Under the new scheme, miles will be awarded against the booking classification of the ticket, giving more rewards to higher fare categories.
As Turkish Airlines continues to expand its global network, changes were announced to its Miles&Smiles programme, which takes into account regional and geographic differences and will come into force from the 1st June. The changes will offer additional benefits and a more streamlined experience to passengers.
Below is a summary of the key changes;
- Turkish Airlines has increased the number of award seats available on every flight, making it easier to secure Capacity Controlled Award Tickets. This will apply to all aircraft.
- Turkish Airlines will remove the different requirements for high or low season travel for Seat-guaranteed Award Tickets, standardising the number of miles required throughout the year.
- By using 50% of the miles required for an award ticket, members will now be eligible for an award ticket in Economy for the outbound flight, a Business Class ticket on a return flight, a Capacity Controlled Award Ticket on an outbound flight or a Seat-guaranteed Award Ticket on a return flight.
- Members will now be able to use a single table to determine requirements for a Capacity Controlled Award Ticket on Turkish Airlines as well as for Star Alliance partner airline travel.
- Passengers traveling with a companion may obtain an award ticket for the accompanying passenger using 70% of the required miles if the member’s purchased ticket qualifies to accrue additional miles.
- There has also be a change to the way miles are earned. Previously, all earned mileage was tied to the cabin occupied during travel (i.e. Business or Economy). Under the new scheme, miles will be awarded against the booking classification of the ticket, giving more rewards to higher fare categories.
- The new minimum award will be 600 miles for domestic flights -irrespective of distance actually flown- and for short haul flights the minimum award will increase to 1000 miles instead of 500 miles. This minimum award may be supplemented with additional award miles if the passenger pays a higher fare. These minimum rewards will now apply to promotional tickets as well.
- Like Elite and Elite Plus members, Classic Plus travellers will now also receive additional miles when traveling in Comfort or Business Class on International flights.
- Finally, there are also revisions to the rules regarding mileage upgrades. The new rules will allow regionally upgrades to the next cabin for a fixed number of award miles and will not be dependent on the fare paid for the original ticket.
- As of June 1st, all of these changes will allow Miles&Smiles members to gain more benefits when traveling on both Turkish Airlines and its Star Alliance affiliates, as well as making the planning and booking process far more streamlined.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
