Turkish Airlines is discounting awards by 50% from its Istanbul hub to destinations in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Through May 31, 2018 all tickets to the following destinations are 50% off in economy or business class. Bookings must be completed prior to January 31, 2018. Both one-way and round-trip tickets are reduced. The journey must start in Istanbul Attaturk Airport (IST). Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW), a secondary hub for Turkish, is excluded from this offer.
Turkish classifies the following destinations in Eastern Europe/Balkans:
- Albania (Europe 1)
- Azerbaijan (Europe 2)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (Europe 1)
- Bulgaria (Europe 1)
- Croatia (Europe 1)
- Georgia (Europe 2)
- Kosovo (Europe 1)
- Macedonia (Europe 1)
- Moldova (Europe 1)
- Montenegro (Europe 1)
- Romania (Europe 2)
- Serbia (Europe 1)
- Slovenia (Europe 2)
- Ukraine (Europe 2)
See here for how Turkish Airlines splits Europe 1 and Europe 2.
Round-trip awards will run 7,500 in economy class and 11,250 in business class for Europe 1. For Europe 2, prices will run 10,000 in economy and 15,000 in business. That’s really not a bad deal for round-trip travel, especially considering how pleasant it is to both visit and transit Istanbul (not that it is easy right now…).
> Read More: Lufthansa vs. Turkish Within Europe
> Read More: Review: Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Also keep in mind that Turkish Miles & Smiles is now a Citi ThankYou transfer partner, making it fairly easy to add points to your Turkish account.
> Read More: Two Reasons I May Start Collecting Citi ThankYou Points
CONCLUSION
I realize this promotion may not be helpful to North American readers, but if you are planning a trip to Europe this year perhaps you can use this. For those in Europe, it is worth a closer look at.
Not sure if it was mentioned here before but Istanbul airport is giving out VOA stickers to US citizens with boarding passes originating in Europe (or just not the flight from JFK on TK basically). There is a whole confusing rigamarole where you have to go to different visa counters and get a piece of paper stamped with a red stamp but then they issue you a VOA like in the old days. But I think the eVisas are still down.