Tim C

Turkish Biz Class To Istanbul For 4 (Fall/Winter)

Turkish Biz Class To Istanbul For 4 (Fall/Winter)

If you want to visit Istanbul, there is a mountain of award space this fall and through the end of the schedule (February 2022). Personally, I think September is a great time to visit as the weather is amazing.

Don't forget, Turkish flies to a TON of destinations so you can connect to another fun destination - perhaps, after a visiting Istanbul on a stopover.

Important: STTP Member Profiles

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Select Forgot Password and follow the instructions to set your password. Your username is the email address you use to receive STTP newsletters.

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Soon, you will also be able to manage your membership type from your profile.

Here's a link to the welcome survey, just in case you haven't filled it out yet.

Now, let's get into the award space!

Straight To The Points:

Routes: ATL/IAD/JFK/ORD/YUL/YVR/YYZ-IST
Operating airline: Turkish Airlines
Class of service: Business class
Dates: September 2021 - February 2022
Seats available: 4
Cabin layout: 1-2-1 (787-9 & A350), 2-3-2 (777-300), A330 (2-2-2)

Book with (per person, one-way): 

  • *Air Canada Aeroplan - 70,000 miles
  • ANA Mileage Club - 88,000 miles (round-trip only)
  • Asiana Club - 40,000 miles
  • *Avianca LifeMiles - 63,000 miles
  • EVA Infinity MileageLands - 65,000 miles
  • Miles & More - 56,000 miles
  • Singapore KrisFlyer - 76,500 miles
  • Turkish Miles&Smiles - 45,000 miles
  • *United MileagePlus - 77,000 miles

*No Surcharges

Taxes/fees (per person):

  • One-way: $5.60
  • Round-trip: ~$50
  • Surcharges/Other Fees:
    • One-way: ~$180
    • Round-trip: ~$360
  • Partner booking fee: Air Canada, LifeMiles

Some programs pass on most of the surcharges, but not all. For example, the total taxes/fees with Turkish will be ~$170 one-way, ~$380 round-trip while ANA requires ~$454 taxes/fees round-trip.

Bank transfer partners:

  • Air Canada: Amex, Capital One, Marriott
  • ANA: Amex, Marriott
  • Asiana: Marriott
  • LifeMiles: Amex, Brex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
  • EVA Air: Citi, Capital One
  • Lufthansa: N/A
  • Singapore: Amex, Brex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
  • Turkish: Citi, Marriott
  • United: Chase, Marriott

Chase Sapphire Cards Get New Sign-Up Bonuses

To be transparent, I now have affiliate links to credit cards. If you use these links, I may receive a referral bonus. I really appreciate your support.

Just in case you missed it, the sign-up bonuses for both the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve were increased the other day.

Right now, personal referrals aren't available. When the bonuses increased last fall, it took a few weeks for CSP referrals with the increased offer to go live.

However, you can get the CSP's annual fee waived for the first year by applying in-branch. If you don't live near a Chase branch or just want to support my work, you can use my link.

Just remember, the Chase 5/24 rule applies as do the additional Sapphire card restrictions.

DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that the COVID-19 situation and the resulting travel restrictions could prevent you from traveling. Additionally, please make sure you understand the cancellation, redeposit, and change fees required before booking with a particular program.

Details

Turkish offers 1-2-1 seating with lie-flat seats on its Boeing 787-9 and A350.

Overall, it's a nice seat. If you're like me and have wide shoulders, it might feel a little snug up top but it's still a comfy seat. I imagine you'll want to recline or lie down for a decent bit of the 9+ hour flight.

While the new seat is nice, the real star of the show is the inflight catering and the lounge in Istanbul. While inflight food can be tough to get right, Turkish has a reputation for doing just that - yes, I know they dropped the ball during the pandemic.

If you connect in or return from Istanbul, you can also check out their impressive lounge at the new Istanbul airport.

Routes With Flights On The Boeing 789

  • JFK: September through February
  • IAD: September through October
  • ORD: October
  • ATL: September through February
  • YVR: September through February
  • YUL: September through October

You'll also find flights on a Boeing 777-300 with a 2-3-2 layout out of JFK, IAD, and ORD while YUL also has flights on an A330-300 with a 2-2-2 layout. The seats are comfy, the food is still great, but you won't have a lot of privacy.

You can also fly Turkish's A350 out of ORD from late October through February.

Available Dates

The following dates have award space for 4 people.

JFK-IST

  • September: 1-16, 21-30
  • October: 1-31
  • November: 1-30
  • December: 1-16, 25-31
  • January: 1-31
  • February: 1-17

IST-JFK

  • September: 1, 3, 4, 6-30
  • October: 1-30
  • November: 1-6, 8-30
  • December: 1-31
  • January: 10-31
  • February: 1-17

IAD-IST

  • September: 1-30
  • October: 1-14, 21-31
  • November: 1-30
  • December: 1-15, 25-31
  • January: 1-31
  • February: 1-17

IST-IAD

  • September: 1-30
  • October: 1-12, 19-31
  • November: 1-30
  • December: 1-31
  • January: 1, 10-31
  • February: 1-17

