When it comes to the best airline loyalty programs, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles used to be a bit of a dark horse. With its low award redemption rates and generally good award availability, it blew other frequent-flyer programs out of the water. Well, all good things come to an end, and Miles&Smiles has recently increased award rates and devalued its miles as a result.
However, you can still find some decent value in the program, and we’ll show you how. So sit back and learn how to accelerate your Miles&Smiles earnings and maximize your redemptions.
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History
In 1933, a tiny company with just five airplanes and a handful of employees took its first voyage. Initially known as State Airlines Administration, in 1955, the airline would eventually be renamed Turkish Airlines (TK)—the same Turkish Airlines of today.
These days, Turkish is a leader among the world’s airlines and flies to more countries than any other airline—over 120, in fact.
How To Earn Miles&Smiles Miles
Turkish’s loyalty program, Miles&Smiles, uses Miles&Smiles miles (say that five times fast) as its currency. Anyone can earn these miles, but you’ll first need to sign up for a free account. You’ll need to provide some basic information, but once you’re registered, you can start loading up on miles right away.
There are tons of ways to earn Miles&Smiles miles, including activities beyond flying. For example, it’s possible to earn miles through co-branded credit cards (not available to U.S. residents) by converting transferable points, shopping and renting cars.
Flying Turkish Airlines
You can earn Miles&Smiles miles each time you fly with Turkish Airlines or its subsidiary (AnadoluJet). You can also earn miles on partner flights (but more on that later).
The number of miles you earn will be based on a few factors: the cabin class of your ticket, whether the flight is domestic (within Turkey) or international, and your elite status level.
Earn With Status Miles
Elite status holders earn a bonus on their points each time they fly on an eligible flight. The amount of extra points you can earn is based on your tier level (elite card).
There are four elite cards (status levels) in the Turkish Airlines loyalty program. Each level and its respective bonus earning rate when flying with Turkish Airlines depends on which class you’re flying: economy or business class.
When flying economy:
- Classic: Economy-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.25 times
- Classic Plus: Economy-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.25 times
- Elite: Economy-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.25 times
- Elite Plus: Economy-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.25 times
When flying business:
- Classic: Business-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.50 times
- Classic Plus: Business-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.75 times
- Elite: Business-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.75 times
- Elite Plus: Business-class mileage accrual on international flights—up to 1.75 times
How To Earn Elite Status With Turkish Airlines
Not to be confused with Turkish’s reward miles mentioned above, Status Miles are awarded when meeting certain criteria and only count towards elite status—these cannot be redeemed for award flights, etc.
Once you accumulate enough Status Miles, you will graduate to the next tier and enjoy richer benefits and unique perks. The following list shows the requirements for each status level and some of the perks you will receive with each.
Classic: This is the status you get upon enrollment. Benefits include the following:
- Purchase miles—up to 50,000 miles
- Access to award ticket bookings
- Cabin upgrade with miles
Classic Plus: Upgrade from Classic to Classic Plus after earning 25,000 Status Miles in the last year. All of the benefits for Classic members are included in addition to the following:
- Business class check-in for domestic flights
- Family account
- Lounge access when flying domestic
- Special baggage allowance
Elite: Upgrade to Elite when you’ve earned 40,000 Status Miles in the last year. All of the above benefits are included in addition to the following:
- Business class check-in for domestic and international flights
- Special inquiry and reservation line
- Free standard seat selection
- 50% discount on a second ticket with a paid Business-class ticket on domestic and international flights
- Lounge access for the member, as well as either the member’s spouse and children or one guest, when flying domestic or international
Elite Plus: Upgrade to Elite Plus after earning 80,000 Status Miles in the previous year. All of the above benefits are included in addition to the following:
- Elite card gift—Gift up to three people elite status for 40,000 miles per person.
- Guaranteed seat for reservations made at least 72 hours before flight departure (subject to availability). For award tickets, only X (economy class) and I (business class) fares are guaranteed.
- Cabin upgrades twice each year.
