24 Hours Of Travel Hell I Wouldn’t Wish On Anyone
5 minutes read
December 30th 2025. Just before the new year and definitely not the best day to travel. The 24 hours that I experienced made for a perfect storm and a story worth sharing.
Returning to Istanbul after a short Christmas break, it all started at Stansted. My partner Banu and I arrived a little early and waited for the Pegasus flight number to be displayed on the Departures Board. Nothing appeared, so we walked along the terminal, only to discover the Pegasus queue at check in was already considerably long. My partner waited in line while I rechecked the board. Still nothing, so I returned to wait in line. Strike one.
It was all fairly uneventful until one male traveller encountered difficulties. He was clearly carrying too much hand luggage, But what all in the queue witnessed was an extraordinarily aggressive reaction from the person at the check-in desk. We all have our off days, but he was argumentative, threatening and was excessively loud in barking demands and orders to the passenger, who was fully prepared to pay for any excess baggage and repack. Everyone in the queue started looking at each other as they saw this story unfold. The passenger left the check in desk to repack. He later went to another check in desk and was handled in a far friendlier and efficient manner.
Our turn was next. But the woman sitting opposite was actually just as bad as her male colleague – only in a different way. Now I like to think that I am a very experienced traveller and I certainly know the carry-on rules per ticket issued. So when the check-in agent said to me that my hand luggage was the wrong size, I reacted – politely but firmly. I was simply carrying a carrier bag with a tin of one of my favourite Italian treats – Panettone Milano. (Deep joy! ) The dimensions are exactly 20 cms x 18 cms.
Now, any human eye could see that it was clearly inside the size limits for carry-ons. But not our friend at the counter. We exchanged for around 2 minutes and then Banu physically took the bag across to the nearby baggage size and demonstrated to all now watching just how easy a fit it was. The desk attendant then issued the tickets in an unsmiling way.
Wow, some start for a homeward journey. Strike two.
It baffles me how staff like this are allowed to continue in their jobs without adequate supervision and training. Maybe it was a one-off, but it didn’t appear so. I saw the male passenger later in my journey and asked him what he thought of his experience. He was going to write a letter of complaint. I just hope it is read and Pegasus or the responsible agency take action.
Next up was security. A relatively easy process with a member of staff directing passengers to individual slots. That worked, but when you get to your bay you are met with unsmiling staff, barking the same orders repeatedly, and with little or no eye contact with you. We all know this is not the most glamorous of jobs, but here again it was clear that staff had missed the message that customer experience across all operations remains the number one airport priority. Strike three.
Finally we clear security and walk towards duty free. Some building works were in progress so we encountered a boarded, white-walled pathway en route to the shops. This was the holiday period, so you would think someone would have thought to have put up some temporary seasonal posters to cover the build. In fact we only saw this right at the end and as we approached the excellent Avolta store.
No purchases this time around, we wanted to get to eat a late breakfast.
The Departures hall was heaving, too many people sitting on the floor, an unwelcome sight. We found sanctuary at the Sunny Side Cafe, one we had not tried before. And there, at last, we found staff to be most welcoming and in happy spirits. And the food was decent, too. What a relief. The one plus point to our experience.
And so onto the plane. The journey was seamless, but the staff seemed wholly disengaged. No smiles, just going through the motions. What was it about this day? The attendants also forgot to tell the chief steward that the heating was at maximum inside the plane, and only after several complaints was action finally taken.
Arriving at Sabiha Gokcen airport on time, we were then met with an unusual systems failure at Passport Control. Hundreds of people, including many young children, were kept waiting for over an hour. The airport made no announcements regarding updates while everyone waited. Having finally cleared passport control, free bottles of water were available for everyone. Did no one think that water should have been taken to the passengers who’d queued on the other side? Strike four.
Whilst queuing, I received a text message from Turkish Airlines that our flight to Nevsehir (Cappadocia) the following day was cancelled because of bad weather/snow. After 2 hours of telephone time, we found out that there were to be no alternative flights on December 31, but were offered Jan 1 only. As we had already booked the hotel and new year’s eve dinner, we contacted the hotel to see if we could postpone. They understandably said no at such a late stage. So we were faced with either writing off the full cost of the dinner and hotel for the 3 days or finding an alternative solution.
This took another three hours to sort, having contacted all the other airlines first. There were no trains and all coaches were cancelled, too. We finally found a taxi driver to take us to Cappadocia for the princely sum of 500 euros. So, the journey on New Year’s Eve took us 9 hours instead of 5, largely because we had to encounter seriously bad weather, notably a blizzard crossing Bolu mountain. The road was absolutely treacherous here. We witnessed what you could only call car ballet on the freezing ice – cars literally dancing across the road, uncontrolled. Even though our taxi had snow tyres fitted, we still got stuck and slipped a couple of times in the fast falling snow. Peter’s Perils! Strike 5.
I have to say that our driver did a remarkable job getting us there.
Was it worth the journey? Absolutely. Cappadocia is just one of Turkey’s jewels and, if you haven’t visited, you really should. But I would recommend going in late May/early June or late September/early October. On January 1st it was -21 degrees centigrade at night! Yet, whatever the weather, it’s still truly one of the wonders of this world.
I wouldn’t wish this particular travel experience on anyone. The big learning is that, in the case of both Stansted Airport and Pegasus Airlines, they genuinely need to go back to the drawing board and learn from others how front line ‘experience’ is best delivered.
