BOGAZICI UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF APPLIED DISCIPLINES TOURISM ADMINISTRATION

TURKISH AIRLINES

NEE ROMAN 2006104603

CONTENTS
PREFACE1 INTRODUCTION...4 PASSENGER SERVICES DEPARTMENT.6 1.CHECK IN COUNTERS.........................6 1.1 Expectant Mother..6 1.2 (U)naccompanied (M)inors...7 1.3 Handicapped Passengers...7 2. BOARDING......................... 8 3. ARRIVAL 8 3.1 INADMISSIBLE PASSENGER (INAD).9 3.2 DEPORTEE PASSENGER..9 3.2.1 ACCOMPANIED DEPORTEE PASSENGER (DEPA).9 3.2.2 UNACCOMPANIED DEPORTEE PASSENGER (DEPU).. 10 EVALUATION .. 11 REFERENCES13 APPENDIX CHART 1..14 CHART 2..15 CHART 3. 15 GRAPH 1. 16 GRAPH 2. 17

PREFACE
This thesis is written to provide information about Turkish Airlines and its passenger services department.It offers closer look into the Turkeys first official airlines. The author, who interned at the passenger services department of the airlines, aims to give a detailed count of passenger service operations and improvements made in this field over the years.

Thanks to FLZ BERK(Passenger Services Director), DLVN NAYIR (Passenger Services Supervisor), EBRU YILMAZ(internship advisor), DENZ KAT(Passenger Servises Officer) and AHMET OK(Training Academy) for their support.

INTRODUCTION
Turkish Airlines was founded under Law No. 2186 in Ankara on May 20, 1933 as "STATE AIRLINES ADMINISTRATION" within the Ministry of Defense. The administration was turned over to Ministry of Public Works in 1935 and three years later it was renamed as General Directorate of State Airlines. In 1939 the administration was turned over, this time, to Ministry of Transportation. In 1955, the State Airlines was restructured as a corporation by the provision of private law and continued its operation under the name of Turk Hava Yollar Anonim Ortaklg (THY). In 1994, the company was reclassified as a State Economic Enterprise under the Ministry of the Privatization Administration and Privatization Administration. The governments share in ownership fell below 50% as a result of public offering in May 2006, and thus it ended Turkish Airlines legal status as that of a state corporation.

In late 1980s THY was a loss-making state-run company and its passengers had infamously nicknamed it (T)hey (H)ate (Y)ou Airlines. Unfortunately the airline was very poor in quality and services. There was no seat number system in place for flights. The lack of this basic system was a major source for customer dissatisfaction and operational confusion. According to the 1983 statistics of Association of European Airlines, THY was the worst airline with the most delays: out (every) 100 flights, 47 of them were delayed (Graph 1). The company often canceled flights or made connections between the two flights without giving any prior information to its passengers. But today Turkish Airlines, with a fleet of 102 aircraft and 141 flight destinations is ranked among the highly respected airlines. (Graph 2) As a result of great improvements in service it became a four-star airline and a Star Alliance member in April 2008.

PASSENGER SERVICES DEPARTMENT

Passenger Services Department works under the control of Ground Operations Department (Chart 1). The services provided by this department fall into three different categories (Chart 2).

1.CHECK-IN COUNTERS

At each check-in counter, THY officers control passenger passports and tickets, weigh their luggage, issue boarding passes and luggage stickers.

Expectant mothers, unaccompanied minors and handicapped passengers receive special treatment at the counters.

1.4 EXPECTANT MOTHER

Expectant mothers fit to fly only between the 28th to 38th weeks of their pregnancy. However, they need a doctors note stating that there is no health danger if the mother chooses to fly. This note should not be dated more than 7

days prior to the actual day of flight. Otherwise, the expectant mother would be denied from the flight.

1.5 (U)NACCOMPANIED (M)INORS

Children between the ages of 7 and 12 can fly on Turkish Airlines flights without being accompanied. However, parents and guardians should fill and sign Unaccompanied Minors (UM) Declaration Forms prior to the flight at the check-in counters. Unaccompanied minors are taken to the aircraft by the boarding staff at the departure time. Then cabin crew will be responsible from UM passenger during the flight. At the destination, UM passengers are handed over to their receiving party by the Turkish Airlines Arrivals Officer.

