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![14 Best Ways To Earn Lots of Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Miles [2023]](https://upgradedpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Turkish-Airlines-plane-at-gate.jpg?auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=1420&height=650&fit=crop)
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Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles is a frequent flyer program for Turkish Airlines that has, for the most part, flown under the radar for a long time. Turkish Airlines is the national carrier of Türkiye, with its headquarters in Istanbul.
Turkish Airlines flies to over 100 countries, which is mind-boggling.
There are loads of great ways to redeem Miles&Smiles miles for maximum value, but earning them is not as straightforward.
In this guide, we’ll talk about the best ways to earn lots of Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles, which we’ll also refer to as Turkish Airlines miles.
There are a few unique ways, particularly for residents of Türkiye, so let’s get started!
Here are the step-by-step instructions for creating a Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles account:
Before you jump into earning Turkish Airlines miles, it’s important to understand a few caveats.
The only way to redeem Turkish Airlines miles online is for Turkish Airlines flights. If you’d like to redeem miles for a partner flight, such as on Lufthansa, you’ll need to call in to reserve your ticket.
There’s a pretty convoluted process for making Turkish Airlines redemptions, but it can be worth it if you have lots of miles.
Before Turkish Airlines added transfer partners, the only realistic way for Americans to earn Turkish Airlines miles was by crediting flights on Star Alliance partners (such as United or Air Canada) to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles.
Due to the relatively easy criteria for Star Alliance Gold qualification, using Turkish Airlines to get there was valid. You only needed to be a Miles&Smiles Elite level to earn Star Alliance Gold.
To do this, you needed first to earn 40,000 Status miles within a year of membership. After that, you could renew your status by earning 30,000 Status miles in the first Elite year or 45,000 Status miles within 2 membership years.
Now, members can earn miles across 4 transferable points programs — Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Using ThankYou Rewards is arguably the best and quickest way to earn a lot of Turkish Airlines miles. With a 1:1 transfer ratio, you could potentially even increase this ratio if you transfer ThankYou Points when transfer bonuses are being offered. For example, in January 2019, Citi offered a 25% transfer bonus to Turkish Airlines, which would bring the transfer ratio up to 1:1.25.
In order to accumulate Citi ThankYou Points, you’ll need to have one of its ThankYou Points-earning credit cards. It’s important to note, not all ThankYou Rewards credit cards are eligible for transfers to partners.
Hot Tip: Want some more help accelerating your ThankYou Points balance in a short time? Check out our in-depth guide on how to earn 100k+ Citi ThankYou Rewards points in 90 days!
Typically, Marriott Bonvoy has great sweet spots and there are better uses than transferring to Turkish Airlines, but it can be an option if you’re in a bind for Turkish Airlines miles.
As it does with most of its transfer partners, Marriott Bonvoy transfers points to Turkish Airlines at a 3:1 ratio. For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you’ll receive a bonus of 5,000 Turkish Airlines miles. That brings the transfer ratio up to 2.4 Marriott Bonvoy points per 1 Turkish Airlines mile.
With the recent revamp of Marriott Bonvoy’s loyalty program, you can earn Marriott Bonvoy points from the co-branded credit cards from American Express and Chase.
Miles&Smiles is a Capital One Miles transfer partner and the transfer ratio is 1:1. Transfers take up to 24 hours.
Bilt Rewards points earned through the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card transfer to Miles&Smiles at a 1:1 ratio nearly instantly.
Chase and American Express both have excellent referral bonus structures for their Marriott Bonvoy cards.
With Chase, you’ll receive 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for each approved referral, up to 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per year.
American Express allows you to refer your friends and family to credit cards you don’t even have! All you need to do is have an American Express-branded card such as The Platinum Card® from American Express or the American Express® Gold Card. Each American Express card has different referral structures and maximum referral points per year.
Capital One has a refer-a-friend program for its Venture cardholders. Referrals sign up through a personal referral link and must be a new Capital One cardholder for you to earn bonus miles. To find your link, sign in to your account or look in the app for the Refer a Friend tile on the account details page.
Lastly, Citi has a referral program that was recently initiated, but you’ll need to have received an email or letter from Citi in order to refer friends, so it’s not currently available to everyone. You can earn 10,000 ThankYou Points per approved referral and a maximum of 50,000 ThankYou Points in a rolling year. Keep in mind you can only receive 5 referral bonuses per card per year with Citi.
Outside of the U.S., Turkish Airlines offers co-branded credit cards and transferrable point options with various international banks:
Although Turkish Airlines’ shopping partners are limited to shops in Türkiye, you’ll be pleased to learn that there are quite a few ways to earn miles through travel — even if you live in the U.S.
Turkish Airlines is the most internationally connected airline in the world, making it a convenient airline for almost anywhere you want to go.
By flying on Turkish Airlines, you’re eligible to earn Turkish Airlines miles. You’ll even be able to earn miles when you pay for up to 50% of your paid fare with points using the Cash&Miles program.
