All airlines Europe
Turkish Airlines
Powered wheelchairs accepted · 48 h notice · no watt-hour cap on an installed battery.
- Advance notice
- 48hours before departure
- Powered wheelchair
- Yes
- Lithium, battery installed
- No stated limit
- Cost to carry
- Not published
Who to contact
Transcribed from the airline’s own pages, exactly as it labels them.
- PhoneIstanbul — Complaint Resolution Official (printed as 00 90 534 276 7601, ext. 22311)Airport operating hours
- PhoneNew York — Complaint Resolution Official (printed as 00 1 212 261 0482, ext. 49820)Airport operating hours
- EmailComplaint Resolution Official (disability issues on US flights), in English and Turkish — thy.com is Turkish Airlines' own (Turk Hava Yollari) mail domain
- Relay / textTurkish Airlines provides sign language service through its video call centre at chat.thy.com/OTP.htmlSign language video call centre (for D/deaf and hard-of-hearing passengers)
Turkish Airlines publishes no single accessibility hotline on its English or Turkish site — the call-centre page lists numbers only behind a country selector — and no online assistance-request form: the Manage Booking page covers online check-in only and never mentions wheelchair requests. The one disability-specific channel it prints directly is the Complaint Resolution Official network (e-mail CRO@THY.COM plus a per-station phone list of 63 officers), which serves flights to and from the USA.
Read it from the source
- Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab)
- Restrictions and prohibited items (mobility-aid battery rules) (opens in a new tab)
- Complaint Resolution Officials — full station contact list (opens in a new tab)
- Boarding of a disabled passenger or passenger with reduced mobility (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
Powered wheelchairs & batteries
The part that goes wrong. Battery chemistry and watt-hours decide whether your chair flies, and the rules differ depending on whether the battery can be removed.
Battery-powered wheelchairs and similar mobility devices are accepted, in checked ("registered") baggage only — marked X for carry-on and X for cabin baggage — across the table's three mobility-aid rows: spillable (liquid), non-spillable liquid/nickel-metal hydride/dry-cell, and lithium-ion. Hoverboards, Segways, Airwheels, Solowheels, balance wheels, electric/rechargeable bicycles and lithium-powered rideable baggage "are not permitted on the aircraft".
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Accepted: wheelchairs and similar mobility devices powered by lithium-ion batteries travel in the hold. "Spare batteries and batteries removed from mobility aids must be carried in the cabin" and protected from damage, for example by placing each battery in a protective case.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Turkish Airlines states there is no cap while the battery stays fitted: "As long as the lithium battery(ies) remain installed in the mobility aids, there is no watt-hour limit."
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Each passenger may carry a maximum of one battery not exceeding 300 Wh, or two batteries, each not exceeding 160 Wh." Removed batteries must be carried in the cabin, each in a protective case.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
The same limit covers spares: a maximum of one battery not exceeding 300 Wh, or two batteries not exceeding 160 Wh each, carried in the cabin in protective cases.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Lithium-ion: one battery up to 300 Wh, or two up to 160 Wh each (removed plus spare counted together), carried in the cabin. Non-spillable: one non-spillable liquid battery, or two nickel-metal hydride/dry batteries. Spillable: no spare battery is permitted at all.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Removal is not required: every rule is conditional ("if a battery is to be removed"), and the table expressly contemplates the battery staying fitted — "As long as the lithium battery(ies) remain installed in the mobility aids, there is no watt-hour limit"; wet/lead-acid batteries "are permitted when deployed in the device". If you do remove one, a lithium battery must travel in the cabin, and any other type goes in its original packaging or a battery case.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Accepted in the hold: non-spillable liquid-powered, nickel-metal hydride and dry-cell batteries. "Passengers may carry a maximum of one non-spillable liquid battery or two nickel-metal hydride batteries and dry batteries per passenger." A removed battery must go in its original packaging or a battery case with the terminals insulated.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Accepted in the hold. "If the battery is to be removed from the wheelchair/mobility aid device, it must be placed in its original packaging or a battery container, and the battery terminals must be insulated and protected against short circuits. Carrying a spare battery for a wheelchair or mobility aid with a spillable type (liquid) battery is not permitted." Wet/lead-acid batteries are accepted only when deployed in the device — on their own they are never accepted.
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"If a battery is to be removed from a wheelchair or mobility aid, it must be placed in its original packaging or a battery case, and the battery terminals must be insulated to prevent short circuits." A removed liquid battery must be in a safe, hard package; "if the battery is not packaged properly, it will not be loaded onto the aircraft".
Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published. Turkish Airlines' restricted-items table sets no battery specification sheet, MSDS or prior operator-approval requirement for battery-powered mobility aids (unlike the approval it requires for some other lithium items).
Not published. Turkish Airlines gives no maximum dimensions for a powered wheelchair or scooter.
Not published. Turkish Airlines gives no weight limit for a powered wheelchair.
Not published. Turkish Airlines does not say whether a powered chair is returned at the aircraft door.
Battery-powered mobility aids may travel only in the hold — the restricted-items table marks them X for carriage on the person and X for cabin baggage. Lithium spare and removed batteries are the exception and must be in the cabin.
Manual wheelchairs
Passengers travel with their own wheelchair: the special-assistance page links "the process related to passengers traveling with a wheelchair", and that PDF's WCHC code covers passengers "able to meet their own needs in their own wheelchair at the airport". Note the restricted-items table's wheelchair rows all describe battery-powered devices, so it is not evidence for a manual chair. No size, weight or fee rule is published for a manual chair.
Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 About boarding of a disabled passenger or passenger with reduced mobility (PDF) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published. Turkish Airlines says a cane may be carried in the cabin "provided it is handed over to the cabin crew on board the aircraft", but says nothing about stowing a folding manual wheelchair in the cabin.
Not published.
Not published. Turkish Airlines gives no maximum wheelchair dimensions on its English or Turkish site; the per-network figures circulating on third-party sites could not be found on turkishairlines.com.
Not published. Turkish Airlines gives no weight limit for a wheelchair on its English or Turkish pages.
Not published. Turkish Airlines does not state whether a checked wheelchair is returned at the aircraft door or at baggage reclaim.
At Istanbul Airport, passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility check in at dedicated counters: G40-G43 for international flights and D17-D22 for domestic flights. Sunflower lanyards are handed out free at the Istanbul Airport special-service counters with no proof of condition required.
Booking & cost
"Requests for wheelchair services must be submitted at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled flight time and confirmed in the booking. Requests received within 48 hours of the flight time will be fulfilled depending on the availability of the service" — and provision "may not be guaranteed".
Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Hasta ve engelli yolcular (Turkish-language special assistance page) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Requests for wheelchair services must be submitted at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled flight time and confirmed in the booking." Turkish Airlines names no channel for that request. Portable respirator/POC/CPAP users "must inform the reservation unit 48 hours before the flight time". Arrive at the terminal at least 2 h before a domestic flight or 3 h before an international flight.
Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published for the passenger's own mobility aid. Turkish Airlines states that its airport wheelchair assistance is complimentary ("A complimentary wheelchair service is available to passengers with approved wheelchair requests"), but neither the English nor the Turkish page says whether your own wheelchair is carried free of charge or outside the checked-baggage allowance.
Not published. Turkish Airlines does not state how many mobility devices a passenger may bring.
Not published for mobility aids. Turkish Airlines' General Conditions of Carriage do not mention wheelchairs, and no ACAA full-value or Montreal Convention figure for mobility aids appears on its accessibility pages. On US routes a Complaint Resolution Official can be reached at each airport or at CRO@THY.COM, and 14 CFR Part 382 complaints go to the DOT Aviation Consumer Protection Division.
On board
Wide-body aircraft only. "With respect to the wide-body aircraft (A330/A350 777/787) in the Company's fleet, WCOB (Wheelchair on Board) is entered, in addition to WCHC, during the check-in process for passengers who require a wheelchair on board. The wheelchair is used to enable such passengers to move inside the aircraft." No on-board chair is published for narrow-body aircraft, and the web pages do not mention one.
About boarding of a disabled passenger or passenger with reduced mobility (PDF) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Not published. Turkish Airlines does not say which aircraft have an accessible lavatory.
The WCHC code covers passengers "who require assistance at all times from arrival at the airport until they are seated in the aircraft", reversed on arrival, and those who "require assistance in boarding and exiting the aircraft and moving around the aircraft cabin". Limits: "cabin crew members do not provide companion services for passengers", and anyone needing personal care must travel with a companion. Lavatory transfers are not addressed.
About boarding of a disabled passenger or passenger with reduced mobility (PDF) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"We offer priority to special needs passengers upon request, and when checking in, going through passport control, and boarding. We provide special needs passengers with preferred seat based on seat availability and aircraft configuration."
Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Fleet detail. Turkish Airlines publishes no per-aircraft hold or cargo-door dimensions and no maximum wheelchair size, but its boarding PDF warns that where boarding or carrying a passenger with reduced mobility "is physically impossible due to the dimensions of the aircraft or its doors, the reservation and carriage demand may be rejected". Battery-powered wheelchairs and mobility devices are accepted only as checked baggage in the hold; lithium batteries that have been removed, and lithium spares, must instead travel in the cabin in protective cases.
Worth knowing
Turkish Airlines' strength is its dangerous-goods table: three mobility-aid battery rows with clear handling rules, an explicit "no watt-hour limit" while a lithium battery stays installed, and 300 Wh / 2 x 160 Wh once removed or carried spare. Its weakness is the carriage side: nothing is published about maximum wheelchair size or weight, cabin stowage of a folding chair, gate return of a checked chair, accessible lavatories, damage liability (the 2020 Conditions of Carriage PDF never uses the word wheelchair), or whether your own wheelchair is carried free of charge. The Turkish-language page (turkishairlines.com/tr-tr/bilgi-edin/hasta-ve-engelli-yolcular/) mirrors the English one and adds nothing on carriage, so the English site is not the thin version. The PDF linked for "the process related to passengers traveling with a wheelchair" was text-extracted on 2026-07-29: it defines the WCHC/WCHR/WCHS/WCOB/WCLB service codes — the only place TK states that an on-board wheelchair exists, and only on A330/A350/777/787 — but contains no size, weight or handling limits. Miles&Smiles members who submit a proof-of-disability document once get, per the English page, a 20% discount on domestic flights and 25% on international flights departing Turkiye (the campaign page frames it as flights "to and from Turkiye" for citizens of Turkiye). Policy applies to Turkish Airlines; a Complaint Resolution Official network covers US flights.
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these.
- s1 Special assistance services for passengers (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s2 Travel restrictions and prohibited items guide (dangerous goods table) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s3 Name and contact numbers of CRO (Complaint Resolution Official) personnel list (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s4 About boarding of a disabled passenger or passenger with reduced mobility (PDF) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s5 Hasta ve engelli yolcular (Turkish-language special assistance page) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s6 Special discount for passengers with disability (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
Record quality
Record status researched · confidence high · 6 official sources · 4 contacts · 64% of the fields this reference tracks are answered. Newest source read 29 July 2026, the day before this page was built. What these mean.