Turkish Airlines is the latest carrier to offer an intriguing new promotion, with a payout of 1,000,000 miles for anyone who flies the carrier to six continents. While I think I’ll let the JetBlue promo go, I’m seriously considering this one.
Turkish Airlines Promo: Fly To Six Continents, Earn One Million Miles…Why I’m Considering It.
Miles & Smiles members can earn one million Turkish Airlines miles for flying the airline to the six continents its serves (sorry, Antarctica) over the next four months. Let’s look at some details:
Turkish Airlines “Six Continents” Promotion
To celebrate its route network spanning six continents, Turkish Airlines is offering an eye-popping promotion: fly to six continents on Turkish Airlines-operated flights and earn 1,000,000 bonus Miles & Smiles miles.
Here’s how it works:
- Promotion period: June 27 – October 27, 2025
- You must register before your first eligible flight
- Flights must depart from or transit through Turkey (i.e. Istanbul or other Turkish gateway) and must not terminate in Turkey
- That means no Fifth Freedom flights like Buenos Aires (EZE) – Sao Paulo (GRU) or Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Sydney (SYD) will count
- You must fly to a destination in each of the following six continents:
- Africa
- Asia (including the Middle East)
- Europe
- North America
- South America
- Australia (what Turkish calls “Oceania”)
- Only revenue tickets are eligible (award tickets, corporate bookings, and certain discounted tickets do not qualify)
- All flights must be operated by Turkish Airlines (no codeshares)
- You must credit the flights to your Miles & Smiles account
- Bonus miles will be awarded between November 1–15, 2025
- Registration is available here on the Turkish Airlines website
A Sample Itinerary
This promotion is not for the faint-hearted since each of the six portions of this trip requires transiting Istanbul. Ethan posted the following itinerary on OMAAT that I thought was pretty clever:
- NYC – IST – TBS – $570 – Turkish Airlines (Europe)
- TBS – IST – TUN – $399 – Turkish Airlines (Africa)
- TUN – IST – SYD – $700 – Turkish Airlines (Oceania)
- SYD – KUL – $172 – Scoot Airlines (repositioning)
- KUL – IST – GRU – $1,247 – Turkish Airlines (South America)
- GRU – MAD – $312 – LATAM (repositioning)
- MAD – IST – NYC – $598 – Turkish Airlines (North America)
That comes out to a bit under $4K and would be one big trip…what a big trip indeed, especially in economy class.
But on closer examination, I see that he left out Asia, so there would need to be an extra trip from Istanbul to somewhere in the Middle East…that adds more time and money. Adding in Asia would look like this:
- NYC – IST – TBS – $570 – Turkish Airlines (Europe)
- TBS – IST – CAI – $399 – Turkish Airlines (Africa)
- CAI – IST – AMM – $680 Turkish (Asia)
- AMM – IST – SYD – $1374 – Turkish Airlines (Oceania)
- SYD – KUL – $172 – Scoot Airlines (repositioning)
- KUL – IST – GRU – $1,247 – Turkish Airlines (South America)
- GRU – MAD – $312 – LATAM (repositioning)
- MAD – IST – NYC – $598 – Turkish Airlines (North America)
That adds about $1K to this…
I haven’t begun to dig deeply, but I’m intrigued by this promotion and think it might be doable. If I can keep this to about $4K for a million miles, not only would I earn the miles, but I’d probably have quite an adventure along the way that I would bring to this blog (and all of it would be a write-off).
I’m not a huge fan of the Miles & Smiles program (which now charges on a per-segment basis), but I love flying Turkish Airlines, flying through Istanbul, and there might be some good business class seats out there, much like the great deal I got on Saudia business class originating in Tunis for the SAS promotion. I’m going to explore this.
But a warning: Turkish miles expire after three years, regardless of activity. That’s a huge downside to this program. That, along with my very busy schedule this year, may prohibit me from participating in this promotion. I’ve got a fun Singapore Airlines trip booked for later this year, but that falls after the promotion ends (otherwise, that could be repositioning as well).
