Turkey lovers John Smythe and his wife have been left feeling like victims of day light robbery after a snack meal and drinks at Dalaman Airports Allsports Bar left them £60 poorer.

The couple, who are frequent visitors to south western Turkey and the resorts of Fethiye and Oludeniz, are well aware that the Dalaman Airport food and drink establishments are poor value for money and normally steer well clear of them.

But when their outbound flight was delayed by 2 hours after their latest holiday in June they decided to take the risk and sat down in the Allsports Pub for some light refreshment.

But the final bill was a shock and has left them feeling ‘robbed’.

John explains:

“We selected two meals from the menu. I had meatballs at £7.20 (TL18) and my wife had an omelette priced at £3.80 (TL9.50.) I even ordered a large beer - noting that the price was an exorbitant £7.00 (TL17.5).

My wife ordered a glass of rose wine, and decided to have a large rather than a small glass. Wine by the glass or bottle did not feature in either the printed menu or the price list on the wall by the bar.

We both assumed that the price of this glass would probably amount to about that of my beer. Subsequently we ordered another drink each.

When we asked the waiter if we could pay, he asked us for TL150. When I queried this he said that is what we owed. I asked him to tell me the component costs, and that is when he declared that each glass of wine cost YTL45 (£18, yes Eighteen pounds).

I asked for a printed bill, and when he refused, I asked to see the manager.

When the manager appeared, she supported the waiter, but did eventually get the waiter to write out the itemised bill which I had asked for, which he managed to make total TL152.50.

When I said I didn't have enough money to pay the manager threatened to call security, so reluctantly rather than risk missing my flight, I paid them the TL150 (£60).”

A Glass of Wine Was £18!

The couple were left feeling that they had been mislead, scammed and robbed by an unscrupulous restaurant that they think is taking advantage of a captive tourist audience.

They wrote to the Dalaman Airport operators ATM on 8th June 2011, two days after the event, complaining about their treatment and asking for details of the company that runs the Allsports Bar so they could also write to them. They have yet to receive a reply.

Dalaman Airport is internationally renowned for the high cost of food and drink and there are many complaints recorded on Internet forums and airline quality websites. This story adds yet more weight to those voices and a further warning to users of the airport to watch out and be aware of the costs of food and drink.