Transfer Citi Points To Turkish Airlines With 50% Bonus

It’s not often we see a transfer bonus to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, so this offer is pretty noteworthy (thanks to @findflightsforme and @travelmugpoints for flagging this).

Turkish Miles&Smiles offering 50% Citi ThankYou bonus

Between May 15 and June 15, 2024, the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles program is offering a 50% bonus when you transfer Citi ThankYou points to the program. Let me emphasize that this promotion is being offered on Turkish’s end, rather than on Citi’s end, so you won’t see this offer reflected when you go to Citi’s website.

Citi ThankYou points ordinarily transfer to Turkish Miles&Smiles at a 1:1 ratio, so with this offer, you’d earn 1,500 Turkish miles per 1,000 Citi points. There are a few major restrictions to be aware of:

• You can earn up to 50,000 bonus miles with this campaign, which you’d unlock after transferring 100,000 points
• The 50% bonus miles will only post after the campaign has ended, so you won’t get the bonus instantly
• Transfers from Citi ThankYou to Turkish Miles&Smiles aren’t generally instant, but rather take a day or two (and that doesn’t even account for the 50% bonus only posting after the end of the promotion)

There are several great cards earning Citi ThankYou points, including the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (review), and it’s easy to combine points between the cards.

Is this Turkish Miles&Smiles promotion worth it?

We don’t see bonuses on transfers to Turkish Miles&Smiles often, so I’m happy to see this promotion. Admittedly it has some major limitations you won’t find with most other transfer bonuses, like the bonus miles not posting instantly, plus the cap on how many bonus miles you can earn.

I’m a big fan of flying with Turkish Airlines, and it’s one of my favorite airline brands, in particular thanks to the great business class soft product.

Historically the Turkish Miles&Smiles program has also been incredibly lucrative, though unfortunately it was devalued several months ago. Still, with a 50% transfer bonus, I think there’s potentially value to be had with this offer:

• A one-way business class award between the United States and Istanbul costs 65,000 miles, so with a 50% transfer bonus, that’s under 44,000 Citi points one-way (though there are mild surcharges — around $200 one-way)
• Some partner redemptions are a great value, and in particular, for a one-way award wholly within a country, you’ll pay 10,000 miles in economy or 15,000 miles in business class, so with a 50% bonus, that’s an even better value

I’d caution that while the process of booking a Turkish award is pretty straightforward and can be done online, partner awards can be a bit trickier. So before taking advantage of this, I’d recommend doing some dummy bookings, and getting a sense of what you may be dealing with.

Bottom line

Turkish Miles&Smiles is offering a 50% bonus on points transfers from Citi ThankYou, up to a limit of 50,000 bonus miles. The catch is that the bonus miles will only post after the fact.

With a use in mind, I’d say this could be a very good value, as it’s a way to score a great deal for travel on Turkish Airlines or a Star Alliance partner.

Are you taking advantage of this 50% transfer bonus?