A few years ago, we were the first to uncover the killer story with Turkish Miles, which allowed you to fly one-way within the United States, including to/from Alaska and Hawaii, for just 7,500 miles one-way in economy. Turkish offers a number of great award deals. One of the most frustrating Star Alliance programs is Miles and Smiles, because of the challenges you may face in booking the itinerary you want. There is no doubt that the sweet spots can be well worth the challenges you may encounter in booking.
This guide has undergone a number of changes. Award tickets for flights to Hawaii on United are once again easily bookable online because Turkish has a checkout button. We have added information about transfers from Bilt and Capital One, re-organized steps to finding availability and booking United flights, and added information about protecting miles for those of us with miles set to expire later this year.
Miles & Smiles is still making me smile…for now.
Book via email or over the phone if you can’t online: While some itineraries can be booked online, many itineraries don’t show up on the Turkish website. In those cases, you’ll need to either email or call to book over the phone with Turkish Miles & Smiles at 1-800-874-8875. Note that phone agents often have trouble finding availability. Email bookings still work, so try the email process detailed in this guide if you strike out on the phone. Note that you may want to send the same email to multiple ticket offices because some offices may not respond.
Connecting itineraries are OK: Award pricing is per direction regardless of segments (i.e. EWR-HNL is 7.5K one way in economy class. EWR-ORD-LAX-HNL is also 7.5K one way in economy even though there are 2 stops provided the layovers don’t exceed maximum connection times).
Irregular Operations can be a major headache. If your flight is cancelled by United or there is a significant schedule change, you may be in for a large headache because United likely won’t be able to help and you’ll be stuck calling Miles & Smiles and hoping they can reissue your ticket. This is the main risk in booking via Turkish.
The award chart no longer shows the sweetest spot. Turkish used to include a snippet in its award chart indicating that domestic Star Alliance awards cost 7.5K each way in economy class or 12.5K each way in business class. However, they eliminated that snipped in 2019. Awards from “North America” to “North America” are listed in the award chart at 10K each way in economy class or 15K in business class. In practice, international awards within North America follow that pricing, but entirely domestic awards, such as those on United Airlines within the United States, continue to price according to the old domestic award chart snippet both online and via email.
Award holds: Turkish will give you a hold for 48 hours if booking more than 7 days in advance, so there is no need to transfer before putting an award on hold in most cases.
Transfers times: Citi ThankYou points generally transfer in 18-30 hours. Bilt Rewards and Capital One miles transfer instantly. You can alternatively transfer from Marriott Rewards, but the transfer time is likely to be a week or more.
When you create an account, your password must be numbers only and 6 digits long.
No mixed cabin bookings in most cases: You can not combine an itinerary with some legs in business class and others in economy class. An exception from the program rules is that per the terms it is possible to book a mixed-cabin award in cases where one of your flights does not have a matching class of service (e.g. one leg has business class but the other leg is operated by a small regional plane with no business class cabin). However, YMMV — the online tool does not yet show these itineraries.
Fuel surcharges are passed on. You’ll want to choose airlines with low/no fuel surcharges and/or departure cities that limit them. United has no fuel surcharges.
United Airlines “Saver” availability only: If you’re looking to book United flights with Turkish Miles & Smiles, you must find United saver availability. Only United saver availability is bookable with partner miles. You can not book segments operated by Hawaiian with Turkish miles. You can not use Turkish miles to book award seats that are only available to United credit card holders or United elite members — only saver availability that you see when not logged in to a United account will be available to Turkish. Cross-reference availability with another Star Alliance carrier, like Air Canada, to see which flights should be available to partners.
International first class is not bookable on the Turkish website and may not be available via phone or email. While Turkish added first class redemptions to its award chart, we only see economy and business class booking options on the website. According to Flyertalk, Turkish is unable to book first class awards.
The cancellation fee is very reasonable: The fee to cancel and redeposit an award is only $25 per passenger. The mileage redeposit is sometimes instant. Note that changes theoretically also cost $25, but in my experience it was easier to cancel & re-book. Note also that numerous readers have reported free cancellation when due to a significant schedule change. In the past, bookings made on the website were easily cancellable online, but you may need to call.
Many available routes don’t show up online. It’s not clear why, but many itineraries that are available at United.com do not show up on the Turkish Airlines website. In these cases, you should be able to book via email.
