[2023.2 Update] Three years after first announcing the changes, Korean Air has finally released the detailed overhaul of its mileage program. All of the changes had originally been scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2023, but the airline quickly reversed itself and suspended the implementation. If you are planning to book flights with Korean Air miles in the near term, it is worth paying attention to these changes and to the eventual implementation timeline.

According to the announcement, the rules for earning miles and elite frequent-flyer status will remain unchanged for now. Korean Air will increase award-seat availability, offer discounts on award tickets, provide more ways to use miles (such as inflight duty-free shopping and on Jin Air), and continue to allow Cash+Miles payments.

The changes that had been scheduled to take effect on April 1 were as follows: official link

  • Changes to mileage earning from flights: premium cabins would earn more miles, while economy would remain unchanged or earn less.
  • The miles required for award tickets would change from the current zone-based pricing to distance-based pricing, with separate off-peak and peak pricing (official explanation). Under the new chart, short-haul routes would require fewer or the same number of miles, while long-haul premium-cabin awards would increase substantially. For example, after the change, JFK-ICN business class in off-peak season would cost 90,000 miles, versus just 62,500 before the change.
  • Partner-airline changes: award pricing would be calculated by adding up the miles required for each individual segment actually flown, rather than pricing based on origin and destination regions. Partner awards would also become bookable as one-way tickets. In addition, award tickets could later be partially refunded based on the portions already flown. SkyTeam round-the-world tickets would be eliminated.
  • Other changes: revisions to elite-status qualification, credit-card-related changes, and Cash+Miles redemption changes. I will not go through them one by one here, since they generally are not very relevant unless you are based in Korea.

Mileage Program Changes

[2019.12 Update] Korean Air miles were set to undergo major changes across 2020, 2021, and 2022. If you have a large balance of Korean Air miles, or are hoping to book Korean Air premium cabins, you should pay close attention. Here is the breakdown:

Cash+Miles redemptions would be introduced in November 2020: generally speaking, this type of redemption is rarely a great deal. Either the cash fare gets used as the baseline and the miles are valued at about 1 cent each, or the award price gets used as the baseline and you are effectively buying miles at around 2 c/p with cash. That is just speculation, though.

Mileage earning would be adjusted in April 2021: put simply, the program would become more revenue-focused. Premium cabins would earn more miles, while economy would earn based on different discounted fare classes.

Award pricing would be adjusted in April 2021: mileage requirements would decrease on 64 routes, increase on 49, and stay the same on 12. According to one time a mile, Korean Air award pricing would become distance based. Specifically:

  • A distance of 500-999 miles costs 37,500 miles
  • A distance of 1,000-1,499 miles costs 45,000 miles
  • A distance of 1,500-1,999 miles costs 52,500 miles
  • A distance of 2,000-2,999 miles costs 67,500 miles
  • A distance of 3,000-3,999 miles costs 82,000 miles
  • A distance of 4,000-4,999 miles costs 97,500 miles
  • A distance of 5,000-6,499 miles costs 120,000 miles
  • A distance of 6,500-9,999 miles costs 135,000 miles

First class between Korea and the U.S. would be massively devalued: it currently costs only 80,000 miles, but after the change it would require 120,000-135,000. Also note that if this works like BA's purely distance-based redemption model, connecting itineraries would require adding up the distance of each flown segment. That means awards involving connections could require far more miles and become very poor value. After the change, some short-haul awards would cost fewer miles, while long-haul international routes would require substantially more. In short, this is a major devaluation. If you still have a large stash of miles from when UR transferred to Korean Air, or if you are planning to transfer Marriott points to Korean Air for an award, I strongly recommend doing so before April 2021. To be fair, Korean Air did at least give very advance notice of these changes.

A new elite tier would arrive in February 2022: unless you are a dedicated Korean Air flyer, this probably does not matter much.

Official announcement for these changes: https://www.koreanair.com/content/koreanair-mobile/global/en/notice/2019_12_SKYPASS.html

KE will eliminate the free stopover feature on award tickets for flights departing from or arriving in Korea on July 1, 2020. The very generous era of getting one stopover even on a one-way award is coming to an end. If you book an award with a stopover, the miles required will be recalculated. At this point, Alaska Airlines seems to be the only airline that still allows a one-way stopover, though because of various partner restrictions this perk is not always easy to use well.

About Korean Air

Korean Air (IATA code: KE) is the flag carrier of South Korea. Founded in 1969, it is also the country's largest airline. Korean Air is one of the founding members of SkyTeam. Its international hub is Incheon International Airport (airport code ICN). Its North American destinations include Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Honolulu (HNL), Houston (IAH), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Washington, D.C. (IAD).

