Last week, we reported about an impeding devaluation of Turkish Airlines‘ Miles&Smiles program. While we were not able to oversee all details, this past Wednesday – it turns out that we were correct in all but one assumption: The new award chart will become standard on Wednesday evening, February 14, 22:59 CET. We initially thought it would be implemented on Friday, so we weren’t far off. Because of this, it might be a good idea to get the best value out of your remaining miles by spending them within the next two days.
There are two major changes coming to the program: Firstly, the price will no longer be calculated based on origin and destination (ignoring the number of segments on the ticket), but based in the individual segments. Secondly, prices for each segment increase notably. We have detailed these changes here:
Prices Rise Up To 233%
In last week’s article, we provided you with three examples of how the mileage portion of award pricing develops after the change. Here are some more examples of the incoming devaluation:
- Turkish Airlines Business Class Lyon → Istanbul → Nuremberg:
- Previous price: 15,000 miles
- Upcoming price: 25,000 + 25,000 = 50.000 miles
- Change: +233%
- Turkish Airlines Business Class Nuremberg → Istanbul → Dubai:
- Previous price: 24,500 miles
- Upcoming price: 25,000 + 28,000 = 53.000 miles
- Change: +116%
- Turkish Airlines Business Class Hamburg → Istanbul → Kuala Lumpur
- Previous price: 45,000 miles
- Upcoming price: 25,000 + 65,000 = 90.000 miles
- Change: +100%
- Turkish Airlines Business Class Berlin → Istanbul → Los Angeles:
- Previous price: 45,000 miles
- Upcoming price: 25,000 + 65,000 = 90.000 miles
- Change: +100%
- Turkish Airlines Economy Class Frankfurt → Istanbul:
- Previous price: 10,000 miles
- Upcoming price: 15,000 miles
- Change: +50%
- Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul → Kuala Lumpur:
- Previous price: 45,000 miles
- Upcoming price: 65,000 miles
- Change: +44%
- Turkish Airlines Economy Class Istanbul → Ankara:
- Previous price: 3,800 miles
- Upcoming price: 4,500 miles
- Change: +18%
In addition to the mileage price, you also have to pay fees and surcharges in cash. For example, a long haul business class ticket usually comes with €200 to €300 additional costs.
Availability for the routings above is already miserable at best. Especially high demand routes like business class flights to Asia are almost entirely sold out.
We are still waiting for information regarding upgrade costs and how award flights operated by Star Alliance partners are effected. But if you already had your eyes on Turkish Airlines award tickets, the best idea is to redeem your miles before Wednesday, 22:59 CET.
Cover Picture: Jairph