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Over the last decade, we’ve seen a slow but steady decline in the value of some of our favorite rewards currencies offered by U.S. airlines. But the frequent flyer program of Korea's flag carrier, Korean Air, hasn't had these same downturns. The program is still going strong, and you can continue to redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles for excellent value.
However, there are some noteworthy pitfalls. For one, SKYPASS miles are hard to accumulate, as the program does not partner with any bank rewards currency. You'll have to either credit flights to SKYPASS or pick up one of its co-branded credit cards issued by U.S. Bank.
We've covered our favorite sweet spots with Korean SKYPASS and delivered our top 10 reasons to consider booking SKYPASS awards in previous posts. This post will focus on how to book awards using the Korean Air SKYPASS website, which partner awards can be booked online (and which require you to call a Korean reservations agent), and the rules for using SKYPASS miles when booking Korean, SkyTeam, and other partner awards from the likes of Alaska Airlines, Emirates, Etihad, and Hawaiian Airlines.
Let's dig into how to redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles.
Page Contents
Redemption Options With Korean Air SKYPASS
There are several ways you can redeem SKYPASS miles. You can redeem them for flights on Korean Air, flights on SkyTeam and non-SkyTeam airline partners, or use them at the Mileage Mall.
The Mileage Mall offers a variety of choices for redeeming miles: hotel stays with select partners, merchandise, in-flight duty-free items, and a handful of Korean cultural experiences. All of these options will net you less than 1 cent per mile, so we highly recommend that you avoid them.
Really, you shouldn't redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles for anything except flights. AwardWallet users get an average of 2.87¢ each when redeeming Korean Air miles for flights, with particularly good value for premium cabin flights. This is by far the best way to use them.
How To Redeem SKYPASS Miles for Korean Air Awards
Redeeming SKYPASS miles for Korean Air flights is a straightforward process. Head to koreanair.com to start. If you don't have a SKYPASS loyalty account, you'll first need to create one, as you cannot search for award travel without being logged into your account.
Make sure you remember to track your account with AwardWallet to get notifications about account balance changes or warnings if your miles are about to expire.
To begin searching for award travel, toggle to “Book with Miles.” If you haven't logged in already, you'll be prompted to at this point. Once logged into your account, you can add all the parameters for your search, such as the origin, destination, travel date(s), and desired cabin class. To search for multiple tickets, you'll have to add family members to your award endorsement list. Unlike many loyalty programs, Korean Air SKYPASS is strict with who you can have on an award ticket using your miles.
Note that you can toggle a “flexible dates” search option when selecting outbound and return dates. This is how I prefer to search. Also, for awards on Korean Air, you can specify whether you want round-trip, one-way, or multi-segment awards. Korean Air SKYPASS allows one stopover on award tickets, so consider taking advantage of this program feature. You'll need to use the multi-segment search.
Click “Search” once you've entered all the parameters. If you enabled the “Flexible Dates” option (highly recommended), you'll be presented with a calendar view. This makes it a cinch to find the dates with open seats on Korean Air flights.
I use the calendar view to find dates where there is award space in the Prestige cabin. The premium cabin availability between San Francisco and Seoul can vary substantially much of the calendar year. Korean Air has historically had excellent availability in the business- and first-class cabins, but there have occasionally been dry periods. Currently, I've found that booking far in advance or very close in can both be good strategies.
After settling on specific flight dates, you'll be taken to a page of flight options. This is also the page that will load if you don't toggle the “Flexible Dates” option. Award seat availability in each cabin on each flight will be displayed. Above the flight list, you'll also see a weekly view.
If you are booking a round-trip or multi-segment trip, you'll select each segment one at a time. The initial search page will be slightly different, as well, and there is no flexible date option in this case. However, you'll still be able to see a week of availability at a time, which is super handy.
