anomadtoo

thank you both for the quick response!

yvrhab

I am flying into IST on TK from Prague in business class and have my evisa in hand. Is their a dedicated business class line at immigration. I have heard the immigration lines on arrival can be long. Been offered a VIP service at a cost to zip thru quickly, but prefer not to use if their is a fast line for business class passengers.

LH4116

You will get a fasttrack voucher for the passport control at the check-in counter in Prague. Last time I cleared immigration at IST it took me less than 10 minutes from aircraft door at remote stand to the Havatas bus to Istanbul. Flew Business Class, but used the regular passport lane. No visa for Swedish citizens. Of course it depends on what time of the day you arrive, but I think you'll be fine with the dedicated passport control for Biz.

lkar

Hello. Just want to be sure I understand TK upgrading before I purchase a ticket. I am looking at purchasing an IST to TXL ticket in economy (v) class. The price is very good. If I understand TK rules, I can upgrade any econ fare from Y to Business for a two class Europe flight if J inventory exists. From IST to Europe2 it is 15k miles. Expertflyer shows J inventory.

I guess my questions are whether I understand the rules. Should I feel confident I can upgrade so long as J inventory still exists when I ticket? Can I upgrade several months in advance? Any experience with expertflyer showing correct J space? Any way to double check it? And last, can my friend use his Miles and Smiles miles to upgrade me or must they come from my account? Thanks.

chleonard

Hi all,

I'm looking into flights from FRA to GYD (Baku) next month, and since the only direct flight departs at 4am (ugh), I'm considering a layover in IST but had a couple of questions.

First, would I need a transit visa? I'm a US passport holder.

Second, the flight I'm considering is Turkish Air GYD-IST, then Lufthansa IST-FRA. Assuming my entire flight is under one booking code, would I check in for both segments in GYD, or would I have to check in to the LH segment seperately upon arrival in IST? Ditto for baggage - is it checked through or do I have to re-check it in IST? The best booking I see allows only 1:50 for changing flights and I want to ensure it's enough.

ukthesis

On 19th July I flew Lufthansa from Manchester, UK, to Chisinau, Moldova, via Munich. I returned from Moldova to Manchester on 30th July.

I have preveiously done this journey by Turkish Airlines but I was told at Manchester Airport when I booked outwards that the Turkish Airways and Lufthansa Miles and Smiles and Smiles and More programs were integrated in some sense. So the Miles and Smiles air miles I have already accumulated through Turkish Airways would be added to be the Lufthansa Miles and More air miles I accumulated this month. At the Lufthansa check in desk, the lady there told me that she had done the work for me.

Is this true? I am registered with Miles and Smiles but my flight by Lufthansa is not recorded. Miles and Smiles registration only deals with flights by Turkish airways and not by Lufthansa. So are the air miles by Lufthansa added to those I made by Turkish airways and how?

I should add that the Turkish airways desk at Manchester Airways has had a number of other complaints about how unhelpful the official Turkish Airways website when it comes to clearly explaining this Miles and smiles program. But their efforts have failed.

cheesedawg

The only relation between the two is that you can accumulate miles flown on either airline into either program. You can't transfer points between them, but you could use points to fly on either airline.

ukthesis

Can you explain more. You say they are in some sense integrated, but then they are not integrated as well. Confusing. Most importantly, how do I use these things? Where do I go to record my miles and then redeem them? Can I redeem them all together (Turkish Airlines and Lufhansa) and how/where?

The phone number given by Turkish Airways at Manchester for queries about Miles and Smiles (0207 471 6666) seems to be semi-permanently disabled. And I just received this (un)helpful reply from Lufthansa to this problem:

"Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines are both members of the Star Alliance but they each have their own frequent traveller programme. We at Miles & More are not familiar with the terms and conditions of other frequent flyer programmes, so we are not in a position to help you with your query. Kindly contact your Miles & Smiles service team; they will be happy to assist you with your request for mileage credit."