Flights on Partner Airlines
As a member of the Star Alliance, Turkish Airlines has loads of airline partners as well as a handful of non-alliance partners—you can earn miles when flying each of them. The number of miles you earn will vary from partner to partner. Here are all of Turkish Airlines’ partners. Click through on the specific partner you’re interested in for more mileage-earning information:
- Aegean Airlines
- Air Canada
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- Air China
- All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- Asiana
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Azul Brazilian Airlines—non-Star Alliance partner
- Brussels Airlines
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- EgyptAir
- Ethiopian
- EVA Air
- GOL Airlines—non-Star Alliance partner
- IndiGo—non-Star Alliance partner
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Olympic Air—non-Star Alliance partner
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- Swiss International Air Lines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- United Airlines
Credit Cards
Currently, no co-branded Turkish Airlines credit cards are available in the U.S. Residents of a handful of other countries have a few options, though:
- Miles&Smiles Garanti BBVA credit card
- Miles&Smiles QNB Finansbank credit card
- Miles&Smiles Kuveyt Türk credit cards (there are two personal and one business option)
- Miles&Smiles Pasha Bank cards (there are three options)
- Miles&Smiles Isracard credit card
- Miles&Smiles Investbank credit card
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Transfer Partners
Transferable points are possibly the easiest way to load up on Miles&Smiles miles. Turkish Airlines partners with many of the major transferable bank currencies, giving you even more options to build your Turkish miles stash. Transfering miles to Turkish Miles&Smiles can be instant, but it can also take up to a full day or more. Make sure to leave yourself plenty of time if you need to initiate a transfer for an award booking.
- Bilt Rewards: 1 Bilt Reward to 1 Miles&Smiles mile
- Capital One: 1 Capital One mile to 1 Miles&Smiles mile
- Citi ThankYou® Points: 1 ThankYou Point to 1 Miles&Smiles mile
There are a handful of hotel transfer partners that allow their currency to be converted to Miles&Smiles miles. These brands include:
- Accor Live Limitless (ALL): Exchange 4,000 ALL points for 2,000 Miles&Smiles miles
- Hilton Honors: Convert your Hilton points to Miles&Smiles miles at a rate of 10:1
- Marriott Bonvoy: 3 Bonvoy points to 1 Miles&Smiles mile; get 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points
- Wyndham Rewards: 6,000 Wyndham Rewards to 1,200 Miles&Smiles miles, 16,000 Wyndham Rewards to 3,200 miles or 30,000 Wyndham Rewards to 6,000 miles
Hotel Stays and Online Booking Services
Members of Miles&Smiles can earn miles each time they stay at a participating hotel. Keep in mind that some programs allow you to earn miles or hotel points but not both. Here are all of the eligible hotels and their respective earning rates:
- Barut Hotels: Earn 500 miles per stay
- Best Western Hotels & Resorts: Miles&Smiles members can earn 500 miles per stay Properties in New Zealand and Australia are not eligible
- Booking.com: Get 2 Miles&Smiles miles for every euro spent
- Divan: Earn 500 miles per stay at this Turkish hotel brand
- Elite World Hotels: Members of both Miles&Smiles and Elite World Hotels can earn 500 bonus miles per stay. You must be a member of both programs to be eligible to earn the bonus
- Erisin Hotels: Another Turkey-based hotel brand, Miles&Smiles members can get 500 miles per stay
- IHG One Rewards: Members can earn 2 points per dollar spent at all IHG properties except Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, which earn 1 point per dollar spent instead.
- Kaligo: Get up to 15 miles per dollar spent, up to 10,000 miles per hotel night stay when you book through kaligo.com/turkish
- Marriott Bonvoy: Stays at Marriott properties are eligible to earn up to 1 or 2 miles per dollar spent
- Rixos Hotels: Get 500 miles per stay
- Rocketmiles: When you book through rocketmiles.com, you can earn up to 10,000 Miles&Smiles miles per night
- Serena Hotels: Get 1 mile per dollar spent at Serena Hotels
- Titanic Hotels: Titanic Hotels has properties in Germany and Turkey. Miles&Smiles members can earn 500 miles per stay
- Wome Deluxe: Earn up to 5,000 miles per stay at Wome Prime properties
- Wyndham Hotels & Resorts: Blue and Gold Wyndham Rewards members can earn 1 mile for every dollar spent on a qualified stay. Platinum and Diamond Wyndham Rewards Members earn 2 miles per dollar spent
Shopping Portals
Currently, Turkish Airlines does not have a shopping portal. There is the option to earn miles when shopping at a small selection of retailers, but many of them are fairly niche. In fact, out of the seven options to shop and earn points, three are family adventure parks located in Turkey. Otherwise, you can earn points shopping at the Bicester Collection, a select group of retailers based in 11 major cities across Europe and China.
