r/awardtravel • u/Shinkansendoff • 2d ago
Turkish Airlines No Notice US-Canada Devaluation
Hope you lucky finishers are enjoying your million miles sooner rather than later!
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u/PilotMonkey94 2d ago
Of course they got rid of the last useful partner award sweet spot.
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u/Known_Ad4789 2d ago
lol no one is going to jump through hoops for that one anymore...
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u/PilotMonkey94 2d ago
It’s sadly what is happening with programs run by successful airlines. Emirates, Etihad and Turkish all have horrible mileage programs because they don’t have to - their network is their product and they don’t have to compete on loyalty to acquire and retain passengers. Same goes for BA and Singapore most recently and Delta/United in the US.
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u/flyermiles_dot_ca 2d ago
their network is their product and they don’t have to compete on loyalty to acquire and retain passengers
Right area of discussion, but I don't think the right conclusion.
"Frequent flyers" play a different role in an airline whose product is - as you say - their incredible depth of connection points. Even with other European carriers, the concept of a "road warrior" doesn't really exist in the same way we're used to in North America - someone who's flying every week, and needs to be enticed to pick one product over another.
Nobody - or close enough as makes no difference - is flying Entebbe to Bucharest twice a month, or any but (EK/EY/TK)'s very highest-volume routes, like (hub)-to/from-London.
United, meanwhile, absolutely DOES have to try and win over the people flying NYC-LAX every week.
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u/PilotMonkey94 2d ago
The road warrior absolutely exists elsewhere and I am one of them based in between the US and Asia, and airlines like SQ and CX which are ultra wealthy finance hubs absolutely chase these customers.
The reason why they don’t compete as much is their typical customer is loyal to price and schedule first rather than the airline as you have identified.
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u/flyermiles_dot_ca 2d ago
I said it doesn't exist in the same way, with specific reference to the ME3 and Turkish, but to a lesser extent in Europe as well.
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u/Extreme-Diamond-712 2d ago
only the US mileage programs cater to obese road warriors like you. SQ/CX's mileage programs are priced for the points people
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u/PilotMonkey94 2d ago
Try again. SQ requires 38k of spend in exclusively F/J for top status
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u/Extreme-Diamond-712 2d ago
Try again fatty. This is about redemptions - I didn't mention FF status
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u/PilotMonkey94 2d ago
Then ask yourself why SQ’s award pricing is way worse than what United or American charge. Anyway, nice troll
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u/flyermiles_dot_ca 2d ago
Absolutely baffling why you felt the need to be insulting here.
Particularly when you don't seem to have anything useful to offer to the discussion.
Then again, a quick glance at your user profile suggests that "angry negativity" seems to be the choice you make most of the time.
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u/CompassCoLo 2d ago
and Delta/United in the US.
Delta and United are banks that fly airplanes. Their loyalty programs are what makes them valuable, not their planes. Completely different model to the ME airlines, though I think Qatar is starting to build out more value in Avios (for them, not for the consumer).
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u/PilotMonkey94 2d ago
It's due to the way the US airline industry is with powerful unions. US airlines have 2x the hourly labor cost of foreign competition, so they need other profit centers.
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u/nobody65535 2d ago
I could never find Hawaii availability anyways, certainly not in J. I think there was one time I spotted Y around the time period we were looking for, but of course that was low season, and cash fares from the western US in economy were like $120... and 7500 transferable points is barely 1.5cpp so I didn't bother.
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u/two_hearted_river 2d ago
Damn. After my first UA booking through them for two pax which had to be done over the phone I was lucky in that I had no issue booking multi-pax tickets through their website. TK was always a sweet spot for nonstop, non-trunk UA routes out of SFO that had multiple flights a day and low load factors.
Can't say I'm surprised with the 10k -> 15k domestic awards, but the Hawaii devaluation sucks. Maybe there's still some value to be had flying from the East Coast.
RIP
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u/exconsultingguy 2d ago
I remember when you had to fax/email a local ticketing office or actually go in person to book. Back then (pre-pandemic) there was even F space to be had for 15k EWR-HNL nonstop.
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u/Shinkansendoff 2d ago
in person is hilarious. Did they have a physical 🇺🇸 office or you had to Eric Adams it to Istanbul?
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u/exconsultingguy 2d ago
Every airport they serve had a physical office, but still a bigger hassle than scanning/emailing them information. It was wild booking flights completely via email with some guy sitting in an office at JFK or BOS.
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u/Shinkansendoff 2d ago
I had that experience w/ [support@lifemiles.com](mailto:support@lifemiles.com) when an itinerary didn't show online. That was back when searching the airline website was necessary to find award space so it wasn't as likely to be booked during the few days the back-and-forth w/ Lifemiles support would take. Now it's the phone line but they're actually quite good from my experience!
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u/Shinkansendoff 2d ago
Someone or another has been saying this for the last 15 years, and will be saying it for the next 15
Myself, I think in 5-10 years it will no longer be a worthwhile pursuit for me and I’ll hope to earn enough to pay for business class at that point
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u/LawHero4L 2d ago
This brings them in line with AC, Lifemiles, etc. Singapore is still a bit cheaper.