Turkish Airlines Devaluation
It's never good when an airline devalues its award charts. Especially one that's been as amazing as Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles. For years, U.S. flyers could redeem Turkish miles for domestic United flights, saving thousands of miles over United's own award redemptions. Well, that's all come to a screeching halt. Now, the same awards could be up to 167% more expensive. Let's dig into the details.
Turkish Airlines Sweet Spot Devaluation: What's Changed
Of course, everything mentioned in this article was delivered without any notice from Turkish Airlines whatsoever. That is something we should commend British Airways on with their recent devaluation by the way. The most affected award rates are business and first class fares from the U.S. Mainland to Hawaii, but other awards wholly within the United States are also affected.
The uniqueness of Turkish's award chart has made the program a hidden gem within award travel circles. Turkish is a member of Star Alliance and has a separate award chart for Star Alliance flights. It also has a separate chart for domestic Star Alliance flights entirely within a country's borders, which significantly benefits U.S.-based flyers. And finally, it has an award chart just for Hawaii flights from the U.S. All phases of these award charts have been devalued without notice.
Turkish Airlines Sweet Spot Devaluation: The Details
The first affected chart is the domestic Star Alliance Award chart (outside of Hawaii). Here are the changes by class of travel:
- Economy:
- An increase from 10,000 miles to 15,000 miles each way
- Business:
- An increase from 15,000 miles to 22,500 miles each way
- First:
- An increase from 20,000 miles to 30,000 miles each way
Each award in this chart increases by 50%, significantly devaluing United awards. While there is definitely value here (especially for close-in travel on United), outsized value is definitely gone.
The following award chart is for one-way awards from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii. Here are the changes by class of travel:
- Economy:
- An increase from 10,000 miles to 25,000 miles each way
- Business:
- An increase from 15,000 miles to 40,000 miles each way
- First:
- An increase from 20,000 miles to 50,000 miles each way
This is where things start to sting. Economy and first-class prices are increasing by 150%, while business class is jumping by 166.7%. For the vast majority of award travelers, a 10,000-mile flight to Hawaii was a steal, especially if you were flying from Newark or Dulles. And for those who enjoyed a premium-cabin experience with lie-flat beds, business and first class were incredible deals if you could find award space.
Turkish Airlines Sweet Spot Devaluation: ToP Thoughts
Yet again, we see another no-notice devaluation from an award program. Unfortunately, this affects U.S.-based Turkish members the most, who were likely overutilizing the program's amazing sweet spots. We'll see if further changes are coming to the rest of the program in the future. Did this change ruin your favorite redemption? Let us know in the ToP Facebook group!
