How to Transfer Citi Points to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles (2026 Guide)

Turkish Airlines has been a Star Alliance member since 2008, which puts United, Lufthansa, ANA, Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, and the rest of the alliance's roughly two dozen carriers within reach of a Citi ThankYou transfer. That breadth matters less than one specific quirk: Miles&Smiles prices United-operated domestic awards, including nonstop and connecting itineraries, without adding the fuel surcharges that make some other currencies painful. For a points strategist who mainly flies United within the US, that makes Miles&Smiles a legitimate alternative to United's own MileagePlus program for the same seat.

The second reason to care is Turkish's own long-haul network. Istanbul Airport has grown into one of the world's biggest connecting hubs, with Turkish flying nonstop to destinations across Central Asia, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa that US carriers and their usual partners don't serve directly. For a Citi cardholder chasing a specific hard-to-reach city rather than just a cheap United seat, that route map is the more interesting use case — even though Turkish's own metal carries meaningfully higher taxes and carrier surcharges than a United redemption does.

Miles&Smiles runs a published, zone-based award chart rather than dynamic pricing, but that chart isn't as stable as it looks. Turkish overhauled it in February 2024 and repriced it again in December 2025, raising standard one-way domestic Star Alliance awards roughly 50% — economy now runs 15,000 miles each way and business 22,500, regardless of whether the flight is nonstop or connecting. Hawaii used to price at the same domestic rate as any other US city; the December 2025 change carved it out into its own, considerably more expensive zone at 25,000 miles economy and 40,000 business one-way.

There are effectively two separate charts to keep straight: one for flights entirely on Turkish Airlines metal (which includes both a standard Award table and a cheaper, more limited Promotion Ticket table), and a separate Star Alliance & Partner chart that applies whenever another airline like United, Lufthansa, or ANA operates any segment. Partner-chart pricing to Europe on airlines other than Turkish runs 85,000-90,000 miles for business class one-way — pricier than routing the same Star Alliance space through Aeroplan or United MileagePlus, so it's rarely the best redemption unless nothing else has space. The domestic-US partner chart is the exception, and it's the reason most Citi cardholders transfer here at all.

Search United.com directly for the award space you want before transferring a single Citi point — United's own site shows Star Alliance partner award inventory more reliably than Turkish's booking engine does, and Miles&Smiles pricing depends on the exact route and cabin you find. Confirm the itinerary prices out at the 15,000/22,500 domestic or 25,000/40,000 Hawaii levels (each way) before committing points, since Turkish's charts have moved twice in under two years and are worth double-checking against the live rate.

If you're after Turkish's own long-haul network instead, compare the standard Award table against Promotion Ticket pricing — Promotion fares can price meaningfully lower but come with tighter availability and are generally not visible in the standard online search, so budget time to dig or call. Either way, book through Turkish's own channels; Citi's transfer just moves the currency, it doesn't touch the reservation.

Turkish-operated award tickets can include one stopover, but only when booked by phone — the online tool doesn't support stopover routings, so if you want to break up a long-haul itinerary in Istanbul, plan on calling the Miles&Smiles contact center. Partner awards on airlines like United are more often the ones that fail to ticket online entirely; when that happens, the standard workaround is the same phone call, and Turkish's call center has a reputation among points communities for long hold times, so build in patience.

Fuel and carrier surcharges are the other thing to watch closely. Expect little to nothing extra on United redemptions, but Turkish's own long-haul flights routinely add somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-250 in taxes and carrier-imposed charges each way, and some European partners add their own surcharges on top of the mileage price. Always check the full price, not just the miles, before booking.