Istanbul International Airport (IST) review: I'll never fly via Istanbul Airport again.

I wrote the following letter and sent it to Turkish Airlines ten hours after my arrival to my final destination, Vancouver, Canada.
I have yet to hear from them.

I am writing to let you know of the ordeal I faced while at Istanbul Airport.

I had booked two business class seats for my 95-year-old husband and myself on a flight from Cairo, Egypt, to Vancouver, Canada, on March 26, yesterday, with a 7-hour layover in Istanbul. I didn’t mind the 7 hours because I knew that the lounge in Istanbul was excellent, and there were suites where you can lie down for a few hours.
Before I go into my complaint, I must say that the crew on the plane was excellent and service exceptional. The same goes for the Business Lounge. It is the service at the airport which left me fuming with anger.
I had asked specifically for assistance to the seat on the flight since my husband’s mobility is restricted; he is 95 years old, has COPD, and can’t take more than a couple of steps. Instead, we were left to walk, take several wheelchair rides, and even more buggies rides plus wait for hours between one means of transportation and the other. Upon arrival at Istanbul, we were picked by wheelchairs but left stranded at a makeshift station with other passengers for half an hour, then a buggy picked us up to a point then we had to walk a distance then wait at another station for another half an hour. May I remind you that we had asked for assistance to the seat. When I asked when we can go to the lounge to relax, the employee said, “You have time. Wait.” Well, I didn’t pay a business ticket to wait at a station; I paid for a business ticket to be treated with respect and get the service I need.
Later, the trip from the lounge to the gate was even worse. They came to pick us up from the lounge very early, way over two hours before our flight to Vancouver, only to take us to yet another station where dozens of passengers were waiting to be transferred to their gates…all elderly by the way. No, we weren’t picked up from the station but were asked to walk to the elevator to a floor downstairs for a buggy ride. I thought we were going to the gate, but the buggy dropped us at what I would call the “Lost and Found” for passengers. Chaos presided over that station. Hundreds were waiting; no one knew what was happening, passengers were worried and scared, and there was no place to sit.
One employee came and read a few names and asked us to stand against a wall in the corner like naughty children in a classroom, and he then asked us to take yet another elevator. When I told him my husband can’t stand let alone walk from and to the elevator, his response was, “then he will miss his flight” and when I argued, he said, “you too will miss your flight.” He told an elderly woman, almost in tears, if she can’t walk to the elevator, she will miss her flight, too. Is this how you treat your precious passengers? How dare he treat us this way? If these employees are not trained to be respectful, they will basically destroy your name as a respectful airline and your airport in general.
We were then hurled into another buggy and finally dropped at the gate. This was after at least 8 buggy/wheelchair rides, down elevators, and walks. May I remind you that I had asked for assistance to the seat? If you don’t have that facility, you should have told us, and we would have found an airline that does help passengers to their seats.

You have a beautiful but unwalkable airport. If you can’t serve those who can’t walk the 20 minutes between one gate and another, then your airport should serve only Gen Z, and anyone over 60 or 70 will find another airline and a walkable airport.
Unfortunately, I still have a return ticket with Turkish Airline. After that, if this is the treatment I’ll get, I will never fly Turkish Airline again.
We were so badly treated that I’m writing to you only a few hours after my arrival. I am expecting an apology and a compensation. If I don’t receive them asap, I will have this letter posted on all my social media sites (in Arabic, too.) Facebook, Twitter, and Bluesky with the headline “Never fly Turkish Airlines.”

Azza Radwan Sedky, Ph.D.
March 26 traveller from Cairo, Egypt, to Vancouver, Canada.