I love how we’re increasingly seeing airlines launch gamified promotions, which are great in terms of member engagement. It felt like airlines didn’t bother offering these kinds of promotions for so long, but we’ve seen several of these in recent times, from programs like SAS EuroBonus, Etihad Guest, Ethiopian ShebaMiles, and JetBlue TrueBlue.
It’s amazing how we’re seeing one after the other, so huge kudos to SAS for leading the pack with that. On June 27, 2025, we saw Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles launch an absolutely epic promotion, offering one million miles for anyone who flies the carrier to six continents.
I want to provide an update, as the airline has just added a major restrictions to this promotion, limiting this to those who have booked at least one eligible ticket by July 8, 2025.
In this post:
Turkish Airlines’ incredible million miles promotion
With Turkish Airlines’ promotion, Miles&Smiles members can earn one million bonus miles for flying with the airline to all six continents that it serves. As you’d expect, there are some terms to be aware of:
- You must book flights and travel between June 27 and October 27, 2025
- For the purposes of qualifying for the promotion, only arriving destinations will be considered; departure points and transit stops won’t cont toward this offer
- Flights with the final arrival point in Türkiye or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus don’t count toward this offer
- Award tickets, corporate agreement bookings, staff tickets, and tickets purchased with a promotion code, are excluded from this promotion
- The million bonus miles will be credited to eligible accounts between November 1 and November 15, 2025
- Only itineraries originating from or transiting through Istanbul are eligible; that means fifth freedom flights aren’t included for the purposes of this offer
- Flights must be credited to the Miles&Smiles program, and retroactive mileage claims don’t qualify
- Flights must be operated by Turkish, so codeshare flights and flights operated by Star Alliance partner airlines aren’t eligible
Now let me mention the latest update. Turkish has added restrictions on participating in this promotion. Specifically, the airline is limiting this promotion to those who have purchased at least one ticket or completed at least one flight between June 27 and July 8, 2025. So if you want to take part in this promotion, you need to buy at least one ticket by July 8.
How lucrative is Turkish Airlines’ new promotion?
I adore the increasing number of promotions that we’re seeing from major airline loyalty programs, encouraging this kind of wild behavior. This is a cute promotion that plays into the fact that Turkish Airlines is the world’s most global airline, serving more countries than any airline in the world.
So is this promotion worth pursuing? Since you’d need to fly at least six one-way trips (to visit six continents), this means you’re essentially earning roughly 167,000 bonus miles for each continent you check off. If you were to value Turkish miles at one cent each (a conservative valuation), that’s like a $1,670 bonus for each continent you visit.
I think you absolutely could come out ahead here, and could end up paying well under $10,000 for these tickets (which would be the value of the prize, if you were to value the miles at one cent each).
The question ultimately comes down to how many long haul flights you’re willing to take in economy for a prize like this, or whether you can find a deal on premium cabin flights. Alternatively, I suppose you could pay cash for economy tickets, and then use miles to upgrade to business class, so that you can take these flights in comfort.
Another factor here is how many flights you’d naturally take on Turkish during the promotion period, because then you should view the challenge based on the incremental number of flights required.
Like, if you’d fly the airline to two continents during the promotion period anyway, then your return on those four incremental continents is 250,000 miles each. That’s enticing.
Admittedly some of these continents are much easier to knock out than others. Flying to Asia, Europe, and Africa, is straightforward enough, and can be done on a flight of just a few hours. But then you’d need to fly to North America, South America, and Australia. So we’re talking about three long haul destinations, and that says nothing of the potential need to position.
I think one consideration that has to be kept in mind is the strict expiration policy on the Miles&Smiles currency. With the program, miles expire 36 months after they’re earned, regardless of activity. So you’ll have a fairly limited window to redeem all those miles.
I’m not surprised to see registration for this offer closed early, as it felt like the most generous and easiest to maximize offer we’ve seen from any airline. I imagine there was only so much of a marketing budget for this, and that the airline realized that was going to be exceeded by a long shot.
