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If you've never done it, booking a Turkish Airlines award with Miles & Smiles miles can be a bit of a challenge. From start to finish — logging in to completing your reservation — here's a step-by-step guide to booking an award flight through Turkish Airlines. If you want to take advantage of fantastic award rates to Hawaii or Istanbul, read on.
Page Contents
How To Search and Book Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Awards
Let's go through the steps of booking an award through Turkish Airlines.
Log in to Miles & Smiles or create an account
The first step in booking an award flight through Turkish Airlines is to visit the carrier's website and log in. If you already have a Miles & Smiles account, click “Sign In” at the top right-hand corner of the webpage. For those who don't have Turkish Airlines credentials, you'll need to sign up for a free account.
Turkish Airlines' online sign-up form can be finicky at times. A workaround is to create an account through its mobile app, save your credentials, and then log in on the web browser. Once you've got an account, make sure to track it with AwardWallet to get updates on any changes to your account.
Searching for an award
Before we trek on, it's worth noting that one of the best practices in points in miles is to avoid initiating a transfer to the program you want to book through until you confirm availability. This way, you protect yourself from accumulating miles you can't use. Additionally, this also covers you in the case of a no-notice devaluation, where your miles are instantly worth less. That aside, let's search for a Miles & Smiles award.
After signing in, Turkish Airlines' booking engine should be front and center on your screen. Click on “Award ticket — Buy a ticket with Miles.”
Turkish's award booking engine will provide you with two options: “Miles & Smiles Award Ticket” and “Star Award Ticket.”
“Miles & Smiles Award Ticket” will show results for itineraries wholly operated by Turkish Airlines, while “Star Award Ticket” will reflect results for other Star Alliance carriers, such as United Airlines. “Star Award Ticket” bookings will also show mixed-carrier itineraries, such as one that includes a flight on both United and Turkish Airlines.
Depending on the carrier you intend to fly (and your destination), you'll have to refer to one of three award charts. Miles & Smiles publishes one chart for Turkish Airlines flights — shown below:
And two flights for partner airlines — one giant region-based chart and another for partner-operated domestic flights. This smaller chart is what you'll reference for booking United Airlines flights to Hawaii, for example.
After selecting the booking option that aligns with your travel plans (and considering the pricing), enter your departure and destination airport, class of travel, plus your travel dates. Then, click “Search flights.” If award flights are available, you'll see bookable results. If you see “No seats available,” you'll want to try being flexible with your departure date.
Booking an award
For this example, let's search for a “Star Award Ticket” from San Francisco (SFO) to Athens (ATH). On our intended date of travel, there's an economy seat available for 50,000 Miles & Smiles miles — connecting in both Paris (CDG) and Istanbul (IST).
To book this award, click on the itinerary and then “Select this flight.” At this point, we've confirmed award availability, making now an ideal time to kick off a transfer to Turkish Airlines if necessary. Be sure to take into account transfer times, as some partners, such as Marriott Bonvoy, take a few days to deposit miles into your account.
And before we proceed, ensure you familiarize yourself with Turkish Airlines' award change and cancellation policies. To distill the policy, you can cancel awards online or by calling Turkish at 800-874-8875, but note you must cover a $70 fee for international itineraries. Miles are normally redeposited instantly. This is helpful to know should your plans change.
Once your account has the miles necessary to book, click “Continue” and complete your booking. You can't redeem miles to cover the cost of the taxes and fees on awards booked through Miles & Smiles. You'll have to pay by card. It's a best practice to pay the taxes and fees with a credit card offering travel insurance benefits for extra coverage on your trip.
After your payment has been completed, Turkish Airlines will email you a ticket confirmation.
How to troubleshoot errors while booking
Occasionally, you might run into an issue while booking through Turkish Airlines. Sometimes, a connecting itinerary you think might be available — or should be available — won't show up on Turkish's website as a bookable option. While these issues are generally improving, an easy way to troubleshoot is to try one of two things involving confirming award space elsewhere and contacting Turkish to book over the phone.
- Search for each leg of your flight separately. Sometimes, two legs will show up on Turkish's website as bookable options, but not when combined.
- Confirm award space exists using a partner airline. An easy way to double-check that award space exists is to see if the seat is offered by a Star Alliance partner airline, such as United. If the seat is bookable with a partner mileage currency, it should be bookable with Miles & Smiles miles, too.
And once you've confirmed that your intended flights are bookable, you can reach out to Turkish's U.S. call center at 800-874-8875. An agent should help you piece together your itinerary if necessary or book the award space a Star Alliance partner suggests is bookable. Turkish won't charge a phone booking fee on mileage redemptions.
Great Ways To Redeem Miles & Smiles Miles
Now that you know how to book an award ticket through Turkish Airlines using Miles & Smiles miles, you might wonder how to extract maximum value from your miles. Despite a recent devaluation, Turkish Airlines offers several sweet spots worth taking advantage of.
A few examples include:
- United Airlines flights to Hawaii for 10,000 miles in economy or 15,000 in business class each way.
- One-way business-class flights from the U.S. to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines for 65,000 miles.
- Long-haul business class connecting in Istanbul for 100,000 miles per way — think from the U.S. to Central Asia.
However, note that availability on some of these sweet spots — like domestic first-class space on United Airlines flights to Hawaii — is coveted. In other words, you might struggle to find it. Economy availability is generally more widespread. Still, booking award flights to Hawaii starting at 10,000 miles is a bargain. After all, that's the definition of “sweet spot.”
How To Earn Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Miles
Turkish Airlines partners with a trio of credit card rewards programs, plus Marriott Bonvoy. That means U.S.-based travelers have several options for earning Miles & Smiles miles that don't include flying Turkish Airlines or a partner carrier or purchasing miles outright.
Some of the best ways to collect Miles & Smiles miles include collecting a sign-up bonus on the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card or paying rent with The Bilt Mastercard® (note that you need to make at least five transactions per billing cycle with this card to earn points). With the right strategy, you can build a balance of Turkish miles quickly.
Related: Do Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Miles Expire?
Final Thoughts
The first step to becoming a points and miles pro is learning how to book an award flight. Each program has its nuances and quirks. Turkish Airlines is no different. However, that doesn't mean it's not worth learning how to book using Miles & Smiles miles. Plenty of sweet spots and a deep roster of partner airlines make it a valuable program to come to know.
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