Screenshot 2016-03-23 15.20.32

Its Greater China destinations include Beijing, Changsha, Dalian, Guiyang, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hefei, Hong Kong, Jinan, Kunming, Mudanjiang, Nanning, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Weihai, Wuhan, Xi'an, Xiamen, Yanji, Zhengzhou, Macau, Kaohsiung, Taipei, and Taichung.

Because Korean Air is a SkyTeam member, its miles can be redeemed for flights on other SkyTeam airlines such as Delta Air Lines (DL), Air France (AF), China Eastern (MU), China Southern (CZ), XiamenAir (MF), China Airlines (CI), and Korean Air (KE), among others. Korean Air also has its own non-alliance partners, including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines (AA), Emirates (EK), Etihad Airways (EY), GOL, Jet Airways, and Hawaiian Airlines (HI). AA is basically just a token partner here: only the AA DFW-ICN route can earn KE miles, and KE miles cannot be used to redeem AA flights.

KE membership registration link: https://kr.koreanair.com/global/en/profile/registration-page.html#register

Ways to earn miles

  • Earn by flying. Only flights operated by SkyTeam airlines can earn KE miles. Although Delta is also a SkyTeam member, Delta and Korean Air have had a long, unfriendly relationship, so the earning chart is pretty ugly: Screenshot 2016-03-23 15.45.34

    Earning rates across SkyTeam carriers are generally not high. Even on Korean Air flights, crediting to KE often does not reach 100%, so it is hard to build up a large KE mileage balance by flying alone.

  • Since August of last year, SPG points can also be transferred to KE miles at a ratio of 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 KE miles. For people who do not travel for work, the main way to earn SPG points was through the AMEX SPG credit card. (SPG has now been folded into the Marriott points system, and Marriott points have become the only transfer source for KE miles.)
  • US Bank issues three Korean Air co-branded cards: the SKYPASS Visa Signature® Card (some people receive a targeted offer of 40,000 KE miles after spending 2,500 in three months), the SkyBlue SKYPASS Visa® Card, and the SKYPASS Visa Classic® Card. Other than targeted offers, these are generally not great choices. Given US Bank’s history of downgrading applicants, those without a solid credit history should be cautious about applying for their cards.

Award rules and award charts

Korean Air mileage redemptions fall into three categories: redeeming for Korean Air flights, for SkyTeam flights, and for non-alliance partner flights. The rules are as follows:

Sweet spot #1: redeeming Korean Air First Class

Awards on Korean Air’s own flights can be booked directly online. Just open this link, check "Award Booking" as shown in the image below, and then log in to your account:

IMG_0617

Between China and the U.S., one-way off-peak pricing is 35,000/62,500/80,000, while peak-season pricing is 52,500/92,500/120,000. Fortunately, the peak season between China and the U.S. is not too long; see this link for the specific dates. The off-peak pricing in premium cabins is quite generous, especially First Class, which can only be booked with Korean Air’s own miles. Korean Air’s First Class product is called Kosmo Suite. Below is the latest Kosmo Suite 2.0 (image from the official website):

Screenshot 2016-03-25 09.23.56

Aircraft equipped with Kosmo Suite 2.0 include Korean Air’s newest Boeing 747-8i. Routes operated by this aircraft include Seoul–San Francisco and Seoul–New York. When redeeming a KE one-way award back to Asia, you can also add a free stopover in Seoul. If you enjoy shopping in Korea, that is a nice bonus. Below is an example of an award with a stopover (you can find it by using Multiple destination on the Award Booking page):

Screenshot 2016-03-25 09.40.31

As mentioned above, Korean Air First Class can only be booked with Korean Air’s own miles. As for Business Class and Economy, Korean Air is also very stingy with partner award space: on each flight, Korean Air releases only one Business Class award seat and two Economy award seats to partners. So if you use Delta or Air France miles to book Korean Air flights, your date options are much more limited. But if you redeem with Korean Air miles, you will find far more award availability—on some 747-8i routes, you can even find four First Class seats available (out of only six total First Class seats). KE is quite generous with award space for its own members.

Korean Air miles are also one of the few major mileage currencies that can book China Southern transpacific First Class (yes, the A380 sparkling wine meme) and China Eastern transpacific First Class (the 77W double bed!), but a China–U.S. First Class round-trip costs 200,000 miles + YQ, so booking Korean Air’s own First Class is usually the better deal.

