SKYPASS - Korean Air
Some of the different airlines that are partnered with Korean Air include Aeroflot, China Airlines, Delta, China Southern, Saudia, Czech Airlines, and a number of others. Members of this program will also be able to take advantage of the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. The credit card provides its possessors a great offer to earn up to 35,000 points as a sign-up bonus. There are a lot of great things about this program, and it is important that you take the time to look into some of them. The more time you spend researching this program, the more you will be convinced that it’s right for you overall.
- Pros
- Hold policy ❹
- Lap children policy ❸
- Miles expire in 10 years!
- Two stopovers permitted
- Discounted off peak awards
- Miles redemption for lounge ❶
- High availability on Korean Air
- Good number of partner airlines
- Great prices on premium classes
- Most airlines can be booked online
- Cons
- Taxes are not shown ❻
- Booking tool is glitchy
- Most airlines impose fuel surcharge
- Fees & Charges
- Cancellation fee ❺$9
- Change award fee ❷$26
- Expiration: Miles expire 120 months since last activity.
- For some programs, an activity is any accrual of miles, crediting a flight, transfering or purchasing miles. For others, spending activities such as redeeming or donating points counts as an activity.
- ❶ Miles can be redeemed for lounge access and extra luggage
- ❷ Award tickets can only be changed within the same region, class and season of travel
- ❸ Lap children under the age of two require 10 percent of the miles of an adult award ticket
- ❹ You can reserve seats without having enough SKYPASS miles in your account. If you plan to use Ultimate Rewards points, you can reserve seats before transferring them.
- ❺ Korean Air's SKYPASS has announced that they will be adding some change and cancellation fees as of August 1, 2017. Reissuing an international award will cost 30,000KRW ~ about USD 26. Refunding an award ticket will cost 500 miles for a domestic flight, or 3,000 miles for an international flight, if the refund is issued within one year from the date of issue of the award ticket Refunding an award ticket more than a year from the date of issue, which no one should do, will cost 3,000 miles for a domestic flight, or 10,000 miles for an international flight.
- ❻ You can't see amount of taxes until you have miles in your account
Transfer Partners
Transfer time is what is reported by the transfer programs, supplemented by our own research. However, actual time to transfer is often highly variable.
Airlines and Fuel Surcharge
This table will show you the partner airlines can be booked online and those which impose fuel surcharge.
Airline |
Online Booking |
Fuel Surcharge |
Alliance |
|---|---|---|---|
Aerolíneas Argentinas
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
AeroMexico
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Delta Air Lines
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Japan Airlines
|
|
|
oneworld®
|
Vietnam Airlines
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
XiamenAir
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Aeroflot
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Air Europa
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Air France
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Alitalia
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
China Airlines
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
China Eastern Airlines
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
China Southern Airlines
|
|
|
No alliance
|
Czech Airlines
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Airline |
Online Booking |
Fuel Surcharge |
Alliance |
|---|---|---|---|
Garuda Indonesia
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Kenya Airways
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
KLM Royal Dutch
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Korean Air
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
MEA
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Saudia Airlines
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
TAROM
|
|
|
SkyTeam
|
Alaska Airlines
|
|
|
No alliance
|
GOL
|
|
|
No alliance
|
Hawaiian Airlines
|
|
|
No alliance
|
Jet Airways
|
|
|
No alliance
|
Emirates
|
|
|
No alliance
|
Etihad Airways
|
|
|
No alliance
|
Program Review
Korean Air is the largest airline and flag carrier of South Korea based on its fleet size, international destinations, and international flights. The airline’s global headquarters are located in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Korea Air was founded as Korean National Airlines in 1946. After several years of service and expansion, the airline was fully privatized in 1969. Korean Air's international passenger division and related subsidiary cargo division together serve 127 cities in 44 countries, while its domestic division serves 12 destinations.
It is among the top 20 airlines in the world in terms of passengers carried and is also the top-ranked international cargo airline. SKYPASS, which is Korean Air’s rewards program, offers its members the opportunity to earn points/miles that can be redeemed for award flights, cabin upgrades, hotel bookings, and car rentals. This program is worth looking into for those who fly with Korean Air or one of their partner airlines regularly or even semi-regularly.
