Turkey has a passenger-rights regulation that most visiting Americans have never heard of, drafted deliberately in parallel with the European rules. It applies to domestic Turkish flights as well as international ones, and it gives you considerably more than the airline's app will offer you at the gate.
Here is what it actually contains, article by article.
What governs it
The Regulation on Air Passenger Rights (SHY-PASSENGER), issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, covers passengers with a confirmed reservation on scheduled and non-scheduled flights operated by Turkish carriers from or to Turkish airports and by foreign carriers departing Turkish airports; it is drafted in parallel with EU Regulation 261/2004.
One condition sits above everything else. The regulation only protects a passenger who presents at check-in on time — at the time specified in advance by the carrier, tour operator or agency, or, where none was specified, at least 45 minutes before the announced departure. Miss that and nothing below applies.
If the flight is cancelled
The carrier must offer a choice, and the passenger chooses: a full refund of the ticket, plus a free flight back to the first point of departure where continuing no longer makes sense; or re-routing to the final destination at the earliest opportunity under similar conditions; or re-routing at a later date the passenger finds suitable, subject to seat availability.
The choice belongs to the passenger, not the airline. And the return-to-origin leg buried inside the refund option is the part almost nobody knows about: if a cancellation strands you halfway and the rest of the trip is pointless, the flight back to where you started is part of the refund, not an extra purchase.
The money, and the trap inside it
Compensation is the Turkish Lira equivalent of EUR 100 for domestic flights; for international flights EUR 250 up to 1,500 km, EUR 400 between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and EUR 600 over 3,500 km, with distance measured to the planned final destination by the great circle method.
Now the detail that even careful summaries get wrong. The Lira equivalent is calculated at the Central Bank rate on the day the ticket was paid for — not the day the compensation is paid.
Read that twice. The amounts are set in euros but paid in lira at a historic rate, so a ticket bought well before the disruption converts at the older rate. Against a currency that has moved, that is a materially different sum from the one the euro figure suggests.
Two things that reduce or remove it
Compensation is only due if the passenger was not told of the cancellation at least two weeks ahead; between two weeks and seven days it is due unless re-routing departs no more than two hours early and arrives within four hours of plan; inside seven days unless re-routing departs no more than an hour early and arrives within two hours of plan. The burden of proving notice was given lies with the carrier.
Compensation may also be halved where the carrier re-routes the passenger onto an alternative flight arriving within two hours of the planned arrival on flights up to 1,500 km, three hours between 1,500 and 3,500 km, or four hours beyond that.
The burden-of-proof point is the one worth holding onto: it is not for you to show you weren't told.
Force majeure removes the compensation, not the rest
Force majeure is defined to include political instability, meteorological conditions unsuitable for the flight, natural disasters, security risks, unexpected flight-safety deficiencies and strikes. Proving it, having taken all possible precautions, excuses the carrier from compensation only — the refund and re-routing right, and the duty of care, both still stand.
Airlines invoke this frequently and it is often legitimate. What it never does is switch off the meals, the hotel or the refund.
What you're owed while you wait
The assistance rules have two layers, which is why they are so often reported wrongly.
The trigger is by distance: assistance begins at two hours or more for domestic flights and flights up to 1,500 km, three hours between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and four hours beyond that; at five hours the passenger also gains the right to a refund.
What you then receive scales with time: hot and cold drinks for delays of two to three hours; breakfast or lunch appropriate to the time of day, plus drinks, from three to five hours; further drinks and an additional snack on top beyond five hours. Where a night becomes necessary, hotel accommodation and transport between airport and hotel. Two free phone calls, faxes or emails are owed with no time limit at all.
Denied boarding, downgrades, and being told
The carrier must first call for volunteers to give up their reservations in exchange for agreed benefits; if too few come forward it may deny boarding at its discretion, and involuntary denied boarding immediately engages compensation, refund or re-routing, and the duty of care.
A downgrade requires the fare difference back plus 30% of the ticket price on flights up to 1,500 km, 50% between 1,500 and 3,500 km and 75% beyond, within seven days. An upgrade may never be charged for.
Carriers must display a legible notice at check-in in Turkish and English telling passengers to request the text of their rights, must notify each affected passenger in writing on a denial or cancellation, and must inform passengers of any delay of two hours or more.
Making a claim
Claims for denied boarding, delay, cancellation or class change go first to the operating carrier, and may then be submitted through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's online system; applications must be made by the passenger or a notarised proxy. Baggage claims and pure ticket-change disputes fall outside this regulation.
And the airline cannot contract its way out. Liability under the regulation cannot be restricted or excluded by the contract of carriage, and a passenger who accepted less than the regulation provides without being informed of their rights keeps the right to pursue the difference.
What these rights are worth depends on what a failed internal leg does to the rest of a trip that is already booked — a connection none of these guides makes on its own. Turkey, Worked Out makes it.
FAQ
Do Turkish passenger rights cover domestic flights?
Yes. Domestic cancellation compensation is the Lira equivalent of EUR 100, with the same refund, re-routing and duty-of-care rules as international flights.
How is the compensation converted into lira?
At the Central Bank rate on the day the ticket was paid for, not the day compensation is paid — so a ticket bought long before the disruption converts at the older rate.
Does bad weather cancel my rights?
Only the compensation. Force majeure excuses the carrier from compensation if proven, but the refund or re-routing right and the duty of care still stand.
What am I owed during a long delay?
Drinks from two to three hours; a meal appropriate to the time of day from three to five; more drinks and a snack beyond five; hotel and transfers if a night is needed; and two free communications with no time threshold.
Who has to prove I was told about a cancellation?
The airline. The burden of proving notice was given lies with the carrier, not with you.
