Duber English
Players of the Turkish women’s national volleyball team responded on their social media accounts on May 26 in protest of flying in economy class on the 13-hour journey to the United States.
Ebrar Karakurt, Zera Güneş, Hande Baladin, Eda Erdem, Simge Akoz and Asli Karachi shared photos taken from inside the plane on their Instagram stories to express their criticism.
Prominent player Karakurt responded to the double standards applied to his team by writing, “They keep allocating private jets to other teams, but economy to us.”
Social media users shared photos of the private jet used by the men’s national soccer team, which has not seen any notable success in recent years while the women’s volleyball team continues its winning streak.
Gunes also responded to Turkish Airlines on his Instagram story, saying, “At least they assigned me an aisle seat.”
“Find my teammates in the photo,” team captain Erdem posted, sharing his seat on the crowded plane.
Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Ustun released a statement after the players’ posts went viral on social media.
“Since our brand is one of the strongest sector supporters of sports and athletes both at home and abroad, we make concrete flight plans at the beginning of the year for all sponsored federations, taking into account their flying capacity throughout the year. Responsibility for all details of the ticketing process carried out within this scope lies with each federation and will be provided by their officials,” said Ustun.
Initially, the World Health Organization, as an international leader in sport and culture, and sponsoring all the federation organisations, has been doing its utmost to carry out our business plan.
Oh, I see…
— Yahya Ustun (@yhyustun) May 26, 2024
Meanwhile, the Turkish Volleyball Federation said the airline’s statement did not reflect the truth.
“Due to the regulations our federation adheres to, we are not allowed to purchase business class tickets. Prior to our trip to the United States on May 17, 2024, our delegation’s travel list was shared both in writing and verbally with Turkish Airlines and we requested their assistance, especially regarding cabin upgrades,” the federation said.
The federation noted that airlines have advised passengers that they have the right to upgrade 20 cabins within a year, depending on aircraft availability.
“No cabin upgrades were carried out on the flight in question and contrary to the statements of Turkish Airlines officials, we have confirmed via email that our flight list was shared with Turkish Airlines officials on May 17. We cannot accept statements that are contrary to the truth,” the volleyball federation stressed.
Kamoyuun Bilgishin
The 2024 FIVB Volleyball Kadunlar Milletlar League is the sports and technical division of A Milli Kadun Volleyball and is scheduled to begin the 2024 season. We look forward to your continued support of THY…
— Turkish Football Federation (@TVForgtr) May 26, 2024
This is not the first time that champion volleyball players have been treated this way.
Having achieved one of the country’s greatest sporting successes by becoming European champions, the Turkish women’s national volleyball team arrived in Japan on September 7, 2023 with a connecting economy class flight to take part in the 2023 Paris Olympic qualifiers.