I defy anyone without a smile on his face to claim this whole situation is anything but complex and not easy to implement, even if one gets to grips with it in theory. After experiencing Miles and Smiles and now this one, I would advise anyone new to the process to ignore these "frequent flyer" programs, because of all the complications they involve. Just pretend they are not there and go for the cheapest and most convenient flight, in the case of economy class, end of.

AirCanada881

I have classic plus status as of 30th April 2014 valid til 30th April 2016. I am 800 miles away from Elite status. Once I reach 40k miles this year, will my elite status be valid til April 2016 as my classic plus status or will it be valid 2 years from the date I achieve elite status?

lkar

If frequent flier programs are not for you, that's fine. There are many who feel that way. I think, though, your audience here on flyertalk is not going to be that receptive to your point. Many of us have had unbelievable experiences and seen things and gone places we never could have imagined thanks to frequent flier and loyalty programs. They take some time to understand. That's one of the reasons flyertalk exists -- to help people learn them. If it's not for you, that's fine. Many people feel that way. You're not alone.

But, to the extent you are interested, the answers to some of your questions go like this. Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines are separate airlines. They are separate companies. They are completely different. They are, however, in a large partnership called star alliance. Under this partnership, the various airlines share some benefits with each other, and have agreements designed to add some consistency. You can buy tickets on star alliance airlines that have segments on different airlines, and they will handle your bags all the way through. You can earn status on one and get some benefits on the other, like reduced luggage fees or lounge access. If you have miles in one program, you can sometimes redeem them for flights on another airline. These are all good things, but if you are expecting that all the companies will act like they are one big company, they do not. They are separate.

With respect to your specific questions, if you fly Lufthansa, you can earn Lufthansa miles on that flight. Or you can choose to earn miles in a different program, like Turkish. It's all controlled by which company's frequent flier number you put on your reservation. If you put your Lufthansa number on, you will earn Lufthansa miles. If you put your Turkish number on, you will earn Turkish miles. If you put your United number on, you will earn United miles. How many? It's different for every airline. Lufthansa has a chart that shows how many Turkish miles or United miles or any other star alliance miles they will give you for flying one of their planes. It may depend on how much you spent on your ticket (or the fare class). It may be more or less or the same than the number of miles you'd earn on Lufthansa.

When it comes time to redeem miles, you redeem them out of one account. You can't combine them. So, if you have 5,000 Lufthansa Miles and 20,000 Turkish miles, you can't combine them to make 25,000 miles. What you could have done is earn those 5,000 miles not on Lufthansa, but on Turkish. They you would have 25,000 Turkish miles. Each airline has its own rules about how you can use its miles. You should find a program you like, on an airline that you expect to fly, and credit your miles there. It's not that hard. Or, don't. Many of us find frequent flier miles very valuable, but if you don't, don't make yourself crazy about it.

Shuttle-Bored

Quick q for older hands in the Miles & Smiles programme - has anyone received credit for flights taken with AC Rouge? We flew AC HKG-YVR-LAS and back in May (in business/premier Rouge), and had our TK M&S numbers in the bookings. The AC mainline flights HKG-YVR credited automatically within a couple of days, but the AC Rouge flights from YVR-LAS have not. They were ticketed in C (to LAS) and P (from LAS) class. After waiting about 6 weeks, I submitted a missing mileage claim to TK, but have not yet seen credit.

The TK website only references AC Rouge under "economy" flights - is there a credit for AC Rouge in premier/business?

Hoppala007

İs IST-HKG route İn far east only one which has comfort class?


İ tought Bkk route also had but now i can not book it at TK website

CalNaughtonJr

I am trying to sign-up for a miles and smiles account via the TK website. When entering in the required fields for contact information, it requires Country, which I selected USA, and then City to be chosen from a drop-down menu. However, the city I need (Philadelphia) is not included as a city in the drop-down listing there. This seems silly - Is there a workaround to this problem or am I just missing something?

sliiide

Just call them and they'll enter it manually.

CalNaughtonJr

Thanks - call center was able to complete the task. ^