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Korean Air SKYPASS is an award program that tends to fly under the radar, mainly because of how difficult it is to accrue SKYPASS miles. We think many travelers undervalue it, not realizing that the Korean Air award chart offers several excellent sweet spots. And a suite of co-branded credit cards can help earn valuable SKYPASS miles.
So don't write off Korean Air SKYPASS. Here are ten reasons why the program should be on your radar:
Excellent Award Chart Sweet Spots
The value you can get out of SKYPASS miles is a key reason why the program is worth your attention. The program has some excellent sweet spots, including:
- SkyTeam business class between North America and Europe for 80,000 miles round-trip
- Delta economy class from North America to Hawaii for 25,000 miles round-trip
- Delta business class from North America to Hawaii for 45,000 miles round-trip
- Korean Air first class between North America and Korea/Japan for 80,000 miles one-way
It's hard to beat the prices for any of these. You can occasionally score mileage deals to Hawaii with other programs, but for business class, few programs hold a candle to Korean Air SKYPASS.
Good Award Availability
Unlike many airlines that are charging additional miles for flights on many dates, Korean tends to offer a good amount of award availability at their saver level for both economy any Prestige business class on U.S. routes. Prestige can be harder to snag both close-in and very far in advance, but I found that availability was very good overall if you look 1-4 months out — aside from over the Christmas & New Year season.
If only first-class availability was what it used to be. Korean has apparently retired first class on many of their routes. And on the routes where they are operating the cabin, I can't find award seats. They used to open up multiple seats every day. Here's hoping this level of award space comes back!
Korean Postponed Its Program Devaluation, and May Never Happen
Korean Air announced a significant devaluation to take place in 2021, which was then postponed to 2023. Then, in February 2023, Korean Airlines suspended the idea entirely. We don't know if they will eventually roll this out. I hope they don't. It would severely impact the sweet spots we've listed out. For a program where it is difficult to earn miles, I hope they keep things just as they are.
Lots of North American Destinations
Korean flies to many North American destinations compared to many Asian airlines. Among the cities/airports served by Korean Airlines are Atlanta, Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver, and Washington-Dulles. As such, you likely live in a city served by Korean — or can easily re-position to one such city.
Complimentary Stopover on Award Tickets
Korean used to be one of the few SkyTeam airlines with both high-value miles and the ability to add stopovers on award tickets. Now, Flying Blue also offers stopovers. Both are still better than Delta, which does not offer this perk. You get one stopover on any award with Korean Air — even on one-way tickets. This pretty much restricts you to stopping in Seoul, but it's still a great option if you want to see South Korea. For partner award bookings, you can build one stopover into a round-trip ticket.
This means you can book a ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney with a stopover in Seoul. If booking a ticket to Europe, you could potentially fly from San Francisco to Paris on Air France (stopover), then continue on to Athens, and then fly home on Delta.
Awards on Korean Air can be Booked Online
The process of booking Korean Air SKYPASS awards over the phone can be cumbersome. However, if you want to book a Korean award on one of their flights, you can do so online, even if you want to add a stopover. Searching for awards is simple. You do have to log in with your account credentials to perform an award search.
Some Korean Air SkyTeam airline partner awards can be booked online — including many Delta award flights — but not all. At least it's better than it used to be.
Pool Miles Among Family Members
Korean is one of a handful of airlines that allows family members to pool their award miles to book awards. This is helpful if you have accrued miles from travel, but none of you have enough for an award ticket. Pooled miles can be used to book awards on Korean Air and on non-SkyTeam partners. Unfortunately, you can't book SkyTeam award flights with pooled miles.
However, there's still an option for booking SkyTeam family member tickets. If you do have enough miles without pooling, you can book tickets for a select group of family members. Unlike programs that let you redeem miles for anyone, Korean is pretty strict with whom they let you “endorse” for miles usage. Eligible family members are limited to: spouse, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law.
Excellent Customer Service Agents
You might not expect it based on previous experiences with customer service agents on other airlines, but Korean's customer service is an exception. Agents are polite, have a genuinely positive attitude, and know how to handle almost every award-booking scenario with confidence. If you do need to give them a call to book an award — something that can be necessary for partner awards — you'll know you'll have a pleasant experience.
Difficulty Earning Korean Air SKYPASS Miles
Years ago, Korean Air was a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. This used to make it easy to earn their miles. However, the only common currency you can now transfer to Korean Air SKYPASS is Marriott Bonvoy points. While this is frustrating if you want to book awards with the program, it's my observation that programs that have a “high barrier to entry” for accruing miles have been less likely to suffer from devaluations over the past years.
