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Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
Program overview
Miles&Smiles is a loyalty program of Turkish Airlines, a Star Alliance member. Turkish Airlines, with a hub in Istanbul airport, flies to more than 250 destinations in the world. This is an excellent airline with great service.
Although Miles&Smiles is not a well-known program, it is worth taking a look at. Miles&Smiles offers a lot of great redemption options and offers an easy path to Star Alliance Gold privileges.
Alliance | |
Program website | |
Approximate miles value | Varies |
Miles validity | 3 years |
Program accrual | Based on distance + bonus |
Limit on amount of miles you can purchase | You can purchase up to 50,000 Miles in a calendar year. |
Waitlist option | No |
Courtesy Hold for award reservation | Allowed for 72 hours |
Do you need to open an account to check availability? | Yes |
Stopover option | 1 stopover is allowed (Roundtrip awards only) |
Family account | Yes |
Upgrade option | Yes |
Online booking | Turkish Airlines flights may be booked online, but for some partner flights, you may need to call them |
Airline partners | Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Thai Airways, United Airlines |
Credit card partners | Citi ThankYou (1:1, usually instant), Capital One (2:1.5, usually instant) |
Hotel partners | Marriott Bonvoy (3:1, 3 days transfer), Hilton Honors (10:1, up to 30 days transfer), Wyndham Rewards (6:1.2, 6-8 weeks transfer), Radisson Rewards (10:1, 4-6 weeks transfer), Accor Live Limitless (2:1, 4-6 weeks transfer) |
Co-Branded credit card in the US | None |
Point/Miles Conversion Chart
Pros
- Family account
- Low cancellation and change fees ($25)
- Award reservation courtesy hold for 72 hours
- One-way awards are exactly half of the round-trip awards
- Best in alliance status thresholds (only 40,000 flown miles for Star Alliance gold and valid for 2 years)
- Low Promo awards for Transatlantic Business starting at 45,000 miles and decent availability of promo award space as compared to other airlines
- Any seat award availability at reasonable mileage prices
- Excellent airline, well-designed airport, best business class and Star Alliance Gold lounges in Europe in Istanbul International Airport
- If you earn Miles&Smiles Gold status (40,000 status miles, valid for 2 years) you get all Star Alliance Gold benefits, including lounge access when flying domestic flights on United Airlines in any class. The lounge access is not available to United Airlines Gold cardholders
Cons
- Mixed cabin awards are never allowed
- Fuel surcharges are always passed on (except United)
- Relatively low bonus levels for Elite members and Premium classes
- The website needs more details and functionality
- Upgrades are almost as expensive as awards, not a great deal
- Poor availability for partner airlines
Excellent for
- Business Class from the US to Europe starts from 45,000 miles one way on Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance partners.
- South African Business Class from the US to Johannesburg starts from 67,500 miles one way.
- Air Canada direct flights from Canada to India for 52,500 miles in Business Class each way.
- United Airlines flight from the US to Hawaii for 7,500 miles in Economy one way.
Insider Tip
- Turkish Airlines may offer promo awards that can be really great deals. In this case, the promo Business Class often has the same price as the regular Economy award.
- The website is buggy when booking award space. The app experience is much better, so download an app when ready to book an award.
- There is a separate entrance to Istanbul Airport for Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold members. No lines for security check-in and passport control.
- Although Istanbul Airport is huge, don't hesitate to book 1-hour connections as they designed special procedures to get passengers with short connections to their flight in minutes. Follow the special signs in Istanbul Airport for connections under 60 minutes.
- Surprisingly, Americans need a visa to visit Turkey (not for transit). It is easy to get online in a few minutes by filling out a form. No need to print it.
- The Homebase Stopover Strategy works really well for Istanbul based travelers.
Do you use this program? Share your experience and tips in the comments below. Your thoughts would be very valuable to us!
Choose where you are going from and to by selecting the respective zones. There are two ways to choose your origin and destination - you can either select the zones they fall into on the map or by clicking on the bars above the map and entering the city name or airport code into the search fields.
- Choose one of the three point combination options which is applicable to you. If you don't have any miles in any airline accounts you can leave those fields blank.
- Input all of the different points you have on the credit cards you are planning to use. You can enter as many as you like. If you have multiple cards on one name from the same bank you can combine and enter the total amount of points between all of your cards.
- Enter all the miles you have in airlines frequent flyer programs on the left hand side following the airlines name.
- Once you input the information, click on the analyze button at the bottom of the page.
- The analyzer will offer you the optimal transfer combinations to explore as well as pros and cons of each.
- Review analyzer recommendations. Total number of miles is not the only consideration you should take into account. Analyzer will give you additional information about each program to make the right decision. You can also download results to a pdf and even send them to others if you like.
- Proceed to check availability with respective airlines. Do not transfer any miles until you confirm the desired option is available on the airline’s website. Note the transfer time and hold the reservation if possible before transferring any miles.
- Remember all transfers are final as you would not be able to send the points back to your credit card. If your trip is cancelled your miles will go back to the respective airline account.
- Transferring points to airline's frequent flyer programs is not the only way to obtain the award ticket. You can also redeem the points through your credit card directly by using the Book Travel option. You can find out more by checking out our Credit card reward tab on Wikimiles home page.
- WikiMiles Crew is always here to answer any questions. For an additional fee we can also assist you with the bookings. Use the Contact us section to reach out to us.
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1. Visit the Turkish Airlines website: www.turkishairlines.com
2. On the top right corner of the home page, you will find the "Sign Up" tab. Click on it.
3. You will be redirected to a registration page where you can fill out your personal information to create an account.
4. Once your account is created, you can sign in