BOOKING RULES FOR AGENCIES

Dear Travel Partner,

Turkish Airlines provides you this document about our ADM policy in an effort to take down your costs and efforts and to offer you the best possible service.

We would like you to know that our agencies’ satisfaction is our top priority. Hence, we do our best to cut your ADMs as a result of reservations, ticketing and your other transactions via IT developments and by providing you comprehensive information.

We aim to provide you a comprehensive and detailed basis about our ADM policy for you so that you avoid possible incorrect transactions.

Please study this booklet to make sure that your transactions would hold error-proof. We thank you for your support and co-operation and look forward to assisting you in case of any further queries.

Respectfully yours,

Turkish Airlines

Ticket rules booklet - General applications 

1.1. Contact

You can send e-mails to ADMDISPUTE@THY.COM for your ADM related enquiries.

1.2. Time Limit to Issue ADM

For IATA and ARC agencies, time limits determined by these institutions will be applied. Turkish Airlines issues ADMs within 9 months after the last date of travel for sales transactions/the refund date for refunded tickets. For non-IATA agencies, ADMs will be issued within 1 year after the last date of travel/refund date

Time limits in ADM issuance do not infringe upon Turkish Airlines right to issue/collect ADMs without being subject to any time limits in case of fraud and fraudulent transactions unless there are other restrictions (legal, administrative, commercial) as those time limits have been set to accomplish the audit.

1.3. ADM Disputes

ADMs will be communicated via BSPLINK for BSP agencies and Memo Manager for ARC agencies and via e-mail for non-IATA agencies.

Mind the following terms in case of ADM disputes:

• Disputes should be raised within 14 days once the ADM is communicated with you. Otherwise, ADMs will be finalized and collection processes will be started immediately.
• There have to be supporting documents & information for disputes and details should be stated.

It is of great importance that you should contact your sales offices before utilizing the SPCR which credits the agencies’ accounts in case of failure to consent with the airline once the dispute process is over.

1.4. Minimum ADM Fee

Minimum ADM amount, pertaining the right to change it on the basis of sub-categories relies on the related SVP that the audit department is affiliated to; is 20 TRY for domestic departures and 10 EUR for international departures.

1.5. Service Charge

Service charge is 15 EUR for international departures and 15 TRY for domestic departures per each and every document.

The following terms will be applied for the service charge:

• Service charge will not be applied for minimum ADMs. However, for repeated transactions that do not breach the minimum ADM amount, a service fee of 50% of the repeated ADM amount will be applied.
• Service charge will be added on the discrepancy and both the service charge and the ADM will be cancelled in case the ADM is invalid and null
• There will be no service charge for ADMs that address call centre companies and ADMs issued regarding GDS related issues such as married segment abuse and HX inactive segment.
• Regarding commissions and taxes, minimum ADM amount and service charge don’t apply.
• In case ADMs issued by outsource companies are cancelled, commission paid for the outsource company and service charge will not be cancelled.
• All ADM and ACM requests should be raised via link. If the sales offices request an ADM, then there will be no service charge.
• Service charge of 15 EUR will be also applied for ACMs for which Turkish Airlines is not operationally responsible. In this case, service charge will be deducted from the ACM amount. Service charge for ACM is 20% of the ACM amount and cannot be more than 15 EUR. There will be no service charge for ACMs in case of technical and systematic issues. There will also be no service charge ACMs issued in order to reverse an ADM.
• Service charge equal to the amount of the bank commission will be applied for chargeback ADMs.

1.6. Transactions Based on Documents

Business partners/agencies are responsible to keep the documents for 1 year and to present the documents within 20 days once the audit department wants to audit them in case of tickets that require a document such as death, denied boarding, FFP award tickets etc.

Business partners/agencies are also responsible to keep a copy of the documents that provide a basis for the discount for 5 months and to present them within 20 days for discounted tickets if the audit department wants to audit them.

Failure to present the documents or to present invalid documents will eventually lead to ADMs that the difference between the discounted fare and the regular fare will be issued as an ADM.