As you select your preferred flight(s), the cost in both miles and cash will be totaled at the bottom right of the page. Korean Air charges moderately high surcharges on its own flights. You'll pay more in fees for premium cabins over economy bookings. The surcharges for economy flights are enough that I would be hesitant to redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles for these flights.
Complete your booking by providing all the required passenger information and clicking the “Pay Now” button.
Peak season award pricing
One important thing to note is the peak season award pricing Korean Air charges on its own flights. You need to check the peak season calendar for each year, as the dates change. If you book award travel on any peak season dates, you'll pay additional miles. Head here and click the “Peak Season by Route” button to see the current Peak Season dates.
As an example, here are the award rates for peak versus off-peak trips originating in Korea:
| Arrival Region + Season | Economy | Prestige | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korea domestic — off-peak | 5,000 | 6,000 | N/A |
| Korea domestic — peak | 7,500 | 9,000 | N/A |
| Japan/China/Northeast Asia — off-peak | 15,000 | 22,500 | 32,500 |
| Japan/China/Northeast Asia — peak | 22,500 | 32,500 | 47,500 |
| Southeast Asia/Guam — off-peak | 20,000 | 35,000 | 45,000 |
| Southeast Asia/Guam — peak | 30,000 | 52,500 | 67,500 |
| Southwest Asia/Tashkent — off-peak | 25,000 | 45,000 | 57,500 |
| Southwest Asia/Tashkent — peak | 37,500 | 67,500 | 87,500 |
| North America/Europe/Middle East/Oceania — off-peak | 35,000 | 62,500 | 80,000 |
| North America/Europe/Middle East/Oceania — peak | 52,500 | 92,500 | 120,000 |
A few notes on Korean Air awards
- You can book both one-way and round-trip awards. Round-trip awards cost twice the one-way price.
- International lap infant awards cost 10% of the redemption table price. For Korean domestic routes, when a lap infant doesn't occupy a seat, infants can travel free of charge.
- Korean Air charges for refunds and no-show redeposits of SKYPASS miles. The rates are reasonable compared to the award change and cancellation fees of some carriers.
- Changes are free for domestic tickets and cost 30,000 KRW for international tickets (~$21).
There are some more program details common to both Korean Air and partner SKYPASS miles redemption, which we'll cover later.
How To Redeem Korean Air SKYPASS Miles on SkyTeam Partners
In addition to booking awards on Korean's own metal, you can use the Korean Air website to book travel on SkyTeam partners. The process for booking a partner award is almost identical to redeeming on Korean. Head back to the main search form, toggle to “Book with Miles, and then click on the “SkyTeam Awards” button in the upper right corner of the form.
Clicking “Search” will take you to a different form with the “SkyTeam Award Itinerary” toggle on. If you toggle it off, you'll actually just perform a search for Korean Air awards once again. Enter your origin, destination, dates, and number of passengers. For SkyTeam award searches, you also have to select a specific cabin class.
The results will look more similar to the multi-city results you'll see when searching awards on Korean Air flights (discussed above). Here, I've found some nice nonstop space on Delta Air Lines from Seattle to Los Angeles.
After selecting your flights, the rest of the booking process is essentially the same, except for an extra step where Korean calculates the taxes and fees.
If you're lucky and can spot the award space, you can spend 25,000 SKYPASS miles for round-trip tickets to Hawaii. This is one of the best award options for flying to Hawaii.
Notes on Korean Air SkyTeam awards
- One-way tickets cost the same as round-trip, which makes them rarely — if ever — worth it. You also can't book a one-way SkyTeam award online.
- You can book multi-segment SkyTeam award travel. Up to two transfers are allowed per direction. Travel must begin and end in the same country.
- You can combine SkyTeam partner flights with Korean Air flights on one ticket.
- You can incorporate one stopover into a round-trip ticket.
- There are rules limiting circuitous routing.
- You cannot book lap infants. You can book an infant in their own seat, though, at the normal award price.
- Cancellations and no-show redeposits are penalized in miles, as with tickets on Korean Air. Changes to SkyTeam award tickets cost 30,000 KRW (~$22.90).
