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One of the more obscure frequent flyer programs, Asiana Club, tends to fly below the radar. This is mainly because there are no easy ways to accrue large amounts of Asiana Club miles. However, you shouldn't write off the program entirely. It offers a solid award chart for several routes.
Plus, you can also book a stopover when booking awards with Asiana Airlines miles, and Asiana Club offers an attractive option for booking around-the-world awards.
Page Contents
Overview of Asiana Club
Asiana Club is the frequent flyer program of South Korea-based Asiana Airlines. While Korean Airlines may be the flag carrier, Asiana is likely the runner-up when it comes to global presence. The airline flies to Europe, North America, Oceania, and many Asian destinations. Asiana Airlines also has U.S. gateways, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Honolulu.
As a member of the Star Alliance, Asiana has an excellent network of partner airlines across the globe. You can use your miles to fly on Asiana or any of its partners. The award charts are separate: one for Asiana flights and one for partners. Sometimes, what you'll pay for a redemption uses prices from both charts. Let's quickly walk through Asiana's award tables.
Asiana Airlines award chart
Here are the award prices for Asiana's own flights. For all routes between regions outside Korea, this assumes you transfer in Korea.
| Route | Economy (round-trip) | Business (round-trip) | Business Smartium (round-trip) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Korea | 10,000 | 12,000 | - |
| Korea - Japan/China/Northeast Asia | 30,000 | 45,000 | 50,000 |
| Korea - Southeast Asia | 40,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 |
| Korea - US, Europe, Middle East, Oceania | 70,000 | 105,000 | 125,000 |
| Japan - China/Northeast Asia | 45,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 |
| Japan/China/Northeast Asia - Southeast Asia | 55,000 | 70,000 | 85,000 |
| Japan/China/Northeast Asia - Southwest Asia | 60,000 | 80,000 | 100,000 |
| Japan/China/Northeast Asia - US, Oceania, Europe | 75,000 | 110,000 | 135,000 |
| Southeast Asia - US, Oceania, Europe | 85,000 | 125,000 | 155,000 |
| Southeast Asia - Southwest Asia | 70,000 | 105,000 | 130,000 |
| Southwest Asia - US, Oceania | 95,000 | 140,000 | 175,000 |
| Oceania - US, Europe | 105,000 | 160,000 | 200,000 |
High peak season rates require 50% more miles, an unfortunate jump over standard pricing. These rates apply for flights departing North America during the summer and around the Christmas holiday. Also, note that children between 2 and 11 receive a 25% discount on the miles required.
Star Alliance award chart
Asiana Club has a separate award chart for partner Star Alliance airlines. Like the chart for Asiana flights, it is region-based. But there is no peak season pricing. Below is the chart when originating in North America.
| Destination Region | Economy (round-trip) | Business (round-trip) | First (round-trip) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Asia | 80,000 | 120,000 | 160,000 |
| Southeast Asia | 90,000 | 135,000 | 180,000 |
| Southwest Asia | 100,000 | 150,000 | 210,000 |
| South Pacific | 110,000 | 165,000 | 240,000 |
| North America | 25,000 | 45,000 | 65,000 |
| Mexico, Hawaii, Central America | 35,000 | 55,000 | 75,000 |
| South America 1 | 35,000 | 55,000 | 75,000 |
| South America 2 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| Europe | 50,000 | 80,000 | 100,000 |
| Middle East | 80,000 | 120,000 | 160,000 |
| Africa | 80,000 | 120,000 | 160,000 |
We want to highlight both round-trip business class to Europe for 80,000 miles and to South America 2 for 70,000 miles as particularly good value.
Asiana Club around-the-world awards
Only a handful of programs allow you to book an around-the-world award ticket. Asiana Club is one excellent option for Star Alliance. You only have two options: economy and business. You can't book an around-the-world trip in first class. Here are the prices for Asiana Club around-the-world award tickets:
- Economy: 140,000 miles
- Business: 230,000 miles
Depending on your routing and the partners you use, the business class price can be an excellent deal. You can have up to seven stopovers on your around-the-world award. We'll cover the Asiana Airlines stopover rules more fully further down. But first, let's cover what a stopover is.
What Is a Stopover?
A stopover generally refers to a connecting stop in a city longer than what is typically allowed. Depending on your routing, you may be limited to connections of up to four hours when flying domestically. For most international itineraries, you're almost always limited to up to 24 hours.
Think of a stopover as a much longer connection, one that can stretch a few days or far more. But they're also still part of one airline ticket.
Stopovers are most commonly booked on international flights. For example, if you're flying from New York to Istanbul, you could book a flight from New York to Munich on Lufthansa and stay for a few days before continuing to Istanbul. With some airline loyalty programs, you can do this for the price of a direct itinerary from New York to Istanbul.
Related: What Is the Difference Between a Layover and a Stopover?
Asiana Airlines Stopover Rules
If you'd like to add a stopover on an Asiana Club award ticket, here are the rules you need to know:
- Stopovers are allowed on one-way awards operated by Asiana Airlines. You can search these online easily.
- You can also add stopovers on round-trip tickets as well. For Asiana Airlines, this boils down to a stopover in Seoul in both directions.
- Awards with a stopover price as the sum of the one-way awards for each segment. This is key to understand. With this in mind, it may be better to book two one-way awards at times.