1.7. Fraud and Fraudulent Transactions

If it was found out that the fraudulent transactions are done by business partners/agencies, “FRAUD PENALTY” up to 10 times the amount of the discrepancy will be applied. Fraudulent transactions with respect to ticketing will be penalized as follows:

• Regarding document based transactions, there will be a fine of 25% of the ADM amount in case of missing or fake/invalid documents.
• In case of manipulation of reservation & ticketing systems such as holding seats with fake ticket numbers, holding low class seats via 2 or more VOID transactions or name change, there will be an ADM of 50 EUR per ticket for international departures and 50 TRY for domestic departures.
• In case of transactions on expired/flown documents, there will be a penalty of 25% ADM amount. ADM computation will be done in accordance with the mil values on CED procedure in case of transactions on expired/inappropriate PASS tickets.
• In case of manipulation of reservation & ticketing systems, there will be a penalty of 25% of ADM amount.
• In case of mode of payment error, there will be an ADM of 100 EUR per ticket for international departures and 100 TRY for domestic departures.
• In case of inappropriate upgrade transactions following charges will be as follows;

• For domestic departures 750 TRY,
• For international departures:

For flights of 0-1500 km: 250 EUR

For flights of 1501-3500 km: 500 EUR

For flights above 3501 km: 1000 EUR

• In case of breach of Turkish Airlines Corporate Club program rules, enforcements against agents are as follows:

1. In case of out of scope use of discounted fares

• For the first incidence, the penalty will be 2 times the difference between the regular fare on the same fare class of the system and the discounted fare amount.
• For the second incidence, on top the penalty in article “a” above, all discounted fares for the agent’s member companies on the agent’s system with respect to Turkish Airlines Corporate Club will be cancelled at once and starting from that day onwards, no more member authorizations for that agent will be accepted.

2. If the members use tour codes which are not authorized;

• For the first incidence, the penalty will be the net amount equal to the ticket fee except taxes and fees.
• For the second incidence, on top the fines in article “a” above, all discounted fares for the agent’s member companies on the agent’s system with respect to Turkish Airlines Corporate Club will be cancelled at once and starting from that day onwards, no more member authorizations for that agent will be accepted.
• In case of improper use of TOD option;
  1. Improper use of TOD options, lowering the class after the TOD option is issued, divide and/or date change transactions on any PNR for which TOD option has been taken leads to an ADM of 200 EUR for international departures and 1,5 fold of the highest fare for domestic departures,
  2. If the TOD option was issued for a domestic bound but an international bound was added into the PNR later on, an ADM of 250 EUR will be issued.
• In case miles & smiles award tickets are subject to fraud/misuse, following ADMs apply: 

1. 2 times the highest applicable fare/mile value (sales) on the ticketed route for agent’s fraud/misuse, 
2. 2 times the mile value (sales) in case of all kind of redemptions and mile earnings via ghost accounts and unfair use of other applications of the FFP program, 
3. 2 times the mile value (sales) for expired award

Ticket rules booklet - Rules for sale processes 

2.1. Ticket Validity

Unless otherwise specifically provided in the fare note, the validity for totally unused tickets is one year starting from the issue date of the original ticket and for the partly used tickets it is 1 year from the first date of travel. Ticket can be used depending on the fare validity (maximum stay) once travel starts.

Unless otherwise stated in the applicable fare notes; for the unused ticket, the validity, in case of re-issuing new ticket, is 1 year starting from the first flight day. If new ticket is not used and it is issue as an open ticket, the validity of the new ticket shall apply starting from the new issue date and it is 1 year again.

In case of re-issuing the new ticket once again (i.e. re-issuing the same ticket for 2 times over and over) the validity of the new ticket is again 1 year starting from the issue date if it is an open ticket and again 1 year starting from the date of first flight if it is not an open ticket.

Example 1

Totally unused ticket issued on 08JUN12

presented for reissue on 06JUN13 for a travel commencing on 07 JUN 13

Such ticket will have a validity till 07 JUN 14

Example 2

Totally unused ticket issued on 08JUN12

presented for reissue on 08JUN13 for a travel commencing on 12OCT13

Such ticket will have a validity till 12OCT14

2.2. Rules for Rebooking and Rerouting

2.2.1. Changing of Domestic Flights in International Tickets

In case of adding into a domestic segment or removing from a domestic segment from an international ticket;

In case of rebooking (*) or rerouting (*) a domestic segment of an international ticket;

• If the fare notes allow changes without penalty; if any penalty, collect fare and tax difference.
• If the fare notes do not allow changes without penalty, then the penalty should not be collected only for the domestic flight. If penalty is applicable, fare and tax difference should also be collected.
• If the fare notes do not allow any change, then should not be changed.