SkyTeam Round the World award bookings
Sadly, Korean Air ended its Round the World award tickets in April 2023.
Redeeming SKYPASS Miles on Non-SkyTeam Partners
Finally, you can redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles for travel on the following non-SkyTeam partners:
- Alaska Airlines
- China Southern
- Emirates
- Etihad
- GOL
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Japan Airlines
These partner awards can't be searched or booked on the Korean website. You’ll need to search for award availability elsewhere (such as alaskaair.com), then call the Korean reservations line at 800-438-5000 to book the award tickets.
Notes on non-SkyTeam awards
- You can only book round-trip tickets.
- You cannot book lap infants. You can book an infant in their own seat, though, at the normal award price.
- An itinerary must consist of a single airline. You cannot combine non-SkyTeam partners with either SkyTeam carriers or Korean Air flights, nor can you combine multiple non-SkyTeam partners on a single ticket.
- Only direct flights can be flown between origin and destination, except for Alaska Airlines, China Southern, and GOL.
- Open-jaw travel is applicable once at the destination. You can add one stopover per round-trip ticket with Alaska Airlines, China Southern, or GOL.
- Family Plan or pooled miles can be used.
- Cancellation, refunds, and changes incur the same charges as SkyTeam awards.
Other Restrictions on Korean Award Bookings
Korean Air SKYPASS has some unique rules that you should be aware of before jumping into the program. One of the primary ones is their strict family eligibility requirements for redeeming miles for award tickets. Here's what you need to know:
- You can only redeem award tickets for immediate family members: spouse, children, parents, siblings, parents-in-law, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandparents, and grandchildren. No boyfriend/girlfriend/romantic interest/work buddy allowed. You also have to provide documentation to prove your relationship. It can take 3-5 working days to process adding family members, so get this done well in advance of when you want to book!
- You can use Family Pooling of miles between registered family members for awards on Korean and on non-SkyTeam partners. Oddly, you cannot use pooling for SkyTeam award tickets.
- There are strict requirements to redeem Korean Air SKYPASS miles from accounts of minors. You need proof of identity of both the minor and a “legal representative” (which I assume is a parent in the majority of cases). The crazy part? You need a signed award application by both parties.
- Korean Air does not offer holds on award tickets. It used to, but these were ended several years ago.
Increasing Your SKYPASS Miles Balance
Now for the difficult part. SKYPASS used to have one decent U.S. transfer partner, Marriott Bonvoy. However, the partnership between Marriott and SKYPASS has ended. Now, you have to earn SKYPASS miles by either flying or using one of the Korean Air co-branded cards offered by U.S. Bank.
Apply for a co-branded Korean Air credit card
The best of the personal cards is the SKYPASS Visa Signature® Card, which earns 2x miles on Korean Air purchases, 2x miles for hotel stays, and 2x miles for dining. The card earns 1x miles per dollar for all other purchases. Its other perks include two annual KAL Lounge vouchers, plus it doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.
There's also a business version of the card, the SKYPASS Visa Signature® Business Card, which is extremely similar. Both the personal and business cards carry a $99 annual fee.
Transfer hotel points to Korean Air
It's also possible to transfer points from other hotel programs to Korean Air SKYPASS, but the rates here are poor.
Final Thoughts
Booking award travel on Korean and SkyTeam partners is a fairly straightforward process when using SKYPASS miles. Korean's website is much better than it was in years past. Being able to search Korean Air award availability months at a time is a handy feature. Additionally, the agents on the Korean reservation line are knowledgeable and more than willing to walk you through the process.
But the program is still a bit quirky. Rules surrounding Family Pooling and registering immediate family members can be hard to understand at first, but Korean Air has a page dedicated to registering family members on its website. Ultimately, if you're willing to learn the program and can accrue the miles, it's an excellent program for booking Korean Air award tickets and some choice SkyTeam partner flights.