Bottom line
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles has a lucrative promotion, offering one million bonus miles for flying with the airline to six continents. This is such a fun offer. Ultimately three continents can easily be knocked out with short flights, while three continents require taking long haul flights. It has been a year (or 15) since I’ve taken a long haul flight in economy, though this is as close to tempted as I’ve been…
Unfortunately interest in this offer has been so great that new restrictions have been added, and the airline is requiring that travelers have booked at least one eligible flight by July 8, 2025, in order to qualify.
What do you make of Turkish Airlines’ promotion for one million miles?
@ben TK has removed the whole 1million promo page from their website....very worrying
,,For the purposes of qualifying for the promotion, only arriving destinations will be considered; departure points and transit stops won’t cont toward this offer,,
What they consider arriving destinations in return tickets?
It would be each leg. For example if you are flying LHR-IST-ORD your LHR-IST-ORD counts as North America, and your ORD-IST-LHR counts as Europe
Feels like they’re being let off lightly here. If certain other airlines did this, they’d be chastised a great deal more about it!
I think there's more social pressure in other countries than in Turkey. They've been getting away with abysmal service and shady practices for a long time.
You're talking TK or Erdogan?
I had just sorted out my PTO to do this challenge! Oh well, TK won't be getting my $ now, extremely disappointing for them to change the Ts&Cs midway through the promotion.
@ben : there is a new version of the T&C... they updated and made things me clear, but added a very weird one : "13. Only tickets issued during the campaign’s ticketing period are eligible for changes."
not sure at all what this means.
you can't have a ticket isssued before June 27 and change it within the promotion period to make it eligible (due to ticket reissue)
Shocking that a reputable company would do this. I was planning to book a couple of the flights last week, and I'm very glad now that I didn't
You made a mistake believing they are a reputable company.
WTF?!? I'd already spent a few hours planning this and was ready to pull the trigger in the coming days. Now I can't?? What an epic waste of time!
Tbh, I was worried about dropping a few thousand $ only to cross my fingers that TK would actually pay up. Turns out, I was right to be distrustful (my other worry was that they'd devalue their FF program again).
TK might have a...
WTF?!? I'd already spent a few hours planning this and was ready to pull the trigger in the coming days. Now I can't?? What an epic waste of time!
Tbh, I was worried about dropping a few thousand $ only to cross my fingers that TK would actually pay up. Turns out, I was right to be distrustful (my other worry was that they'd devalue their FF program again).
TK might have a great onboard product, but that's it. The lounge is meh, and their customer service is an abomination. Maybe the worst CS of any "first world" carrier.
I booked one flight to TBS and not sure I want to book more… I’ll have to confirm with their customer service via email and frame that email if I decide to book more tickets!
check the new T&C, they are more clear.
@ZTravel
This is my personal opinion.
But TK has modified this program and it's website at least 4 times after it launched.
4 TIMES!!!!!!
Hardly any confidence left for TK being trustworthy or intention to run this promo in good faith.
It's like an intern did it without approval only to be fixed by an associate the next day then a senior yesterday then a manager today.
TK senior manager should hear about this...
@ZTravel
This is my personal opinion.
But TK has modified this program and it's website at least 4 times after it launched.
4 TIMES!!!!!!
Hardly any confidence left for TK being trustworthy or intention to run this promo in good faith.
It's like an intern did it without approval only to be fixed by an associate the next day then a senior yesterday then a manager today.
TK senior manager should hear about this tomorrow and their VP sometime next week. Erdogan in September.
So you can expect T&C to change in bad faith all the way until November 15.
People are still trying?????
I actually was planning for this.
However, now? Even if I had at least one booked or flown I would still walk away.
They pulled one today, don't you think they're not going to do it again?
Let's not forget even if it goes through, they have 3 years and a million miles as hostage.
Wait, most people still belive in propaganda and being brainwashed by lying politicians.
...People are still trying?????
I actually was planning for this.
However, now? Even if I had at least one booked or flown I would still walk away.
They pulled one today, don't you think they're not going to do it again?
Let's not forget even if it goes through, they have 3 years and a million miles as hostage.
Wait, most people still belive in propaganda and being brainwashed by lying politicians.
So go ahead.
Enjoy wasting time chasing a million miles. Erdogan thanks you for all the free money.