Note that if there is “no-show” in the domestic part of an international ticket, then all “no-show” restrictions have to be applied under all circumstances.

• With a ticket issued in economy and comfort class, a passenger can be permitted to switch to a higher class (business class) on the same date and in the same flight by reissuing the ticket provided that the fare difference is paid. In this case, change penalty should not be collected, if there is. (This does not cover special upgrade promotions which are planned for comfort and business class upgrades at various times.) In case of other changes, current applications should be kept. (Domestic tickets issued in TRY, Miles & Smiles tickets and all non-revenue tickets are out of scope.)
• Unless otherwise stated in the fare notes, exchange penalty for an adult is exactly the same for a child. In case of exchange, the penalty shall not be collected for an infant passenger if he does not take up a seat.

(*) In case O&D system does not allow partial cancellations, related fine should be collected if the cancellation and the date as well as the time of the international flight changes affect the international flight. It is because of the fact that this kind of change in not a change in the domestic flight any more. However, the relevant fine will not be collected as long as the date and the time of the international flight remains unchanged even if the class changes in the recent flight.

Example: Original flight

1 TK2159 Y TU 25JUN ESBIST HS1 X 1700 1805 Y M01.1E

2 TK1029 W TU 25JUN ISTSOF HK1 1935 2055 Y M01.2E

In case of cancellation of domestic segment by X1

PARTIAL CANCELLATION IS NOT ALLOWED FOR THIS MARRY GROUP

In case of conveying a domestic flight to another one such as .1/TK2117;

REQUESTED CLASS IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS MARKET

If the system rejects the cancellation through warnings above, as a final applicable resolution:

.1OX

0TK2117Y25JUNESBISTNN1

With this entry, the new flight is found by RTDP and the former flight is cancelled as below:

RTDP DENIED - OX CONDITIONAL MARRIAGE CANCEL

This means that cancellation of a domestic segment alone is not accepted as an appropriate application by O&D system. Married segments must be cancelled all together and should be reissued. because of this, if no seat in the same class is left behind and a different class is accepted, fine will not be collected.

1 TK2117 Y TU 25JUN ESBIST HS1 X 0800 0905 Y M01.1E

2 TK1029 S TU 25JUN ISTSOF HK1 1935 2055 Y M01.2E

2.3. Rules for Exchange Applications

Exchange is converting a totally unflown ticket to a new ticket as a result of the passenger’s request for a change of flight number, date, route, class or cabin. Exchange is conducted based on applicable IROE and fares of new flight on the date of the transaction.

• If fare notes include the fare note “New fare may be equal or higher” for a totally unused ticket; even if the fare of the new international journey is lower, new journey will be reassessed on the basis of equal or higher fares. Since it is not possible to refund by lowering fares, you should conduct your transaction with equal or higher fares. (Passenger can be advised so if refunding the ticket and issuing a new ticket is in favor of the passenger).
• If fare notes include the fare note “New fare may be lower, equal or higher” for a ticket to be exchanged, “refund EMD” can be issued in case the class of lower fare is available. The amount to refund is calculated in the currency of the original ticket and is exchanged to the currency of the transaction by applicable exchange rates of the sales office (FZS). Then EMD can be refund.
• In case both refund and ADC (additional collection) occur after reassessment, EMD will be issued without netting. The passenger can pay the ADC by any kind of form of payment he prefers.
• If there is any outstanding balance because of exchange, then EMD can be issued both for TK and agency tickets. Such EMDs are valid only for refund applications and they can be refunded in 2 years starting from the issue date of the original ticket.
• While exchanging a ticket, even though the local fares of new ticket and original ticket are the same, there can exchange rate differences. In such cases, if the exchange rate is higher, it should be collected. If it is lower, it should be refunded to the passenger. Tax on the ticket having the same level and the same codes are subject to the same application. Higher amount of tax should be collected and lower amount of taxes should be refunded to passenger.