Not all routes price correctly online. Most domestic US itineraries now price at 7,500 miles each way in economy class online. Some price at over 11K online for no known reason (the same itineraries can be booked over the phone or via email for 7,500 miles each way).
The online tool often doesn’t show the most direct routing. Even when direct flights are available, the system sometimes forces a connection (for example, rather than allowing a nonstop round trip award between San Francisco and Honolulu, the options presented required connecting through Los Angeles or vice versa).
You can not book tickets for others until you have booked a ticket for yourself. This might mean that you’ll need to book yourself and traveling companions under separate reservations. It may also be possible to make yourself a “dummy” booking that you will later cancel in order to unlock the ability to book for others.
You can not book tickets for others on the Turkish Airlines website unless the member booking is also traveling and you must first add others as your companions. For example, the online system would not allow me to make a booking for my wife and son (without me) using my miles. However, it is possible to book travel for others over the phone and via email even when the member booking is not traveling. Note that to book a ticket online that includes you the member and other passengers on the same itinerary, you must go to “My personal details” and “My Companions” and add traveling companions there before booking (this is not necessary for phone or email bookings).
There are fantastic sweet spots connecting other regions. If you’re piecing together a multi-region trip, it’s worth a look at the full Turkish Miles & Smiles award chart. Note that you want to see the “Promotional Award Ticket Table” for Star Alliance awards. There are some fantastic values, particularly between Europe and regions East (27.5K in business class to Central Asia, 45K to the Far East, and 52.5K to Oceania all come to mind). See also the region definitions as some regions are quite large.
The short story: Turkish offers a competitive economy class award rate to what they dub the "Far East" (defined as Brunei, Cambodia, China (except Hong Kong and Macao), China Taipei, Hong Kong - SAR of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam). That said, keep in mind that business class is only 50% more.
Miles required: 45K each way
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish Miles & Smiles offers excellent award pricing for Star Alliance flights within North America (i.e. on United, Copa or Air Canada).
Miles required: From 7,500 miles each way in economy or 12,500 miles each way in business class. Note that domestic flights are 7,500 each way in economy class or 12,500 miles each way in business class which includes the continental US to/from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. International destinations in North America theoretically cost 10K each in economy or 15K in business. However, note that most Caribbean islands are classified as South America and as such are a poor deal.
How to find awards: Search United.com and look for "Saver Awards". You can also try searching via the Turkish Airlines website, but it does not always show full availability.
How to book awards: You can try booking on the Miles & Smiles website, though not all flights are available online. Previously phone bookings have worked and may again be possible. If all else fails, try booking via email. See our guide for booking United flights with Turkish for more detail.
Key warnings: Turkish agents occasionally can't see availability even though it is marked as "Saver". You may just have to try again with a different agent.
Transfer from: Capital One, Citi,
The short story: Turkish offers incredible rates for economy class to the Central Asia (defined as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) - but watch out for fuel surcharges on some partners.
Miles required: 34K each way
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings:Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish offers incredible rates for economy class to the Middle East - but watch out for fuel surcharges on some partners.
Miles required: 32K each way
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish offers incredible value on domestic Star Alliance flights. This makes Turkish the absolute cheapest way to book flights within the US on United -- including to Alaska and Hawaii.
Miles required: 7,500 miles each way in economy class or 12,500 miles each way in business class domestically on United within the US or domestically on Air Canada within Canada (can include connections for the same price). For North American international flights (e.g. US to Canada or Mexico), 10K each way in economy class or 15K each way in business class.
How to find awards: Search United.com and look for "Saver Awards". You can also try searching via the Turkish Airlines website, but it does not always show full availability.
How to book awards: Not all available flights are displayed online at the Turkish Airlines website (and for many months the checkout page has been broken and missing a button to pay for your reservation. Then they added a checkout button but flights fail to ticket). Previously phone bookings have worked and may again be possible. If all else fails, try booking via email. See our guide for booking United flights with Turkish for more detail.
Change ang cancellation fees: The fee to change or cancel is $25 per passenger, though I've been unsuccessful in finding agents who know how to change a partner award. Thus cancelling for $25 is your best bet.
Key warnings: Turkish agents occasionally can't see availability even though it is marked as "Saver". You may just have to try again with a different agent. Irregular operations can cause a huge headache in getting in touch with Turkish to get your flight fixed. Booking via Turkish is not for the faint of heart (or those who can not drop back 10 yards and punt when things go sideways).
