Turkish breaks through 20mln Miles&Smiles subscriber wall: world's Top 5 frequent flyer programs
Turkish Airlines has in the past few days taken out the 20 millionth card in its frequent flyer program, Miles&Smiles. The program exists [...]
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Turkish Airlines detached in recent days the 20 millionth card in its frequent flyer program, Miles&Smiles.
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The program has been in existence for a full 35 years (it was created in 1989), but it has seen its membership grow exponentially since it was created about 15 years ago, Turkish began to transform By mediocre flag carrier of a country on the border between Europe and Asia at global carrier which is today, with 345 total destinations, including 292 international destinations in 129 countries and 5 continents (Australia included since last March).
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To date Turkish, which has been a member of Star Alliance since 2008, is the company that serve the highest number of countries in the world from its hub in Istanbul, which with 76,236,980 passengers transited in 2023 is the second busiest in Europe and the seventh busiest in the world.
All thanks to to a fleet of 440 airplanes (the largest in Europe), with Hundreds of aircraft awaiting delivery in the coming years, which will make it an outstanding competitor even for the two Gulf biggies, Qatar Airways and Emirates.
In addition to this, in more recent years, Turkish has racked up awards and accolades to its board service, turning out for nine consecutive years as Europe's Best Airline at the Skytrax Awards (title confirmed last June).
Its FFP, Miles&Smiles, which has snapped up 20 million award tickets in its 35 years of existence, is built on four levels of 'affiliation': Classic, which gives away 1,000 welcome miles after the first flight taken.
Classic Plus, which is achieved after reaching 25,000 Status Miles or making 40 flights gives access to Business check-in counters and lounge on domestic flights, as well as an additional 10kg baggage allowance.
The status Elite is achieved with 40,000 Status Miles and gives access to Fast Track at security checkpoints on departure and passport control on arrival (the latter only at Istanbul Airport), a dedicated telephone helpline, lounge access with a guest family member, 20kg extra baggage allowance, and free choice of seat on board on Turkish-operated flights.
Elite Plus is achieved by accumulating 80,000 Status Miles and to the privileges of lower statuses adds two free class upgrades per year on Turkish-operated flights, 25kg additional baggage allowance, guaranteed seat in Business Class and a gift card for three people.
The partner airlines are all Star Alliance airlines (24), plus Brazil's Azul and Gol, India's IndiGo and Greece's Olympic, 22 hotel chains including those of the Hilton, Marriott and IHG groups, and 12 car rental companies.
The milestone of 20 million subscribers puts Miles&Smiles at the level of some of Europe's largest loyalty programs, such as Air France-KLM Group's Flying Blue. But it is still a modest achievement when compared with those of the world's largest frequent flyer programs.
A field in which the three Stars and Stripes majors dominate: ahead of all, at the end of 2023, was Delta SkyMiles, with 120 million subscribers, of which 8.5 gleaned in 2022 alone (but some recent changes may make it a little less popular).
In second place worldwide is United MileagePlus with more than 110 million subscribers e in third place American Airlines' AAdvantage with 100 million.
In fourth place in the ranking we find Miles&More, the program that unites all Lufthansa Group airlines in addition to LOT Polish Airlines and which boasts 36.6 million members.
To these, during 2025, could be added to the 2.5 million enrolled in ITA Airways' Volare program. whether, in addition to make its entrance into Star Alliance after Lufthansa gave the go-ahead for Lufthansa to enter the Italian airline's capital, the latter should decide to merge Volare into the wider sea of Miles&More.
Rounding out the Top 5 worldwide and Skywards by Emirates, which in 2023 has scavallato quota 30 million.