The only U.S. option to earn miles while shopping is by spending more than $25,000 at high-end furniture store Lazzoni, which will earn you 5,000 miles.
Dining Rewards
Turkish Airlines does not currently offer a dining rewards program.
Rental Cars
Earn bonus Miles&Smiles miles when you rent a car with the following companies:
- Alamo: Get up to 1,000 miles per rental in North America or Europe
- Avec: Earn 500 or 1,000 miles, depending on your length of rental with this Turkish company
- Avis: Earn a minimum of 500 miles and up to 4,000 miles (10-plus day rental)
- Budget: Each rental in Europe, the Middle East and Africa can earn 500 miles
- Enterprise: Get 500 miles per rental in Turkey and internationally
- Europcar: You can earn up to 500 miles per rental
- Hertz: Rentals of one to six days get 500 miles. Rentals of seven days or more earn 1,000 miles
- National: Get up to 1,000 bonus miles per rental
- Sixt: For every rental worldwide, you will earn 500 miles
Buying Miles&Smiles Miles
If you’ve got your eye on an award flight but don’t have quite enough miles in the bank, you can purchase Miles&Smiles and top off your account. Members can purchase up to 50,000 miles annually. They will run you $30 for every 1,000 miles.
Speculatively purchasing miles is generally not recommended. If you decide to buy miles, make sure you have done the math, and it makes sense.
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How To Redeem Miles&Smiles Miles
Earning Miles&Smiles is fun and all, but wait until you get to redeem them. Turkish Airlines used to have some of the most impressive award redemptions for Star Alliance partners and some stellar redemptions on its own flights, but unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.
The Miles&Smiles program recently gutted its redemption rates, some of which have increased by nearly double the miles needed. Additionally, the program has introduced an additive pricing feature on multisegment itineraries, which combines the total number of miles needed to book each flight of an itinerary with a layover.
Of course, you can also use your miles for more than award flights. Here are all the ways to redeem your Miles&Smiles miles.
On Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines uses different award charts for flights on its own metal and partners. Award rates shown below are for one-way trips. If you need to book a round-trip award on Turkish Airlines, simply double the redemption rates.
To book an award with Turkish Airlines on a Turkish-operated flight, you’ll need to log in to your Turkish Airlines account. Once logged in, you can begin your search on the main home page for an award flight. Note that this is the process for Turkish-based flights. The process to book Star Alliance partner flights is different—we’ll go over that more later.
Save yourself some time by clicking on the “Award ticket – Buy a ticket with Miles” link. Once you tick this box, you’ll be redirected to a new page where you can fill in the pertinent information. From there, you can see your options and continue booking once you find what you’re looking for.
On Partner Flights
As mentioned above, Turkish has a separate award chart for Star Alliance and other partner flights with different redemption rates. You can find all the rates and award regions on this page.
To book Star Alliance flights, you need to start your search by clicking on the “Star Award Ticket” tab. Enter your parameters and click on “Search flights.”
You also can navigate to the top-right corner and hover over your name (make sure you’re signed in). You’ll see the Miles Transaction option in the dropdown menu. Select that, and you’ll be taken to a new page. On the top right, you’ll see where to book a Star Alliance award flight with your Miles&Smiles miles—Star Alliance award ticket: Book now.
From here, you can now begin your search. This is the part where you will need to practice some serious patience and perseverance. You just never know what Turkish Airlines is going to show you as available. Even if an award flight shows up as bookable through a partner like Air Canada Aeroplan or United Airlines, Turkish might not display the same flight.
Don’t forget that you can always call Turkish customer service at 1-800-874-8875 and book over the phone, but booking that way can also be a process. Make sure to have the flight numbers and any pertinent information available to help move things along.
Sweet Spots
If you have a stockpile of Miles&Smiles miles and a lot of patience, you can squeeze some value out of your rewards. Not as much value as before the sudden devaluation, but it’s still possible if you know where to look. Here are a few of Turkish’s most useful sweet spots:
Mainland U.S. to Hawaii for 10,000 Miles One Way
Although this rate has gone up from 7,500 miles to 10,000 miles after the recent devaluation, Turkish’s partner award chart for domestic U.S. flights is still a solid option.