CONCLUSION
Turkish Airlines is offering an extraordinary one-time promotion for travelers willing to take on the challenge: fly to six continents, earn one million bonus miles. The barrier to entry is high, but the reward could be quite attractive for those willing to fly through Istanbul for the next three years (someone call Mayor Adams!). For the right flyer, this could be a very valuable opportunity. As for me, I’m strongly considering it…but not yet fully convinced.
Will you take part in this intriguing Turkish Airlines promotion?
You got it a bit wrong.
From their FAQ:
You can travel one-way, round-trip, or with multi-city itineraries.
Only arrival destinations count toward completing the required continents.
Examples:
New York–Istanbul–Tokyo counts only as Asia.
New York–Istanbul–Tokyo–Istanbul–New York counts as both Asia and North America.
New York–Istanbul–Tokyo–Istanbul–Cape Town completes Asia and Africa.
Disregard the comment
Write comment in Turkish .
For Asia, it seems like AUH prices pretty well. The Tunisia to Sydney route is one of the cheapest flights that direction I’ve seen. I played around with CAI-AUH and it prices cheaper. But I would be tempted to work with that TUN flight.
Also: repositioning back from GRU via UX might be preferable before doing the final leg back to the states. I’ve seen decent GRU-MAD pricing for business on Flying Blue before (but haven’t checked lately).
A simple Google search shows Turkey still has a network of gay bathhouses. So if Aaron attempts this, odds are he will never leave Turkey.
Then again he’s too busy taking his anger at the Supreme Court out on some 18 YO’s a$$ that needed a few bucks to read about this.
Wow Dave, googling gay bathouses in Turkey now?
Lol he probably knows them all in person.
Anything to keep this blog growing!
At this point you know Chi and myself exposing deviates on here is keeping the clicks coming and the cash flowing into your pocket.
The crowd either loves us or hates us, which is far better than them not caring. Business 101, keep giving them what they want.
Aaron plays a useful part in all of this as well as we all need the boogeyman to be scared of. He’s Hamas to Jews, the KKK to blacks, hard work to Antifa, you get the point.
Aw your delusions really are hilarious. Even Stevie Wonder can see the real bigot here is you, even when you try to code it (like with comments about Matthew working for scheckles).
Now go take your meds, dear, the sane adults are talking.
Matt. I’m going to do this I think. I was also one of the 900 SAS millionaires and saw you on the KAL flight ti ICN with your son. I’ve been playing with a few positioning flights as well so that no every flight in the routing is on TK.
@MattKlint. I know Promo codes are excluded but what about fare class that comes up as PROMO on the website. For instance the JFK-IST-TBS is available in T Class but says PROMO on the website. Can you reach out to TK to clarify? S Class is semi flexible T class says Promo
Will check on this.
Thank you!
I would love to see these reviews
I am hoping to see Tunisia this fall if you go there be sure to do a hotel review or 2 and some pics .
See this trip report:
https://liveandletsfly.com/four-seasons-tunis-review/
https://liveandletsfly.com/sidi-bou-said-tunisia/
https://liveandletsfly.com/best-coffee-sidi-bou-said/
https://liveandletsfly.com/polyglots-tunisia/
https://liveandletsfly.com/north-africa-american-cemetery-carthage-photo-essay/
https://liveandletsfly.com/tunisair-a330-200-business-class-review/
I already have work trips planned to three continents that I could easily switch to Turkish. The piece I’m confused about is the Oceania part, since from what I’ve seen, Sydney flights all go through Kuala Lampur, and Melbourne flights go to Singapore. Would those still count? The terms say no fifth freedom flights qualify so I’m concerned about those.
Yes they count as long as it’s ist kul syd or ist sin syd. It the arrival that counts. The intermediate stop does not count as a continent
Only risk are Turkish injustice and prisons. Remember the movie, Midnight Express?
Or Airplane!
I am too old to survive all those hours in Y. Best of luck to anyone doing this! By the way, has anyone tried to see whether it would be possible to shoehorn (most of) the flights into a *A RTW?
