Deal Alert: Fly Turkish Airways to Istanbul for 22,500 Miles; 33,750 Miles in Business Class

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Ever wanted to see the Hagia Sophia? Starting September 24, 2021, you can fly directly from Dallas to Istanbul with Turkish Airways for as little as 22,500 miles in economy or just 33,750 miles in business class.

You're going to need Turkish Miles & Smiles to take advantage of this promotion. But, don't worry if you don't already have Turkish Miles & Smiles; you can transfer from Citi ThankYou Points and Capital One Miles at good rates.

Turkish Airways' Dallas to Istanbul Promotion

From September 24, 2021, and March 23, 2022, you can book a one-way flight from Dallas to Istanbul with Turkish Airways using as little as 22,500 points. The airlines are advertising discounts on all their flights from Dallas, but the biggest deal seems to be on the forthcoming Dallas to Istanbul flight.

Fly economy class direct from Dallas to Istanbul for 22,500 miles, plus just $170 taxes and fees:

Or fly business class direct from Dallas to Istanbul for 33,750 miles each way, plus $170 taxes and fees:

To find these deals, log in with your Miles and Smiles account and select “Award ticket – buy a ticket with miles” when searching. You can get the same deal flying back from Istanbul to the US, except the taxes and fees are a bit higher (about $200).

These flights are priced starting at $899 and $2,899 for economy and business classes respectively:

That means you'd get around 3.75 cents per point in value from Citi ThankYou Points that you transfer to Turkish Miles & Smiles for a round-trip business class award. That's the $2,899 cash cost less the ~$370 in taxes and fees divided by the 67,500 miles needed for the round-trip. That's better than the 2.37-cents average redemption rate AwardWallet members have gotten from recent redemptions.

Turkish Airways will start operating their direct Dallas to Istanbul flight 4 times a week starting September 24, 2021. The aircraft is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — one of my favorite airlines in the skies.

AwardWallet Editor JT Genter recently got a chance to fly in just this product and found it to be excellent:

Transfer from Citi and Capital One to Turkish Miles and Smiles

If you don't already have Miles and Smiles, you can transfer points from your Citi or Capital One rewards.

• Citi ThankYou Points transfer to Turkish Miles at a 1:1 transfer ratio and take one day to process. You can buy 1,000 Citi ThankYou Points for $25.
• Capital One Venture Miles transfer to Turkish Airways Miles and Smiles at a 4:3 transfer ratio (instant transfer).

Just make sure to create a new Turkish Airways account, if you don't already have one. If you have more than enough miles, don't forget you can use Miles & Smiles to book inexpensive award flights with any Star Alliance airline.

Our Take

Just because Turkey is on the UK's red list doesn't mean it isn't a great country to visit right now. My cousin just spent a week there and can attest that the city is definitely open for business…and pleasure. The Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque are open (unlike many other tourist attractions around the world), although the Basilica Cistern is temporarily closed for renovations.

A direct flight flying business class from Dallas to Turkey for just 33,750 miles is an awesome deal!

Is this a deal you would take advantage of?