A couple of days ago I shared my picks for the best and worst airline hold music.
One of my picks for the worst hold music was Turkish Airlines, which has this music:
The thing is that on hold it’s not actually that “song,” but rather just 0:13-0:26 of that video over and over and over. “We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours. We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours. We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours. We are Turkish Airlines. We are globally yours.”
On the phone it’s much more low quality than the YouTube video. And I swear the lady’s voice is a lot whinier.
So what’s the problem? Well, I can’t get the song out of my head, to put it mildly. The second I wake up I chant the lyrics. When I’m stuck in traffic I do the same. And also when I’m in the shower. It’s literally all I do all day.
Today I was on the phone with my delightful mom in Florida and she asked me a question, to which I instinctively responded “we are Turkish Airlines, we are globally yours.”
This is no laughing matter. I honestly can’t get the song out of my head. Whenever I have a spare second I actually call up Turkish just to hear the hold music.
But the thing is that I really hate the music. It’s horrible. But it’s addictively horrible.
I don’t want to cause anyone else to become addicted, though please, for the love of God, someone tell me they’re suffering from the same? Someone tell me the slogan is the first thing they think about in the morning, the last thing they think about before they go to sleep, and all they think about inbetween.
Is there a support group or any level of counseling that can solve this?
OH, this always reminds me of the repetitive "We Belong" campaign from Sheraton. They would replay the same 10 second loop while you were on hold for room service or reservations. It would drive me manic!
As a Turkish guy who happens to fly with TK loads of times during the year, I must confidently say through experience that you will be immune after a while. Good job TK managed to put it in your heads with a simple marketing trick - yet, not thinking about the consequences that people would suffer from it which would lead to establishing support groups! Oh the replies here are hilarious btw.
Does anyone has a link for that loop of the hold phone music? Not the full song, would very appreciate, research purposes to help you guys out :)
Malaaaysia.. truuly aaasiaa!
Let's face it people... this jingle is clearly filled with subliminal messages about world domination and when the time comes for everyone to choose Turkey VS Earth, Ben will take one step forward and reply in a robotic state "We are Turkish Airlines, we are GLOBALLY YOURS."
;)
I woke up today while singing "We are Turkish Airlines, We are globally yours" and I have been singing it all day long today.
Bu I, on the other hand, absolutely adore this song! :)
I tired calling them last month and it has been a pain in my mind since.
What's worse, finally they are getting out and now you are reminding me of that again!
Hi Lucky,
I know how you feel. When I was in Istanbul earlier this year they had lost my luggage, I had the wonderful opportunity to call their customer service, for 2 days I had to listen to that horrible song as I hoped they'd reward me by finding my bags.
lets start a petition on "We The People" at the White House website. Maybe with that, they will be forced to change that crap. I was forced to listen to that for over 12 minutes to get my business class seats assigned from IST to MLE. I hope it is worth it!! Urgh~
@Tracy: The middle seat is worse.
The song is truly, TRULY awful, especially when repeated 6,000,000 times. But yes, a middle seat is worse.
As for Lucyphone: the agent has to be willing to play along with the recorded instructions. In my experience (with a few different companies), many times, they just hang up - especially if they are foreign.
Not bad!
OMG! I hadn't heard it before I watched that video. Kill me now. My friend and I are flying TK in a couple weeks and it's my job to call them to try to get a seat assignment. What's worse: listening to that hold music or a middle seat in a 2-4-2 configuration for a 10hr flight?
Two words: Hamster Dance!!!!! :)
Ok, so it seems Turkish Airlines chose their theme wisely! Let's look at it from this aspect, a popular travel blogger keeps repeating the song in his head, so he will continue to engage the airline, while he also blogs about it, causing his readers to call Turkish just to check it out themselves? Brilliant!
You are not the first one!
Highly recommend a short story by Mark Twain about the same issue. It is called 'A Literary Nightmare' or 'Punch, Brothers, Punch!'
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence...
You are not the first one!
Highly recommend a short story by Mark Twain about the same issue. It is called 'A Literary Nightmare' or 'Punch, Brothers, Punch!'
Conductor, when you receive a fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
CHORUS
Punch brothers! Punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
@Sean M.
His name is Peggy, he used to work for your credit card company. :-)
Maybe we can petition them to change the music? It drives me crazy too... and I shudder every time I know I have to deal with them.
El Al is the other offender. But their loop is longer at least and doesn't sound like a woman on the verge of tears.
Yup, it's been stuck in my head since last year. I sing it at home and my wife has never even heard the song in real life but she hates it.
As a person who works with telephony systems, it's honestly an easy fix on our end. You just have to get the marketing people and the creative people to agree on something.
As a creative person on the side...I really don't like the marketing people. It's usually Marketing that come up with this sort of thing. ;-)
I spent some time during the holidays helping my parents book a flight using points...worst part of the call was the music.
Look at it this way. It is a cheap but very effective way to build brand awareness. Everu time I see their logo or pull my elite card to enter a United lounge, the stupid song pops into my mind.
Seriously Lucky, I can't imagine you guys don't use Lucyphone.com (I've mentioned this before I think) - no need to wait on hold and tolerate that music!!
So many times in the past few years have those haunting two phrases gone through my head... At the oddest moments as well!
Of course, then I flew ANA, and heard THEIR song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HW_zGD1khk&list=FLXcO4yVtPci0_oOBZwoz49A
While quite a bit more complex and entertaining, but gets embedded in your head just as badly!
SQ's holding music has made it into my dreams. How about that?
@ Sean M. -- ROFL, so true!
"Aw snap! Aw snap! Come to our macaronni party and we'll take a nap." No parent should be subjected to repeated viewings of that "Regular Show" episode. ;)
You are not alone! I flew from Europe to Africa and return with TK in April and STILL can't get that stupid song out of my head! The singer is terrible!!
Worse than the hold music is the quality of the line when they actually answer the phone. I swear their call center consists of a guy sitting on a box in the middle of a bazaar using a tin on a string.
Welcome to the group!
lol...i had the same issue... i kept holding for 30 minutes and then I was devastated :P
Head-On. Apply directly to the forehead...
"Call me, Maybe". It will wear off over time but in the short term it is excruciating...
Been there. Spent half an hour on hold just to reset a forgotten PIN.
You could have said:
"I don’t want to cause anyone else to become addicted"
before posting the video. ;)
We are Turkish Airlines. We are Globally Yours.
I was sick over a weekend when I was living in Switzerland and my only TV entertainment was CNN International - which is already bad in and of itself, but is eye-gougingly bad when you combine that with endless "We Are Globally Yours" commercials.
Btw, thanks for making us all relive that painful jingle Lucky. Now I won't be able to get this out of my head for days. :)
There was a week-long period when I was dealing with Turkish Airlines almost everyday ... they lost my folks' bags on a trip (I'm the designated "deal with the airline" guy in the family) at the same time I was trying to status match to them for *G and needed the card for a future trip. I was going mad as well.
It doesn't help that their commercials play non-stop here in LA, especially during basketball games since Kobe is a spokesperson.
Just start singing its a small world after all and it'll be gone
YES. SO ANNOYING -- and like you said, it's on repeat! i (luckily) haven't heard it since september, but it's forever ingrained into my brain. thanks -- now it's looping :\ (maybe now is a good time to call and ask about my status match, since the song is already stuck...)