Get 30% Back on Miles&Smiles Redemption from Sharjah and Other Cities
Miles&Smiles – the frequent flyer program of Turkish Airlines – is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Previously, I had written about a sweepstakes launched by Turkish Airlines. Every month, 30 members will win 100,000 miles each i.e. a total of 30 million miles.
You can read more about the sweepstake here.
However, this is not the only promotion. Every month till December, selected cities served by Turkish Airlines are on offer. The offer is twofold
- 30% discount on redemption and upgrade tickets
- 30% bonus miles on revenue tickets
The second offer, is not that exciting. After all, Emirates is offering upto 4x miles on your bookings. But the first offer is interesting. Let us look at it further.
Details
The list of cities offering 30% discount will change every month.
For April, these cities are being offered:
Algiers, Almaty, Amsterdam, Asmara, Astana, Berlin, Bishkek, Constantine, Erbil, Frankfurt,
Hanoi, Kabul, Khartoum, Kiev, Linz, Oran, Sharjah, Skopje.
All classes (economy, business) are eligible for discount. Further, both redemption and upgrades are on discount.
Note that while Turkish Airlines has termed the campaign as a discount, it is technically a “Milesback”. For bookings made in April, the miles will be credited by May 10. I have confirmed this with Turkish Airlines helpdesk.
Other key terms & conditions are:
- Travel dates between April 1 to April 30
- Booking dates between now to April 30
- One-way and round-trip tickets are eligible
- Taxes and other charges will be added
- Offer only on flights operated by Turkish Airlines and not on codeshare flights
Redemption Sweet Spots
There is good value on several routes – both in economy and business.
Spring is a great time to visit some of these cities as I had covered previously. In fact, Amsterdam is one of my favorite places to visit in April.
Let us consider Sharjah-Amsterdam-Sharjah itinerary. The economy fare is $1,039 as per Google flights. The redemption requirement is 38,500 miles (55,000 miles less 30% discount). This gives you a value of 2.7 cents per mile which is very good. You should be able to get similar values for most economy redemption.
Another example is Kabul-Frankfurt-Kabul. The business fare is $2,546 as per Google flights. This is available for 84,000 miles (120,000 miles less 30% discount). You get a return of 3.2 cents per mile.
There are plenty of such sweet spots out there. Further, Turkish Airlines website allows you to see a weekly calendar to make redemption easier.
Verdict
This is a fantastic deal and a good way to maximize return on your miles.
If you are in UAE and do not have own a large chunk of Miles&Smiles, you could consider Citi Prestige Credit Card. You earn 2 Thank You points per USD of domestic spend (no exceptions) and 3 Thank You points per USD of international spend. Thank You points can be converted to Miles&Smiles in the ratio of 1:1.
At present, Citi is offering 30,000 Thank You points and AED 1,000 of cash back on sign-up. You can apply through this link if you wish (link).