Example: USD 15.00 TR tax equals to TRY 26.80 on 11th April (issue date of the original ticket) and USD 15.00 TR tax equals to TRY 28.47 on 12th June (exchange date)

If the difference between new and the original fare and the difference between new and the original tax level are positive, it should be collected; but if they are negative, it should be refunded by issuing EMD

• Penalties should be converted to the local currency of the country of exchange by using the applicable currency rates. Ticket service charge (DU) should be converted to the local currency of the country of exchange by using the applicable rates of the Sales Office of Turkish Airlines on the date of transaction in accordance with the regional applications of Marketing & Sales Department of Turkish Airlines.

2.4. Rules for Reissue Applications

After the commencement of the travel, the passenger may request flight, date, route, cabin or a class change. In this case, the original ticket should be reissued to a new ticket based on the fares valid on the original ticket’s issue date. Irrespective of currency used, the ticket can be reissued outside the original country of issuance after the commencement of the travel, but reissue must be done by the pricing commands including original ticket date and original ticket city code.

• If fare notes include the fare note “New fare may be equal or higher” for a partly used ticket; even if the fare of the new international journey is lower, new journey will be reassessed based on equal or higher fares. Since it is not possible to refund by lowering fares, you should conduct your transaction with equal or higher fares. (Passenger can be advised so if refunding the ticket and issuing a brand new ticket is in favor of the passenger).
• If fare notes include the fare note “New fare may be lower, equal or higher”, “refund EMD” can be issued in case the class of lower fare is available by lowering the fare. The amount to be refunded is calculated in the currency of the original ticket and is exchanged to the currency of the transaction by applicable rates. (BSR) (FZS). Then EMD can be refunded.
• In case both refund and ADC (additional collection) occur after reassessment, EMD will be issued without netting. The passenger can pay the ADC by any kind of form of payment he prefers.
• If there is any outstanding balance as a result of reissue, then EMD should be issued both for TK and agency tickets. Such EMDs are valid only for refund applications and they can be refunded in 2 years starting from the issue date of the original ticket.
• While reissuing, there may be rate differences in local currency and the currency of the country of the reissue may also be different from the local currency as well. In this case, applicable exchange rates (FZS) of the transaction date should be used in order to convert local currency to the currency of the country of the reissue.
• The change penalty shall be converted to the local currency by using the applicable rates where the transaction has been done on the date of transaction. Ticket service charge (DU) should be converted to the local currency of the country of reissue by using the applicable rates of the Sales Office of Turkish Airlines on the date of transaction in accordance with the regional applications of Marketing & Sales Department of Turkish Airlines.
• Before refunding or reissuing an electronic ticket, it is important to check the electronic ticket’s status which you will reissue or refund. If the coupon status is either “flown” or “checked-in” and if you still reissue or refund, ADM will be issued for this transaction.

REISSUE APPLICATION HAS BEEN CHANGED AND WILL BE APPLIED FOR TICKETS ISSUED ON AND AFTER DECEMBER 2, 2013 AS STATED BELOW;

Where any fare is combined with another fare and only one fare component is changed, the penalty conditions of the changed fare component will apply for “reissue & no-show”. When more than one fare component is being changed, the highest penalty (more restricted) of all changed fare components for “reissue & no-show” will apply.

In case of reisse of tickets issued by the combinations of RT, OJ, Side Trip and End on End;

• if there is a single change in a specific fare component, then the related “reissue&no-show” rule,

• if there are multiple changes in fare components, then the most restirictive “reissue&no-show” rule applies.

Revalidation will no longer be used except miles tickets, pass tickets, VIP / free upgrade applications and involuntary cases. In case of reservation changes, reissue / exchange applications should be used in order to change flight / date / time.

