Buying More Than One Turkish Airlines Award Ticket

I’ve been a fan of Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles for years, even with the program changes that shifted the math in 2025. I’ve flown Turkish from Newark to Istanbul in business, Istanbul to Kayseri in economy, and a handful of regional routes in between.

The network and service are real reasons to book Turkish (it remains one of the best ways to get to Istanbul and has some of the best food on any airline). But booking an award ticket with Miles&Smiles is where the program falls apart.

Even creating an account was a struggle. Once I got past that, the next problem showed up immediately: I could not buy more than one award ticket on a single booking through the website or the app. I’ve eventually gotten it to work, but I’d call the problem only partially solved, and frustratingly so.

Booking Through the Turkish Website

On the Turkish award search, you pick the number of passengers before running the search. The moment you set it above one, the search refuses to run:

The exact error:

You can issue the first ticket only to your name in order to verify your membership. Subsequently, you can issue award tickets for other persons as well.

I read this the first time and assumed it meant “book once to verify, then you’ll be able to add other passengers.” That is not what it means. I’ve now booked six separate Turkish awards on my account and still hit the same error on every new search. Calling the call center didn’t change it, individually booking tickets didn’t change it.

Booking Through the Turkish Mobile App

I tried the mobile app next because a different tech provider reportedly runs the app than the website. That got me a little further, the search actually ran with multiple passengers, but then it died at checkout with a different message:

If you want to have it issued for a loved one, please contact the nearest sales office.

Same restriction, different wording. Neither surface will let you book an award ticket for anyone but yourself.

Booking Through the Turkish Call Center

The call center is the only way I’ve actually been able to book a multi-passenger Turkish award ticket. The number is 1 (800) 874-8875, 24-hour service.

I’ve booked for up to four passengers at a time through the call center. The downsides:

• Hold times can be long, especially during Istanbul business hours
• English fluency varies significantly by agent, sometimes it’s fine, sometimes it isn’t
• Some agents don’t know the award booking flow well and need to transfer you

Once you get an agent who handles award bookings regularly, the process is straightforward. Have the flight numbers, dates, and passenger info ready. More context on this in our Turkish Airlines customer service guide.

Trying to Troubleshoot With Turkish

Even with the call center workaround, I wanted a fix. I filed multiple support tickets asking what the “verification” is and how I would complete it. The responses I got back over the span of months:

As per your feedback, we have checked your account details and we have seen that your account has not been verified yet. This process will be completed by Turkish Airlines.

As our website has informed, in the tickets you are going to purchase, you are needed to be included in the reservation in order to purchase tickets.

In order to purchase an award ticket you may contact our 7/24 call center any time.

None of these actually answer the question: what is the verification, and how does a member complete it? My account has been flagged as “not verified” for years at this point, despite multiple paid and award flights on the same account. I’ve never gotten a straight answer, and based on reader emails, I’m not the only one.

What to Actually Do

If you’re trying to book a multi-passenger Turkish award ticket today, the order of operations that works:

1. Search for availability as a single passenger on the Turkish website or app, or use a tool like Seats.aero or United’s award search (since United can book Turkish as a Star Alliance partner).
2. Once you’ve confirmed the flights you want, call Turkish at 1 (800) 874-8875.
3. Give the agent the flight numbers and dates you found, which speeds things up compared to letting them search from scratch.
4. Confirm the total miles and taxes before authorizing the ticket. Occasional agents have quoted the wrong partner-award price, which you don’t want to find out after the fact.

If your Turkish trip is on a Star Alliance-eligible route, consider whether booking through a different Star Alliance partner’s miles gets you the same seat without the Miles&Smiles booking tax. Aeroplan, ANA, and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer all book Turkish at different rates, sometimes lower than Miles&Smiles itself for multi-passenger bookings.

Summary & Takeaways

Turkish Miles&Smiles still has value, but the booking experience is genuinely the worst of any major loyalty program I use regularly. The website and app can’t issue multi-passenger awards to anyone but the account holder, the “verification” explanation from support is circular, and the only reliable fix is the call center.

Historical context: up until 2017, Turkish only issued award tickets at physical ticketing offices. The digital flow has come a long way since then, but the multi-passenger bug is one of the last pieces that hasn’t caught up. If you’re willing to sit on a phone call for 20 minutes, the program is still worth using. If you need to book quickly and seamlessly, look at Aeroplan or ANA instead.