fly with them. But, if you want your money back, that is probably going to be a bit harder.
New Turkish Airlines Change Policy Means No Fare Increase or Change Fee
The old policy kept changing a bit but was like everyone else – you can make changes for a one-time waiver of the change fee but changes were limited to the end of the year (May 31 for older tickets) and you were on the hook for any fare difference.
Fortunately, they have now updated this policy to allow you to book any flight even with a new destination as long as it is in the same region and you won’t pay a change fee or a fare difference. This essentially would allow you to make changes to a new city and to even make that change for peak season without it costing you anything.
In addition, you could also just cancel your ticket for now (up to one hour before the flight) and get what they call “Open Ticket” which would allow you to book any time you want later. The only catch? The trip must be completed by February 28, 2021. Not bad!
But, again, the new policy doesn’t say a thing about a refund. Fortunately, this new policy could actually end up helping you out a lot more if your new trip idea has higher priced tickets. Now, you won’t have to pay a fare difference but can just change out the ticket for whatever the new one costs.
Here are the policies, as found on this page. Note that Turkish does change up the page every day or so and whatever policy is in effect at the time is what you will deal with (but, they are mostly minor changes).
Turkish Airlines Change Policy
We are applying Zero Change Fee and Change to Open Ticket policies for domestic and international flights, so that you can plan your travel with more flexibility, comfort and peace of mind.
- If your travel has been rescheduled, you can benefit from the Zero Change Fee right and re-plan your flight comfortably.
- If you have not yet planned your trip, you can benefit from the Change to Open Ticket right and utilize it after your plans are made.
And on top of that – no extra fees for ticket changes or fare differences!
Please review the table below to ensure that your international flightticket corresponds with the terms listed. If so, you can benefit from the Zero Change Fee or Change to Open Ticket rights.
Other terms and conditions
- A ticket change can be made for a flight in the same region as the original destination.
- Change requests can be made through the Turkish Airlines sales offices, call center, and agencies from which the ticket was purchased.
- The right to Zero Change Fee is for one time only.
- Within the scope of the right to Change to Open Ticket, the current ticket should be cancelled before the day of flight.
- Reservation cancellations made in order to change the ticket to an open ticket must be performed via the Turkish Airlines call center, sales offices or the agencies from which the ticket was purchased.
- Open tickets can be ticketed only once more without paying an additional fee.
- Flights between Turkey and Ercan Airport are not considered as international flights.
Thanks for this information! I was just now able to change a domestic flight scheduled in early April to an open ticket. Since I won’t be able to travel to Turkey for the next few months, I thought I would miss the flight and lose the ticket value.
Do you know if award flights are included?
At this point, airlines are asking you to delay contacting them to change your flights unless you are flying in the next 72 hours. If you can’t get through via phone, try the airline’s social media channels. Many rebookings or refunds can be processed over Twitter, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.