For a handpicked selection of top-value SKYPASS awards, see our post on Korean sweet spots. And if you have any questions regarding redeeming Korean Air SKYPASS miles, let us know in the comments below.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
It amazes me how points and miles bloggers love to reference Marriott Bonvoy with its 3 to 1 points transfer ratio as so good. But out of this articles examples, 3 of the programs (Accor, Hyatt, Shangri-La) offer better transfer ratios than Marriott Bonvoy. And of those, a lot of people are going to regard Hyatt 2.5:1 with its access to Chase Ultimate Rewards 1:1 to be better alternative than Marriott Bonvoy ever was. And expats in various Asian countries should get Shangri-La credit cards whose points transfer 1:1 to multiple airlines.
I have combined miles from my family members and have a combined total of 47,000 miles now. My home airport is OMA and we have family connections in Laos. Do you have any suggestions of ways I could use these miles?
Hey Marlin, maybe some folks can chime in here. You might check out the AwardWallet booking service if you’re looking for someone to book the ticket for you.
Thank you, Erik. I’m not sure about the options yet. For example, would I have to buy a separate ticket from my home airport to one of the airports served by Korean Air, in order to use an award using the family miles?
I read that pooled family miles can only be used on KE flights. Do know if they would allow me to fly from my home airport to get to a KE flight?
Hey Marlin, the main restriction I know about is that you can’t book one-way tickets on partner airlines. I don’t think there is a restriction against using pooled miles for a partner flight, but I could be wrong. Best to check with the Korean call center—they’re surprisingly pleasant and knowledgeable. All that said, often adding a partner flight increases the mileage requirement disproportionately. You might be better off booking a separate positioning flight, but make sure you allow plenty of time to connect.
Thank you for the suggestions, Erik. I was coming to the same conclusion, that we’d have to book a positioning flight. From the west coast an overnight layover is likely anyway. And then we might need another ticket from BKK to VTE. The Korean Air website says they have no flights from ICN to VTE. It looks like their subsidiary, Jen Air, is no longer flying that route.
Thank you for the clear tutorial, I have two main questions that I do not see covered in the article or in the comments. I am booking a trip for me and my parents using Chase Points transferred to Korean Air. 1) Would I need to create Korean Air accounts for my parents separately in order to book their flights? 2) If I find a flight that does not appear on searches on their site but is available on Flight Finder in Skyteam website, would I be able to call Korean Air to book that flight? And does Korean Air charge a booking fee if I call in? Thank you for your advice!
Jenny, everyone doesn’t need a SKYPASS account, however, you must submit the family paperwork and proof of relationship to redeem your miles for them. If you don’t find availability online you should absolutely call, however, flight finder on the SkyTeam website doesn’t show availability. So, while you may see a flight on the site, it doesn’t mean you can use miles for that flight as each flight is capacity controlled. As for phone booking fees, there are none.
When booking an award flight from MSY to ICN in business how does KE calculate the award ticket. Would the positioning flight segment be priced separately or would that be included into the 62,500 each way for a total of 125,000. Thanks in advance
You’d pay 140k round-trip as it is a SkyTeam award, which is priced higher than an off-peak Korean only metal award at 125k
While this is great resource, there are many long layovers from Seattle to Hawaii. Hopefully this changes soon in the near future.
Great resource, thanks! Would I just transfer points from the Chase Sapphire Reserve to Korean Airlines to book tickets?
You got it.
Also, do I earn any Skypass points from using the transferred points from Chase sapphire?
Not quite sure what you mean — you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Korean SKYPASS at a ratio of 1:1. I don’t know what you mean by “earn Skypass points”.
I wasn’t sure what I meant either. Thanks for the quick reply. Looks like I’ve had to add my family members to the skypass. Thank you!
I wasn’t sure what I meant either. Thanks for the quick reply. Looks like I’ve had to add my family members to the skypass. With Southwest airline flying to Hawaii as one of its destinations in 2018, do you think it would affect the 25k points here?