Like EK, I have been avoiding TK until recently their seat improvements on 787 and A350. Maybe I'll never get to fly thier 350.
Just booked one like a minute ago, about 5 minutes before midnight Istanbul time!
My confidence level is about 20%!
I’ll check with them before I book anything else.
Check eticket timestamp.
My condolences for participating in a rigged competition.
Your next hurdle, make sure there is no schedule change before you fly or they can invalidate your ticket.
You're playing a game at their mercy. And they happen to be untrustworthy.
My confidence of qualifying 30%
My confidence of actually winning 10%
My confidence M&S now and when I'm trying to redeem 10%
At least now I know what to do this Thanksgiving.
Trump-should threaten to raise tariffs on Turkey unless this change is reversed or even threaten to flatten Ankara!
Terrible! They changed the rules after they published the offer! I just went in to to book and their app said the offer has ended! Today is the 8th!!
You can book a ticket until 23:59 gmt+3
Check the app Ahmad, under the program, it states:
Route: 6 Continents Has Ended
Thank you for the great interest you have shown in our Route: 6 Continents campaign.
In line with recent updates, the campaign has officially concluded as of July 8, 2025.
Current Terms & Conditions on the TK website as of 2:30 PM Eastern say "Tickets purchased after July 8, 2025 will not be considered within the scope of the campaign." So it is now ambiguous whether ALL tickets need to be bought today (assuming Istanbul time zone) or only ONE. It also says the campaign has ended. I wouldn't chance it at this point.
SKETCHY AF. TRACKS WITH BUYING A TURKISH RUG IN KUSADASI. TERMS KEEP CHANGING BY THE MINUTE. SAS WAS CLASS ACT. THIS IS SKETCH.
I would like to ask if the ticket I purchased on July 8 is eligible under the policy. Is the purchase time determined based on Turkey local time?
The app says no, it says the offer has ended
Interesting to see how airlines have different approaches...
Etihad few days ago: So many people have responded positively, we give out more prices to make sure more people can win
Turkish Airlines: So many people have responded positively, we shut down, sorry
Pick your fighter.
I think Etihad announced the modifications to the promo because people weren't as motivated to try to attempt it since there were only 3 winners. That made most sensible people bow out early. By increasing the prizes to over 100 people, Etihad assumed that might cause more people to be willing to attempt it.
Turkish Airlines reserves the right to modify, suspend, or cancel the campaign, including its terms, definitions, and any other related information.
Yup, they had a contingency built in for this exact scenario.
What an absolute lame airline to change the rules like that
It is extremely unclear if people ticket BY Jul 8 or BEFORE July 8 would qualify.
Also while it states folks who have bought at least 1 ticket would qualify, new terms stated that ALL tickets must be purchased before.
Nah, I was on the fence but this helped me make my decision. I would not even participate even if they reopened, this company is way too shady.
@Ben this is SHADY AF. there is language allowing them to delete eligible destinations at any time. This is Peak Turkish. Makes SAS offer look heavenly. I am one of the 900 SAS millionaires and I was going to do the TK but won't now.
where is registration required?
Hah, they must have realized a lot more people were trying for the payout than they originally projected.
This is by far the best campaign i've ever seen. SAS campaign was good but all it offer is short flights within Asia. You need to conquer the world to get this. Hard but worth it. Turkish miles can take you everywhere you want.
Just doing a sanity check here. These flights meet the requirements for the challenge right? All on Turkish metal.
LAX-IST-SOF (Europe)
SOF-IST-DXB (Asia)
DXB-IST-LAX (North America)
LAX-IST-CAI (Africa)
CAI-IST-SYD (Oceania)
SYD-IST-GRU (South America)
Looks good to me
Thank you
If someone was only traveling for the promo, it can be done in a week.
Here’s a sample I put together for the week of September 7th:
1. IST-CAI Sunday 6:55AM-9:15AM $201
2. CAI-IST-SIN-MEL 10:10AM-7:20PM+1 $745
3. MEL-SIN-IST-JFK Monday 9:20PM-5:55PM+1 $950
4. JFK-IST-AMM Tuesday 7:50PM-5:15PM+1 $747
5. AMM-AQJ-IST-ATH Wednesday 6:50PM-3:05AM+1 $275
6. ATH-IST-GRU Thursday 3:55AM-5:45PM $771
Total cost $3689 +cost of getting to IST and back from GRU. Sounds...