SKYPASS Program
The SKYPASS Program, which is run by Korean Air, allows its members to book award flights on SkyTeam Alliance members and several non-alliance partners as well. It is extremely easy to earn miles with this program, which is why it has become so popular over the years. Some of the different partners of Korean Air include Aeroflot, China Airlines, Saudia, XiamenAir, and many others. While this program is free to join, there are different Elite levels that require a certain number of points to become a part of.
Earning SKYPASS Points
A great reason to fly Korean Air is its first-class award availability. However, with regular tickets, you can still earn points for travel on Korean Air and its partner airlines. Miles earned are determined by the route and booking class of each ticket. Here is the mileage chart for North America to give you an idea of distance traveled. While there is no shortage of Korean Air co-branded credit cards, unfortunately, most of them are from Korean and Japanese banks. It is very easy to earn Ultimate Rewards points using one of the six cards that this airline offers, including the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Freedom card, Chase Freedom Unlimited Card, Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, and the Ink Cash Business Credit Card. You will need to keep in mind that mileage accrual is not available when traveling via mileage award ticket, with infants (2 years of age and under), with discounted tickets using special fare conditions, and flights taken prior to SKYPASS membership enrollment. You can visit the official Korean Air website to look at charts for mileage accrual per route and rates per class.
Redeeming Mileage Points
The airline provides its members who travel with family (up to 5 persons) with an option to choose a special "family plan". It's important to list family members who qualify for the plan: spouse, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, parents-in-law, daughters-in-law, and sons-in-law.
First of all, you have to go through the registration process, consisting of submitting an online application and providing the necessary documents (ID, birth and marriage certificates, resident registration, etc.). You're welcome to send the documents at engskypass@koreanair.com or via fax/snail mail.
The process of reviewing your application takes from 48 to 72 hours. Make sure you've added a hand-written signature on the application form - otherwise, they will not approve it.
When you consider booking flights on Korean Air SKYPASS, be prepared to go through a difficult process that consists of:
- The necessity to call in to book an award flight with a partner airline.
- The impossibility to find the partner availability on the Korean Air website - you'll have to search it on other official websites.
- The requirement to send all the documentation copies of each family member, when applying for booking award tickets.
Regardless of the process's difficulty and length, these efforts are definitely worth it. After completing all the necessary steps, you'll have a great Korean Air's redemption rates.
Routing Rules
There are some routing rules you will need to know about as a SKYPASS member, including that just one stopover and one open-jaw destination is allowed, and only roundtrips (on partner airlines), and 2 connections per direction.
Booking Fees & Charges
There are some fees that you might have to pay when flying with Korean Air, including a refund penalty that varies depending on the time of cancellation. There is also a $26 USD fee for reissuing an international award. Refunding an award ticket will cost 500 miles for a domestic flight, or 3,000 miles for an international flight.
Redeem on Upgrades
A bonus award — ticket or upgrade — can be issued through the official Korean Air website, service center or one of their local branch offices. When you apply for bonus award at one of this airline’s local branch offices, you must submit proper redemption form along with your picture ID.
Elite Levels
The Elite levels for Korean air include Elite (Morning Calm Club), Elite Plus (Morning Calm Premium Club), and Elite Plus (Million Miller Club). The Morning Calm Club requires 50,000 or more miles on Korean Air or 40 qualifying flights on Korean Air. The Morning Calm Premium Club requires that you have 500,000 miles or more on Korean Air and/or other SkyTeam Alliance airlines. The Million Miller Club level requires 1 million miles or more on Korean Air and/or other SkyTeam Alliance airlines.
Benefits of Korean Air SKYPASS Program
There are a lot of benefits to consider when looking into the SKYPASS rewards program, including the fact that there is excellent award availability on Korean Air-operated flights. There are also some very reasonable award prices across both economy and premium classes. The routing rules are also very lax for this airline, making it very easy to use your points for award flights and other things you may want.
News
Korean Air SkyPass, a member of the SkyTeam alliance, will cease being an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner as of August 25, 2018.