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Turkish Airlines teamed up with Gladiator director Ridley Scott and unveiled a visually stunning advertisement for the airline and Istanbul in general called: The Journey. It features a protagonist who finds a lost journal in business class and then proceeds to track down its owner in various hotspots around the country. Cool idea and Scott is one of the best directors ever. What could go wrong?
As an actor and film buff, I really liked the ad. As a travel blogger I also thought it captured the city beautifully: it even featured the Kempinski Ciragan Palace hotel which is on my bucket list to stay. However… as an AV geek and points and miles nerd, it was a major let down. The airline featured its old business class. The business class that people have complained about. The one that you see is 2-3-2 and not the new business class which will be 1-2-1.
Turkish Airlines is debuting a new business class later this year – it was leaked by hurriyet: But it’s not in the ad?!
WHAT?!?!?! The new cabin is rumored to look like the photos below which were published late last year. Why on earth would the airline spend millions on an ad campaign directed by an A list director, that is gorgeous, and not feature their brand spanking new product that is a massive improvement over their current offering. I really don’t know.
Maybe the seats weren’t ready, but Super Bowl ads cost $5M for 30 seconds, let alone the shoot cost… It wouldn’t surprise me if 20,30,40M isn’t spent on this campaign when all is said and done. And it doesn’t feature your new product? That seems like an insanely expensive missed opportunity.
Here’s the ad if you wanna check it out.
https://youtu.be/C5CbPzfzhnw
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
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 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, 2027.
- $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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