If someone was only traveling for the promo, it can be done in a week.
Here’s a sample I put together for the week of September 7th:
1. IST-CAI Sunday 6:55AM-9:15AM $201
2. CAI-IST-SIN-MEL 10:10AM-7:20PM+1 $745
3. MEL-SIN-IST-JFK Monday 9:20PM-5:55PM+1 $950
4. JFK-IST-AMM Tuesday 7:50PM-5:15PM+1 $747
5. AMM-AQJ-IST-ATH Wednesday 6:50PM-3:05AM+1 $275
6. ATH-IST-GRU Thursday 3:55AM-5:45PM $771
Total cost $3689 +cost of getting to IST and back from GRU. Sounds very doable if based in Europe. If based in the US, you can switch things around to have the trip end in the US.
I made a sample of the tightest back-to-back itinerary. You can obviously spread it out more and actually enjoy some of the destinations.
@Ben, Turkish plane turnaround time in CAI is 55 minutes. Is that enough to deplane and reboard?
forget CAI turnaround in 55 minutes. 2-3 hours are more realistic. maybe you can book a VIP service for the international transit. then it might be possible - but the PITA will be that you won't get an online boarding pass for tickets departing in Egypt. you need to pick up the boarding pass at an airport counter.
ChatGPT gave me a similar itinerary, laid out just like this.
Remember they fly to other destinations in Egypt where turnarounds may be far easier.
“Let’s find a place with celebration and song/
When souvenirs come along, keep on moving”
One more thing I am curious - does Amex International Airline Program qualifiers for this offering? Or tickets purchased via travel agents? There is a "business contract" exemption in the promo terms, so these fares may fall under this exemption.
If every one of the 6 flights need to originate from IST, then its a no go for us.
Ben, as far as milage expiration from the promo. What would expiration be if some flights were in Biz and others in Economy??
According to T&Cs: They are valid for 3 years.
The devil is in the details...
So if you land in IST as the end of a ticket, no.
Use a promo, no.
Leave from / connect in IST, yes.
Seems like you must fly
ANYWHERE to IST to NEW destination (or IST to NEW destination, but not RT)
NEW destination to IST to ANYWHERE (cannot end in IST)
Pretty limiting and likely more expensive.
Eric Adams already won
LOL. That's Hilarious!
A group of you should come up with workable itins priced in both economy and business and fly the challenge as a group. Perhaps some legs if not all. Imagine how much fun that could be.
The problem is those million miles expire in three years.
The miles expire as follows:
2027 if class of travel is economy or a combination of business and economy
2030 if class of travel is solely in business class.
hi, may i know where you get this info?
Does that mean, if just one flight in Biz the expiry goes to 2030?
Two Years not three (if flown in economy). From the T&C for this promo.
hi, i checked through t&C , i didnt see expiry info, would u mindh highlight where u get the info?
Ben, do you know if certain fare types are restricted? I've seen some people mention promo fares are not allowed, but I'm not sure what that is. On their site, they say "Tickets purchased using a promo code are excluded from the campaign." I didn't use a promo code, but I'm flying Economy U, T, S, Q, and P fare types and I'm hoping those are OK.
If you haven't use a promo code, then you're good in any revenue booking class (I believe awards are excluded but maybe not).
Hard pass! Given the amount of taxes and surcharges that TK charges for awards, these miles are worth junk. Maybe useful for Star Alliance awards because of lower YQ but award rates are higher than other programs. Now if Aeroplan had a promo like this...
Can be done with repos for under $3500 in less than 9 days, originating and ending in NA as well.
@Ladakn99:
By your statement, that would be 9 days of travel in economy, jumping from one flight to the next for travel in economy, for some flights over 12 hours - in economy. I can't imagine a worse fate.
This is a really decent promo. And one which ten years ago I would have probably jumped on.
Turkey trying to dictate exonyms will never not be funny to me, especially when they refer to us as Amerika and ABD. Dorks.
