Turkish Miles&Smiles: Complete guide to earning and redeeming miles
Editor's Note
Turkish Miles&Smiles is known for being a hidden gem of a loyalty program that offers an award chart with attractive redemption rates for economy-ticketed flights, and particularly more so for business-class travel. However, as of Feb. 15, 2024, Turkish Airlines devalued its award chart, making its once-lucrative sweet spots no longer as lucrative.
Despite rates having increased, some options remain relatively well priced. You can still fly relatively cheaply on domestic flights within the U.S. For example, you can redeem 10,000 miles to fly United Airlines from cities within the mainland U.S. to Hawaii when booking with the program. Compared to 200,000-plus miles, which some programs charge due to dynamic pricing, there are still some perks to the program for certain redemptions.
Another benefit? The program is a 1:1 transfer partner of three popular transferable currencies.
If you want to learn about an international frequent flyer program that can let you book a flight to Hawaii for just 10,000 miles, here's what you need to know about Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.
How to earn Turkish Miles&Smiles
Transfer points from credit card programs
While there are no Turkish-branded credit cards available in the U.S., you can transfer rewards from three programs with transferable currencies directly to Miles&Smiles at a rate of 1:1: Bilt Rewards, Capital One and Citi ThankYou Rewards.
There's only one card that allows you to earn Bilt Points: the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees). While it doesn't offer a welcome bonus, it does allow you to pay rent with no transaction fees and earn 1 point per dollar (up to 100,000 points per calendar year). You'll also earn 3 points per dollar spent on dining and 2 points per dollar spent on travel, though note that you must have at least five eligible transactions during your billing period (see rewards and benefits).
Meanwhile, here's a list of some currently available cards that earn transferable Capital One miles:
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card ($95 annual fee; see rates and fees): New cardmembers earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card ($395 annual fee; see rates and fees): New cardmembers earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card (no annual fee; see rates and fees): New cardmembers earn 20,000 bonus miles after spending $500 within the first three months from account opening.
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards for Good Credit (no annual fee; see rates and fees).
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business ($0 annual fee for the first year, then $95; see rates and fees): New cardmembers can earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business (no annual fee): New cardmembers can earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
The information for the Capital One Spark Miles Select for Business has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Finally, here are some of our favorite Citi cards that can earn ThankYou points:
- Citi Premier® Card (see rates and fees): Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- Citi Rewards+® Card (see rates and fees): Earn 20,000 bonus points after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
- Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees; must also have a linked ThankYou account): Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening.
- Citi Custom Cash® Card (see rates and fees; must also have a linked ThankYou account): Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening.
Related: The ultimate guide to Citi ThankYou Rewards transfer partners
Transfer points from hotel programs
You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a rate of 3:1 (so 3,000 Bonvoy points would become 1,000 Turkish points).
For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you'll receive a bonus of 5,000 Miles&Smiles points.
Related: 17 ways to earn lots of Marriott Bonvoy points
Earn points for flying
You can fly Turkish Airlines-operated flights to earn reward miles based on your fare class, Miles&Smiles elite status level and the distance of the flight.
If you flew Turkish Airlines from Los Angeles to Istanbul (a 6,865-mile route) in a discounted U economy fare class, you would earn 25% of the miles flown or 1,716 redeemable miles. That's not great, but it's something.
Turkish Airlines is in the Star Alliance. As a result, you can also earn miles by flying Turkish's partner airlines and crediting those miles to your Miles&Smiles account. For many U.S.-based travelers, the most likely partner to fly and credit to Miles&Smiles would likely be United Airlines — especially given the program's recent devaluations.
You'll earn Turkish miles based on the fare class and distance of your United-operated flight.
There are different earning charts for each partner airline. So, be sure to check if your fare class is eligible to earn miles and how many miles you'll earn before deciding to put your Turkish frequent flyer number on a partner reservation.
Finally, Turkish miles expire three years from the time they're earned. You can pay a rather expensive fee of $10 for every 1,000 miles that are about to expire to extend them for another three years. However, you should plan on using your Turkish miles long before they expire.
Related: How to keep your points and miles from expiring
How to redeem Turkish Miles&Smiles
How to book a Turkish Airlines-operated award flight
If you want to book an award ticket operated only by Turkish Airlines, you can get to the award booking engine from the Turkish homepage by clicking the "Award ticket" checkbox.
This will require you to log in to your Miles&Smiles account and then bring you to the award ticket booking engine, where you can enter your origin, destination, dates, class of service and number of passengers. Pro tip: Don't include the leading TK portion of your account number when you log in. Also, remember this first search screen is only for Turkish-operated flight itineraries.
After you select a flight, you'll see the flight details, the aircraft type and the award space labeled as promotional pricing or regular pricing, which will match the published award charts.
The following page will give you the total flight cost, including taxes and fees, even if you don't have the required miles in your account.
How to book a Star Alliance partner award flight
If you want to search for Star Alliance-operated award flights (such as those operated by United, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand and others), you must find the Star Alliance award search engine.
To access Star Alliance award searches, log into your Turkish Miles&Smiles account. On the drop-down menu (below your name), select "Miles Transactions" as shown below.
On the next page, you'll see the link that will take you to the Star Alliance award ticket booking engine.
The Star Alliance search engine looks identical to the Turkish-operated award search engine, except it says "Star Award Ticket" at the top.
