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Have plans to visit Africa or the Middle East in the next few months? You're in luck. Turkish Airlines is running another award sale, this time offering 30% off eligible economy awards between Turkey and nearly 50 destinations across the two regions.
Now through September 15, 2026, you can book discounted one-way or round-trip awards for travel through December 15, 2026. The sale doesn't discount the U.S.–Istanbul portion of an itinerary, but it could still unlock solid value if Turkey is already part of your plans. Here's everything you need to know.
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Award Sale
For travel September 1–December 15, 2026, you can book eligible economy-class promotional award tickets for 30% fewer miles. This sale applies to one-way or round-trip awards between Turkey and select destinations in Africa and the Middle East, in either direction.
Flights must be operated by Turkish Airlines — the sale doesn't apply to codeshare flights or flights operated by Star Alliance partners. Turkish Airlines also notes that seats are limited, taxes still apply, and changes are permitted only on the same route within the eligible ticketing and travel periods.
Turkish Airlines lists the following destinations as eligible:
- Abidjan
- Abu Dhabi
- Abuja
- Accra
- Addis Ababa
- Aleppo
- Alexandria
- Amman
- Baghdad
- Bahrain
- Banjul
- Beirut
- Benghazi
- Cairo
- Cape Town
- Casablanca
- Conakry
- Cotonou
- Dakar
- Damascus
- Dammam
- Dar es Salaam
- Djibouti
- Doha
- Douala
- Durban
- Entebbe
- Erbil
- Jeddah
- Johannesburg
- Kuwait
- Lagos
- Madinah
- Maputo
- Marrakech
- Mauritius
- Muscat
- Nairobi
- N'Djamena
- Niamey
- Nouakchott
- Ouagadougou
- Riyadh
- Seychelles
- Sharm El-Sheikh
- Taif
- Tunis
- Yanbu
Unlike in some previous promotions, no promo code is required. The discounted mileage price should appear automatically when you select an eligible promotional award. Here's a look at what we found.
Istanbul to Cairo for 14,000 miles
You can book the short hop from Istanbul to Cairo for just 14,000 miles one-way in economy. That's 6,000 fewer miles than the normal 20,000-mile promotional award price.
Istanbul to Cape Town for 24,500 miles
For substantially more flying, you can book Istanbul to Cape Town for just 24,500 miles one-way in economy. That's down from 35,000 miles — a savings of 10,500 miles.
Istanbul to the Seychelles for 24,500 miles
The same 24,500-mile price applies from Istanbul to the Seychelles, also down from 35,000 miles. This could be a fun way to pair a visit to Istanbul with an Indian Ocean getaway.
How to Take Advantage of This Offer
To find these deals, log in to your Miles & Smiles account and select “Award ticket – buy a ticket with miles.”
Enter your departure and destination cities and dates. Make sure you select economy class, as business-class tickets aren't included in this sale. Click “Search Flights,” then find a promotional award ticket option. These used to be marked with a blue star, but we've found that this doesn't always happen anymore. To confirm you are selecting a discounted award, make sure it says “Award ticket Promotion – X Class.”
Keep in mind that the sale covers only the eligible Turkey–Africa or Turkey–Middle East route — not a U.S.–Istanbul segment. Turkish prices its own awards by segment, so compare the total cost of a through itinerary with booking the discounted segment separately.
During our searches, we found discounted space on multiple eligible routes. However, Turkish Airlines notes that promotional seats are limited.
Related: Best Ways to Use Turkish Airlines Miles for Top Value
Transfer Points to Turkish Miles & Smiles for This Award Sale
You're going to need Turkish Miles & Smiles miles to take advantage of this promotion. Don't worry if you don't already have a stash in your account;
Check availability and the expected transfer time before moving rewards. Transfers generally can't be reversed, and not every partner transfer posts instantly.
You likely don't have enough time to get a new card and earn the bonus before this Turkish award sale ends. However, if you want to stock up on transferable rewards that transfer to Turkish Miles & Smiles, here are some top options:
$95
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
$395
- 10X miles per $1 on hotels and rental cars booked via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per $1 on flights when booking via Capital One Travel
- 5X miles per $1 on vacation rentals booked via Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on all other eligible purchases
$595Rates & Fees
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
Final Thoughts
This is a fairly niche award sale for most U.S.-based travelers. It won't discount the long-haul trip to Istanbul, and business class isn't included. But if you're already visiting Turkey or planning a multi-stop trip, 14,000 miles to Cairo or 24,500 miles to Cape Town or the Seychelles can be a solid use of Turkish miles.
