Turkish Airlines promises a million miles to those who travel the world: the new "6 Continents" challenge

Summer 2025 promises to be a busy one for frequent flyers: after the challenges launched by SAS, also arrived in the order of. Etihad, Etihopian, Miles&More and own in the past few hours jetBlue, Turkish Airlines also enters the competition--and does so in a big way.

The Turkish flag carrier, which already holds the world record for number of countries served, has just launched a challenge for real globe-trotters: Fly to all six continents by the end of October to receive one million Miles&Smiles in return.

A proposal that immediately attracted the attention of those who are not afraid to cross the hemisphere several times to take home a prize worth-literally-around the world.

The "6 Continents" challenge: a call for serial travelers

The operation is as simple as it is ambitious: between the June 27 and October 27, 2025, you have to fly with Turkish Airlines to at least one destination in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, North America and South America.

To complete the challenge just reach one country on each continent served by the company, and it does not matter whether you fly round-trip, one-way or multi-city routes: what matters is where you land, not where you start from. The only unavoidable condition? Each itinerary must include at least one departure or stopover in Turkey (in the Turkish hub-centric tradition). Those who can complete the continental puzzle will receive 1,000,000 miles credited to one's account in November.

Rules to know before you start

Like any self-respecting challenge, there are some important rules to keep in mind:

• Only the reservations made between June 27 and October 27, 2025, with trips made during the same period.

• Excludes flights operated under codeshare, those of other Star Alliance airlines, and intercontinental routes that do not pass through Turkey.

• No award tickets, corporate fares, group tickets, students, medical personnel or the like are allowed.

• Flights must be Accredited to the Miles&Smiles program prior to departure, no retroactive.

• The itinerary can be as complex as you want, but beware: flights such as Singapore-Melbourne o São Paulo-Buenos Aires, while connecting two continents, are not worth Because they don't go through Istanbul.

In other words, to build a viable itinerary one must take advantage of Turkish Airlines' very extensive network, which connects Istanbul to more than 300 global destinations.

The Miles&Smiles program: why 1 million miles appeals to everyone

Receiving a million miles may seem like a symbolic award, but those who know Miles&Smiles, the Turkish Airlines loyalty program, knows that it is far from worthless. The miles can be used for book award tickets, get upgrades to business class, purchase products in the company's marketplace, or even redeem benefits with non-airline partners. Of course, the miles in this challenge are not Status Miles, so they don't help move up the ladder, but they can cover entirely-and several times over-a round-trip long-haul business ticket, or open the door to really generous award travel within the entire Star Alliance network.

Miles&Smiles is especially appreciated for the generosity in the redemption table (especially for business flights from Europe to the Middle East and Asia) and for the ability to upgrade at an all-too-affordable cost. Not surprisingly, many European and Asian frequent flyers use it as their second flagship program, even if they do not fly often with Turkish.

The new trend of aerial "challenges"

Turkish Airlines' promotion is part of a trail of similar initiatives launched in recent months by other airlines:

SAS EuroBonus was the first to start this trend, and since everyone is copying it, it must have definitely been a successful initiative. Needless to say, I am one of the (few) millionaires who have done the feat. In the first 6 months of this year then popped up the challenge of Virgin Atlantic (5M points prize) that of Etihad (5 million points) then came Etihopian, JetBlue and also Miles & More.

I after the fatigue of SAS. I am trying my hand at that of the Lufthansa Group, even though the prize is "only" 100,000 miles and now, I admit, I am honestly thinking of trying this one from TK.

In conclusion

The Turkish Airlines challenge is not a promotion for everyone: it requires time, organization and a good dose of adventurous spirit. But for those who already had RTW in mind or those who like to plan complex trips with "travel hacker" logic, it could be the hit of the year. If only to be able to say, "Yes, I won a million miles traveling the world."

• milesesmiles