Transfer from: Bilt, Citi, Capital One
The short story: Turkish offers the same pricing on flights to Hawaii as for other domestic US awards, making them an unbelievable value for flights to Hawaii.
Miles required: 7,500 miles each way in economy class or 12,500 miles each way in business class (can include connections for the same price)
How to find awards: Search for available award space at United.com. Important: make sure that the results indicate that the award is a "saver award", otherwise it won't be bookable.
How to book awards: While it's theoretically possible to book online (details here), you'll likely have much better luck via phone. Even then, it may take several calls to get an agent who can see that the award space is available. Details for booking via phone can be found here. See also: Turkish still a mixed bag, but patience helps.
Key warnings: Turkish appears to have a max connect time of 4 hours on a domestic itinerary, so itineraries with a longer connection would require 2 awards. Also, for an unknown reason, Turkish agents often can't see award space that other partner airlines can see. You may have to call several times to get an award booked. Keep in mind that transfers to Turkish are not instant; it will take 1-2 days for the miles to show up in your Turkish Miles & Smiles account. As a result, we highly recommend calling to put an award on hold before you transfer points to Turkish miles.
The short story: Turkish offers excellent pricing to North Africa on Star Alliance carriers and decent award pricing to Central and Southern Africa.
Miles required: 60K miles each way in business class to North Africa, 72.5K miles each way in business class to Central Africa, and 85K each way in business class to Southern Africa
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer from Citi. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points.
Transfer from: Capital One, Citi ThankYou points, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish offers excellent rates for both business and first class to the what they dub the "Far East" (defined as Brunei, Cambodia, China (except Hong Kong and Macao), China Taipei, Hong Kong - SAR of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam) - but watch out for fuel surcharges on some partners.
Miles required: 67.5K each way in business class, 100K each way in first class
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish Miles & Smiles offers excellent award pricing for Star Alliance flights within North America (i.e. on United, Copa or Air Canada).
Miles required: From 7,500 miles each way in economy or 12,500 miles each way in business class. Note that domestic flights are 7,500 each way in economy class or 12,500 miles each way in business class which includes the continental US to/from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. International destinations in North America theoretically cost 10K each in economy or 15K in business. However, note that most Caribbean islands are classified as South America and as such are a poor deal.
How to find awards: Search United.com and look for "Saver Awards". You can also try searching via the Turkish Airlines website, but it does not always show full availability.
How to book awards: You can try booking on the Miles & Smiles website, though not all flights are available online. Previously phone bookings have worked and may again be possible. If all else fails, try booking via email. See our guide for booking United flights with Turkish for more detail.
Key warnings: Turkish agents occasionally can't see availability even though it is marked as "Saver". You may just have to try again with a different agent.
Transfer from: Capital One, Citi,
The short story: Turkish offers incredible rates for both business and first class to the Central Asia (defined as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) - but watch out for fuel surcharges on some partners. Still, it may be worth those fuel surcharges for first class redemptions in some cases given the low mileage rate.
Miles required: 52.5K each way in business class, 72K each way in first class
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Bilt, Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: At 45K each way in business class or 67.5K each way in business class, Turkish offers one of the best mileage rates to Europe - but watch out for fuel surcharges on some partners. Still, fuel surcharges may be worth it in some instances given the low rates (particularly in first class).
Miles required: 45K miles each way in business class or 67.5K each way in first class
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer from Citi. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish offers the same pricing on flights to Hawaii as for other domestic US awards, making them an unbelievable value for flights to Hawaii.
Miles required: 7,500 miles each way in economy class or 12,500 miles each way in business class (can include connections for the same price)
How to find awards: Search for available award space at United.com. Important: make sure that the results indicate that the award is a "saver award", otherwise it won't be bookable.
How to book awards: While it's theoretically possible to book online (details here), you'll likely have much better luck via phone. Even then, it may take several calls to get an agent who can see that the award space is available. Details for booking via phone can be found here. See also: Turkish still a mixed bag, but patience helps.
Key warnings: Turkish appears to have a max connect time of 4 hours on a domestic itinerary, so itineraries with a longer connection would require 2 awards. Also, for an unknown reason, Turkish agents often can't see award space that other partner airlines can see. You may have to call several times to get an award booked. Keep in mind that transfers to Turkish are not instant; it will take 1-2 days for the miles to show up in your Turkish Miles & Smiles account. As a result, we highly recommend calling to put an award on hold before you transfer points to Turkish miles.
