Türkiye — SHY-YOLCU air passenger rights regulation

The clocks it starts

• Two years for a Montreal Convention claim (Art. 35)This period governs any Convention claim for proven delay damages on international carriage. It is not the period for the SHY-YOLCU statutory compensation, which is a matter of Turkish domestic law — we have not been able to verify that period, so file early and do not assume you have years.Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 35(1) — Art. 35(1)Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

• Meals, refreshments, communications and a hotelThe duty of care runs on a delay of 2 hours on shorter flights, 3 hours in the middle band and 4 hours on the longest, and it survives extraordinary circumstances — a carrier excused from paying compensation is still obliged to feed and house you. Where it fails to provide, buy what is reasonable, keep the receipts and claim reimbursement.Yardım hakkı (right to care)
• A refund once the delay reaches five hoursFollowing the EU261 structure, a delay of five hours or more entitles the passenger to abandon the journey and take a full refund of the unused portion of the ticket, plus a flight back to the first point of departure where the journey no longer serves any purpose.Yardım hakkı (right to care)
• Montreal Convention damages for delay (international carriage)On international carriage between States Parties, Art. 19 of the Montreal Convention makes the carrier liable for the damage the delay actually caused you — the unused hotel night, the missed onward booking, the extra meals and transport — unless it proves it took all measures that could reasonably be required. It is capped at 6,303 SDR per passenger (the figure ICAO set with effect from 28 December 2024) and it requires receipts, not a formula. This claim exists independently of any national scheme, and airlines never mention it. The right is extinguished two years after arrival under Art. 35.Art. 19, Art. 22(1)

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

Where to take it next

1. 01Written claim to the airlineWrite to the carrier's customer relations department citing SHY-YOLCU, the band and the figure, and ask for payment in euro to a named account. Keep it short and attach the boarding passes.Claim direct·typically 30 days
2. 02Sivil Havacılık Genel Müdürlüğü (SHGM) passenger rights complaintSHGM is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and runs the passenger-rights complaint channel for SHY-YOLCU. It supervises carrier compliance and can impose administrative sanctions, which is leverage a passenger acting alone does not have.Regulator·typically 60 days·official page
3. 03Tüketici Hakem Heyeti (Consumer Arbitration Committee)Binding on themThe district or provincial Consumer Arbitration Committee decides consumer disputes below a monetary threshold that is revised annually, free of charge and without a lawyer. Most air passenger compensation claims fall inside it. Its decisions bind the trader, subject to an appeal to the consumer court.Alternative dispute resolution·typically 90 days
4. 04Tüketici Mahkemesi (Consumer Court)Binding on themFor claims above the arbitration committee's threshold, or on appeal from it. Consumer courts do not charge the usual proportional fees for consumer claims, which keeps this route realistic for a EUR 600 claim.Court·typically 240 days