Yesterday, the big news covered on several blogs is a surprising devaluation of Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles award chart. Prince of Travel first broke the news. The new award chart goes into effect on February 16, 2024.
If you’re new to the miles and points community, you may wonder why Turkish Airlines is even a big deal. How often do Americans fly on that airline anyway? However, you can use Turkish Airlines miles to fly on other Star Alliance airlines (like United). The number of miles required is less than other programs. Plus, you can easily acquire Turkish miles by transferring points from Citi, Capital One, Bilt and Marriott.
Full disclosure–I have never booked an award flight using Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles program. I’ve read too many horror stories of terrible customer service by Turkish Airlines that involve multiple emails and phone calls to get award tickets booked or changed (see this post and this post). This isn’t a program I recommend for newbies because of booking challenges.
However, many experienced hobbyists have benefitted greatly from the low mileage costs for award flights on Star Alliance airlines. Paying 7500 Turkish miles for a one-way flight to Hawaii on United Airlines is was an unbelievable deal.
The Bad:
- These changes were published with very little advanced notice. The start date doesn’t give travelers much time to book awards at the lower price.
- Both Turkish Airlines award flights and partner awards are affected
- A one-way business class award from USA to Europe is increasing from 45,000 miles to 65,000 miles
- It appears that pricing is now additive and will increase if there is more than one segment. So, if you are in business class flying to Europe with two legs, the award price will actually be 85,000 miles.
The Good:
- Domestic one-way award prices are still very reasonable. One-way award tickets in economy (with partner airline United) that used to be 7500 miles will now be 10,000 miles. Business domestic awards increase from 12,500 miles to 15,000 miles.
Readers, how do you feel about these changes? Do you book award flights with Turkish Miles & Smiles program often?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Props to you for trying to find some positive aspects of this excruciating devaluation. I do think that when you say that the best thing about it is that there is one award redemption that – almost impossible to find in premium cabins – will still be technically available, is pretty weak sauce.
@Christian I’m a glass-half-full person. 🙂
It is sad that the award rates are going up. I managed to use their awards for United flights within the US. And I always had a good experience with Turkish Airlines customer service. They have very professional and courteous agents working the phones.
@Jana I’m glad you’ve had good experiences with Turkish Airlines customer service!
I appreciate your insightful analysis of the upcoming award devaluation. It’s disappointing to see certain negative changes, such as the increased mileage requirements for some routes, but your balanced approach in highlighting both the good and bad aspects is commendable. I agree that the addition of dynamic pricing could potentially offer more flexibility for travelers, but it’s essential for airlines to ensure transparency and fairness in implementing such changes. Overall, your article provides valuable insights for fellow travelers to navigate these adjustments effectively. Thank you for sharing your expertise and helping the community stay informed about the evolving landscape of loyalty programs.
All bad. Domestic flights are cheap anyway for cash tickets. TK has fuel charges and very hard to redeem on star alliance so the program becomes probably no use for most with the new change.