The short story: Turkish offers incredible rates for both business and first class to the Middle East - but watch out for fuel surcharges on some partners. Still, it may be worth those fuel surcharges for first class redemptions in some cases given the low mileage rate.
Miles required: 47K each way in business class, 69.5K each way in first class
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
The short story: Turkish offers incredible value on domestic Star Alliance flights. This makes Turkish the absolute cheapest way to book flights within the US on United -- including to Alaska and Hawaii.
Miles required: 7,500 miles each way in economy class or 12,500 miles each way in business class domestically on United within the US or domestically on Air Canada within Canada (can include connections for the same price). For North American international flights (e.g. US to Canada or Mexico), 10K each way in economy class or 15K each way in business class.
How to find awards: Search United.com and look for "Saver Awards". You can also try searching via the Turkish Airlines website, but it does not always show full availability.
How to book awards: Not all available flights are displayed online at the Turkish Airlines website (and for many months the checkout page has been broken and missing a button to pay for your reservation. Then they added a checkout button but flights fail to ticket). Previously phone bookings have worked and may again be possible. If all else fails, try booking via email. See our guide for booking United flights with Turkish for more detail.
Change ang cancellation fees: The fee to change or cancel is $25 per passenger, though I've been unsuccessful in finding agents who know how to change a partner award. Thus cancelling for $25 is your best bet.
Key warnings: Turkish agents occasionally can't see availability even though it is marked as "Saver". You may just have to try again with a different agent. Irregular operations can cause a huge headache in getting in touch with Turkish to get your flight fixed. Booking via Turkish is not for the faint of heart (or those who can not drop back 10 yards and punt when things go sideways).
Transfer from: Bilt, Citi, Capital One
The short story: South America is a poor value via Turkish if originating in North America, but much of the Caribbean is classified as South America and as such Caribbean islands to South America present a solid value.
Miles required: Too many from North America (75K each way), but 35K each way in business class "within" South America (which includes many Caribbean Islands to/from South America, so it may be worth positioning to the Caribbean to pay just 35K miles one-way to anywhere in South America). Note that the Turkish region definition for South America isn't entirely reliable as it includes Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, but those islands actually price as part of the US. Noting that inaccuracy, here is how Turkish defines South America: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, CHILE, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Maarten (Dutch Part), Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela, Virgin Islands (US).
How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or via email
Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer from Citi. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points. No fuel surcharges on Air Canada, United, Avianca, or SAS. Low fuel surcharges on LOT Polish and Turkish.
Transfer from: Citi Thank You, Marriott Bonvoy
Star Alliance flights to Turkish can earn you Turkish Miles and Smiles miles. You can find 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 is 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299
There are several ways to earn miles without flying.
Bilt Rewards (instant transfer)
Turkish Miles is a Bilt rewards transfer partner. You can link your TurkishMiles account to your Bilt rewards account.
Blue members with no Bilt rewards status must transfer in 2,000 points.
Immediate transfers from Bilt rewards are possible.
Capital One Miles (instant transfer)
Capital One has a 1: 1 transfer partner. Simply log in to your Capital One account and click "redeem rewards" and "convert rewards" to transfer 100 miles.
Capital One transfers are instantaneous.
Citi ThankYou Points (not instant transfer)
Turkish Miles is a Citi Transfer partner. Simply log in to ThankYou.com and transfer your points to Turkish Miles and Smiles like you would with any airline partner.
It is not instant to transfer from Citi to another bank. The transfer times are different from day to day. If you initiate the transfer right away after placing the hold, you should be able to receive the miles in time to ticket your award.
The transfer bonus was provided by Citi to Turkish Miles in the year 2018. Hopefully we will see that return.
Marriott Bonvoy
You can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Turkish Airlines at a rate of 3 Marriott points to 1 Turkish Airlines mile. When you transfer 60,000 Marriott points, you will get a 5K bonus for 25K Turkish miles. Marriott transfers are slow and may take a week or more.
Buy miles from Turkish
You can get up to 50,000 miles for 3 cents per mile. If you want to top off your account for a valuable award, you can use these miles. Turkish processes these transactions directly, so mileage purchases look like airline charges.
