United’s award space on many international routes is unprecedented.
Just take a look at Newark to Tel Aviv this fall/winter/spring:
Same story for Tel Aviv to Newark:
The same applies for routes like Newark-London, Paris, and many more.
However the best way to book those flights isn’t with United miles, it’s with Turkish Airlines miles.
That being said, you’ll want to actually search for saver award space on United.com. If you have a United credit card, you’ll want to logout before searching in order to access the saver award inventory that is bookable by partner airlines. Just click the small X when it asks you to login.
Use the United one-way calendar option to find saver awards:
As I’ve written about before, Turkish Airlines has a ridiculously generous Star Alliance award chart.
And they don’t charge any fuel surcharges for United flights.
Here is the North America version of the chart with one-way award pricing:
| Between the US and: | Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| US, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and USVI | 7.5K | 12.5K | N/A |
| North America | 10K | 15K | N/A |
| Europe | 30K | 45K | 67.5K |
| Middle East | 32K | 47K | 68.5K |
| Central and North Africa | 30K | 49K | 73K |
| Central Asia | 34K | 52.5K | 77K |
| Southern Africa and Far East | 45K | 67.5K | 100K |
| South America and Oceania | 52.5K | 75K | 115K |
As part of the Star Alliance, Turkish can book award travel on airlines like United and Air Canada.
You can open a Turkish Airlines mileage account online (Hint: Your password must be exactly 6 numbers or else it will give an error).
And you can book Star Alliance awards with Turkish miles here (Login and then click this link again). You can’t search for partner awards from their home page. Search for one-way at a time for best results.
While United charges 42.5K miles for a ticket to Tel Aviv in coach, Turkish charges just 32K miles:
While United charges 75K miles for a ticket to Tel Aviv in business class, Turkish charges just 47K miles!
Best of all, you can earn 2 points per dollar and get a 10% rebate for points redeemed via the Citi Trifecta and then transfer points to Turkish!
If you need to fly across the country today, you’ll need 15K United miles in coach or 38K in business class:
But those same flights are 7.5K Turkish miles in coach:
Or 12.5K miles in business class:
Turkish even counts Hawaii as domestic, so a flight there is the same rate, 7.5K miles in coach or 12.5K in business class!
Alas, I have not had luck booking any nonstop flights from Chicago, Houston, Newark, or Washington DC to Hawaii online or over the phone (800-874-8875).
But you can book nonstop flights and connections from other cities to Hawaii via Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco:
Other highlights include:
- The domestic rate of 7.5K miles in coach and 12.5K miles in business even applies for flights to Puerto Rico or S. Thomas, USVI!
- You can fly to Cancun for 10K Turkish miles in coach or 15K miles in business class vs 17.5K/30K with United miles.
- Business class to Europe is 45K Turkish miles instead of 60K United miles.
Fuel surcharges will apply with most other airlines besides United, though at these rates it may be worth paying them.
As you can see from this chart, you can transfer points to Turkish Airlines from Citibank at a 1:1 ratio from from Marriott at a 60K:25K ratio. Transfers from Citi take a day, while Marriott transfers can take slightly longer.
Miles expire after 36 months and won’t be extended with activity. But you should never transfer miles unless you’re ready to book an award.
Turkish allows you to hold an award for 3 days, which will allow you to transfer in miles after the award is on hold.
You can get a free stopover on Star Alliance awards with round-trips that cost at least 60K Turkish miles in coach or 90K Turkish miles in business.
Another nice perk is that changes or cancellations cost just $25!
Marriott cards with transferable points to Turkish Airlines include:
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Consumer Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express®Card
Read about the Citi Trifecta here:
- The Citi Double Cash card offers 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar spent everywhere that can be transferred into ThankYou points. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare. No annual fee.
- The Citi Rewards+ Card offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. This card can’t transfer points on its own, but can transfer points if you have one of the Citi cards above. This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload. Earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, and a 10% points rebate when you redeem points, up to a 10K points rebate per year. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles or get a 25% added value for paid airfare, plus get a 10% points rebate on transferred or redeemed miles. No annual fee.
- The Citi Premier card offers up to 3 points per dollar spent and allows you to transfer points into miles. $95 annual fee.
Have you used Turkish miles to book Star Alliance awards? What are your favorite awards to book with Turkish miles?
I just flew Turkish business from TLV. Istanbul Business Lounge was out of this world. They gave me private suite!
Yup, they’re great.
Craziest thing about this, is there are no saver award tickets in business available at all from EWR to LAX the whole year! There are so many seats available in business to TLV, but nothing to LA. If you book a roundtrip, Turkish allows a free stopover, so you might as well get a free ticket to LAX if you’re booking EWR-TLV.