I highly doubt anything Southwest does will impact Korean.
I have conducted multiple searches with much success on Korean Air’s Skypass website. I’m able to select the flights that I want (flying Detroit to Maui at the end of March) and I’m able to click “calculate.” It correctly amounts to 50K points for myself and my husband, which to me, means it’s available. I’m much too afraid to actually transfer my chase UR points to Korean Air prior to being certain there are available seats, so I’ve called the customer service line to reserve the itinerary that shows in the results. They continue to tell me there is nothing available, even though I’m seeing the flights right in front of me. Am I out of luck? What gives?
Taylor, send me an email: howie_at_AWardWallet and I’ll take a look. If you see it on Korean’s website I’d feel confident that it is there.
I’ve had that happen too. It seems the website and actually call SkyPass don’t match up in many circumstances.
Hi Howie,
My wife and I just used a companion ticket to LAX and moved my chase points to get two tickets to HNL to match our planned dates of travel just as you had described! The skypass tickets are operated through Delta, I don’t see an option to pick my seats, will that not be available until check in? Also as silver medallion, would I be able to use that even though it’s a korean air ticket operated by delta? Any advice will help, thanks!
Bryan, you can call Korean to get your Delta confirmation # or you can actually call Delta to get your confirmation as well. Additionally, you can center your SkyMiles number on the ticket and then make a complimentary seat selection. The fact that Korean issued the ticket will have no impact on your ability to do this. Enjoy the trip!
hi, it does not allow me to check booking from SFO to Honolulu, can you help.
You might try searching SFO-LAX-HNL instead, which is a route Delta would operate.
Thanks for the excellent tutorial. Here is my problem: I need to get to Hawaii in late July- am I out of luck for using award points? Hopeful for Southwest avails, but don’t want to put all my eggs in that basket. Any help would be appreciated!
You’re not (necessarily), but you need to look at Award availability and see if what is available.
Yes, that’s where I went before. It makes you pick a specific date, I guess I thought you were saying this search allowed you to search multiple dates or s range of dates?
Yes, you pick a date but it shows you a month of availability on the route.
It seems the Award Seat Availability search has changed unless I’m missing something. It is still making me choose a particular date for departure and return so it’s only searching 1 date and it doesn’t have the note about 361 days underneath like your screenshot shows. Am I missing something?
Go here to search Award Seat Availability: https://www.koreanair.com/global/en/skypass/view-bonus-seat.html
I tried booking through korean air site as above (award booking), however, no flights show up for me. I’m flying out of NYC area and chose JFK and LGA and nothing shows. Trying to get to hawaii. Any advise?
If you can’t find availability, search segment by segment. Perhaps from LAX, DTW, ATL, MSP or SLC — Find a flight from a hub and then piece together your itinerary.
Trying to book from ORD- KOA Jan 29th to Feb 3rd. Shows 45k on Delta but won’t show on Korean’s site. What gives?
Probably just a bug on their site. Give them a call. Their agents are quite competent and pleasant.
I am trying to search for flights from Green Bay, WI to Honolulu through Korean Air Skypass miles from transferring SPG. Every time that I search, it says “We are unable to find recommendations for your search. You can search more detailed skyteam flight schedule through Flight Finder menu in Skyteam website (Open in new window). You will be redirected to the search page to modify search criteria and view flight result again.” Am I doing something wrong? Can Korean Air only be booked out of large cities? Please let me know. Thanks!
Korean miles can be used on routes where Delta operates flights. I would recommend starting your search for destinations Delta serves non-stop from Honolulu. A good start is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_K._Inouye_International_Airport#Passenger — find Delta and pick those airports. Once you find availability piece together the flight from that airport to Green Bay.
Thank you, Howie! I’ll check it out.
