Granite64

So I asked TK on twitter, they said it was possible to mix carriers. Called the Elite hotline today, they said the same.

I will give the sales office a call tomorrow and see what they have to say about it.

Edit/update: Called the hotline again: they say that it's not possible to mix carriers. TK customer service, gotta love it..

nacho

Yes you can BUT you will be charged miles for EACH separate airline, e.g. HKG-FRA-JFK - you picked LH for HKG-FRA and then SQ FRA to JFK, TK will be charging you HKG-FRA in J which is 45000, and then FRA to JFK in J for another 45000. I have asked about this and this was what I was told by the ticket office in SYD and here at FT.

Granite64

Yes the guy on the phone said the same, but he did confirm that TK uses the Highest Intermediate Point what PVDtoDel was talking about. (Thanks PVDtoDel, I learn something new everyday

He also said mixing carriers wat not possible.

I think I should be good if I pick HKG-ZRH-JFK on LX as I only fly on one carrier and then be charged with 67,5k which is the rate from the Far East - North America.

But you never know with TK...

nacho

I normally don't trust the hotline - if I need an award flight I'll contact ticket offices instead if it's for other *A members. They screwed up too many times in the past.

Granite64

You cant make this up, yesterday I called the Elite hotline who said that I should contact my local ticket office, so I emailed the ticket office and they told me to call the Elite hotline as they can not assist with Miles&Smiles related stuff...

nacho

I emailed SYD office and I have ticketed tickets with IAH office. Some ticket offices can do this things more than others e.g. HKG can't do that without being there in person (I ticketed a ticket there in person and the ticket is not originated or ended at HKG) and CPH office won't bother and if they do you'll get charged a DKK 350 card fee but if you check other threads you can see other people have a lot of good experience with TK ticket offices.

Again I won't do that over the phone with call centre because: 1. I don't have any written documentation (unless they send it to me and if they did and it's wrong then you'll have to call and follow up), 2. the quality of calls have always been less than clear - I got cut off for no reason and some agents English is not that great compared to UA's call centres.

Granite64

You email them or you do you call them? Which office do you like the most?

nacho

Email. Both offices are nice, IAH allows you to pay with international CC, but then you'll have to live with the forex fee (if you don't have a USD CC). Have you asked the office at PVG since you are based in Suzhou?

I don't think you can book with one ticket office e.g. SYD and asked to be ticketed at IAH office.

Granite64

I'm in Europe at the moment, so I will use the IAH office. I already sent them an email.

Granite64

Just got the email from the IAH office and they confirmed that it is 67500 miles for the HKG-ZRH-JFK flights and around $334 USD in taxes.

I wonder if it's also possible to route it via Asia, CDG/AMS/VIE-TPE-JFK on BR. Will be a crazy flight but I like that kind of stuff.

jiaogulan

Thanks for the thread, as this mirrors what I'll be doing once I get more Turkish miles. Asia to USA, or vice versa. I'll TRY to book Turkish online all the way as I do not mind them as long as I can get a middle aisle seat in business, but I have no idea how availability will shake out.

Granite64

I'm definitely flying on EVA as I love their 1-2-1 configuration, the food on TK is arguably the best in the industry but 2-2-2 on a long haul flight in J is a no go for me.
And as much as I love TK, nothing beats BR's Asian hospitality.

I followed Nacho's advice and send some emails to their IAH office as well as their YYZ office and they are great, much better than the dreaded call center in Istanbul (even the Elite hotline!).

jiaogulan

Yes, I agree EVA is absolutely fabulous. I am using United miles to go from Asia to the USA over the holidays, and I would take EVA in a heartbeat but I am only seeing Economy available right now. I got ANA booked luckily, which will be great to try for the first time.

Other than Turkish, the only other direct Star Alliance carrier that can get me into my home airport is Lufthansa which I cringe thinking about in Business. Maybe I'll try First one day.

Anyways, good luck getting everything ticketed to your liking.

nacho

Tried EVA using UA miles and yes they are fantastic even on Y! Good thing about UA miles are the taxes - will be interesting to see how much TK charges for BR award flights.

Granite64

Flew their Elite Class (premium economy) last year, and it was excellent.