Earn Turkish Airlines Elite-Qualifying Miles With Partner Purchases for a Limited Time

If you’re interested in earning or requalifying for elite status in the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles program, there’s a new promotion available that will help you get there a little bit quicker.

Here’s what you need to know — and whether this promo is worth pursuing.

Turkish Airlines Status Miles Promotion

While it may not be at the top of mind for many U.S.-based travelers, Turkish Airlines’ Miles&Smiles program is a great option for travelers, as it provides incredible sweet spots, a fixed award chart, and easy paths to accruing miles.

To earn elite status within the program, you must earn so-called Status Miles, which are awarded after flying Turkish Airlines or Star Alliance partner flights.

Now, the airline is offering a promotion that will allow program members to earn status a little bit quicker (emphasis on “a little bit”). Between now and September 30, 2025, Miles&Smiles members can earn 50% of the miles earned from select program partners as Status Miles.

Here are some of the promotion details you need to be aware of:

• Eligible Miles&Smiles partners include Marriott Hotels, Elite World Hotels & Resorts, Sixt Rent a Car, Avec Rent a Car, The Bicester Collection, and En Yakit
• Members can earn up to a maximum of 5,000 Status Miles
• Status Miles will be awarded in the first week of the following month of the eligible mileage-earning activity
• All qualifying activity must occur within the promotional period

Is It Worth It?

To earn the lowest status tier in the Miles&Smiles program, Classic Plus, members must earn 25,000 Status Miles (or fly 40 flight segments within the last 12 months, but that’s not pertinent to this promotion).

To earn the next level, Elite, you need to earn 40,000 Status Miles in the last 12 months. There is no option to earn via flight segments.

The reason the Elite level is important is that it confers Star Alliance Gold benefits (in addition to an extensive list of Turkish Airlines-specific benefits), which are much more extensive than those you’d get with Star Alliance Silver, which is conferred with the base-level Classic Plus status.

For a U.S.-based flyer who doesn’t fly Turkish often, a primary reason to pursue elite status in the Miles&Smiles program would be to earn Star Alliance Gold benefits, which include:

• Priority reservation waitlist/standby
• Priority check-in
• Priority boarding (subject to availability)
• Extra baggage allowance
• Priority baggage handling
• Worldwide lounge access (this is the big one, as it would allow you to enter United Club lounges on domestic United flights)
• Priority security lanes (Gold Track where available)
• Priority immigration (Gold Track where available)

Whereas, Star Alliance Silver members are only entitled to priority reservation waitlist/standby.

As you can see, unless you’re a very frequent Turkish Airlines flyer, it’s really only worth pursuing status if you can achieve at least the Elite tier. Even if you maximized this promotion, the 5,000 Status Miles earned would only get you 1/8 of the way there.

If you weren’t already on track to achieve the Elite tier, it’s likely not worth going out of your way to utilize this promotion.

Final Thoughts

Turkish Airlines has an interesting promotion that will help you qualify for elite status within the Miles&Smiles program more quickly. However, unless you fly very frequently with the airline, it’s more than likely not worth pursuing.