Greece has been a bucket list destination of mine for years. So when I had the chance to fly to Greece in business class using points and miles, I couldn’t book my award ticket fast enough! Even better was that I convinced my best friend to open a new credit card and join me. Keep reading for all the details of how we pulled this flight off…

You can hear more about Jess’ trip to Greece on this episode of our PODCAST!

 

Accumulating the Miles

We each opened the Citi Premier card to make this trip possible. At the time of opening, the welcome offer was 80,000 Citi ThankYou points after spending $4,000 in 3 months. The Citi Premier earns 3x on gas, groceries, dining out, and travel. So we made sure to meet a majority of our $4,000 minimum spend in those categories, and at the end of 3 months, we each had more than 90,000 points.

 

The Redemption

We found Turkish Airlines’ “promotional” business class tickets from Houston to Athens (with a layover in Istanbul) for 90,000 Turkish Airlines miles round-trip. Here are some tips for finding these promotional award tickets:

• The farther in advance you search, the better. Turkish Airlines opens up its booking calendar around 11 months in advance.
• Search for one-way flights.
• Search from major airports that aren’t from the west coast (IAH, ORD, IAD, JFK, etc.) and take a positioning flight if necessary.

Citi ThankYou points transfer 1:1 to Turkish Airlines. The transfer was not instant but took less than 48 hours. We had to call Turkish Airlines to book the tickets, which was slightly frustrating but well worth it for such a good deal in business class. Taxes were around $475 round-trip for each of us. The cash price for our flights would have been over $3,500! 

You can also book flights via Turkish Airlines by emailing their ticket office. This process may take a little longer but is likely less frustrating overall than trying to call.

 

 

The Lounge

Because Turkish Airlines is part of Star Alliance, we had access to the United Polaris lounge in Houston. It was amazing! They have both a buffet and a sit-down restaurant. We chose the sit-down restaurants and had Champagne, burgers, and cookie skillets before our flight. The cookie skillet is not to be missed!

 

 

 

The Cabin & Seats

We were on the Boeing 777, which has one of Turkish Airlines’ older business-class products, so my expectations weren’t very high. But I was pleasantly surprised! We had a ton of legroom, the amenity kit was great, the flight attendants could not have been nicer, and I got a solid 6-7 hours of sleep. 

The layout of the business class seats on this plane isn’t very private. It didn’t bother me as I was traveling with a friend, but for solo travelers, it may not be ideal. 

 

 

 

The Food

Food is where Turkish Airlines really shines. The food we had on our fights was better than the food I’ve had on any other airline. You choose your entree, and they have chefs that walk the aisles with food carts for starters and desserts. We didn’t have a bad meal on any of our flights.

 

 

Bottom Line

We loved our experience on Turkish Airlines. And the fact that we flew round-trip in business class for only 90,000 miles and $475 in taxes and fees instead of $3,500+ is just insane. I would not hesitate to fly with Turkish Airlines again. This was my friend’s first time flying in business class, and she was blown away. Turkish has set the bar quite high for her! We wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford to fly to Greece in business class, so I’ll never get over all of the opportunities that points and miles have afforded us!