Here’s what the mileage accrual looks like for travel on Turkish Airlines:
| Mileage Accrual Table | Economy | Business | ||||||
| Ticket Class | Y, B | M, H, S, E, Q, A, O | T, L, V, G | W, P, F, U | C, D | K, J, Z | ||
| Türkiye | All Cards | Fixed Miles | 600 | 600 | 300 | 150 | 1,250 | 1,000 |
|
International
|
Classic Card
| Earnings Rate | 125% | 100% | 50% | 25% | 150% | 135% |
| Minimum Miles | 1,250 | 1,000 | 500 | 250 | 1,500 | 1,350 | ||
|
Classic Plus, Elite, Elite Plus Card
| Earnings Rate | 125% | 100% | 50% | 25% | 175% | 160% | |
| Minimum Miles | 1,250 | 1,000 | 500 | 250 | 1,750 | 1,600 | ||
Let’s do an example calculation. If you fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Istanbul (IST), the flight distance is 6,721 miles. If you hold the Turkish Elite Plus level, you’ll earn 160% of 6,721 miles, which ends up being a total of 10,754 Turkish Airlines miles.
Hot Tip: Remember to double-check your flight distance, fare booking class, and elite status when calculating your mileage accruals.
For those of you that don’t regularly fly on Turkish Airlines, rest assured you’re still able to earn Turkish Airlines miles by crediting partner flights to Turkish Airlines.
Turkish Airlines is a Star Alliance partner, making it easy to earn miles with other Star Alliance airlines. In addition, you can also credit Azul, GOL, IndiGo, and Olympic flights to Turkish Airlines.
The Turkish Airlines website has more information about specific partner accrual rates.
Remember that you’re subject to the terms and conditions of both Miles&Smiles and the partner airline you’re flying on.
Currently, Turkish Airlines partners with several different car rental partners, making it easy for you to earn miles.
Here are all the partners listed with the mileage earning structure for Turkish Airlines miles:
| Rental Company | Miles Earned | Rental Company | Miles Earned |
| Alamo | Up to 1,000 miles per rental | Hertz |
500 miles for each 1- to 6-day rental, 1,000 miles for each 7+ day rental
|
| Avis | Minimum 500 miles per rental | National |
Up to 1,000 miles per rental
|
| Budget | 500 miles per rental | Rent Go |
750 miles in the first 2 days, up to 5,000 miles per rental
|
| Enterprise | 100 miles per day with a maximum of 1,000 miles per rental | SIXT | 500 miles per rental |
| Europcar |
500 miles per rental
|
Miles&Smiles partners with a whole slew of hotel brands. Many of these hotel brands, such as Hilton, only offer mileage exchanges. For example, Hilton offers an exchange of 10,000 Hilton points for 1,000 Turkish Airlines miles.
Other hotels, such as Best Western, offer miles for hotel stays, which is a better deal. The consolidated list for hotel partners is quite large, but check it out here:
| Hotel | Miles Earned per Stay | Hotel | Miles Earned per Stay |
| AVEC HOTEL | 1,500 miles; minimum 2-night stay | Maritim Hotels | 750 miles per stay |
| Barut Hotels | 500 miles per stay | Marriott Bonvoy | Up to 2 miles per $1 spent |
| Best Western Hotels & Resorts | 500 miles per stay | Rixos Hotels | 500 miles per stay |
| Constance Hotels, Resorts & Golf | 1 mile per $1 spent | Serena Hotels | 1 mile per $1 spent |
| Divan | 500 miles per stay | Titanic Hotels | 500 miles per stay |
| Elite World Hotels | 500 miles per stay | Wome Deluxe |
Minimum 500 miles per stay
|
| Eresin Hotels | 500 miles per stay | Wyndham |
Earn up to 2 miles per $1 spent depending on elite status
|
| IHG | 2 miles per $1 spent |
All in all, there are a ton of different ways to earn Turkish Airlines miles from hotels around the world. Some are specific to Türkiye and some are worldwide chains, so your options are plentiful.
You can also transfer points from select hotel partners, but we don’t advise this method as it’s not the best use of your points. Only consider this if you have orphan points or are looking to top-up for an award flight.
| Hotel | Transfer Ratio | Hotel | Transfer Ratio |
| ALL – Accor Live Limitless | 4,000 points to 2,000 miles | Radisson Rewards Americas | 10 points to 1 mile with a minimum of 2,000 points transferred |
| Hilton Honors | 10,000 points to 1,000 miles | Wyndham | 6,000 points to 1,200 miles 16,000 points to 3,200 miles 30,000 points to 6,000 miles |
Turkish Airlines also partners with a variety of tourism portals, most of which are hotel booking portals. Here are the specifics:
| Booking Portal | Miles Earning | Booking Portal | Miles Earning |
| Booking.com | 2 miles per €1 spent | Rocketmiles |
Up to 10,000 miles per night
|
| Fliggy | Ability to transfer Fliggy Miles into Miles&Smiles miles | Earn extra and at least double miles both on the flight and the total amount of the package | |
| HalalBooking | 5 miles per $1 spent | viravira.com | 20,000 miles for each yacht booking above ₺25,000 |
| Kaligo | 15 miles per $1 spent |
As you can see, there’s similarly plenty of opportunities to earn huge bonuses on miles with hotel portal bookings. Make sure to double-check that the rates are the cheapest available as the points bonus may not be worth the extra money you spend.
