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The AwardWallet team has been scouting for premium cabin award deals while we wait for travel restrictions to lift. Late last month we stumbled across a bunch of Delta One availability. This month, we've found wide-open business class availability on European routes operated by United.
Even better, a lot of the availability we're seeing is bookable with Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles. This is great news since Turkish Airlines charges only 45,000 miles for one-way awards between the U.S. and Western Europe!
Don't worry if you don't have Turkish Airlines miles yet. Turkish Miles & Smiles is a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou® and Marriott Bonvoy points. So, you might still be able to take advantage of this deal.
Low Cancellation Fees
While more and more people have slowly started traveling again, there's still quite a bit of uncertainty about when travelers should take to the skies again. International travel continues to present a lot of questions, particularly when it comes to entry restrictions. This means that making flight bookings naturally involves a bit of optimism.
The good news is that the availability we're discussing today is focused on travel next year when things have (hopefully) returned to normal—or whatever the new “normal” will be.
With that said, it's always good to have an ace-in-the-hole, and Turkish Airlines provides one. If you need to change or cancel your award booking, you're only liable for a $25 fee. In the Miles & Smiles Award Terms and Conditions, you'll find:
The Miles for award tickets, companion tickets and upgrade awards which have had no legs used may be refunded to a member's account for a fee. Refunded Miles will have the same expiration date as when they were first earned. Airport taxes are subject to normal refund procedure. TRY 50 is collected in domestic flights and USD 25 is collected in international flights per transaction.
So if you're unable to take the trip you planned, you'll only be out $25 per person!
Where to Find Availability
The vast majority of the availability we've found through Turkish's website have been on United-operated flights. This means that you should be specifically looking for European routes originating from United's hubs of:
- Chicago (ORD)
- Denver (DEN)
- Newark (EWR)
- Houston (IAH)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Washington D.C. (IADA)
Some of the European destinations United services are:
- Amsterdam (AMS)
- Brussels (BRU)
- Frankfurt (FRA)
- London (LHR)
- Munich (MUC)
- Paris (CDG)
- Zurich (ZRH)
Booking these itineraries with United MileagePlus miles costs 60,000 miles + $5.60. That's not a bad deal considering you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to United at a 1:1 ratio. United also opens more availability to its own loyalty members than it releases to Star Alliance partners like Turkish Airlines.
Using Turkish Miles & Smiles
However, there's an even cheaper way to book. Award flights between the U.S. and Europe Region 1 (Western Europe) is a sweet spot of Turkish Airlines' Miles & Smiles partner award chart. A business-class award will only cost 45,000 miles!
Turkish Miles can be transferred 1:1 from Citi ThankYou® Points and 3:1 from Marriott Bonvoy Points (with a 5,000-mile bonus for transferring 60,000 points). Transfers aren't instant. Based on AwardWallet data, it takes an average of 24 hours 49 minutes for Citi transfers and 34 hours for Marriott transfers. If you want to be safe, Miles & Smiles will allow you to put award reservations on hold for up to 48 hours either by calling (1-800-874-8875) or emailing customer service.
Booking Miles & Smiles awards on Star Alliance partners can be a little tricky. Here are the ins-and-outs of searching Turkish Miles & Smiles awards (with screenshots), but to quickly recap:
- Start by signing in to your Miles & Smiles account. Create a free account if you haven't already.
- Select ‘Miles Transactions' in the dropdown menu under your name in the top right corner.
- Click ‘Book Now' for Star Alliance Award Ticket.
New York (EWR) to Amsterdam (AMS)
- Economy: 30,000 miles (United or Turkish)
- Business-Class: 60,000 United, 45,000 Turkish
When searching United's website, availability is wide open through the end of the calendar:
Searching on Turkish's website shows a lot of the same availability:
Chicago (ORD) to Brussels (BRU)
- Economy: 30,000 miles (United or Turkish)
- Business-Class: 60,000 United, 45,000 Turkish
When searching United's website, availability is wide open through the end of the calendar:
Turkish shows similar availability:
San Francisco (SFO) to Paris (CDG)
- Economy: 30,000 miles (United or Turkish)
- Business Class: 60,000 United, 45,000 Turkish
When searching United's website, availability is common through the end of March 2021, then open sporadically through the end of the calendar:
And on Turkish's website:
Houston (IAH) to Frankfurt (FRA)
- Economy: 30,000 miles (United or Turkish)
- Business Class: 60,000 United, 45,000 Turkish
When searching United's website, availability is wide open through the end of the calendar:
Searching Turkish's website:
Denver (DEN) to London (LHR)
- Economy: 30,000 miles (United or Turkish)
- Business Class: 60,000 United, 45,000 Turkish
When searching United's website, we find availability is sporadic through March 2021:
Thankfully, most of the direct itineraries seem to appear on Turkish's website as well:
Earning Turkish Miles & Smiles Without Flying
As previously mentioned, Turkish Miles can be transferred 1:1 from Citi ThankYou Points and 3:1 from Marriott Bonvoy Points. This means that you can easily earn enough points for a redemption like this through just one sign-up bonus.
For award currencies that transfer to Turkish Miles&Smiles, here are some of the best sign-up bonuses available:
- Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (review) — Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com.
- Citi Prestige® Card (review) — This card is no longer available to new applicants.
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (review) — Earn five bonus Free Night Awards after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Redemption level up to 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points for each bonus Free Night Award, at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card (review) — Earn 60,000 bonus points + 1 Free Night Award after spending $2,000 on eligible purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Free Night Award valued up to 50,000 points. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Earn 6X Bonvoy points per $1 spent participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, 3X points per $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on grocery stores, gas stations, and dining, and 2X points per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 3 Marriott Bonvoy® points for every $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on gas stations, grocery stores, and dining
- Earn 2X Bonvoy points for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Final Thoughts
There are two things to consider when searching for availability:
- First, these are only example itineraries that you could book. Many of the origins/destinations overlap, so be sure to check whether United offers an award between your home and your desired destination before writing it off. For example, instead of Chicago to Brussels, you could also fly Chicago to Amsterdam.
- Second, if you don't have Turkish miles (or Citi ThankYou points or Marriott Bonvoy points), but you do have United miles (or Ultimate Rewards), you shouldn't balk at the 60,000-mile price-tag to book with United. That's still a pretty good price, and the booking process is simpler.
- Additionally, some of this availability also appears when searching through Avianca LifeMiles. These same awards cost 63,000 LifeMiles (transfer partner of Amex, Citi, Capital One, and Marriott) if available.
This is a jackpot of business class availability to Europe. While United's business class product doesn't offer the bling of Emirates or the privacy of Qatar QSuite, it's still a comfortable way to cross the pond—particularly on aircraft equipped with the true ‘Polaris' product. If you need something to look forward to, a business class trip to Europe could be just what the doctor ordered.
Are you going to book United business class for 45,000 miles?
H/T: Frequent Miler
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