ATL-IST

  • September: 3-5, 7, 8, 10-13, 14, 15, 17-19, 21, 22, 24-26, 28
  • October: 1-3, 5, 6, 8-10, 12, 13, 15-17, 19, 20, 22-24, 26, 27, 29-31
  • November: 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30
  • December: 1, 3-5, 7, 8, 10-12, 14, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31
  • January: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7-9, 11, 12, 14-16, 23, 25, 26, 28-30
  • February: 1, 2, 4-6, 8, 9, 11-13, 15, 16

IST-ATL

  • September: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17-19, 21, 22, 24-26, 28, 29
  • October: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8-10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22-24, 26, 27, 29-31
  • November: 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 12-14, 16, 17, 19-21, 23, 26-28, 30
  • December: 1, 3-5, 7, 10-12, 14, 15, 17-19, 21, 24-26, 28, 29, 31
  • January: 1, 11, 12, 14-16, 18, 19, 21-23, 25, 26, 28-30
  • February: 1, 2, 4-6, 8, 9, 11-13, 15, 16

ORD-IST

  • September: 1-30
  • October: 1-31
  • November: 1, 2, 4-10, 13-17, 21-23, 28-30
  • December: 6-8, 13, 25-30
  • January: 1, 3-31
  • February: 1-17

IST-ORD

  • September: 1-30
  • October: 1-30
  • November: 2-5, 8-11, 15-19, 22-26, 29, 30
  • December: 1-3, 6-17, 19-24, 27-30
  • January: 11-14, 17-31
  • February: 1-17

YVR-IST

  • September: 21, 26
  • October: 14, 17, 19, 21, 26, 31
  • November: 2, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28
  • December: 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30
  • January: 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30
  • February: 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17

IST-YVR

  • September: 16
  • October: 19, 21
  • November: 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 30
  • December: 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30
  • January: 2, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 30
  • February: 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17

YUL-IST

  • September: 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29
  • October: 3, 6, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 29, 31
  • November: 3, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28
  • December: 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 24, 29, 31
  • January: 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30
  • February: 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18

IST-YUL

  • September: 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 22, 26, 29
  • October: 1, 3, 6, 10, 13, 15, 20, 22, 29, 31
  • November: 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28

Short on Time? Need a Specific Award? Let Chatflights Help.

While tons of you have booked fun trips thanks to the Award Alerts and fare deals I've sent, sometimes you have specific booking needs. Many of you have also used my award booking service in the last couple of years.

To ensure that STTP can continue to provide a high-quality award booking service, I'm excited to announce that I've partnered with Chatflights.

Put simply, Chatflights is an app-based platform staffed by award booking experts. All you have to do is download the app, provide the miles and points you have, the trip details, and you’ll be invited to chat with one of their award bookers in real time.

They'll take care of finding the award space and getting you booked.

As an STTP Premium member, you're entitled to a 20% discount on each of your award bookings. Just let Chatflights know that you're part of STTP Premium and they'll make sure you get the discount!

Best Ways To Book

If you have Citi points, there are two worthy options. It's just a matter of whether you want to use a few more miles or pay some surcharges.

If you have plenty of points and want to avoid the surcharges, 63,000 LifeMiles one-way is the way to go. If you don't earn quite as many miles and/or are okay with some surcharges, 45,000 Turkish miles is excellent.

Turkish will also allow you to include a stopover on a round-trip ticket if you only have Turkish flights on your award.

Typically, ANA Mileage Club is the best round-trip option if you have Amex points. In this case, I'm not so sure. While 88,000 miles round-trip is great, ANA passes on all of the surcharges which brings your taxes/fees to $450+.

If you have both Citi and Amex points, I'd use 2,000 more miles with Turkish and pay ~$75 less out of pocket. Even if you only have Amex points and are booking round-trip, 126,000 LifeMiles could be preferable when you consider that you'll save over $350+.

Aeroplan could be a solid option if you have Amex points and want a stopover in Istanbul. You can include a stopover on a one-way for 5,000 miles which means, for 75,000 miles, you could visit Istanbul then jump off to another city in Turkey, Cairo, Rome, etc.

Please keep in mind that Aeroplan's zone-based chart also has a distance component. If your total flight distance exceeds 6,000 flight miles, you'll need 90,000 Aeroplan miles to include a stopover (85,000 miles just to connect).

You can use GCmap to calculate your flight distance.

If you only have Chase points, United is your best bet at 77,000 miles one-way and no surcharges. You can use the Excursionist Perk to stopover in Istanbul on your way to another European destination.

If you're sitting on a ton of Marriott points, Asiana's rate of 40,000 miles one-way is excellent. Like Turkish, Asiana doesn't pass on all of the surcharges so that's a bonus. Just keep in mind transfers from Marriott can take several days.

How To Book

If you don't know the exact dates you want to fly, keep things simple and use United's calendar search option.

  1. From United's homepage, select Advanced search
  2. Choose to show price in miles
  3. Enter the origin & destination
  4. Select your dates or choose Flexible dates and choose a month
  5. Under Connections, uncheck 1 and 2+ if searching nonstop
  6. Select the number of passengers
  7. Select Business
  8. Run the search
  9. If booking with another Star Alliance partner, confirm space by searching with that program
  10. Transfer points (if necessary)
  11. Log into your account
  12. Run the search again
  13. Complete the booking

Bottom Line

I absolutely loved Istanbul and highly recommend a visit, especially if you're a history nerd. There's also plenty of great food to try, great views to take in from a rooftop bar, and make sure you enjoy a full Turkish breakfast.

Happy booking!


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by Tim C