My guess is that United expects domestic demand to return this year, but international demand to languish for much longer.
can i transfer chase points to turkish ?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/mileage-expiration-guide-for-38-loyalty-programs-how-to-keep-your-points-from-expiring-and-how-to-bring-them-back-to-life-after-theyve-expired/
Thanks
so having citi premier card is must in order to transfer points to Turkish?
Yes, Premier or Prestige.
But you can product change freely as needed…
So I can just have the Double and Rewards+ and when I need to transfer, product change one of those?
And then downgrade afterwards?
I see in the later comments that you seem to say yes!
Thanks!
I have had trouble finding any flights from EWR anywhere on Turkish Airlines website even though United has saver availability.
Other than EWR-HNL I didn’t find any issues.
Sample route/date?
January 24th through February 7 EWR-TLV only see on Turkish metal with stopover in IST.
You’re not using the Star Alliance link in the post.
Thanks!
Read the post. After you log in, click on the link above to book Star Alliance award tickets. If you don’t use that page, you’ll only see Turkish flights.
Once you enter your dates, the next page will show economy class tickets. If you are looking for business tix, click on top to show the business seats available
Correct.
Thanks!
Is there a reason I can’t view any comments when I use telegram or safari on my phone?
Try opening in Chrome?
Is anyone else having the telegram issue also? I’m using an iphone but seems to be a mobile browser related issue
I’m not having that issue on Telegram for Android. Try requesting the desktop site or contact Apple support?
Looks like content blockers was enabled so I couldn’t see any comments but it’s working now if you disable it in case anyone else has this problem!
However Turkish is a very mixed bag of goods. The website can only book the member others need to be done by phone and their systems can sometimes be down for extended periods
Did you try registering them in your account online?
if you only have the citi rewards + card anyway to transfer to turkish miles?
Just call Citi to upgrade it to Premier in order to transfer.
and then AF posts right away?
Then you can downgrade.
will that lead to a review or shutdown if keep doing that back and forth?
They don’t make you keep it for a year like chase?
Chase only does that for the first 12 months you have a card.
Thanks
So I can theoretically rack up points on a freedom, upgrade to sapphire the day I want to book travel, and downgrade a few days later?
does anybody have experience or know if upgrading or downgrading back forth leads to inquiry or shutdown?
Does united typically share their saver award space availability with partners?
Yes, except for additional credit card holder and elite space as I wrote in the post.
those looking to use aeroplan which is a good option however can currently only be booked over the phone and there is a $31.5 (maybe Canadian) pp which is not waived !
can you explain more how to book free stopover?
You need to call them.
so you can just ask them tack on a one way east coast to west coast flight after completing EWR-TLV ROUNDTRIP or it would work like this EWR-TLV-LAX-EWR?
I haven’t tried, but I’d guess that
EWR-TLV-EWR//LAX will definitely work.
EWR-TLV-SFO-LAX//EWR should work.
EWR-TLV-EWR-LAX//EWR is unlikely to work.
(-connection
//stopover)
Try and let us know.
first example seems to have the stopover at the end of the trip? I thought a stopover is supposed to be en route to final destination which would look more like this EWR-TLV-LAX-EWR? stopovers can be added at the end?
second example seems to have two stopovers(SFO AND LAX) before final destination in EWR. I thought only one stopover is allowed?
can you book an additional flight to west coast after completing roundtrip how do you do that on award booking
Yes. Call them to book that.
why did you begin you dates with Nov 2020
what about sept and Oct 2020?
Tk infant award policy ?
Just booked TLV-EWR UA business with TK miles and infant was 4.2k
Strange bc site says its 10% of full cash revenue fare
Sorry I meant to ask if they share their saver AND non saver awards with partners, or only saver ?
In other words , if united have business class available on standard award price will it be bookable on Turkish for 47k?
Airline partners can only access saver space. Standard space is only available with that airline’s miles.
Tried searching for FLL/EWR/IAH to HNL/OGG throughout the year in first, but only coach available… Bummer
Yup, the award space is on international routes.
Looks like United switched their once-daily EWR-TLV schedule starting today.
IAD-TLV-IAD Feb 2021 is not available on the United direct flights, only bookable on Turkish metal
Would this work for NYC- SE Asia being that United is going up to 99k on a saver award?
United’s rates don’t affect any partner rates.
yes registering to account online doesnt help to book other members
Could anyone please explain this paragraph “You can get a free stopover on Star Alliance awards with round-trips that cost at least 60K Turkish miles in coach or 90K Turkish miles in business.” What means a free stopover in this case?
I’ve been having an ongoing issue with the TK *A search tool and wondering if anyone else has experienced the same. When searching for round trip tickets, when I enter all the details and click the red search button, the tool never shows results. After a few seconds of searching, it just loops back to the beginning of the search. One-way searches work fine, display results, and appears bookable.
Anyone else experience this? Not sure how to fix it. Issue happens in other browsers too. Thanks!
I only book one-way tickets unless I need the stopover.
