{"id":23404,"date":"2018-05-10T03:05:04","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T07:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/?p=23404"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T13:17:44","slug":"use-global-upgrades-korean-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/news\/delta-skymiles\/use-global-upgrades-korean-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta Updates Earning with Korean Air and Use of Global Upgrade Certificates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/news.delta.com\/delta-and-korean-air-launch-world-class-joint-venture-partnership\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">finalizing its joint venture with Korean Air<\/a>, Delta has published its new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.delta.com\/content\/www\/en_US\/skymiles\/how-to-earn-miles\/airline-partners.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">earning chart for Korean Air<\/a> and a host of other benefits. Effective May 1, 2018, SkyMiles members flying with Korean Air will benefit from the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Improved earning rates when flying Korean Air<\/li>\n<li>Earn MQM and <a href=\"\/airlines\/delta-skymiles\/medallion-qualification-dollar\/\">MQD\u2019s<\/a> when flying Korean Air marketed flights<\/li>\n<li>Diamond Medallion Members can use their Global Upgrade Certificates on Delta-marketed Korean Air operated flights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span id=\"Earning_SkyMiles_RDMs_MQMs_and_MQDs\">Earning SkyMiles (RDMs), MQMs, and MQDs<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Looking at the award chart below, the earnings are quite generous across the board. Flying First or pricier Business class tickets will earn you 300% or 200% miles respectively, and both will earn you 200% MQM\u2019s. The MQD earning rates are also pretty good, with First class fares earning 60% and Business class fares earning 40%.<\/p>\n<p>On the Economy side, things are a still a little generous on the SkyMiles and MQD front, although deeply discounted Economy fares still earn 100% MQMs.<\/p>\n<p><img data-aspectratio=\"1002\/940\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23405 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SkyMiles-Earning-Chart-Korean-Air-May-1-2018.png\" alt=\"SkyMiles Earning Chart - Korean Air May 1 2018\" width=\"1002\" height=\"940\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SkyMiles-Earning-Chart-Korean-Air-May-1-2018.png 1002w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/SkyMiles-Earning-Chart-Korean-Air-May-1-2018-300x281.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1002px) 100vw, 1002px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Global_Upgrades\">Global Upgrades<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Delta Diamond Medallion Members can now use their Global Upgrade Certificates subject to the following restrictions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can not use your certificate to upgrade to Korean Air First class<\/li>\n<li>You can only upgrade Y, B, and M class Economy fares to Business class<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The potential to use global certificates is a nice perk, but a costly one. Full Fare Economy ticket fares are often very expensive, and in some cases are more expensive than a deeply discounted Business class fares. The best value here is for a business traveler who's company will only purchase economy fares, regardless of the price\/fare class.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Our_Take\">Our Take<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>By far the biggest positive out of the new relationship is the MQM and miles earning rates, especially on the cheaper fares. The MQD earning is a welcome addition, and if you fly First or Business you can earn a substantial amount of MQD\u2019s. The ability to use Global Upgrade Certificates is a welcome bonus, although considering the restrictions using them on Korean Air would in most cases represent a poor value.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/rapidtravelchai.boardingarea.com\/korean-air-mqms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rapid Travel Chai<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"ftoc\"><div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_light_blue no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Page Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#Earning_SkyMiles_RDMs_MQMs_and_MQDs\">Earning SkyMiles (RDMs), MQMs, and MQDs<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Global_Upgrades\">Global Upgrades<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Our_Take\">Our Take<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After finalizing its joint venture with Korean Air, Delta has published its new earning chart for Korean Air and a host of other benefits. Effective May 1, 2018, SkyMiles members flying with Korean Air are getting a significant upgrade in benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":7272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12069],"tags":[12763],"coauthors":[36383],"class_list":["post-23404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-delta-skymiles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23404"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255144,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23404\/revisions\/255144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23404"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}