You can then follow the same process to book partner flights.
Related: The best websites to search for Star Alliance award availability
Things to know about Turkish Miles&Smiles
The best way to redeem Turkish miles is for award flights. While other options may exist in the program, booking Turkish Airlines- or Star Alliance-operated flights will get you maximum value.
With that in mind, here are a few of the most important rules and nuances of Miles&Smiles:
- Miles&Smiles prices award flights on region-based award charts.
- There are two levels of award availability for Turkish-operated flights: regular and promotional. Regular doesn't technically have a name. It is just labeled "award ticket" when you see it in the search results. "Promo space" (still referred to as "limited space capacity" in the terms and conditions) means fewer seats are available at a much lower mileage cost than the regular "award ticket" space.
- You can book one-way awards for half the price of a round-trip journey.
- You can redeem miles for anyone besides yourself, but you must register them in your Miles&Smiles account first.
- If you need additional miles to purchase an award ticket, you can buy them at a rate of $30 (including value-added tax) per every 1,000 miles (up to 50,000 miles per calendar year).
- Fuel surcharges are not charged on United flights and are somewhat reasonable on Turkish flights but can be problematic on some Star Alliance carriers like Lufthansa and Swiss.
- Award tickets can be canceled or changed for a fee of $70.
- One open jaw is allowed on a round-trip ticket. An open jaw is an itinerary when you fly into one city and out of another.
- One stopover is allowed on the outbound or return of a Turkish Airlines-operated award itinerary. A stopover is when you stay in a city along the path of your itinerary for a period of time.
Best uses of Turkish Miles&Smiles
Hawaii for 10,000 miles one-way in economy or 15,000 miles one-way in business class
Flights within the same region, as defined by the Turkish region chart, cost 20,000 miles round trip. Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) is specifically included in the North America region (though all other Hawaii destinations price out the same) along with the rest of the U.S. This makes one-way flights to the Aloha State cost only 10,000 miles each way. These awards are bookable online and carry no fuel surcharges.
Even nonstop itineraries from the East Coast cost just 10,000 miles each way.
Theoretically, you can fly in business class for just 15,000 miles each way (a tiny fraction of the more than 40,000 miles United would charge). However, know that business-class awards to Hawaii are extremely hard to find.
Alaska, Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands for 10,000 miles one-way in economy or 15,000 miles one-way in first class
We're starting to sound like a broken record at this point, but hang in there: San Juan, Puerto Rico, as well as Alaska and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are grouped in with the rest of the U.S. This means award flights are 10,000 miles each way in economy or 15,000 miles in first class.
While United doesn't usually fly fancy lie-flat seats to these destinations, the flight can be long enough that doing it in domestic first class is still a bargain for just 15,000 miles — that is, if you can snag it.
US to Mexico for 30,000 miles one-way in economy or 40,000 miles one-way in business class
You can book that beach getaway from the U.S. down to Mexico for just 30,000 miles in economy or 40,000 miles in business class. Whether you choose to fly to Cancun International Airport (CUN), Puerto Vallarta's Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR) or Mexico City International Airport (MEX), the Turkish award price to fly United is the same awesome deal.
For comparison, United would cost less, at least 7,300 miles each way in economy or 35,000 miles to sit up front in each direction.
US to Turkey for 65,000 miles one-way in business class
Turkish Airlines has separate award charts for flights operated by Star Alliance carriers and those operated by Turkish Airlines. You can fly from anywhere within North America (Mexico and Canada included) to Istanbul for 65,000 miles in business class on Turkish Airlines, Star Alliance partners or a combination of both.
These prices are attractive if flying from the West Coast to Istanbul, which can cost upward of 90,000 miles when booking through Air Canada Aeroplan.
Intra-Oceania for 50,000 miles one-way in business class
Intra-Oceania is a big zone stretching from French Polynesia to Australia, New Zealand and beyond. Turkish Airlines makes it possible to fly to the region for 50,000 miles one-way in business class.
These can be tough awards to score — Air New Zealand is generally your best bet — but they're a steal when you can book them. The catch? We haven't gotten the online search site to recognize the gateway to French Polynesia — Tahiti's Faaa International Airport (PPT) — so you may have to call to book those awards.
Award pricing
Turkish Airlines maintains two award charts: one for flights on Turkish Airlines and another for flights on Star Alliance partners. For award flights on Turkish Airlines, the award chart is as follows.
The award chart for Star Alliance partners slightly varies from Turkish Airlines by being more on the expensive side for point redemptions. Below is a snippet of the award chart.
Some awards price out more than competitors, so it's best to calculate across different programs to see which offers the best award pricing alongside the cost of any additional taxes and fees.
Additive segment pricing
When creating itineraries with multiple segments spanning different regions, the Miles&Smiles program practices additive pricing.
For example, a flight from Dubai to London is priced on each segment: Dubai to Istanbul for 18,000 miles and Istanbul to London for 15,000 miles. While the previous Miles&Smiles program did not practice additive pricing, the current program makes it difficult to use previously lucrative award redemptions across regions.
Bottom line
The game of chasing the best frequent flyer programs and redemptions is always changing. No single program is the best at everything, but the Turkish Miles&Smiles program is worth investigating. There are some excellent value redemptions still available, especially for those who have access to Bilt points, Citi ThankYou Rewards points or Capital One miles and like to fly on Star Alliance airlines.
See Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here.
See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.