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Everything You need to know about booking Star Alliance awards with Miles&Smiles

Old Oct 28, 2019, 12:32 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: sammyg901
Last Updated: 21 AUG 2021
Due to various changes to the TK IT-system booking partner awards has taken a great step back. Details below.

Online: Potentially working?

See recent (July 2022) posts - it seems possible to ticket *A online IF you can find availability. A lot of availability does not show. If you can see X or I class on ua.com but not on turkishairlines.com then likely a ticket office can assist

Since August 2021 the online *A ticket payment flow is broken ("continue" button does not appear on the credit card entry page) so transactions cannot be completed. No known workarounds

From 18 Nov 19, you may continue to book partner awards online for selected airlines, routes and options. Not all options that you could book with another partner is bookable through the TK website.

Availability could be checked online via the United website without being a MileagePlus member with the book with miles tool at the flight search engine. Note: For UA flights, check 'X' fare bucket, for other airlines check Saver Award.


TK Hotline: Partially working

From recent reports ( fall 2020 ) in this thread, it is now possible to book *A awards from the TK hotline although still, not all agents are capable to do it; you might need to HUACA multiple times to find an agent that knows how to book *A awards. Although, it's strongly suggested to make your own research on availability before calling them.

Sales Office: Working

A sales office could book *A award tickets. You could call, e-mail or visit them in person. Some offices do not answer phones or do not reply to e-mails so visiting them in person would improve your chances to book a *A award ticket.

First class award: Not working

TK has stopped issuing first class awards since at least September 2019.



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Everything You need to know about booking Star Alliance awards with Miles&Smiles

Old Sep 27, 2016, 11:27 am
  #76  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
Originally Posted by B747-437B
My wife is looking at booking a *A award originating in BLZ (Blantyre, Malawi) using her TK miles due to expire this year. However, there are no TK ticket offices in Malawi for her to complete the ticketing.

Would it be possible for me to visit a TK ticket office elsewhere in the world on her behalf (with the appropriate authorisations, paperwork, etc...) to pay the taxes and get the ticket issued? The ticket will be in her own name, so no issues about identity fraud, etc...
Email a sales office. Your method could work also.
slickvik is offline  
Old Sep 27, 2016, 9:02 pm
  #77  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 6
Redeem on Eva Air

Hi,

I tried calling the local sales office in Singapore to redeem my TK miles on EVA flight (BR225 TPE-SIN). They said that they don't even see EVA in their system, thus no such redemption is possible.

Did anyone manage to redeem TK miles on BR on any route?
gabrielro is offline  
Old Oct 2, 2016, 11:47 am
  #78  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ALB
Programs: LH, AF, QF
Posts: 15
Originally Posted by LH4116
[*]Please note that it is NOT possible to ticket your award over the phone. Once you have completed your reservation you will be given a confirmation number. To pay for the award you need to visit a physical ticket office, where you will pay the taxes and have your miles deducted in exchange for an e-ticket number. You can do this at any Turkish Airlines ticket office in the entire world.
This is the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. The Turkish sales office at YYZ is open from 15:00-23:00 Monday -Thursday and Weekends. If you live in YVR you're hooped unless you have a really good friend in TO willing to drive to the airport.

Anyone found a way around this??
matter is offline  
Old Oct 2, 2016, 12:34 pm
  #79  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
Originally Posted by matter
This is the most absurd thing I've ever heard of. The Turkish sales office at YYZ is open from 15:00-23:00 Monday -Thursday and Weekends. If you live in YVR you're hooped unless you have a really good friend in TO willing to drive to the airport.

Anyone found a way around this??
Email the sales office
slickvik is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2016, 7:07 am
  #80  
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,637
Originally Posted by slickvik
Email the sales office
Went to the local sales office and they will not issue any tickets without the actual account holder present. So asking any friends/family to go to the ticket office to do the ticketing will not work.
B747-437B is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2016, 7:19 am
  #81  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
Originally Posted by B747-437B
Went to the local sales office and they will not issue any tickets without the actual account holder present. So asking any friends/family to go to the ticket office to do the ticketing will not work.
It should work via email
slickvik is offline  
Old Oct 3, 2016, 7:23 am
  #82  
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,637
Originally Posted by slickvik
It should work via email
Not for a ticket originating in Africa is what they explained to me. For that, they require the account holder to visit in person with their original passport and pay the taxes in cash (no credit cards accepted).
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Old Oct 3, 2016, 9:24 am
  #83  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
Originally Posted by B747-437B
Not for a ticket originating in Africa is what they explained to me. For that, they require the account holder to visit in person with their original passport and pay the taxes in cash (no credit cards accepted).
That is strange. The Houston office just asked me to e-mail credit card authorization form and Turkish airlines miles and smiles form, both of which they provided to me, and copy of miles and smiles card. Doesn't matter whose account it is as long as you have written authorization. But maybe every office is different.

