A family spent 3 months rebooking flights home from Bali after being incorrectly marked as a no-show by Turkish Airlines. Now, they might lose $5,000.

30.05.2024 - 22:57 / insider.com

Justin Parfitt has sent 47 emails, called more than 30 times, and spent an estimated six hours on the phone with Turkish Airlines in an attempt to change his family's flight home from Indonesia to France, he told Business Insider.

Last October, Parfitt purchased semi-flexible business-class tickets for $12,093, but he said his family couldn't adjust their return flights home due to a system error.

Now, ticket prices have increased, and the Parfitt family is looking at flights that cost $5,000 more than initially planned.

"At the end of the day, it's not like a life is on the line," the 54-year-old said. "But you're thinking, 'Am I going to lose all this money? How are we getting home?' It's been stressful and frustrating."

Turkish Airlines did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

Parfitt, who runs a short-term vacation rental company out of Bali, started planning his family's trip to Indonesia last fall.

While the family lives outside Toulouse, France, Parfitt said they found better flight prices out of Madrid. In October, the family spent $12,093 on four business-class tickets for a January flight on Turkish Airlines. The route would take them from Madrid to Indonesia, with a layover in Istanbul. Their return trip, scheduled for February, would bring them back home to France. BI confirmed the price and itinerary.

Parfitt said his family decided to splurge on the business-class tickets, which included a flexible fare flight policy. The family could change their flights for a fee, which Parfitt said was about $100 per ticket.

On January 4, the family made it to Madrid and boarded their flight to Istanbul, where they would catch a final flight to Denpasar, Indonesia. But after sitting on the plane for one and a half hours, the flight was canceled due to operational issues, Parfitt said.

Parfitt said the Turkish Airlines staff handled the situation "quite well." The stranded passengers boarded a bus to a hotel. With no available Turkish Airlines flights, airline staff rebooked the Parfitt family on an Emirates flight to Denpasar with a layover in Dubai the next day. Parfitt said Turkish Airlines paid for these changes, along with the hotel and transportation.

But this last-minute change meant the Parfitt family wasn't seated together in business class for the two long-haul flights. For both flights, seven hours and nine hours long, their 8-year-old daughter and Parfitt sat alone. Parfitt's wife Annabelle sat with their 3-year-old child.

Parfitt said he thought their flight troubles were over once they reached Denpasar. Still, four weeks later, the family decided to extend their Indonesia trip to the end of June so Parfitt and his wife could expand their short-term vacation rental business in