Turkish Airlines offers one of my favorite business class products, and that’s in spite of the fact that as of now their business class seats are quite outdated.
Fortunately that’s changing shortly, as Turkish Airlines has just taken delivery of their first Boeing 787-9, which features an all new business class product. Their new business class product will be available on their 787-9s and 30 A350-900s, which they’ll take delivery of through 2023.
With Turkish Airlines shortly launching flights with the 787-9, I wanted to talk briefly about how to redeem miles for this awesome product.
While Turkish Airlines is flying the 787-9 to a variety of destinations (some only for a very limited time), let me look at the three North American routes that are consistently getting the 787-9 in the coming months.
Turkish Airlines will fly the 787 to:
- Washington Dulles as of August 8, 2019
- Mexico City & Cancun as of August 25, 2019
- Atlanta as of September 10, 2019
I’ve been trying to book a business class award on their Washington Dulles flight, though there has been virtually no award availability. So which route should you book if you want to try Turkish’s new 787 business class?
Turkish’s new flight to Mexico City and Cancun has a ton of business class award space. This operates as a triangle flight, from Istanbul to Mexico City to Cancun to Istanbul.
A vast majority of dates have at least four business class award seats, which is pretty incredible.
For example, here’s a calendar from Istanbul to Mexico City showing nonstop dates with business class award availability:
Availability is similarly good in the other direction:
Unfortunately award availability on the Washington Dulles flight is virtually non-existent, though the Atlanta to Istanbul flight does have a good amount of award availability, both this fall and winter.
So if you are looking to travel across the Atlantic this fall or winter (especially to some tougher to get to places, given that Turkish flies to more countries than any other airline in the world) it could be worth routing through Atlanta or Mexico to try Turkish’s excellent new business class.
If you’re looking to redeem miles to Istanbul, you can expect to pay the following in business class one-way:
- Air Canada Aeroplan — 57,500 miles (from the US), 80,000 miles (from Mexico)
- Avianca LifeMiles — 63,000 miles (from the US), 67,500 miles (from Mexico)
- United MileagePlus — 70,000 miles (from the US), 75,000 miles (from Mexico)
In many cases you can book an award from North America to another region via Istanbul, though the mileage requirement may differ.
Anyone have plans to try Turkish’s new 787-9 business class?
(Tip of the hat to Running With Miles)
Where is the screenshots of award availability calender and Miles+Fares from ?
Which website?
Booked round trip ATL-IST-SJJ in October 2019 for 90k miles (TK) but I transferred only 70k TYP because of (expired) Citi bonus. Taxes were $480 total.
I am not able to change my G or D seat assignment as they claim that no “exit seats” available.
Anyone has an idea what it means? New airplane?
booked for next may, 2 biz seats on aeroplan
IAD-IST
has been available for quite some time.
Hi there
I am a TK Elite Plus member and will fly LHR-IST-Atlanta Business Class in September 2019 and Istanbul-Atlanta section is operated by 787
I do not like 787 from Qatar, used to travel a lot between nordic countries to doha with them
I paid total of 45.000 TK miles one way all the way from LHR - IST - Atlanta, I got 1 night stop over in istanbul, LHR-IST leg is 777
...Hi there
I am a TK Elite Plus member and will fly LHR-IST-Atlanta Business Class in September 2019 and Istanbul-Atlanta section is operated by 787
I do not like 787 from Qatar, used to travel a lot between nordic countries to doha with them
I paid total of 45.000 TK miles one way all the way from LHR - IST - Atlanta, I got 1 night stop over in istanbul, LHR-IST leg is 777
you pay quite a lot of miles for one way , United 70k miles almost the double, I could get return ticket with 90k business class
Ha what a joke. Go to Mexico to take a flight to Turkey? no thanks. Sounds like the drug and terrorist express. Plus having to go through Mexican immigration just to connect is a nightmare. Ill sit this one out...
I believe they are also flying out of Panama City, Panama to IST. I am booked on a flight October 30. Love Turkish Airlines and the new airport/lounge in IST.
@Lucky - LifeMiles hasn't updated with the new IST-MEX/CUN routes, how long does it normally take for them to update new routes. I purchased miles especially to book a trip I have planned next year.
@Josh, it's doable on Aeroplan so long you are traveling within maximum permitted mileage (MPM) for the chosen city pair.
P.S. Hoping the inaugural flight doesn't get bumped out either. Originally this flight was showing on the schedule at least 7-10 days earlier than the date we actually confirmed, so hoping that the Aug 26th date sticks. On another note, I see they are operating a 777 on this route a couple of days earlier, so I wonder what that is about?
We're booked on inaugural flight MEX-IST on Aug 26th. Come join us. All award seats were gone, then I saw 2 seats open up in Business a couple of days ago using united.com award search.
Is it valid to originate in the Northeastern USA and connect through Mexico ?
If you have shoulders, like most humans, you'll hate this seat. Flown the Singapore airlines equivalent and it's really narrow in bed mode and narrow in seat mode. Not sure it's an upgrade or a trap...
Been fighting United for days trying to book an award in January Space is showing up but they say Turkish will not confirm flight. To far out??
Booked CUN-IST as part of a larger Aeroplan award. Got 23 hours in Cancun to see some ruins and hit the beach, before hopping on this new product. Very excited!
I'm booked on Sep 10 from Atlanta, hopefully it will really fly on that date. The last row of business is row 8 and you can see it's closer to the window. I think the even numbered rows are the "window" seats.
You have to call in to reserve the seats ask of now. Maybe that is changing now that they have had delivery.
@ATLDC, thanks, looking at the far row in that picture it looks like the IFE is on the aisle in row 1 meaning even rows will be closer. Probably doesn't make a big difference as it appears the privacy screen covers a portion of the window in the even # rows.
I'm surprised DC is one of their first routes to the US...
@RetiredATLATC - not positive on this but judging from the first picture of the cabin on this post, I would guess odd numbers are closer to the window.
I remember booking Turkish Business from NYC ~2 years ago and the availability was wide open, though Flyertalk makes it seem like Turkish treats award space like AA does (from nothing to abundant).
Can anyone provide any color on how often they open the space up for US routes?
Flying ATL-IST-LIS on NYE. Booked in business but can't find whether odd or even seats are closest to the window.
Booked ATL-IST mid September on the 787 for only 45k miles and smiles points.
@Matt, my post covers the other international routes that do have availability. Some, like DPS, do have quite a bit. It also looks at all the cities that will be getting 787 service and when.
For shorthaul, AMS is a good place to get rewards as well.
I’m flying it on the Denpasar - IST route on August!
Ben,
Turkish actually fly its 787 to Denpasar Bali on July 17th.
Availability is wide open..
https://pinterpoin.com/2019/03/14/denpasar-bali-akan-menjadi-destinasi-pertama-pesawat-terbaru-boeing-787-turkish-airlines/
Any info on non-US routes? I read they were flying to DPS and KUL, possibly others too?
Just don't let Turkish Airlines damage all of their 787 before they actually enter service...