I would think impossible because transit in IST is required for all six regions.
Considering this with the following, as I’m running the Cape Town marathon:
– NA to Istanbul, clear Africa/Asia/Europe w/ short fights from there
– IST to GRU, connecting onwards to Cape Town (either direct or via JNB/LAD)
– Cape Town to NA after the race
That just leaves Oceania. But I’d have to give up a weekend in Marrakesh & a nice QSuites flight home for TK Y… so a tough call. But I’m pretty miles-poor so this would help cover *A for the next 3 years!
Personally, I would do all the flights after the race. All the long flights and time changes could wear your down before the race. And there’s always a chance of getting a cold that you certainly don’t want before a marathon.
Is TK still status matching other *A programs? It would be pretty brutal to do this in Y without status. Also, I wonder if it’d be possible to credit only the segments that hit a new continent to TK, and the rest to UA. I think I’ll end the year a couple segments short of 1K requalification. Would be nice to hit two birds with one stone.
Does status really make a difference when flying all those hours in Y? The E+ lounge access definitely was a godsend during my SAS challenge, but I had planned the trip very carefully so that I would only have one Y flight of over 4 hours and none over 6. Preferred seating isn’t a *G benefit and once you’re onboard your experience is exactly the same as everyone else’s…
To me, lounge access in IST would make all the difference in the world for this promo.
Matt, TK matched my Alaska G100K status to Elite. Gives me lounge access in IST and along the way. I am also United 1K but obviously that cant be attached to my flights. Just FYI
+1 on the IST lounge access. Other than that, TK Elite allows free standard seat selection in advance on TK metal. The value of this seems to be <$40 per flight, but across so many segments for this promo, I think it's worth the match. But generally agree that status won't be tremendously valuable.
Whether the match goes through or not (though I'm fairly sure it will), I've already booked my flights:
SFO-IST-DEL (Asia)
DEL-IST-MUC (Europe)
MUC-ATH (LH; repositioning)
ATH-IST-CAI (Africa)
CAI-IST-(KUL)-SYD (Oceania)
SYD-(KUL)-IST-GRU (South America)
GRU-LIS-BCN (TP; repositioning)
BCN-IST-SFO (North America)
In total, came out to $4191. Should be a fun trip!
Matt said nice things about IST airport but I’ve heard it’s awfully overpriced. Yes, the Turkish lounge is legendary, but for those of us who can’t get in, are there any affordable and decent options for food or coffee that are less than $10? I know, for elites this may not be a factor but I’m curious as to your experiences. I get the impression that the vendors have the airport pretty locked down from any competition.
There will definitely be cost-effective lounge options with Priority pass or Dragonpass (both of which are available through credit cards and other intermediaries).
I don’t want to look snobish, but I wouldn’t do it even if I get paid for that.
All these flights in Coach for 1M Miles, I’m not sure it worths it considering the eventual fatigue.
I don’t see any way to register for this promo.
no registration needed. Just add Miles and Smiles and fly the required flights
+1 on the IST lounge access. Other than that, TK Elite allows free standard seat selection in advance on TK metal. The value of this seems to be <$40 per flight, but across so many segments for this promo, I think it's worth the match. But generally agree that status won't be tremendously valuable.
Whether the match goes through or not (though I'm fairly sure it will), I've already booked my flights:
SFO-IST-DEL (Asia)
DEL-IST-MUC (Europe)
MUC-ATH (LH; repositioning)
ATH-IST-CAI (Africa)
CAI-IST-(KUL)-SYD (Oceania)
SYD-(KUL)-IST-GRU (South America)
GRU-LIS-BCN (TP; repositioning)
BCN-IST-SFO (North America)
In total, came out to $4191. Should be a fun trip!
Disregard ^. Meant to reply to another comment.
What’s the cheapest way to do this in business class? Not doing this in Economy Hell.
Its going to cost you well over $10,000 US to even attempt in BC.