Does flying round trip between the Asia-Australia fifth freedom routes (SIN-MEL or KUL-SYD) give me two continents?
@ Jeffrey Lin -- Those flights wouldn't qualify at all. Per the terms:
"Only itineraries originating from or transiting through Türkiye are eligible. Intra-regional direct flights are not eligible."
Thank you for the clarification Ben! And thank you for always sharing fun news and updates about the aviation industry
If they don’t connect thru IST/Turkey, I don’t think it will count for any continents!
I priced out an itinerary for around $3,400 in August for all of the flights (including a couple positioning flights). This doesn't include hotels, food, etc.
MIA - IST - DXB $664 R/T - Asia
DXB - IST - ATH $177 - Europe
ATH - IST - GRU - EZE $970 R/T - South America
EZE - GRU - IST - ATH (see above)
ATH - CAI $87 on Aegean (positioning)
I priced out an itinerary for around $3,400 in August for all of the flights (including a couple positioning flights). This doesn't include hotels, food, etc.
MIA - IST - DXB $664 R/T - Asia
DXB - IST - ATH $177 - Europe
ATH - IST - GRU - EZE $970 R/T - South America
EZE - GRU - IST - ATH (see above)
ATH - CAI $87 on Aegean (positioning)
CAI - IST - SIN - SYD $1300 R/T - Australia
SYD - SIN - IST - CAI - Africa
CAI - DXB $189 on Flynas (positioning)
DXB - IST - MIA (price included in r/t from above) - North America
Total: $3,393
You can drop the GRU-EZE both ways for an extra $300-$400 if your looking for less flights.
If anyone can find a cheaper fares on Turkish to Australia, please share!
Its also worth keeping in mind that Turkish has their IST stopover program, where you can get a free hotel room if you have a round trip itinerary booked. The number of free nights and type of hotel varies based on your origin/destination and class. With this, you can further limit the amount of money spent on hotels.
I don’t think TK flies its own metal to SYD via SIN, I believe it’s via KUL. Just highlighting in case it affects the pricing, as TK often uses JQ as the carrier for SIN-SYD which would render that option ineligible. TK uses SIN as the transit stop for flights to MEL.
@Alex that's incorrect. TK flies its own metal to Sydney via KUL and to MEL via SIN. So indeed you're sitting in the same plane from IST to Australia.
@Alex - Sorry, that was a typo. That exact fare was round-trip ATH-IST-KUL-SYD. That entire journey was on TK. I wrote that part from memory and for some reason had SIN stuck in my head rather than KUL.
@JB:
Your pricing analysis is incorrect. If memory serves, MIA-IST-DXB cannot be classified as Asia.
DXB is classified as Asia https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-tr/miles-and-smiles/campaigns/fly-across-6-continents-Earn-1-million-miles/
@Miguel et al,
Ah IC. I stand corrected. I was using IATA convention.
Yes it certainly can. Per the rules if you originate in IST, or go through IST then the destination continent counts. UAE counts as Asia
@JB, Thank you!
Don't Turkish miles expire after 3 years?
They call this the Eric Adam's promo ;)
He should be the spokesman in any TV ads for this!
McMurdo Station?
Very cool promotion!
I found a quick itinerary using google flights departing NYC in October. Obviously this excludes hotels, food, etc.
NYC - IST - TBS $570 - Turkish, Europe
TBS - IST - Cairo $399 - Turkish, Africa
Cairo - IST - Sydney $700 - Turkish, Oceania
Sydney to KUL $172 Scoot Airlines, Repo
KUL - IST - San Palo $1,247 - Turkish, South America
San Palo...
Very cool promotion!
I found a quick itinerary using google flights departing NYC in October. Obviously this excludes hotels, food, etc.
NYC - IST - TBS $570 - Turkish, Europe
TBS - IST - Cairo $399 - Turkish, Africa
Cairo - IST - Sydney $700 - Turkish, Oceania
Sydney to KUL $172 Scoot Airlines, Repo
KUL - IST - San Palo $1,247 - Turkish, South America
San Palo to Madrid $312 Latam, Repo
Madrid - IST - NYC $598 - America
Total price: $3,998 + a lot of hours in the air haha
@ Ethan -- Did you have to include Cairo in the itinerary?! :p
whoops... you could replace Cairo with Tunis for almost the same price!
