Unbelievable Turkish 33,750 Miles Deal in Business Class to Istanbul

33,750 Turkish miles can buy you 12 hours in one of the best Business Class cabins in the world (Photo courtesy Turkish Airlines)

If you thought redeeming 34,000 Avios to Europe on Iberia was an unbeatable deal, Turkish has just had it beat by 250 miles. And yes, there is another fantastic deal for a flight to Europe in Business: TAP Portugal from New York JFK to Lisbon for 35,000 Avianca miles. But only from JFK, and not back from Lisbon.

Per God Save the Points, Turkish offers an incredible 33,750-mile redemption rate in a 787-9 Dreamliner between Dallas and Istanbul.

The Turkish 33,750 miles deal in Business Class from / to Dallas at a glance 

Dallas is a new market for Turkish, which already has a sizeable presence in the U.S. Turkish flies to Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York (JFK and EWR), San Francisco and Washington D.C. (IAD). New flights to Dallas-Fort Worth will commence on September 24, and the last date I was able to find the 33,750-mile price tag in both directions was March 23.

After that the price reverts to the regular 45,000 miles, which is, by the way, pretty awesome too. So I’ll admit that comparing the Turkish limited-time promo to Iberia’s regular (albeit off-peak) 34,000-mile price to Madrid from may not be totally fair.

On the other hand, this offer (should you decide to accept it 🙂 ) has some clear advantages:

• Unlike Iberia, Turkish Business Class award space is really wide-open
• Turkish Business Class service and food are infinitely more enjoyable
• Istanbul is an amazing and exotic world-class city (not that Madrid is not world-class, but still)

However, there is one considerable disadvantage: Turkish fuel surcharges are much higher.

Turkish Business Class award space between Dallas and Istanbul

Four words come to mind: insanely good for now!

I checked availability for two people from the end of September to the end of schedule. The screens below show award space in October and November, but it’s almost like that every month into July with a slight decline in December. If you use United to check availability, don’t forget to tick the show only nonstop flight availability box.

Turkish 33750 miles in Business: availability for 2 people from Dallas to Istanbul

For flights back home award space for two people looks equally good — also until the end of schedule. Keep in mind that award availability for Turkish’s own Miles&Smiles customers should be even better than on partners, although I don’t see how that’s even possible. 🙂

And back from Istanbul to Dallas

Will it last? I don’t know. Good things rarely do. If you live in or near Dallas, this is your chance to visit one of the most fascinating cities on the planet in one of the best Business Class cabins in the world. Changing your ticket costs only $25 and if you have to cancel, your miles will be immediately redeposited into your account. Keep in mind, however, that there is a hard 3-year expiration policy, so make sure to use your miles before then.

How to book this rate?

Booking a Turkish award flight is often a convoluted process. If you thought the ANA booking engine was quirky and complicated, oh boy!

But when you’re booking a simple Turkish flight with enough availability (the easiest way to check award space is  United.com), it should be easy and intuitive unless:

• You’ve never done it before (like me) and
• You’re booking for more than one person.

Everything should be easy, theoretically. You enter the parameters and get a result.

But that’s when you’re booking for one person. As soon as I’m trying to add the second person, I get this.

Verify my membership? What does that even mean? What’s log-in for?

Just to be clear: the Miles&Smiles rules do not restrict you from booking award tickets for as many people as you want, even if you’re not flying yourself. I checked Flyertalk and this issue has been reported before, but for partners flights, not Turkish. So I’m not sure if it’s some kind of a glitch. I also have zero miles in my account, so maybe that’s a contributing factor, I don’t know. In any case, if you need to put the reward on hold (to transfer points from another program, for example), you’ll have to call anyway.

Any way to make it sweeter?

Unfortunately no. The Turkish 33,750 miles promo only works between Dallas and Istanbul. Add any additional segments and you’re looking at the regular 45,000-mile award levels (pretty good too, by the way). I’ve checked different connections — to Europe, Asia and the Middle East — same story. Plus more segments will add more fuel surcharges.

How to get Turkish miles?

You can transfer points from Citi ThankYou at a 1:1 ratio or Capital One for a 2:1.5 ratio. The third way is Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 plus a 25% bonus if you transfer 60,000 points). When your flight is more than a week away you can ask the agent to put it on hold for 48 hours; when it gets to less than a week — 24 hours. Either should suffice (theoretically) if you’re transferring points from other programs; here are some datapoints.

• Citi => Turkish: 17 hours, one day
• Capital One => Turkish: instant

Here is a mammoth Frequent Miler’s guide to everything Turkish (airline, that is).

Now let’s talk fuel surcharges

Turkish adds the $146 surcharge each way, so while this amount is not as outrageous as the scamcharges added by the likes of BA or Lufthansa, it’s still much higher than LOT or Iberia. Still, Turkish beats everyone in food and service, so at least you’re getting something real for your premium.

From Dallas to Istanbul, the scamcharge is $146 and the total $170.70.

The Turkish 33,750 miles promo comes with a cash outlay

From Istanbul to the U.S … well, if you’re trying to make sense of what you’re seeing on this screen, good luck with that!

The most important thing is that you know the total cash portion of your journey — $209.

If you’re flying round trip, the scamcharge comes to $292 and the total cash portion of your ticket to $380.

If you’re flying beyond Istanbul, any additional segment will add more surcharges.

Let’s recap

The Turkish 33,750 miles deal in Business Class between Dallas and Istanbul is valid until March 23, 2022. Availability is incredibly good for now, but if you’re interested in the deal you might not want to wait long. Tickets can be easily changed for $25 and if you cancel, the miles will be automatically redeposited. However, Turkish miles expire after three years, so bear that in mind too.

Do you find this promo appealing? Please share your thoughts in the comments.