Unlike many other award charts, Turkish Airlines puts Hawaii in the same region as the mainland U.S. Since Turkish only charges 10,000 miles in economy class one way, that means you can fly on United Airlines, for example, from anywhere in the U.S. to anywhere else in the U.S., including Hawaii, for just, you got it, 10,000 miles. And you’ll only pay $5.60 each way in fees.
U.S. to Turkey in Business Class for 65,000 Miles on Turkish Airlines
Turkish’s business-class product for international long-haul flights includes fully lie-flat seats equipped with a massage feature, in-flight catering, preferential check-in, lounge access and the list goes on. In short, flying business class with Turkish Airlines is more than just a transfer; it’s an experience. You can try it out starting at 65,000 Miles&Smiles miles.
For example, business-class flights from Houston (IAH) to Istanbul (IST) can be booked for 65,000 miles per direction.
Keep in mind that if you’re traveling beyond Istanbul, you’ll need to redeem more miles—enough to cover the second segment at the current redemption rate for that region.
A business-class flight from Houston (IAH) to Cairo (CAI) will set you back 105,000 miles: 65,000 for the segment from Houston to Istanbul plus another 40,000 for the segment from Istanbul to Cairo.
For this reason, we recommend redeeming Turkish miles for direct flights instead of flights with layovers.
Fees
Infant Fees
Flying with the littles will cost you, but fortunately, Turkish Airlines keeps those costs reasonable.
Before we delve into the pricing, here are a few things you need to know. First, Turkish Airlines considers an infant any child under two years old. You can choose to get your infant their own seat—and in that case, you’ll be responsible for the regular fare.
Additionally, you can choose to fly with your infant on your lap. In this case, you’ll have to navigate the handy chart Turkish has for costs, which depend on the flight class and type of flight.
Children 2 years old and over will need their own seat when flying.
Carrier-Imposed Charges
Unfortunately, Turkish Airlines does pass on carrier-imposed fees, sometimes referred to as fuel surcharges. Higher classes of service charge more in taxes, and some can cost a small fortune.
Fortunately, not all airlines add these fees to their tickets. Airlines like United, for example, do not tack on fuel surcharges. So when you book a United-operated flight with Miles&Smiles, you won’t pay exorbitant prices—just the expected taxes.
Family Pooling
Beginning at the Classic Plus tier, elite status holders can pool their miles with family members—family includes your spouse and unmarried children under 25.
To set up your family account, you’ll need to submit photo IDs and, if you are married, your marriage certificate, to Turkish’s customer service. If your family members are already Miles&Smiles members, you’ll also want to include their membership numbers.
Other Ways To Redeem Miles&Smiles Miles
Shopping
With Shop&Miles, members can use their Miles&Smiles miles to purchase gift certificates for use at a variety of retailers. Before converting your miles to one of these vouchers, make sure you have no other use for them. The value is poor, and the pickings are slim—for example, you can redeem your miles for a meal at Arby’s. One of the options runs 2,750 miles in exchange for just two sandwiches, two drinks and one order of fries.
While the cost of this meal will vary drastically by location, it’s probably safe to say that this meal wouldn’t run you more than $20. That’s a value of less than 1 cent per point—an abysmal redemption.
Quirks
Expiration
The validity of your Miles&Smiles miles is three years, regardless of your elite status. If your miles are about to expire, you can pay $20 per 1,000 miles to have the expiration date extended for another three years.
Make sure to extend your miles before they expire, though, because once they have expired, there’s no way to get them back.
Family-Friendly
Turkish Airlines is one of the more family-friendly carriers around. As you’ve seen above, its infant award tickets are some of the lowest-priced, and it offers a free family pooling program for elite members.
Additionally, Turkish Airlines has one of the most lenient lounge policies. Kids 12 years and under can enter the Turkish lounges for free with an adult who has access. To put this into perspective, many clubs cut off free child access at just two years of age.
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Bottom Line
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles used to be a great program for points and miles experts, but sadly, it took quite a hit with the recent devaluation. Although it still has a couple of niche redemption opportunities for a decent number of miles, your options have become limited. If you have some Miles&Smiles miles to burn, we recommend sticking to nonstop itineraries to keep redemption rates low.