There might be issues with Africa. I've seen posts in Flyertalk about lots of fraud about Africa tickets in general so maybe that is the issue.
slickvik is offline  
Old Oct 4, 2016, 2:45 am
  #84  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: * Alliance Gold, oneworld Emerald, Marriott Bonvoy LT TE, HHonors Diamond, WoH Globalist
Posts: 2,098
Called yesterday to redeem F award. TK does not allow change the airport in the same city as one award. Arrival to HND(from Europe),departure from NRT(to Asia).Did not found any NH F flights to Asia from NRT. Now will consider fly with TG or AZ.
Jaenks is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2016, 12:45 am
  #85  
Marriott Contributor BadgeAccor 10+ Badge
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: ASIA
Programs: TK Elite, ALL Plus Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,530
Don't know if someone here understands how *A upgrade work - I'm having the fololowing issue and run-around with TK/SQ.

I'm trying to use my TK miles to upgrade a Y fare to Business on SQ800 on 25th Oct.
TK chart tells me I need 35,000miles.

I call SQ and they say they are out of saver "I" fares but still have "D" standard redemption fare slots available.

What does TK book into - using the TK/*A redemption site it gives me the following error: "Inventory not Available.(SQ /511)"

Am I simply out of luck, and I need to be looking for "I" class availability?
gilbertaue is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2016, 1:51 am
  #86  
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,000
For *a upgrade awards TK uses inventory of the saver awards of other *a partners. I was told to look for saver awards for UA instead of standard redemption.
nacho is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2016, 2:58 am
  #87  
Accor 10+ BadgeMarriott Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: ASIA
Programs: TK Elite, ALL Plus Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,530
Originally Posted by nacho
For *a upgrade awards TK uses inventory of the saver awards of other *a partners. I was told to look for saver awards for UA instead of standard redemption.
Thanks. Makes sense what you said.
Now I called Krisflyer again and was told I need only 27,500miles to get the upgrade - implying that saver is available afterall - yet the system still denies me through TK. Quite odd.
Can anyone who has the KVS tool check if "I' fares are available for SQ800 on 25th Oct?
gilbertaue is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2016, 3:08 am
  #88  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: HEL
Programs: *G, used to be with TK but left due to their corruption and political ties
Posts: 4,397
Originally Posted by gilbertaue
Thanks. Makes sense what you said.
Now I called Krisflyer again and was told I need only 27,500miles to get the upgrade - implying that saver is available afterall - yet the system still denies me through TK. Quite odd.
Can anyone who has the KVS tool check if "I' fares are available for SQ800 on 25th Oct?
Here you go (from Expertflyer, not a fan of KVS "contributions" instead of selling the product). Remember availability may differ depending on point of sale, married segments and who's asking (different availabilities for different programs) among others.

Results from ExpertFlyer.com
Code:
Awards & Upgrades Search
Departing SIN on 25/10/16 0:00 for PEK
Flying SQ   on booking class O I X      
Direct/Non-Stop Only


                                                                     Frequency                                                    
Flight        Stops  Depart             Arrive             Aircraft  Reliability     Class Description                      Code  Seats
0 Connections
SQ 800        0      SIN                PEK                772       Unavailable     First - Award/Upgrade                  O     N
                     25/10/16 1:10      25/10/16 7:25                97% / 13m       Business - Award/Upgrade               I     N
                                                                                     Economy - Award                        X     Y


0 Connections
SQ 802        0      SIN                PEK                388       Unavailable     First - Award/Upgrade                  O     N
                     25/10/16 8:30      25/10/16 14:40               90% / 13m       Business - Award/Upgrade               I     N
                                                                                     Economy - Award                        X     Y


0 Connections
SQ 806        0      SIN                PEK                773       Unavailable     First - Award/Upgrade                  O     N
                     25/10/16 16:50     25/10/16 23:00               85% / 14m       Business - Award/Upgrade               I     Y
                                                                                     Economy - Award                        X     Y
Gnopps is online now  
Old Oct 6, 2016, 3:05 pm
  #89  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ALB
Programs: LH, AF, QF
Posts: 15
Wink Success!

Originally Posted by slickvik
Email the sales office
Originally Posted by B747-437B
Went to the local sales office and they will not issue any tickets without the actual account holder present. So asking any friends/family to go to the ticket office to do the ticketing will not work.
OK, so I was worried about my award ticket not going through, but have 3 good things to report, firstly I enlisted the help of my company's travel agent (Vision Travel), who have offices in Toronto, so figured worst case scenario they could physically visit on my behalf. But, they were able to settle it over the phone with the local sales office, when I was told multiple times this was not possible - so perhaps travel agents get better service?

Secondly, a day after the ticket was booked I did get a phone call from the sales staff to follow up re: my email (thanks Slickvik), so that may also work, but in this case the travel agent got it done faster.

The third good part is they booked me a RT award ticket YYZ-YVR for only 15k miles, which I believe is half the award chart price - nice!

As a side note, doing the ANA website and having the exact flight numbers is necessary, they kept saying "I see no availability" until they plugged in the exact details, so if anyone is trying to repeat this, come with all of the info.

Thanks for the help!
matter is offline  
Old Oct 6, 2016, 7:33 pm
  #90  
Accor 10+ BadgeMarriott Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: ASIA
Programs: TK Elite, ALL Plus Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,530
Originally Posted by Gnopps
Here you go (from Expertflyer, not a fan of KVS "contributions" instead of selling the product). Remember availability may differ depending on point of sale, married segments and who's asking (different availabilities for different programs) among others.
Thank you. Then the answer is clear.
And with this I have now also signed up with ExpertFlyer for a paid account
gilbertaue is offline  

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