Adventures in returning home
10 December 2025 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
expedition_retirementWhile we were exploring the town of Korčula, we received notifications from Turkish Airlines that our flight from Zagreb to Istanbul, the first leg of our trip home, was canceled. That evening, I tried to use the Turkish Airlines website to change our flight, but kept getting error messages. The next day, I tried installing the airline's app on my phone, and was able to rebook our return itinerary using a later flight from Zagreb. Unfortunately, this later flight from Zagreb would get us into Istanbul about midnight, with an 8 hour layover before our flight home to the US.
There was someone else on our trip who was scheduled to be on that morning flight from Zagreb to Istanbul, but she had booked her airfare through the tour company, so she was letting the tour company deal with the cancelation. Ultimately, they determined that Turkish Airlines had apparently re-instated the flight and she proceeded to fly home on her original itinerary. After learning that the original flight was back on, I checked the app, but discovered that Turkish Airlines wanted to charge us to change back to our original itinerary. At no point did we receive any notification from Turkish Airlines that our original flight was re-instated, nor did they make any offer to change us back to our original itinerary. They also never provided any details as to the reason the flight was "canceled" in the first place.
In any event, we survived the long voyage home, with the exhausting overnight layover at the Istanbul airport. Once we got home, I contacted Turkish Airlines to request the compensation we are entitled to under EU Regulation 261/2004 because of the delay we incurred because of the cancelation. However, they maintain that they are not obligated to pay us any compensation because the flight operated as scheduled. We have filed a complaint with the EU authorities in Croatia to appeal that decision by Turkish Airlines, although we are not optimistic that we will actually receive any compensation.
There was someone else on our trip who was scheduled to be on that morning flight from Zagreb to Istanbul, but she had booked her airfare through the tour company, so she was letting the tour company deal with the cancelation. Ultimately, they determined that Turkish Airlines had apparently re-instated the flight and she proceeded to fly home on her original itinerary. After learning that the original flight was back on, I checked the app, but discovered that Turkish Airlines wanted to charge us to change back to our original itinerary. At no point did we receive any notification from Turkish Airlines that our original flight was re-instated, nor did they make any offer to change us back to our original itinerary. They also never provided any details as to the reason the flight was "canceled" in the first place.
In any event, we survived the long voyage home, with the exhausting overnight layover at the Istanbul airport. Once we got home, I contacted Turkish Airlines to request the compensation we are entitled to under EU Regulation 261/2004 because of the delay we incurred because of the cancelation. However, they maintain that they are not obligated to pay us any compensation because the flight operated as scheduled. We have filed a complaint with the EU authorities in Croatia to appeal that decision by Turkish Airlines, although we are not optimistic that we will actually receive any compensation.