Turkish Miles & Smiles has a single remaining overseas award booking sweet spot (review) and a known problem when booking tickets for someone else (review). You may also encounter a message when booking award tickets for two passengers that says “The first award ticket can only be issued under your name. If you want to have it issued for a loved one, please contact the nearest sales office.”
How do I bypass the warning and complete the award booking?
Option 1: Log-in to your account before performing the award search
I noticed that the warning disappears when you first log-in to your account and repeat the award search (clear cookies or open another browser as needed). It may also help to fill out additional passenger details in the “My Companions” section under “My Personal Details”.
After doing the above steps, I was able to successfully see the award space for two passengers (see image below).
Option 2: Use the Turkish Airlines Smartphone App
Turkish Airlines smartphone app will work without any warnings, but only after you log-in as a Miles & Smiles member and click on “Buy an award ticket” (see images below).
Alternatives to using Turkish miles to book these flights
Aeroplan can be used to book the same business class seats for 70K points (from JFK, EWR and ORD) or 90K points (from IAH, DFW and LAX) with much less taxes (see the images below). Turkish miles will be 30% cheaper compared to Aeroplan to book business class for those who live near IAH, DFW and LAX airports.
Conclusion
In general, I encourage you to never transfer your credit card points to Turkish Miles & Smiles. However, if you transferred them in the past and they are about to expire (like me), Turkish miles can be used to book business class seats from the US to Istanbul or other regional cities (e.g., Cappadocia or Trabzon) for 65K points and $218 in taxes per person. There’s an easy fix if you ever encounter a strange warning when looking for a two-passenger award space.