Got it, thanks! But you’ve experienced what I described on a r/t search? I posted a similar comment on FT but didn’t get any responses.
me too
Just need some saver space to AKL now!
zero availability in business from Chicago – Hawaii (Kauai, Maui, Big Island) for entire January 2021.
I can’t seem to get anything to show on the link above
dates
2/14/21 – 2/24/21
Search 1 way at a time. 2/14 EWR to TLV is showing in coach (32k) and business (47k).
2/24 TLV to EWR is only available in business (47k)
if i have citi points and i want to give it to a friend i can just transfer to his turkish account directly from my citi points. cmiww as citi allows for these types of transfers as opposed to chase or amex
Turkish will reject the transfer if the name on the account is not the same as the Thank You point account (I just tried it last week with 1k points to a family member with same last name).
Citi allows you to transfer to another TYP member, up to 100k points per year. That transfer is instant.
Turkish allows members to transfer to each other for $10 (USD) per 1000 points transferred
Hi is there a way to transfer united miles to Turkish
Rule of thumb: You can’t transfer airline miles.
I called Turkish to book and i asked them to hold the ticket for 3 days so i have time to transfer my thank you points, they told me that they can hold it only for 3 hours.
can anyone guide me how to book with a 3 day hold?
Try another representative.
Ask them to make a reservation and pay with your points within 3 days.
I tried 3 times they told me it’s an automatic system.
I made a reservation last week and they told me they will hold it for 3 hours. I called the next day and the tickets were still on hold for me and I was able to complete the booking. Don’t think the 3 hours limit is real.
Citi transfers took day and half till they posted
Thank you
Thanks for all the help still not there I’m getting error –
“For Star Alliance award ticket transactions, the ticketing process is not possible for non-members.”
is that because it is a new account? or because I’m booking for my parents and we don’t have the same last name? I created Turkish s&m #s for them and added it under the profile but nada.
You’ll have to call to book for them.
Any clue on the number and how to call from the usa?
90-212-444-0849 not working tried a 1 in the front nothing doing
Thanks for the help
It’s in the post.
Can I book from my partner’s account even though I’m not on the account at all?
Any idea why I find availability one way TLV-EWR and EWR-TLV but when I search the same dates RT nothing comes up?
Buggy.
Can I get a free stopover in IST by flying round trip from the US to Kenya using United or Turkish miles?
I am looking to book United Business TLV-EWR-TLV by using your link after having previously logged in, all I get is Economy availability. What does “If you are looking for business tix, click on top to show the business seats available” mean? I do not see anything to click on for Business availability.
Am I missing something? If you pay cash for these same flights directly on United’s web site it costs $434 one way. So you are getting 1.35 for each point. Deduct the $5.60 and any taxes and you are at about 1.3. Is that really the best we can do with thank you points? In my mind I would just go for the statement instead of going through the hassle. I would then pay cash and get rewards on that (about $15) and have just about broke even. Is there something I am missing? Or is the value of thank you points mainly maximized for business class tickets?
The latter of course
Ok, so what you are saying is that if I am ok using economy class I might as well just redeem for a statement credit? I am asking because I just approved for a Premiere and I have saved a whole bunch of points on the double cash. I started following your instructions more carefully to see how I can maximize these points. I wasn’t really able to find a way to get more than 1.3 per point.
any idea why I can’t open an account on Turkish? Am getting error messages on multiple browsers
I can’t find Turkish awards between LGA and YYZ. But I can book that flight via United or Air Canada awards.
What am I doing wrong?
If I book an award ticket using Turkish miles on United Airlines, can I still get benefits as a United Platinum OR Star Alliance Gold?
Is this better then the chase ultimate reward points? If so am I able to transfer UR points to turkish airlines?
Hi Dan- I’m thinking about the venture x so this led me here down the rabbit hole since I fly United.
Fascinating that Turkish offers cheaper redemptions. 15k domestic. Wow. Think they will devalue?
1) is it hard to change united tickets if booked for miles through Turkish or same no fee reside within a year, done in united site to manage and change reservations?
2) in Turkish site it has a button change class but keeps economy as only choice?
3) I’m united silver. Do I get economy plus seats / preferred at, if ticket booked here via Turkish?
Thanks!
You cant book Domestic flights with Turkish.
I called them
LOL. I have booked domestic flights online several times.
im trying to book domestic flights on turkish airlines online, but most flights dont show up. (im looking at the star alliance flights, not the turkish airline flights. so it should be coming up)
Any update on this? I’m trying to book NYC to MIA and nothing showing up.
I have been trying to sign up with miles and smiles for months and keeping getting errors. Any ideas?
Thanks
so i’m collecting my 500,000 capital one points thx to both your links, however am not getting much luck in finding flights many domestic for 7,500 on Turkish, even if they show available as saver awards on united, and 0 flights to HNL, very frustrating, and tips? spending too much time with no results, thx