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If you’re planning on taking a trip across the Atlantic it BEHOOVES you to check out your dates while seats are wide open. Here’s a look at the product straight from the Turkish Air website.
Pros:
- 180 degree lie flat seating ( on most flights – check with seatguru to double check)
- Amazing DO&CO catering ( yes you can have fantastic food in the air)
- One of the best business class lounges in the world in Istanbul
- Lots of partners in Star Alliance…lots of ways to get on their metal with flexible currencies
Cons
- 2x3x2 layout – not all seats have aisle access
- the “3” section features a legitimate middle seat
- Not all planes feature the lie flat product
When looking for availability the best site to use is United.
From ORD-IST
LAX-IST
This level of Availability is extremely rare!!!!!
So what are we looking at is an incredible amount of flight through Istanbul. If you have specific cities you are looking for, I’d suggest playing around with dates because there is TONS of avail to a multitude of cities. So do you have your destination and avail?
Got your destination – How to book.
United Miles: 70k + taxes and fees depending on where you fly from/to ( Ist is $5.60)
- Transfer from Starwood 1:1 and every 20k get a 25% bonus
- Chase Ultimate Rewards ( instant)
Avianca 63k + no fees
- Only way is to buy them. You can earn incredible bonuses 100-140+% on purchased miles. OMAAT did a great write up on it here
Singapore 57.5 ( Istanbul) Europe (65k) + Fees…roughly $150
- American Express Membership Rewards (<24 hours)
- Chase Ultimate Rewards ( 24-48 hours)
- Citi Thank You (24-48 hrs)
- Starwood Starpoints ( w/ 25% bonus every 20k)
Aeroplan 52.5 + fees ( $5.60 to Istanbul)
- American Express Membership Rewards ( instant, however some have experienced 24 hours)
I ultimately booked this with Singapore Krisflyer miles. It wasn’t the cheapest ( Aeroplan ) but
- I had 56,500 in my account already
- I had far more UR and TY than I did MR
- I could redeposit the award if I needed for just $30 and change it for $12
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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