Ticket rules booklet - Rules for refund process 

3.1 Refund Validity and Refund Rules

• TK tickets, EMDs and MCOs are valid for refund up to two (2) years from the date of issue of the original ticket. Ticket will lost validity for refund after two years from the date of issue of the original ticket although it is still valid for travel.
• All fare notes of reissued/exchanged tickets should be checked retrospectively and refund restrictions should be studied carefully in case of refund in 2 years after the issue date of the original ticket.
• If domestic sector of an international ticket has been used and if the passenger requests a refund, then recalculation should be done based on “after departure” fare notes even if the international sector of the ticket has not been flown and the calculation of the flown domestic sector should be done in EUR of domestic fares.
• If the ticket is subject to “no-show” for the domestic sector of an international ticket, all “no-show” restrictions on fare notes should be applied in case of reissue/refund.
• Refund amount will be calculated by using applicable rates of the issue date of the original ticket in case of refund application (For example tickets issued in Türkiye in TRY, but calculated by EUR fares).
• If a ticket (totally unused/partially used) is not refundable in terms of fare notes, unused YR tax will not be refunded as well. Unless otherwise stated, all unused taxes shall be refunded.
• It is possible to end up with (-) value in case of refund for a refundable ticket (i.e. there may not be any fare for refund, on the contrary it is possible to encounter negative values to refund in local fares). You cannot deduct this negative value from the refundable taxes. Moreover, all refundable taxes should be refunded even if there is no refundable amount for the original fare.
• If the fare note for the “use of coupons respectively” is breached by the agency, call center, sales or check-in employee; as a result of passenger request (even if the system allows to do so). In addition if the unused section of the ticket is refundable, the fare of the used coupons and the used taxes should be calculated, then the outstanding balance should be refunded.
• A ticket issued in an abroad TK Sales Office can be refunded in another abroad TK Sales Office if the same currency is used in “total” section of the ticket. Tickets also issued by USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, JPY, KWD, SEK, NOK, AUD, CAD, DKK currencies can be refunded by getting approval from the issuing Sales Office. In case exchange rates are not present, IATA clearing House rates can be used.
• A ticket issued by an abroad TK sales office in all currencies (except issued in Iran and Sudan) can be refunded in in Türkiye by getting approval from the issuing Sales Office. In case exchange rates are not present, IATA clearing House rates can be used.
• If there is a refund penalty in fare notes;
• If the penalty currency and the local currency are the same, you should deduct the penalty from the local fare. Example: Fare: 269.00 EUR / Penalty 100.00 EUR = Refund 169.00 EUR
• If the penalty currency and the local currency are the same, but converted to another currency; penalty should be converted to the currency of the country of payment by using applicable rates of the issue date of the ticket.Example: Fare: 269.00 EUR EQU TRY 636.00 (15 FEB) Penalty: 100 EUR, FZSEUR100.00TRY (15FEB) = TRY237.00 Refund: TRY636.00-TRY237.00= TRY399.00
• If the penalty currency and the local currency are different, penalty should be converted to the currency of the country of payment at applicable rates of issue date of the ticket.Example : Fare: 7200MAD EQUTRY1522.00 (15 FEB) Penalty: 100 EUR FZSEUR100.00TRY.15FEB = TRY237.00 Refund: TRY1522.00-TRY237.00 = TRY 1285.00
• IATA rules states that; ‘’ Refunds of the ticket for transportation paid by Credit Card will only be made to the Credit Card Account of the person to whom such Credit Card has been issued for.’’(As per IATA Passenger Air Tariff, General Rules, 9.3.3.3)

Therefore, before starting to follow the related procedure, all processes must be executed by checking below mentioned dates.

• In case of refund, the original issue date of totally unused tickets (2 years),
• In case of exchange, the issue date of exchange ticket (1 year),
• For the tickets partly used, the date of first flight coupon (1 year + applicable fares notes’ stated duration.

Ticket rules booklet - Other important rules 

4.1. Coupon Status

Before refunding or reissuing an electronic ticket, it is important to check the electronic ticket’s status which you will reissue or refund. If the coupon status is either “flown” or “checked-in” and if you still reissue, refund or void, ADM will be issued for this transaction.

4.2. Refund of YR Tax

Under the paragraph of “Cancellations” in the fare notes;

• YR tax will not be paid back to the passenger in case of no-show for non-refundable tickets. This procedure is executed in case of refund.
• In case of exchange or reissue, fare notes in the paragraph of “changes” should be taken into account. For instance, if YR tax of an original ticket becoming non–refundable in any case because of reissue or exchange, is higher than that of new, EMD/MCO must be issued in order to pay the tax difference back to the passenger.

