Turkish Airlines offering 30% off Business & Economy awards

Turkish Airlines has launched a year-end award sale for Miles&Smiles members with 30% off Business and Economy Class redemptions. This offer is valid for tickets issued by 25 December 2022, with travel up till 31 May 2023.

While this is slightly lower than the 40% sale we saw earlier this year, the key difference is that the list of eligible cities is much larger. 

Save 30% off Turkish Airlines awards

Turkish Airlines Award Sale

Here’s the details of Turkish Airlines’ Miles&Smiles award sale:

• Booking period: 5-25 December 2022
• Travel period: 5 December 2022 to 31 May 2023
• Applicable carriers: Turkish Airlines only
• Award types: One-way or Round-trip
• Applicable cabins: Business or Economy Class

In order to enjoy the discount, your journey must begin and end in one of the following cities.

This is a very extensive list, and includes Singapore, as well as Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta (though Bangkok is missing). 

Surprisingly for an award sale, travel dates (but not routings) can changed, and tickets can be refunded. If you want to change the travel dates, you’ll need to do so by 25 December 2022 to enjoy the discounted prices. Both changes and refunds attract a US$25 fee. 

The discount will be automatically reflected when you search for awards on the Turkish Airlines website. For example, a one-way Economy Class award from Lyon to Singapore normally costs 30,000 miles, which is reduced to 21,000 miles after a 30% discount. 

When searching, make sure you look for Economy/Business Award Ticket (Promotion). These are Turkish Airlines’ equivalent of Saver awards, and the ones discounted during this sale.

Miles&Smiles sweet spots

Turkish Airlines uses a zone-based award chart (be sure to refer to the “Promotional Award Ticket” table), which has identical costs for Star Alliance and Turkish Airlines award redemptions.

Since travel for this promotion must be on Turkish Airlines, I’m only going to show the zone pairings that make sense for someone in Singapore (e.g. no Oceania).

Business Class awards from Europe to Singapore were already excellent sweet spots at 45,000 miles, so a 30% discount means prices as low as 31,500 miles. North and South America are also excellent deals at 47,250 miles and 52,500 miles respectively. 

There’s two main catches.

Business Class space ex-SIN has all but vanished

Turkish Airlines has all but removed Business Class award space out of Singapore, based on searches. This means you’ll need to position yourself to Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta to take advantage of this offer, where award space is somewhat better. 

And maybe that’s not a bad thing. Turkish Airlines sends its B777-300ERs to Singapore, which have a very uncompetitive 2-3-2 Business Class product. 

Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta at least enjoy the newer B787-9 aircraft (on certain days), which offers a much more comfortable 1-2-1 configuration. These seats, incidentally, are the same ones used for Singapore Airlines’ 2018 Regional Business Class.

Fuel surcharges

Turkish Airlines has some hefty fuel surcharges, but if it’s any consolation, it does not pass on the full fuel surcharge to award tickets.

For example, a Naples to Singapore Business Class redemption has €290.72 of taxes and surcharges attached to it.

When I search for the same ticket on ITA Matrix, I can see that the taxes component sums up to €30.39. This means that the fuel surcharge component on the award ticket is €260.33, which is still significant, but somewhat lower than the €315 surcharge on the cash ticket. 

Which cards offer transfers to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles?

If you’re looking to earn Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles, the only bank in Singapore offering transfers is Citibank, at the following ratios: 

• 10,000 Citi Miles= 10,000 Miles&Smiles
• 25,000 ThankYou Points= 10,000 Miles& Smiles

A flat transfer fee of S$26.75 is applicable.

Conclusion

Turkish Airlines is offering 30% off Business and Economy Class awards booked by 25 December 2022 and flown by 31 May 2023.

While it’s unlikely you’ll find Business Class award space out of Singapore, you might be able to find it out of Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta. Be sure to avoid the B777 aircraft and stick to the B787 or A350 for the best Business Class cabin products.