If you have at least one point in your account, you can buy additional ThankYou points for 2.5 cents each, up to a maximum of 100K points per year. He wrote a post about doing it for an award. $386 is the price for a round trip from anywhere in the US to Hawaii.
Step-by-step guide to booking Turkish Miles & Smiles award tickets
If you know how to find and book awards and are prepared to deal with irregular operations, Turkish Miles can be a great deal. If United cancels your flight or it undergoes a significant schedule change, you are likely in for a lot of trouble getting in touch with Turkish and getting their help reissuing your ticket. Booking via Turkish is not for the faint of heart.
Finding and booking awards is not as difficult as it used to be. To book, follow the steps.
Check United.com for saver availability
If you don't log in to your United account, it's easy to start your search at United.com for your preferred date and route. Only saver awards can be booked. The Star Alliance partner awards should be available on United.com.
The United Airlines flights marked “Saver Award” can be booked with Turkish miles. Those with higher mileage prices (like 45K and 90K in the image above) can not be booked using partner miles.
Turkish can't book seats that are only available to United credit card holders. Turkish can't book on United.com if you log in, so make sure you don't.
Check the Turkish Airlines website
If you have found saver availability via United, you can try to find it on the Turkish Airlines website. Turkish Airlines website availability is very much hit or miss, as we have previously noted. The good news is that you will find some good options that are easy to book online, and awards are once again bookable online now that the checkout button has been restored. The good news is that you won't see all of the options on the website.
Unlike other airline websites, you won't start your search on the Turkish Airlines homepage, rather you'll want to log in to your TurkishMiles account and choose yourMiles transactions from the drop-down menu.
Turkish miles
You can find the booking engine at the right of your name.
The booking engine will bring you to the Star Alliance Award Ticket page.
The easiest way to search for one-way awards is to click the calendar to select dates.
If awards are available in both economy class and business class, you will see radio buttons to choose which class of service you would like to see displayed.
If you receive a message that there are no flights available, that doesn't mean there aren't awards available. If you have found saver Star Alliance availability on United.com or the Aeroplan website, you should be able to book that space by phone or email. It may take multiple tries to book successfully if agents don't see availability that should be there. I have gotten an agent to book on my first call, but other times it has taken many calls or a copy/paste email to get a ticket booked.
Calling Turkish Airlines to book via phone
You must feed the agent separately for each segment in order to make phone bookings with Turkish Miles. The email process works. Instructions on booking via email can be found in this post.
To book a United Airlines award ticket over the phone, follow these steps.
Call 1-800-874-8875
Press 1 to continue in English
Press 1 because you’re a Miles & Smiles member
Enter your Miles & Smiles number
Press 1 to confirm your number is correct
Press 4 for reservations
When you call Turkish Airlines to book an award ticket, you will need to tell the agent exactly which flights you want and then feed the agent one segment at a time.
If you want to fly from Chicago to Honolulu with a stop in San Francisco, you need to be very specific.
“I’d like to book a partner flight on United airlines. There are 2 segments. The first flight is from Chicago (ORD) to San Francisco (SFO) on October 22nd for 2 passengers in economy class. I’m looking for flight UA 1891 leaving Chicago at 10am and arriving at 12:50pm in San Francisco.”
The agent should find that flight. Next flight, move on.
“The second segment is from San Francisco (SFO) to Honolulu (HNL) on October 22nd for 2 passengers in economy class. I’m looking for flight UA 300 leaving San Francisco at 2:10pm.”
If you just ask for Chicago to Honolulu, the agent will probably tell you that there is no availability. You have to keep in mind that agents can't see availability that should be there. You should be prepared to hang up and call again.
The max time for tickets booked via phone or email on domestic itineraries is 4 hours. You will be charged for two awards if your itinerary has a longer layover. Sometimes the online booking tool returns results with longer layovers.
Book a Turkish Miles & Smiles award via email
Turkish Airlines has ticket offices in 9 US cities and 2 Canadian cities. All of their ticket offices have contact information on their website. You should choose theTicket Sales Office rather than theAirport Sales Office.
I use an example email template.
Hello,
I’m emailing to inquire about a Star Alliance award booking. I would like to book the following itinerary:
Passenger: [Name]
Miles & Smiles Number: XXXXXX
Date: February 12, 2021
Class: Economy
Origin: IAD
Destination: LAS
Segments:
1) UA 632 12NOV IAD-LAX 1230 1456
2) UA 2365 12NOV LAX-LAS 1631 1745
Can you confirm the number of miles required and the total taxes & fees and help me place this award on hold?
