Layover time has been doubled!
 

Hi there,
I am in need of any suggestions people may have. I booked a flight for my 76 yr old mum and sister in May 2016 as we have a family celebration in December they are to fly on Dec 4th. I used a "travel agent" Cheap O Air....yes I am starting to regret my choice! Anyway I decided to book with Turkish air as they had the shortest layover on an already long flight from South Africa to Toronto, Canada. I was very happy both inbound and outbound flights were between 4 and 5 hours.
About a month ago I get a message from the travel agent that the flight schedule has changed and it's now going to be a 9h 25min layover in Turkey...crap but okay - it could be worse but we will stick with the flight it's complicated to cancel etc.

Only to receive another message a month after that saying the return flight is now 10 hr 10 min. And they wanted me to confirm this, I said this was not acceptable and that we would like a lounge pass for both legs. After much backwards and forwards we hear that it is policy with Turkish Air to give a hotel room if your flight layover is more that 10 hr....but the hotel is not onsite so you would need a visa....c'mon! Which is only a solution on one leg anyway...then taxi's etc. Surely a lounge pass is a cheaper option?
So Cheap O Air couldn't....wouldn't help....so I go ahead and email Turkish Air Complaints Dept. They say absolutely they cannot give me a lounge pass but the hotel room still stands. They would be willing to cancel or re-book on another flight....guess what fresh out they have no options. There aren't any other options!

So I decide to go to twitter just say...doubled layover no customer service.
Long chat backwards and forwards basically saying nope we cannot help you and when I asked that the issue be escalated suddenly the communication has stopped!

I am frustrated I understand flights change and I believe there was no daylight savings so it changed flights an hour. But to double the layover and you just have to accept it is bad service in my opninion. I don't think I am being unreasonable - they could surely offer a lounge pass. The bottom line is if I cancel they will resell the ticket for far more and they actually don't care.

So any suggestions of how to proceed will be wonderful and I hope I am not being unrealistic in my complaint.

Thank you for taking the time to read my complaint!