I’m having the same issue looking for a flight on the SKYPASS rewards page and finding no results return for flights from SEA to HNL. Looking to fly Aug 15-Aug 20. Why is that? It says “Schedule not found. Please check your route and search date”
Based on a few searches I did it looks like there is no award availability for Korean to book. While Delta is offering up seats with miles, the seats are only up for their own members at a premium with SkyMiles.
My experience was NOT like that in the tutorial. I joined the club but every time I entered an itinerary it alerted me that I would have to fly through Seoul. Even fron LAX to Hawaii!
Dianne, are you sure you were stepping through the SkyTeam/partner award search pages?
I am trying to search for flights from Albuquerque to Kauai through Korean Air Skypass miles from transferring Chase UR. Every time that I search, it says “We are unable to find recommendations for your search.
You can search more detailed skyteam flight schedule through Flight Finder menue in Skyteam website (Open in new window) .
You will be redirected to the search page to modify search criteria and view flight result again.”. Am I doing something wrong? Please let me know. Thanks!
When I tried booking I couldn’t complete the process so I had to call customer service and they have to call you back. Anyways there was no availability whatsoever for flights to Hawaii in all of 2017. I was calling in January. So while this sounds great. There simply is no availability.
I’m not sure on what dates and how many people you were looking to travel with, but I’ve been able to find award available just today with a little flexibility.
KE’s program is pretty clutch, just wish the AS flights to Hawaii were 25k like DL.
Awesome! Keep the tips on redeeming miles coming. I’m doing great at earning them; just not sure I’m redeeming them at their fullest potential. Award wallet rocks!!
The spouse rule is funny. My wife has her maiden name for work purposes. Seems like bureaucracy to have to send in marriage certificates!
I’ve never tried using Korean miles before, but your article has inspired me to try next time I have a Star Alliance award to book. Thank you!
I certainly hope you don’t try to book a Star Alliance award with Korean miles as they’re a member of SkyTeam. Feel free to always reach out to our Award Booking Experts at https://awardwallet.com/awardBooking/add
great stuff!
That spouse clause concerns me. We are common law, but my partner and I aren’t “legally” spouses. Would hate to lose miles over a technicality.
I had to email over a copy of my marriage license, so I suspect you’d have a problem.
Wow, hadn’t realized that… Still, an easy work around would be to just book tickets from separate accounts. Sure you’d be on different PNRs, but those can always be linked. I’ve done that many times. And if transferring points from, say Chase, the only restriction on transferring points is having the same address.
A great value. I really dig their booking system and flexibility.
Good info – would love to try Korean air soon!
thank you for the info
Love that you can book Hawaii on DL for 25k round trip. Nice that it’s online now, too.
My favourite potential redemption
With so many Chase UR this could be helpful for getting us to Asia.
Thanks, I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this program.
Seems like this would be a great use of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. Thanks for the great info.
Any credit card with from Korean Air with sign up bonuses offered in US?!
Yes, through U.S. Bank: https://www.skypassvisa.com
It’s really unfortunate KE doesn’t allow one-way tickets for Skyteam award tickets.
One-way award tickets would have been very sweet.
Very nice info, will be useful when i go to asia next time
Had I not found this, I would have continued to think it was impossible to book partner awards on Korean. Thank you for putting up this clear post!
Carrier imposed surcharges seem steep for partners. $250 on Delta for economy class to Europe. Tough to justify when that is half the rate of a coach ticket nowadays. $600 ish for a Delta One ticket plus 80k is not too bad for a 3-5k seat.
Definitely interesting and something to consider – always wanted to fly Korean first class!
Got to second the above comment. Looks like it’s time to take a closer look at sky miles for use on Korean!
Wow, what a great step by step Tutorial in this article for redeeming. May have to take a closer look now.
I have been looking into this program for a while. Perhaps next year.
Thanks, I’ve been wanting to look more into Skypass miles.
This is one of the few programs I haven’t flown actually, though I’ve always heard great things. The stars just haven’t aligned as of yet.
Excellent resource!! Have seen the decent reward charts from Korean but have never managed to jump in…