Turkish Airlines is the latest carrier to offer an intriguing new promotion, with a payout of 1,000,000 miles for anyone who flies the carrier to six continents. While I think I’ll let the JetBlue promo go, I’m seriously considering this one.

Turkish Airlines Promo: Fly To Six Continents, Earn One Million Miles…Why I’m Considering It.

Miles & Smiles members can earn one million Turkish Airlines miles for flying the airline to the six continents its serves (sorry, Antarctica) over the next four months. Let’s look at some details:

Turkish Airlines “Six Continents” Promotion

To celebrate its route network spanning six continents, Turkish Airlines is offering an eye-popping promotion: fly to six continents on Turkish Airlines-operated flights and earn 1,000,000 bonus Miles & Smiles miles.

Here’s how it works:

• Promotion period: June 27 – October 27, 2025
• You must register before your first eligible flight
• Flights must depart from or transit through Turkey (i.e. Istanbul or other Turkish gateway) and must not terminate in Turkey
  • That means no Fifth Freedom flights like Buenos Aires (EZE) – Sao Paulo (GRU) or Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Sydney (SYD) will count
• You must fly to a destination in each of the following six continents:
  • Africa
  • Asia (including the Middle East)
  • Europe
  • North America
  • South America
  • Australia (what Turkish calls “Oceania”)
• Only revenue tickets are eligible (award tickets, corporate bookings, and certain discounted tickets do not qualify)
• All flights must be operated by Turkish Airlines (no codeshares)
• You must credit the flights to your Miles & Smiles account
• Bonus miles will be awarded between November 1–15, 2025
• Registration is available here on the Turkish Airlines website

A Sample Itinerary

This promotion is not for the faint-hearted since each of the six portions of this trip requires transiting Istanbul. Ethan posted the following itinerary on OMAAT that I thought was pretty clever:

• NYC – IST – TBS – $570 – Turkish Airlines (Europe)
• TBS – IST – TUN – $399 – Turkish Airlines (Africa)
• TUN – IST – SYD – $700 – Turkish Airlines (Oceania)
• SYD – KUL – $172 – Scoot Airlines (repositioning)
• KUL – IST – GRU – $1,247 – Turkish Airlines (South America)
• GRU – MAD –  $312  – LATAM (repositioning)
• MAD – IST – NYC – $598 – Turkish Airlines (North America)

That comes out to a bit under $4K and would be one big trip…what a big trip indeed, especially in economy class.

But on closer examination, I see that he left out Asia, so there would need to be an extra trip from Istanbul to somewhere in the Middle East…that adds more time and money. Adding in Asia would look like this:

• NYC – IST – TBS – $570 – Turkish Airlines (Europe)
• TBS – IST – CAI – $399 – Turkish Airlines (Africa)
• CAI – IST – AMM – $680 Turkish (Asia)
• AMM – IST – SYD – $1374 – Turkish Airlines (Oceania)
• SYD – KUL – $172 – Scoot Airlines (repositioning)
• KUL – IST – GRU – $1,247 – Turkish Airlines (South America)
• GRU – MAD –  $312  – LATAM (repositioning)
• MAD – IST – NYC – $598 – Turkish Airlines (North America)

That adds about $1K to this…

I haven’t begun to dig deeply, but I’m intrigued by this promotion and think it might be doable. If I can keep this to about $4K for a million miles, not only would I earn the miles, but I’d probably have quite an adventure along the way that I would bring to this blog (and all of it would be a write-off).

I’m not a huge fan of the Miles & Smiles program (which now charges on a per-segment basis), but I love flying Turkish Airlines, flying through Istanbul, and there might be some good business class seats out there, much like the great deal I got on Saudia business class originating in Tunis for the SAS promotion. I’m going to explore this.

But a warning: Turkish miles expire after three years, regardless of activity. That’s a huge downside to this program. That, along with my very busy schedule this year, may prohibit me from participating in this promotion. I’ve got a fun Singapore Airlines trip booked for later this year, but that falls after the promotion ends (otherwise, that could be repositioning as well).

CONCLUSION

Turkish Airlines is offering an extraordinary one-time promotion for travelers willing to take on the challenge: fly to six continents, earn one million bonus miles. The barrier to entry is high, but the reward could be quite attractive for those willing to fly through Istanbul for the next three years (someone call Mayor Adams!). For the right flyer, this could be a very valuable opportunity. As for me, I’m strongly considering it…but not yet fully convinced.

Will you take part in this intriguing Turkish Airlines promotion?