Turkish Airlines miles are pretty valuable. If the above methods of earning Turkish Airlines miles don’t work for you, there are a couple of “specialty” ways to earn Turkish Airlines miles.
Turkish Airlines sells miles at 3 cents per mile, and in 1,000-mile increments. You can purchase 1,000 miles for $30.
You can purchase up to 50,000 miles per calendar year.
Turkish Airlines rarely offers bonuses on purchased miles. In fact, 2014 was the last time it offered a bonus on purchased miles.
You can also earn Turkish Airlines miles through its shopping and living partners.
| Partner | Miles Earned | Partner | Miles Earned |
| 7 miles per €1 spent | Park Funtastic | 2 miles per ₺1 spent | |
| 1 mile per €1/£1/¥10 spent | ParkVia | 5 miles per €1 spent | |
| 2 miles per ₺1 spent | 7 miles per $1 spent |
All in all, Turkish Airlines has been a traditionally difficult mileage currency to earn. However, with the advent of new transfer partners, it’s now easier than ever to earn Turkish Airlines miles.
Yes, you’ll need to pay fuel surcharges and go through some hoops to make award bookings using Turkish Airlines miles, but it’s often worth it to save some hard-earned miles for sweet spots.
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10 comments
JS
November 03, 2019
Planning a trip to Athens next year. Found a GREAT itinerary on Turkish and have been wanting to fly their business class for a long time now. Against the recommendation of someone who has experience w/ Turkish I decided to transfer Marriott Points into my Turkish account so I could get the exact flights I wanted. If I booked via United w/ a Chase transfer it would have been immediate but the best itinerary doing it that way had a 10hr layover in IST rather than 90 minutes through the Turkish booking. It’s been 9 days and my points are still not showing in my Turkish account… I read some other posts indicating 3 days was fairly common. Still waiting….
Michael McHugh
November 06, 2019
Please keep us updated on when your Marriott points post JS. Good luck!
Dan Markovic
December 27, 2019
Just called both Turkish Miles&Smiles and Citi’s service lines to confirm what is stated in this article.
Strangely, none of them knew about it!
The customer service rep at Turkish Airlines could not find Citi’s CC (I asked for Premier and Prestige) listed as partner cards.
On the other hand, Citi’s rep could not confirm that Turkish Airlines partnered with them.
Also, Turkish is not mentioned (I could not find it) on Citi’s website, as well as Citi’s CC not being mentioned on Turkish’ “Earn Miles with Partners” site.
Could you please explain what am I missing here?
I am a new M&S member, and would like to know as much as possible about ways of earning and spending miles.
Thank you
Dan
Jarrod West
December 27, 2019
Hi Dan,
It seems like that Citi representative you spoke with may have been uninformed. I’m not sure where on the Citi website you were searching, but if you head to their list of transfer partners, you can see Turkish Miles & Smiles listed at the bottom.
Al Brown
July 09, 2021
1) The Citi Prestige card has been removed as of this month and not offered by Citi, at least temporarily.
2) How do you know for sure that these cards are accepted by Turkish Airlines for a miles swap? No word on Turkish Airlines website.
3) Can a person have 2 new such credit cards — e.g., Citi and Marriott, — and transfer those miles to Turkish Airlines?
Jarrod West
July 09, 2021
Hi Al,
1.) You’re correct that it has been pulled temporarily, but we anticipate that it will be back.
2.) If you call the Turkish Airlines customer service team they will verify this for you.
3.) Yes, you can hold both Citi and Marriott credit cards at the same time and transfer those miles to Turkish whenever you wish.
Safe travels!
JW
April 06, 2022
I know some Star Alliance members make a distinction between miles that contribute to your status and those that can only be used for award tickets, etc. I see references here to “status” miles and also on the Turkish Air website, but nowhere does it say that transfer miles don’t count towards tier status.
Are miles transferred in from partners like Marriott Bonvoy or Citibank considered status miles which, if transferred, help you reach the next level (silver, gold, etc)? It seems unlikely to me, as it would be a very easy way to achieve airline status perks for little cost. But then I have had gold status on Thai Air for so long that I’ve become accustomed to getting nothing for my miles!
Christine Krzyszton
April 07, 2022
Hi JW. On the Turkish Airlines website under “Miles taken into account for membership,” it states “In order to qualify for Classic Plus, Elite and Elite Plus Miles&Smiles membership, Miles earned on Turkish Airlines domestic and international flights as well as those earned with other partner airlines will be included in calculations. These Miles will be listed separately as Status Miles on Miles&Smiles statements.” Transferred-in miles do not count as Status Miles.
Abel
April 08, 2022
According to another article in this site, you can now transfer miles earned through a BILT credit card. Are there other hidden credit cards betond listed above, which basically allows you to convert points to Miles and Smiles?
Jarrod West
April 08, 2022
Hi Abel,
The only programs that transfer to Turkish Airlines are Citi ThankYou, Capital One Miles, Bilt Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy points. You can always review all the most up-to-date transfer partners, along with any transfer bonuses, on our dedicated transfer partner calculator.
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