1.6 HANDICAPPED PASSENGERS

Turkish Airlines provides special services to the handicapped passengers. At the airports, there are designated counters and the staffs working at these counters help disabled passengers to check in to go through customs, passport control and to the gate. Also THY offers free wheelchair service to its disabled passengers. THY employees take the passenger to the gate; help her/him to get

on board. At the destination point same services are provided to take the passenger to the airport from the gate.

2.BOARDING

Boarding starts 45 minutes before the departure time ( 30 min for domestic flights). Boarding staff and visa controller works together to check the passports, boarding passes and visas. First they allow special passengers (UM, Pregnant, Handicapped Passengers), then they continue with economy class passengers and end boarding with business class passengers. They count the boarding passes and passengers in the plane. If the number of passengers and the number of boarding passes are equal, then they ask the cabin crew supervisor to count passengers again. When the all counts are the same, the plane will be ready to take off.

3.ARRIVAL
When the plane arrives at airport, a passenger service officer has to meet the aircraft. He/She should ask the cabin crew whether any special services are needed or not. The officer would respond immediately if special services are requested.
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3.1 INADMISSIBLE PASSENGER(INAD)

An inadmissible passenger (INAD) is a person who is denied admission to a country by its authorities or who is refused onward carriage by an airline or government authority at a point of transfer due to lack of visa and/or expired passport. INAD passengers documents are carried by the airline staff. When the plane arrives at airport, airlines officer takes the INAD passenger to airport police.

3.2 DEPORTEE (DEPA/DEPU)

A deportee is a passenger who entered a country but who, at a later stage, is formally ordered by the authorities to leave that country.The responsibility for deportees lies fully with the local authorities.

3.2.1 DEPA(Accompanied Deportee)

DEPA means, a deportee who has to be accompanied with escorts during travel.
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3.2.2 DEPU(Unaccompanied Deportee)

DEPU means, a deportee who can travel without escorts. (DEPU).

The deporting authorities decide whether a security escort is required and if it is the case, the number of escorts. If there is no escort with deportee passenger, he will be under the control of arrival staff and will be taken to deportee room. In this room he will be questioned by airport police.

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EVALUATION
As an intern, I have worked for the ground operations passenger services department. During my internship, I analyzed companys organizational structure and its corporate culture.

In Turkish Airlines, we see a hierarchical organizational structure. Power, responsibility and authority are concentrated at the top of the pyramid. There is a downward flow and it is not easy to create new ideas or reject the decisions (Chart 3) For instance, there is a luggage weight limit per person. If the luggage is heavier than 20kg, the passenger should pay for the excess amount. But if a passenger goes and talks to the supervisor of the check-in counters he/she would be able to get away with the excess money. The supervisor may ask his/her staff not to charge for the excess. This may seem rather a supervisors fair judgment and discretion to improve customer satisfaction. But it also sets an example for other passengers as they ask for the same special treatment. The problem here is that the check-in counter staff does not have any authority to do so, and when they refuse other passengers requests this creates customer dissatisfaction and friction between the staff and the passengers.

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THY has a strong organizational culture. One can observe strong shared values and behaviors. Most of the workers are relatives or they have affiliation with the politicians. As some employees call it THY is a family company. Managers prefer to hire relatives instead of the qualified candidates. THY at this point, might seem to be a successful airlines company, but if the managers continue hiring unqualified persons this would endanger companys

competitiveness and sabotage its future.

It was a good experience and opportunity for me to work within the ground operations of THY. Turkish Airlines workers have a lot of social benefits and advantages. Private health insurance, free passes, special discounts in hotels to name a few. At airports, they work in three different shifts (06:30-14:30; 14:30-22:30 and 22:30-06:30.) Despite these benefits, the top-down approach in decision making and, political approach in hiring and promotions demoralize outsiders and innovative young employees. They are offered limited opportunities to bring in their new ideas and to take initiatives. As a result, they cant get promotions and they cant grow in their career. For those who crave for individual success and

independent thinking THY does not offer many venues.

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REFERENCES

Climbing Above the Clouds written by Cem Kozlu The Year book of THY 2007 www.aea.be www.aita.com www.flightstats.com www.thy.com

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ORGANIZATIONAL CHART (CHART 1)

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PASSENGER SERVICES DEPARTMENT

CHART 2

COUNTER

BOARDING

ARRIVAL

CHART 3
STATION MANAGER

MANAGER

IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR

COUNTER STAFF

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