Interesting they consider Georgia part of Europe
@ Ethan - Unfortunately, I don't think you included a destination counting for the Asia requirement (KUL won't count because you are originating there, and the rules say that only arrival airports count).
Thank you for this sample itinerary with prices. South America is limited to GRU, EZE, SCL and Australia is limited to SYD and MEL.
Dreaming of where I'd like to go, it's SYD, SCL. North America is easy as that would be the return trip. Finally, where to go in Europe and Asia and Africa. Maybe Rome, Cairo or Tunis, and Amman or Dubai?
BOG is also eligible for South America.
I wonder taking into account the cost of all flights, hotel stays, et al, if just buying a million miles would be cheaper ?
Why would you buy a million miles if it isn't to see the world? With this deal, you get to visit 6 continents by spending about $6k on airfares and a million miles is a pretty decent reward, essentially worth $10-14k.
@Trey anyone who has the cash on hand, flexibility and stamina to fly this much on a whim probably doesn't need the miles. But with the proliferation of remote work and the magic of youth, prob not a bad investment.
You can only purchase a max of 50,000 Turkish miles per year
Might consider this.......I'm an hour flight from Istanbul. Have to factor in the price of my wife divorcing me for leaving her alone with the toddler for a few weekends but still might be worth it.
I consistently see billboards in NYC advertising divorces for $750 all in. You’ll be just fine.
LOL I know the feeling @WinstonTeracina
My better half (and my boss) signed off on me taking advantage of the ex-Vietnam CX mistake fare F flights in 2019. That one took about 12 legs total over the course of 3.5 weeks and left me completely exhausted but it was all in business and first class (including domestically—AA 32B) so I can't complain. I vowed I wouldn't travel again until summer 2020. Welp. Also def heard how insane I was before, during...
My better half (and my boss) signed off on me taking advantage of the ex-Vietnam CX mistake fare F flights in 2019. That one took about 12 legs total over the course of 3.5 weeks and left me completely exhausted but it was all in business and first class (including domestically—AA 32B) so I can't complain. I vowed I wouldn't travel again until summer 2020. Welp. Also def heard how insane I was before, during and after the trip from both parties.
Would I do it all over again if I could (and she allowed it)? Emphatic yes.
Hello guys, any idea what’s the expiration date of these miles would be ? Sounds like the crux to me.
3 years after you earn them
@Nicolas:
Miles exp 2027: If flown in economy or a combination of economy and business.
Miles exp 2030: If flown solely in business
Africa, Europe and Asia can easily be done as shorthauls out of IST (e.g. during an Istanbul stopover on another of the trips). So you absolutely need only three longhauls: North America, South America and Oceania. If you're based in one of these three continents, you get them "for free" when positioning back home at the end.
would a paid economy ticket that is upgraded with miles qualify? If so, it wouldn't be too hard to upgrade most flights.
@ Omar -- That's a good point! Yes, that would qualify.
Tempted to try and price this out. For purposes of the contest, is Istanbul considered Europe or Asia, or does it not count?
@ Dusty -- Great question, let me update the post to answer that. "No. Flights with final arrival points in Türkiye or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus do not count toward campaign completion."
Thanks! Not surprising, but was worth checking.
Destinations in Turkey don't count at all. Therefore you also can't use Ankara for Asia for example (and even Georgia somehow ended up in the Europe zone, so you need at least UAE, Qatar or something like that). For Europe, I think the cheapest and closest option will be Balkan destinations like Bucharest or Chisinau.
One fun question is - how do you get to Australia on TK? It doesn't even seem to fly there.
Turkish flies to Sydney.
IST-SIN-MEL, my friend!
Ben- has been a few months since you've posted a planned new review trip- hope all is well with your family. Best wishes
@ Harold -- I hope to get out there again soon, I appreciate the interest. I have two big life events going on right now, which I'll share more about in a bit, but they have both kept me grounded for a bit. Stay tuned!