I really appreciate your assistance!
Sincerely,
[Name]
Some offices won't respond to your email. Some offices almost never respond and others are more reliable. Since this varies all the time, your best bet is to just send the same email to multiple offices. Most of the ticket offices are open from 9am-5pm on Mondays through Fridays, so you may not get a response after hours on weekends and/or you may need to try an office in a different area.
Turkish requires all of the following paperwork when booking via email.
Miles & Smiles redemption form: This is a form that includes the basic route and price information and asks you to indicate the type of award (i.e. an award ticket on Star Alliance Flights). You’ll sign this form.
Credit card authorization form. This form has your PNR and fare information. It also asks for date of birth, email address, phone number, driver’s license number, credit card information, and signature of the booking member.
Photos of your credit card (both front and back). Be aware that you may need to crop / resize your photos (my email kept bouncing back saying that the ticket office box was full and the message was undeliverable, but it turned out that my files were too large).
Photo of your ID. I provided both front and back.
I have had success putting an award on hold via email and then calling to pay taxes and ticket the award without the need for any of the above paperwork.
Putting an award on hold
When booking via phone or email, Turkish Miles & Smiles allows award holds. Since Turkish allows free and easy holds there is no reason to transfer miles before this point, so you will need to ask the agent to put the itinerary on hold for you. The names and birth dates of the passengers in your party will be taken by the agent.
If you book travel at least 7 days in advance, you will be offered a hold of 48 hours, which is plenty of time to transfer the miles necessary. The transfers from Capital One and Bilt rewards are instant, but the transfers from Citi ThankYou points take up to 30 hours.
You will only get a hold for 24 hours if you book a flight within 7 days. Capital One and Bilt would be safer bets within 7 days of travel.
If your itinerary is on hold, you will want to transfer the miles to pay for your award. If an office puts your award on hold via email, you can simply call Miles and give them the PNR from the email and pay to ticket over the phone.
Calling to ticket
You will need to call back to ticket your award once you have the miles in your account.
When you call Turkish again, you will tell them that you need to pay for an award you have on hold. When you put your tickets on hold, you will give them the PNR you were given, which will allow them to verify all of the information. You will be transferred to an automated system by the agent. After you enter credit card info, the agent will verify the first 4 and last 4 digits of the card number and then transfer you to an automated prompt to enter your Miles & Smiles PIN. The password for your account is a six-digit number. The award will be free once it's complete. Unlike searching for award space, ticketing a reservation once you have it on hold is very easy and shouldn't require more than one call.
Change / cancellation fee for Turkish award tickets
The ticket must be used within 1 year of the day it is issued to be valid for changes before check-in. There will be a $50 fee for changes after check-in or a no-show. It is possible to cancel itineraries over the phone. Many readers have reported paying no cancellation fee when there are significant schedule changes.
Turkish miles and smiles miles are not valid for more than 3 years after they are earned. Transferring more miles to Turkish doesn't extend the validity of your existing miles.
You can pay a fee of $10 per 1,000 miles to extend it for another 3 years, but at 1c per mile, that's quite expensive. If you are confident you will use the miles within 3 years, you should not transfer.
It is worth paying to extend the miles if you are very confident that you will use them. The fee to extend 15000 miles is $150. It may be worth paying $150 to extend the 15K Turkish miles that can get you a round trip ticket to Hawaii.
Simply log in to your account, click your name to expand the menu, and find the button to protect your miles.
On the next page, you can choose how many miles you want to protect.
Again, that can be worthwhile. Turkish allows you to protect an amount less than your balance.
Turkish Miles & Smiles Elite Status
Turkishmiles and smiles sometimes match status for those with oneworld status. Status Matcher can be used for recent data.
The requirements are for those who want to earn status the old fashioned way.
Note that you’ll want to check wheretocredit.com before choosing to credit your flights to Turkish to be sure that they are eligible to earn the miles you expect.
The ability to pool family miles may be a benefit of elite status.
Bottom line
Turkish Miles and Smiles has some great award sweet spots. They can be frustrating due to the difficulty in booking awards. The award sweet spots are worth the challenge for those who don't mind making a few phone calls or sending an email.
Note that you’ll want to check wheretocredit.com before choosing to credit your flights to Turkish to be sure that they are eligible to earn the miles you expect.