Sweet spot #2: redeeming Delta round-trip awards to Hawaii

Screenshot 2016-03-21 14.48.24

In the SkyTeam award chart, the North America region covers a surprisingly large area, including the continental U.S. and Hawaii. That means round-trip awards between the continental U.S. and Hawaii cost only 25,000/45,000 miles (economy/business). This is one of the best sweet spots for this route, especially for those based on the U.S. East Coast! Delta’s economy and business class products are also among the better ones in North America, though of course they are not really comparable to many Asian carriers. Note that because this is the SkyTeam award chart, this pricing only works for Delta flights, not Alaska Airlines flights. Redeeming for Alaska Airlines round-trip flights to Hawaii costs 30,000/60,000 miles (economy/business). For comparison, using UA or AC miles for flights from the mainland to Hawaii costs 40,000 miles for just a one-way business-class ticket, so 45,000 KE miles for round-trip business class is quite generous.

【12/30 update】You can now book SkyTeam partner flights on the official website! First go to the booking link, and you will see the dialog box below. Make sure to check “Award Booking” in the red box:

Then select “SkyTeam Award” in the red box shown below:

Note that this only works for SkyTeam partner flights, and one-way awards are not allowed. After entering your departure and arrival airports and dates, you will see the following screen:

Then select your flights and click “Calculate” below to see the required miles and taxes/fees:

With this, you can redeem 25,000 miles for a round-trip flight between the continental U.S. and Hawaii!

If you use the Multi-City option, you can even build an itinerary with a stopover. For example, when flying from New York to Hawaii, you could also stop by Los Angeles for a visit:

Sweet Spot 3: Round-Trip Business Class Between the U.S. and Europe

KE miles can be used for SkyTeam round-trip awards between the U.S. and Europe for just 50,000/80,000 miles (economy/business), and you also get one stopover and one open jaw. The value is so good that only Air France promo awards are really comparable. By comparison, UA charges 60,000/115,000 for its own flights and 60,000/140,000 for Star Alliance awards; AA charges 40,000/100,000 in off-peak season; ANA charges 55,000/88,000; Delta charges 60,000/125,000; and AC charges 60,000/110,000. However, sometimes there can be high YQ, so whether this is a good deal depends on your own valuation.

When searching U.S.-Europe awards on the website, you may sometimes see options connecting in Asia. Do not choose those, because doing so will trigger an error. There is no calendar search function on the official website, so it is recommended to search award space on the Delta, Air France, or AS website first. If all of them show availability, then you should be able to book it on Korean Air’s website.

Sweet Spot 4: Round-Trip Travel Within Greater China

Screenshot 2016-03-23 15.03.11

Round-trip travel within Greater China (including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) costs only 20,000/25,000/30,000 miles (economy/business/first). Against the backdrop of Aeroplan’s devaluation, this is one of the best redemption options for travel within Greater China. Eligible airlines include China Eastern, China Southern, XiamenAir, and China Airlines, giving you very broad route coverage. You also get one stopover and one open jaw, and domestic flights do not have YQ. This is especially useful for those planning to travel around China while visiting home. There is no calendar search function on the official website, so it is recommended to search award space on the Delta, Air France, or AS website first. If all of them show availability, then you should be able to book it on Korean Air’s website.

How to Book Awards for Family Members Using Korean Air Miles

1. Search for award space on Delta’s website, then verify each segment on Air France’s website (Air France usually does not show East Coast-to-Hawaii space, so it is best to search segment by segment).
2. Call Korean Air reservations at (800) 438-5000. It is best to call the China service center during China business hours (Beijing time 7:00 to 19:00). Feed the agent the flights segment by segment, then ask the agent to hold the award and write down the confirmation number. Just like AA, awards can be held for up to five days.
3. Then fill out the form online. If you are issuing a ticket for an immediate family member, remember to send the required proof of relationship together with the form to [email protected], and include the confirmation number.
4. At the same time, you can start transferring points. UR transfers instantly, while SPG transfers usually take about 3-5 days, depending on whether a weekend is involved. Since KE award tickets can be held for five days, you can wait until the transferred points post before moving to the next step.
5. Call Korean Air reservations again to finalize ticketing.

Related Credit Cards

Because KE miles are a Marriott transfer partner, there are still plenty of ways to generate the points needed. Here are some relevant credit cards to consider:

In the next post in our Korean Air miles series, we will continue with more sweet spots and family-related redemption rules, so stay tuned.