Remember, you must book by September 15, 2026, for travel through December 15, 2026. The sale only applies to flights operated by Turkish Airlines. It won't work for everyone, but in the right situation, the 30% savings are worth a look.
Would you build a trip around any of these discounted awards?
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
Great article! Can I transfer my United Airlines miles to Miles and Smiles to take account of this offer?
Unfortunately not. However, you can transfer Citi ThankYou points, Capital One miles, or even Marriott Bovnoy points to Turkish Miles & Smiles. See all of your points and miles transfer options here: https://awardwallet.com/mile-transfer-times
I’ll add this to my bucket list as my return from Istanbul for a future trip, but for now, I’m about 10k shy of the Bilt points needed to book this. However, it’s a goal worth saving up for!
Business is 105,000 now
That’s only on dates that don’t have saver availability. Search some other dates and hopefully you’ll find the sub-34k fares!
This seems to show up as 105,000 miles one way for me? How can you find this?
That’s the price for non-saver dates. I’m still seeing sub-34k awards on some dates.
I’ve flown this several times however I’ve just tried numerous dates and nothing shows for under 105K business?
great deal! plus, if you have a stop of several hours turkish airlines offers a free tour or free hotel!
Unfortunately, it looks as if “Stopover Free Accommodation Service has been temporarily suspended as a precaution to Corona Virus (COVID-19) as of 13th of March, 2020.” https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/flights/stopover/
Just you to know the Turkish lira has hit a record low last Nov , this means that holidays will be cheaper than ever.
31,500 miles for business class on Turkish is a great deal.
It is definitely an excellent opportunity to get to know Turkey, I recommend it. Don’t miss out on this fascinating country!
If you are contemplating travel to Turkey, I highly recommend a couple of weeks exploring the west of the country at least, outside of Istanbul. Amazing place, lots of Roman and ancient history, the food is absolutely superb, ( particularly their wonderful breakfasts) and the country is well set up for tourists. Politics aside, a very worthwhile travel destination.
This is a great deal for AA flyers from South America due to easy and big number of combination of routes that AA has bettwen Dallas Airport and South Americas airports .
It seems to be a great opportunity!
They are now 31500 miles in business
Thanks for the heads up! We updated the post.
That is an amazing deal for both economy and business class–especially business class. But my big points are with Chase and others that don’t transfer to Miles and Smiles. Istanbul is an amazing place and I would love to go back some day. However, in addition to this not being a deal for me, travel to Asia during the ongoing Covid crisis is more hassle than I want right now.
Istanbul is always a great city for a layover.
The Turkish Airlines Business Lounge in the New Istanbul Airport is supposed to be fantastic.
TK hard product in Long haul is is great and the short haul business probably the best in Europe, so can be worth the detour to IST.
Looks like a good way to visit turkey on the cheap
What a great deal! Time to open up a Citi Premier card to transfer all those points to Turkish Miles and Smiles.
Thanks for the tip! Istanbul is also also a short distance from other places, it is easy to hop back to Greece and even Italy in the same trip .
Always wanted to go to IST and have heard great things about TK’s hard and soft products
Feels like the fee surcharge ($170) is a bit too high…
100% agree. I paid $563 for a one way ticket from ATH-IST-BOS-RDU for a flight in October 2019 — 22,000 miles + $170 doesn’t seem like a great deal.
That business class ticket seems like a GREAT deal though.
A great opportunity to enjoy the excellent business class of Turkish
This is certainly a very good deal. Does anyone know how the overall availability is for 2 seats ?
This is an awesome opportunity to visit Turkey. I’ll definitely be checking it out to get a chance to visit Turkey for the first time.
Turkey nowadays is a gate to America for Europeans. You just have to spend 2 weeks there before departure.
I’m refraining from nonessential travel at this time, but will look for good deals to fly to Turkey in the future.
That’s a hot deal. Headed to Turkey next year (knock on wood). Luckily got a similar price on the direct flight from LA.
Istanbul was Constantinople…Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople…Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night