Turkish Airlines Challenge: Fly to All 6 Continents and Earn a Million Miles

Turkish Airlines has launched a challenge where participants must fly with them to all six continents to win a million frequent flyer miles.

About the Turkish Airlines 6 continents challenge

Turkish Airlines is offering each passenger who flies with them to all 6 continents a total of 1 million award miles in their Miles&Smiles frequent flyer programme.

The Turkish flag carrier is following in the footsteps of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which recently concluded its own frequent flyer challenge, and Etihad, whose separate challenge is still ongoing.

Although completing the challenge won’t be easy given that there are a couple of noteworthy caveats, it could still be rewarding for avid travellers with the time and money to spare who don’t mind flying a fair bit with Turkish Airlines in the coming months.

How to earn 1 million Turkish Airlines miles

Turkish Airlines has outlined the terms and conditions for the 6 Continents Challenge on a dedicated page, though it’s still worth going over the main points here.

The challenge revolves around flying with Turkish Airlines to all six continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Oceania.

On the challenge page, you’ll find a table showing which countries belong to each continent.

The most important aspect of the challenge is that only flights with Turkish Airlines to a specific continent qualify.

For example, a one-way flight with Turkish Airlines from Frankfurt via Istanbul to Tokyo counts as a visit to Asia – while the same route flown in reverse – from Tokyo via Istanbul to Frankfurt – counts as a visit to Europe.

Only if you fly this trip as a Frankfurt–Tokyo return flight on Turkish Airlines would it count towards both Europe and Asia for the challenge.

However, it’s up to you to decide whether you book one-way, return, or multi-destination flights, as all are accepted for the challenge.

Other important caveats

Only revenue flights on Turkish Airlines count towards the challenge, meaning award flights and flights operated by codeshare partners are excluded.

Tickets must be issued by Turkish Airlines, so booking through a partner airline won’t count, even if a flight is operated by Turkish.

Another important caveat is that only flight itineraries originating or passing through Turkey count toward the challenge, and fifth freedom flights (such as the Turkish Airlines flight between Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires) are excluded.

This means that flying with Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Sao Paulo or taking the London–Istanbul–Sao Paulo–Buenos Aires flight would both count for South America, but only flying the leg between Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires would not.

Perhaps most important is the time span of the challenge, as both ticketing and travel must take place between the 27th of June 2025 and the 27th of October 2025.

That means flights booked before this period, even if the flight date falls within it, won’t count towards the challenge.

How hard is it to complete the 6 continents challenge?

Many will wonder how hard it is to complete Turkish Airlines’ 6 continents challenge and win the 1 million frequent flyer miles.

Of course, much depends on the funds you have available (and are willing to invest in this challenge) and how much time you have on your hands before 27th October 2025 to complete the necessary flights.

It will certainly be a challenge to put together an itinerary that qualifies and still fits within the budget you’re willing to set aside for it.

Of course, your nationality will also play a big role in this, as unfortunately the challenge will be harder to complete for those who don’t hold a strong passport and need to obtain hard-to-get visas.

By far the hardest continent to tick off will be Oceania, as the only country there served by Turkish Airlines is Australia, with flights to both Sydney and Melbourne.

These ultra long-haul flights will not only be among the most expensive ones you’ll need to book to complete the challenge, but their limited schedule will also make them difficult to fit into your itinerary.

Ticking off the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa should be fairly easy, as cities like Bucharest, Sofia, and Skopje are just a short one-hour flight from Istanbul, while Cairo or Amman can be reached in about two hours, with flights that are usually not too expensive.

The Turkish Airlines 6 continents challenge essentially requires flying three long-haul routes to North America, South America, and Australia, and if you can include these in your itinerary at a reasonable price, you will likely complete the entire challenge since the rest should be straightforward.

How much would it cost to fly to all 6 continents?

On the Turkish Airlines message board on frequent flyer forum FlyerTalk, user f0zzyNUE managed to puzzle together a €3100 all-economy class itinerary that would qualify for completing the challenge.

This figure is a good ballpark estimate of the minimum costs involved, though you’d also need to factor in accommodation costs, as it’s wise to allow a safe buffer at each destination in case of delays or cancellations.

Of course, if you want to do it in comfort by flying Turkish Airlines business class on the long-haul sectors and make sure you have access to the Turkish Airlines Business Lounge in Istanbul, the costs will rise substantially.

Although I quite like Turkish Airlines economy class, attempting the challenge in that cabin would be tiring, though it helps if you hold Star Alliance Gold status and can access lounges like the Miles&Smiles Lounge.

Note that some itineraries could qualify for a complimentary Turkish Airlines transit hotel or a free Turkish Airlines stopover hotel, which can help reduce costs.

Is the 1 million miles prize worth the effort?

I’m sure a small group will try to complete the Turkish Airlines 6 continents challenge just for the experience, but most people will weigh the cost and benefits to see if the 1 million frequent flyer miles prize is worth the time and money invested.

As a long-time Turkish Airlines frequent flyer with Elite status in their Miles&Smiles programme, which equals Star Alliance Gold, I can certainly comment on this.

Sadly, the Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles frequent flyer programme has recently been heavily devalued and has lost many of its once-attractive features, such as easy access to good-value long-haul redemptions – like Europe to North America or Asia for around 50,000 miles in business class.

The devaluation hits even harder because, at the same time, Miles&Smiles also started charging award tickets separately for each sector flown.

Previously, you could redeem miles for an award ticket like Munich–Istanbul–New York and only be charged the fixed rate between Europe and North America, but now you are charged separately for Europe to Turkey and Turkey to North America for this ticket, which greatly increases the cost.

Award tickets now often cost (at least) twice as much as they did before.

Moreover, I find Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles almost useless for booking award flights on Star Alliance partners, as availability is extremely limited.

Your miles will really only be useful for booking Turkish Airlines award flights, and you shouldn’t count on finding availability in intercontinental business class on airlines like United, Singapore Airlines, or Lufthansa Group airlines.

Of course, Turkish Airlines also adds fuel surcharges and taxes to award bookings, so redeeming miles isn’t completely free either.

That said, if you’re flexible with your travel destinations and travel dates, you can still get some good value out of a million miles in your Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles account.

Even if a one-way long-haul business class award costs 100,000 miles, you could still book 10 of these flights, which would easily be worth far more than the €3000 to €4000 it might cost to complete the 6 continents challenge.

In the end, it really depends on how much it would cost you to complete the 6 continents challenge and whether you’re flexible enough with your travel plans to make good use of 1 million Turkish Airlines miles to determine if it’s worth pursuing.

Conclusion

Turkish Airlines has launched a 6 continents challenge requiring you to fly with them to North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia to earn 1 million miles.

Although this airline challenge probably isn’t as lucrative as the one previously launched by SAS, it can still be potentially lucrative for a small segment of travellers.

This mainly applies to travellers who can create a qualifying itinerary at a relatively low cost and are flexible with their travel dates and destinations to make good use of the 1 million miles, as those with fixed dates and routes in mind may find it difficult to use their miles to book award tickets.

Travellers who already plan to visit several long-haul destinations before 27 October 2025, when the challenge ends, may also find this opportunity worth considering.

After all, if you already need to book travel to two long-haul destinations in the coming months — whether for business or leisure — you can essentially complete half the challenge through your regular travel, making it a relatively minor investment of time and money to visit all six continents and get that 1 million miles prize.

Make sure to carefully study the terms and conditions to avoid any unpleasant surprises and to ensure that the flights you book do qualify for the challenge.