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Turkish Airlines just cancelled my flight (Isfahan-Vienna) one week before my travel date, due to health concerns about Corona. They actually cancelled all flights from Iran. They told me my flight will be fully refunded. I have actually bought a refundable ticket. But now I have to buy another ticket from another airline and, next to all other inconveniences that this cancellation has for me, I have to pay 2 times more for my new ticket, because it is very close to my travel date.

Would I be compensated in such case. How can I ask for compensation?

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  • Turkish Airlines has terrible customer service. I missed one leg due to no fault of mine, but they cancelled all other flights too, which were way in future. They did not offer any refund, or compensation or courtesy, despite me explaining them the issue many times.
    – Farhan
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 21:39

2 Answers 2

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No, there will be no compensation. Neither the flight or the destination is related to the EU, so the EU compensation rules do not apply and Turkey‘s passenger rights do not include automatic compensation. And even if they did, the airline could claim extraordinary circumstances, as they can do nothing about the health situation.

You are entitled to a refund, but they already gave you that. You can’t claim the price difference for your new ticket.

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  • Actually, my destination is Vienna, Austria. Does that make me subject to EU compensation rules.
    – Sasan
    Commented Feb 24, 2020 at 19:25
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    Your original question said Iran only, but it does not matter. The EU rules only apply if you either depart from a EU country or you are flying on an EU airline. Both is not the case.
    – averell
    Commented Feb 24, 2020 at 19:37
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As the other answer notes, EU261 rules do not apply here, so you receive no compensation under them.

However, Turkish law recently changed with regard to automatic compensation, with the introduction of the Regulation of Air Passenger Rights which details compensation conditions and amounts very similar to EU261 rules. Turkish Airlines released a document detailing it.

You might still have an uphill struggle to get the airline to recognise these rights, but don’t back down. They may still claim extraordinary circumstances however, which will de difficult to fight.

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