Airline miles for dummies

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amother

Sat, Nov 26 2022, 9:46 pm

So I thought I was a pretty intelligent person but I just can't figure this one out.
I've googled and read a gazillion articles and am still stuck.

I have around 30,000 United miles (on their MileagePlus program). I want to book a flight on Turkish Air. I just created a Turkish Miles and Smiles account. I understand that United and Turkish are partners.

Great, yasher koach. But I can't transfer United miles to Turkish. (they don't let). So how can I book the Turkish flight with my United miles?

I keep reading that they are partners and part of the same alliance and that is all wonderful and everything, but how do I book the tickets? The Turkish website is selling the seats for many less points than the United website so I want to be able to use the Turkish website to book but pay with my United points.

PLEASE HELP, I cannot tell you how many hours I have spent trying to figure this out. Does this question make sense and how come the rest of the world seems to know what to do?

amother

Ultramarine

Sat, Nov 26 2022, 9:49 pm

Call the airline and ask

amother

Yellow

Sat, Nov 26 2022, 10:02 pm

From what I understand, you can't. One airline typically does not let you transfer miles to another airline.

Those in the know usually try to accumulate credit card points that can be converted into miles on ANY airline, so that they don't have this limitation.

Something you could do, although I don't know if it's allowed (check to make sure) would be to trade miles with someone else who has Turkish miles but wants United, by booking for them on your account and having them book for you on their account.

amother

Zinnia

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 12:37 am

If you have United miles, you could only book it on United.

Being partners means that they offer turkish flights on their website. And yes, those flight are usually going to cost more than on Turkish website.

doctorima

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 7:25 am

Only what's called flexible points/miles can be transferred to other airlines, like Chase UR, AMEX MR, Citi TY. Once they're locked into a specific program such as United, they can be used to book flights on partner airlines, but cannot actually be transferred to the miles program of that partner. This is why Dansdeals highly recommends accumulating the flexible points and only transferring them when you're ready to make a specific booking.

amother

Moccasin

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 7:32 am

Being partners means that they sell flights on each others websites, not that you can transfer points. So if you have United miles you can book a Turkish Air flight on United website with your United miles.

amother

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 8:42 am

Okay, thank you. I think I am starting to understand. But I don't see any Turkish flights on the United website, either when I am logged in or out of my account. What am I missing now?

amother

Zinnia

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 8:52 am

amother OP wrote:

Okay, thank you. I think I am starting to understand. But I don't see any Turkish flights on the United website, either when I am logged in or out of my account. What am I missing now?

You dont see any? They dont show all the Turkish flights, only some.

Why do you b'davka want a Turkish flight? why not united?

amother

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 9:09 am

amother Zinnia wrote:

You dont see any? They dont show all the Turkish flights, only some.

Why do you b'davka want a Turkish flight? why not united?

They don't show any Turkish at all, not for the dates I want and not for multiple other dates I put in. The turkish flight is about $200 less than United (if I pay cash) so I am hoping that it will also cost less points.

amother

Zinnia

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 10:16 am

amother OP wrote:

I just tried some random dates from NYC-TLV (is that what you're looking for?) and there def. are Turkish flights, you have to scroll down.

An easier way to find them- on home page click on 'advanced search', put in the info, and then on bottom click on 'flight connections' and put in IST (Turkey) and then it'll show the Turkish flights

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