- Earn up to 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy® bonus points. Earn 100,000 points after you spend $6,000 and an extra 50,000 points after you spend an additional $2,000 in purchases on the Card within your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- $300 Brilliant Dining Credit: Each calendar year, get up to $300 (up to $25 per month) in statement credits for eligible purchases made on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card at restaurants worldwide.
- With Marriott Bonvoy® Platinum Elite Status, you can receive room upgrades, including enhanced views or suites, when the stay is booked with a Qualifying Rate at hotels that participate in Marriott Bonvoy, subject to availability upon check-in.
- Earn 6X Marriott Bonvoy® points for each dollar of eligible purchases at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Earn 3X Marriott Bonvoy® points at restaurants worldwide and on flights booked directly with airlines and 2X Marriott Bonvoy® points on all other eligible purchases made on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card.
- Free Night Award: Receive 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card renewal month. Award can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 85,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points) at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Each calendar year after spending $60,000 on eligible purchases on your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, you will be eligible to select a Brilliant Earned Choice Award benefit. You can only earn one Brilliant Earned Choice Award per calendar year. See https://www.choice-benefit.marriott.com/brilliant for Award options.
- $100 Marriott Bonvoy® Property Credit: Enjoy your stay. Receive up to a $100 property credit for qualifying charges at The Ritz-Carlton® or St. Regis® when you book direct using a special rate for a two-night minimum stay using your Card.
- Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®: Receive either a statement credit every 4 years after you apply for Global Entry ($120) or a statement credit every 4.5 years after you apply for a five-year membership for TSA PreCheck® (up to $85 through a TSA PreCheck official enrollment provider) and pay the application fee with your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card. If approved for Global Entry, at no additional charge, you will receive access to TSA PreCheck.
- Each calendar year with your Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card you can receive 25 Elite Night Credits toward the next level of Marriott Bonvoy® Elite status. Limitations apply per Marriott Bonvoy member account. Benefit is not exclusive to Cards offered by American Express.
- Enroll in Priority Pass Select, which offers unlimited airport lounge visits to over 1,200 lounges in over 130 countries, regardless of which carrier or class you are flying. This allows you to relax before or between flights. You can enjoy snacks, drinks, and internet access in a quiet, comfortable location.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees on international purchases.
- With Cell Phone Protection*, you can be reimbursed, the lesser of, your repair or replacement costs following damage, such as a cracked screen, or theft for a maximum of $800 per claim when your cell phone line is listed on a wireless bill and the prior month's wireless bill was paid by an Eligible Card Account. A $50 deductible will apply to each approved claim with a limit of 2 approved claims per 12-month period. Additional terms and conditions apply. *Coverage is provided by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company.
- $650 Annual Fee.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 6X points on purchases at Marriott Properties
- 3X points at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery
- 3X points on flights booked directly with airlines
- 2X points on all other eligible purchases
If you're looking to pick up more SKYPASS miles, get Marriott credit cards that are offering generous welcome bonuses, such as the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card‘s up to 150,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points – 100,000 points after you spend $6,000 and an extra 50,000 points after you spend an additional $2,000 on eligible purchases in the first six months.
Miles Don't Expire for 10 Years
Given how difficult it is to earn Korean miles, you might worry about collecting enough over time to eventually redeem. Sure, some airline programs have suspended mileage expiration entirely, but others still have policies where your miles will expire after 18-24 months of account inactivity.
Korean Air SKYPASS's expiration policy blows away all other programs. SKYPASS miles are valid for ten years from when they are earned. You can't extend miles beyond the initial decade expiration window, but this does give you plenty of time to redeem them.
Minimal Award Change Fees
If you need to make a change, the fee is 30,000 KRW (approximately $25). If you need to cancel an award and want them to refund the miles, the fee will be 500 miles for a domestic award and 3,000 miles for an international award if the refund is issued within a year of when the award was initially issued. Compared to some airlines, this is quite reasonable.
Final Thoughts on Korean Air SKYPASS
When looking at mileage programs, your first thought is likely to focus on the airline with which you see the most. Perhaps it's the airline you travel on most frequently or hear about from friends and family, but you may find that the right mileage program to invest your miles in could be based on the other side of the world. Before you commit to a location for your miles, check out Korean; you might be pleasantly surprised.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees)
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