- For Star Alliance award tickets, there is a maximum of 8 segments on award tickets. For awards consisting of only domestic Japan flights, this is reduced to 4 segments.
Example pricing of an Asiana stopover
Example Asiana Airlines stopover pricing: Let's consider a one-way business class award on Asiana Airlines flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Seoul (ICN), continuing to Osaka (KIX) after a stopover. It would be priced as follows:
- U.S. to Korea in Business Smartium: 62,500 miles
- Korea to Japan in Business: 22,500 miles
Total cost: 85,000 (62,500 + 22,500) Asiana miles.
Asiana Club Award Rules
Besides stopovers, here are the other conditions to be aware of for Asiana Club tickets:
- Both one-way and round-trip awards are possible for Asiana Airlines flights and for partner flights. One-way awards cost half of the listed cost in the award chart.
- Up to two transits (layovers) are allowed for Star Alliance award tickets.
- Reservations for Star Alliance awards must be made through the Asiana Reservation Center. Unfortunately, you cannot book through the website in regions outside Korea.
- Maximum permitted mileage applies to Asiana award tickets. You can find this in a manual published by IATA.
- Be aware of ticketing windows for award bookings and making changes to award tickets. For Asiana Airlines flights, new bookings and changes must be made at least 50 minutes before departure for domestic flights and at least 2 hours before departure for international flights. For Star Alliance itineraries, you must book at least three days before departure.
- Your Asiana Club miles can only be used for specified family members. This includes your children, grandchildren, sons or daughters-in-law, siblings, parents, spouse, spouse's parents, and grandparents. You have to submit proof of relation.
Around-the-world ticket rules
In a category of their own, around-the-world Asiana Club award tickets have their own set of rules you need to know:
- There are three “regions” for around-the-world tickets. 1. Americas, 2. Europe / Middle East / Africa, 3. Asia / Oceania.
- You can backtrack within each of these regions but not between regions. For example, on a ticket that circuits the globe eastward, you could fly from Istanbul to Frankfurt before going onward to Seoul; both of these cities are within the same region. To compare, you cannot go from Delhi to Dubai before continuing on to Seoul, as these cities are in different
- You must start and end in the same country. You don't have to start and end at the same airport, though.
- An around-the-world ticket must cross both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This rules out some theoretical multi-stop, multi-region itineraries that you could put together.
- There must be at least 10 days between your initial departure date and final arrival date. More days than this is entirely fine; this is just the minimum.
- You cannot backtrack through the origination city. For example, you can't fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles, stop over for a few days, and then book a future leg that backtracks through San Francisco, even if it's just a layover.
- You cannot have more than two stopovers in one country. This shouldn't be much of a concern, aside from a large country like the U.S. where you might want multiple stops.
How To Search and Book a Stopover with Asiana Club Miles
To begin your search for an Asiana Club award with a stopover, first head to flyasiana.com. Rather than key in your origin, destination, and dates into the search on the landing page, you'll want to hit the “Multi-city flights” link on the right side of the form.
This will take you to another award search form where you can key in multiple legs and departure dates. Use this to build your stopover. Given how limited availability is in Asiana business class on some routes, I'd suggest searching each segment separately as a one-way award to find availability before searching the overall itinerary.
You'll then be shown availability for your flight segments one at a time. Once you select the first departure, you'll be shown options for the second departure. Once you select both flights you want, you'll be provided the overall cost of your itinerary. Remember, an Asiana Airlines stopover itinerary costs the same as two one-way awards, one for each segment combined.
At this point, you'll proceed through your booking as you would with any other Asiana Airlines award ticket.
If you want to book a Star Alliance award or an around-the-world ticket, you'll need to call the Reservation Center. You can reach reservations at (800) 227-4262. The call center is not available 24 hours. On weekdays, you'll need to call between 7:00 AM and midnight. On weekends and holidays, the hours are between 8:00 AM and midnight.
How To Earn Asiana Club Miles
The biggest downside to Asiana Club is that there are limited ways to earn miles. Sadly, there is only one remaining way to earn miles from transferable points: converting Marriott Bonvoy points to Asiana Club miles.
You can transfer points in increments of 3,000 Bonvoy points to 1,000 Asiana Club miles. However, it is best to transfer in batches of 60,000 Bonvoy points, as you'll get an additional 5,000 miles. The transfer is effectively 60,000 Bonvoy points to 25,000 Asiana Club miles.
If you want to earn Bonvoy points, the best strategy is through either one of several Marriott Bonvoy credit cards, or through any card that earns transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards. The effective earning rate isn't all that great, but this is your only real option.
Bank of America used to issue a co-branded Asiana Club credit card, but this is no longer open to applicants. If you're a resident of South Korea or Japan, both these countries issue credit cards that can earn Asiana miles.
Finally, you can always credit Asiana or partner airlines flights to Asiana Club to earn the miles you need. The program is actually an interesting option for earning and maintaining Star Alliance Gold status. Just note that Asiana Club miles eventually expire.
Final Thoughts
While not an easy program to accrue miles in, some great reasons exist to consider using Asiana Club. The ability to book an around-the-world award is not least among them. The prices are attractive for business class, and as a member of the Star Alliance, you have plenty of carriers and routes to choose from. Also consider adding in an Asiana Airlines stopover on a regular one-way or round-trip award.
Unless you have lots of flights to credit to Asiana Club, you'll have to settle for transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to the program. But it could be worth it, depending on your travel goals.
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