4.3. No Show

All domestic and international tickets can be refunded without any no-show penalty, provided that the reservation is cancelled before the flight. This rule has changed for international ticketing on April 29, 2024, and no-show penalty will not be charged if the ticket is refunded along with the reservation cancellation prior to the flight.

The following rules will continue to be applied for domestic and international re-issue tickets;

For domestic tickets; as in now, in cases where the reservation is cancelled before the flight, no-show penalty will not be collected through automatic transactions when refunding the ticket.

In case of international reissue, in accordance with the rule “CHANGE IS BEFORE ORIGINAL SCHEDULED FLIGHT” stated in the fare notes, passenger’s request of change must be fulfilled on the ticket before the original flight’s scheduled departure. Otherwise the passenger will be accepted as “no-show.

4.4. Fare/ Class Differences

Class, represents groups for diversified fares depending on different factors such as minimum/maximum stay rule, advance purchase rule etc. although the cabin, the service in the cabin and the seats are the same.

In some cases the class booked (reserved) and the class of the ticket issued are different and it is seen that some agencies issue tickets with the fare of the class booked (reserved). However, this is an incorrect practice. Ticket must be issued with the fare of the ticket issued. In case there is a difference between the class booked and the class of the ticket issued, an ADM will be issued if there is an uncollected fare difference between the former and the latter.

4.5 ARC AAD - Agent Automated Deduction

Agents operating in the United States are not required to issue AAD forms for monetary discrepancies in the IAR sales report.

Ticketing procedures booklet - Rules regarding Payment Methods: 

Turkish Airlines has the right to determine the type of card used as a payment method within the scope of IATA TIP (Resolution 890) Regulations. Our agencies are required to obtain the written approval of the Turkish Airlines sales offices regarding the card types they will use. In the event of the usage of an unapproved card type, Turkish Airlines reserves the right to issue an ADM at a rate of 2% of the total amount of each ticket, with a minimum of 25 EUR per segment.

BSPLINK Refund Application (RA) Rules for IATA Agents Regarding Refund Requests

BSP member agencies submit their refund requests to the airline for approval through the BSP Link Refund Application form. During the review of refund requests, several recurring errors are identified. To ensure faster and more accurate checks, it is important to consider the points listed below.

1. The original payment method for the ticket to be refunded must be specified on the RA form.
2. The ticket and EMD numbers entered on the RA form must be correct; incomplete or incorrect numbers must not be used.
3. The ticket and EMD coupon numbers entered on the RA form must be selected correctly.
4. The final ticket number must be entered on the RA form; the original or exchanged ticket number must not be used.
5. The coupon statuses of tickets for which an RA is requested must be checked; RA requests should not be created for coupons that have been flown or previously refunded.
6. For tickets that have never been used and have not been reissued, the refund must be processed through the GDS unless there is an involuntary reason.
7. For tickets for which a full refund is requested due to special reasons such as death, medical condition, TK waiver code, etc., the relevant documents must be attached to the RA form.
8. Refund requests should not be created via RA for tickets issued by a different airline.
9. In cases that require an ACM to be opened, refund requests should not be made via RA for these tickets.
10. Special cases related to customer relations should be evaluated through the relevant channel, not via RA; RA return requests should not be created for these cases.
11. To prevent duplicate return transactions, do not create new requests for RA requests that are pending with a “Pending” status.
12. Group and deposit EMD RA requests will be reviewed by your assigned sales office. You may contact the relevant sales office before submitting a request.
13. Seat EMDs are refunded only in cases of involuntary changes or upgrades.
14. If the final tickets were issued by TK sales offices for a fee, refunds for these tickets will also be processed by the sales offices.
15. RA requests are reviewed in chronological order. In the event of an unusual or urgent situation, you may contact us via the email address svkra@thy.com.

Important notes regarding RA data fields

1. The Reason for refund field must be filled out in English and must include all details regarding the request.
2. In the Document for refund field, the relevant electronic ticket (ETKT) information must be entered completely and accurately.
3. The Amount field must be filled out correctly with the amount information for the ETKT for which a refund is requested.
4. The Original issue details field should be left blank if the ticket has not been changed.
5. The Form of payment field must be filled out to match the payment method used when the ticket was originally issued.