AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Turkish Airlines is the latest with another head-turning challenge. On the heels of epic challenges from SAS and JetBlue, Turkish is giving ambitious flyers the chance to earn 1,000,000 bonus Turkish Miles&Smiles miles through its just-announced 6 Continents Challenge.
But, you’ll need to complete every flight on Turkish metal, and each trip must begin or connect through Istanbul. That adds significant logistical complexity, but also creates a unique opportunity for globe-trotting travelers.
Here’s what you need to know to determine if this challenge is worth chasing.
What is the Turkish “6 Continents Challenge?”
As you can probably guess by the title, Turkish will award 1,000,000 miles to anyone who flies to all 6 continents. While that sounds crazy enough, there are some notable restrictions:
- Flights must be operated by Turkish Airlines (no code-share flights).
- Travel must be between June 27 and October 27, 2025 (four-month period).
- The continents are Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania (Australia). The full list of what qualifies for each country is listed on the offer page.
- You must attach your Turkish Miles&Smiles number to all reservations.
- Award tickets, Corporate agreement tickets, and Group, staff, or special passenger segment tickets are excluded, meaning only paid flights count.
- All flights must begin or transit through Istanbul (IST).
This last point makes this especially tough. Since every flight must begin or transit Istanbul, that means there is no way to circumvent Turkey on every trip between continents. For example, instead of flying from Istanbul to Singapore (SIN) then Singapore to Melbourne (MEL) on a fifth-freedom flight to satisfy both the Asia and Oceania continents, you must fly to Asia, then back to Istanbul before heading to Australia. Bummer!
That being said, Turkish will award each destination or return continent toward satisfying the requirement. Some examples for one-way and round-trip itineraries are:
- New York–Istanbul–Tokyo only counts as Asia.
- New York–Istanbul–Tokyo–Istanbul–New York counts as both Asia and North America.
- New York–Istanbul–Tokyo–Istanbul–Cape Town completes Asia and Africa.
Related: Turkish Miles&Smiles Award Sweet Spots
Is This Challenge Worth It?
The bottom line is that this promotion is generally for those who already travel with Turkish Airlines often. If you live in Europe and could get to Istanbul regularly, that would be perfect. A million Turkish miles can go a long way to booking amazing premium cabin awards, but you would have to be in a position to utilize the miles earned well.
If you were to value a million Turkish miles at 1.5 cents per point, that would be $15,000 worth of value. Let's say, for simplicity's sake, that you spend $1,000 on six one-way continent-to-continent flights via Istanbul. Even this may be a high estimation, as I found several routes and dates under $500. But would you spend $6k (in my hypothetical) for a $15,000 return — plus getting to visit six continents and earning bragging rights? Not bad.
Obviously, flying all these segments worldwide in economy class would be cramped, but potentially very affordable from a cost standpoint. Flying business class would make the challenge much more comfortable, but it would also be much more costly.
But for the majority of readers, the restrictions put this challenge out of reach. Nevertheless, if you are interested and adventurous, be sure to read all the terms and conditions carefully before jet-setting around the globe.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.