Tl;dr – Turkish Airlines just launched a big promotion giving travelers the chance to earn one million Miles&Smiles miles if they can fly to six continents between late June and late October.
Turkish Airlines just launched a big promotion offering travelers the chance to earn one million Miles&Smiles miles. Let’s take a look at the details.
If you travel to 6 continents with Turkish Airlines between June 27 – October 27, 2025, you’ll earn one million Miles&Smiles miles.
Importantly, you must:
- Book your flights between June 27 and October 27, 2025, and complete all travel between the same dates.
- Award flights don’t count. (Other specialty fares like Corporate fares, group, staff, or special passenger segment tickets (e.g., seafarer, medical, student fares) don’t count either.
- Only arrival destinations count toward completing the required continents.
- Fifth freedom flights don’t count – Flights must depart from or transfer through Istanbul.
- Codeshare flights are not eligible, even if booked with a Turkish Airlines flight number.
Those are the only rules – everything else seems to be fair game.
Interestingly, this comes the same week we saw JetBlue drop its 25th-anniversary promotion, offering travelers a chance to rack up (up to) 350,000 TrueBlue points.
So, a few things stand out about this challenge. If you have a relatively open (or flexible) schedule, this is totally doable. It’s also thoughtfully accessible as it doesn’t mandate that you have to fly in any premium fare class – it appears that an economy ticket will do the trick for all six continental destinations. And, of course, as it is Turkish Airlines, there are a plethora of destinations for you to choose from, so one can go wild seeing the world with this challenge.
So Why Am I Not Smiling?
Because I’m not a buyer here.
For me, this challenge is a skip for two reasons: 1) the limiting rules of the challenge and 2) the utility I derive from Turkish Airlines miles.
Here are the two rules I don’t rock with: 1) award flights don’t count, and 2) no Fifth Freedom routes. Award flights would make this challenge a lot more comfortable and financially viable, as Istanbul, while very well-located globally, is far away from the Americas. As such, I probably want to fly there comfortably in a lay-flat cabin. Since I’d have to purchase a revenue fare to do this (several times, I might add), that’s gonna add up. One thing that could have lessened the blow here would have been allowing Fifth Freedoms to qualify. Although there aren’t many, there are a few that would have given you a ‘two-for-one,’ allowing you to book one ticket and visit two destinations. One example: Turkish Airlines operates a Singapore (SIN) – Melbourne (MEL) flight (Emirates previously serviced this route) where you could have checked off both Asia and Oceania. As that would have removed the need to fly back to Istanbul at least once, it’s not the whole ballgame, but it’s a significant exclusion.
Now, let’s turn to something more personal – my thoughts on the usefulness of Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles miles.
Turkish Airlines miles are best used (and most easily redeemed) when flying Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines’s long-haul business class service, while stellar, routes you through Istanbul on nearly every flight. Istanbul is a lovely city (I’ll be there in just a few weeks), but I wouldn’t want the obligation to connect in Istanbul just because I have to burn through 1,000,000 miles. The more time I spend in the points and miles game, the more I value independence and maximizing variety by checking out different airlines, routes, and products. In many ways, the 1,000,000 miles, due to Turkish Airlines route operations, is more limiting than freeing.
Additionally, as a veteran of the points and miles game, two things I’ve come to learn are 1) don’t chase fools gold, and 2) protect your peace. The first one is pretty straightforward. I try to avoid loyalty programs that are known for phantom award availability or infrastructural difficulties in securing existing partner award ability. Even with a published award chart and as a member of a major alliance, in practice, it’s impossible or very hard to book cross-alliance award availability with Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles Miles. So, that’s just fool’s gold.
When it comes to protecting one’s peace, I’m talking about limiting the frustration associated with fighting through a given program’s shoddy technology, poor customer service, or some combination of the two. Yes, there’s something said for sitting on the phone for hours, persevering for that ‘oh-so-special redemption,’ but if such an experience is a regular/frequent/expected occurrence, I’m all the way good. You’ll find that I’m not alone in these experiences. Also, when it comes to protecting one’s peace, I’m also looking at you, Avianca.
I’ll never let an opportunity pass without raising some awareness around Lifemiles.
Conclusion
Turkish Airlines has launched a major promotion, and it could be a solid move for the person who doesn’t mind visiting Istanbul frequently and could make good use of one million Miles&Smiles miles in the coming years, likely by flying on Turkish Airlines metal.
