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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
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 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)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
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® Card is great 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: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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