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Michael fell in love with points and miles back in 2014 and since then has built up a vast knowledge of award programs and has striven to show readers how to receive the maximum value when using their...
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South Korea
Korean Air SKYPASS
Incheon International Airport, Gimpo International Airport
Korean Air is one of the 2 major South Korean airlines, the other being Asiana Airlines.
The airline operates out of 2 hubs in Incheon International Airport and Gimpo International Airport, and is a founding member of the SkyTeam Alliance.
Korean Air’s customer service and hard product typically receive positive reviews and are one of the many reasons U.S. travelers utilize the program. It also helps that Korean Air business class and first class are great ways to fly across the Pacific.
Members in the SKYPASS program earn elite status in 2 ways:
Flying a certain number of miles on either Korean Air or a SkyTeam partner airline flight.
Flying a certain number of segments, all of which must be on Korean Air.
With its SkyTeam membership, customers with Korean Air miles can not only book a Korean Air award flight, but can also book an award flight on a SkyTeam partner like Delta.
Frequent flyer members can also use miles towards other items like car rentals and hotel stays, but you’ll typically receive the most value by using your miles to book an award flight.
Bottom Line: All in all, the SKYPASS program is great to use if you’re interested in leveraging the SkyTeam network or flying in a Korean Air premium cabin.
Joining SKYPASS
Like most airline programs, the Korean Air frequent flyer program is free. Simply complete this application and you’ll be ready to go.
With a SKYPASS membership, you’ll be able to earn and redeem miles for an award flight, among other program benefits.
How to Sign in to Your SKYPASS Account
You’ll head to koreanair.com and fill in your user ID or SKYPASS number and password to log in to your account.
Korean Air login screen. Image Credit: koreanair.com
Hot Tip: Like many other airline search engines, Korean Air requires you to sign in to your account to search for Korean Air or SkyTeam award availability.
Viewing Your Account Activity
If you want to check out your account activity, follow these steps:
Log in to your account
Click My Dashboard at the top right
Click View Mileage Details
Click View Mileage Details again
Select the search period that you want
Points Expiration
Mileage earned in the SKYPASS program on or after July 1, 2008, is valid for 10 years and will expire if the miles are not used. Mileage earned on or before June 30, 2008 will not expire.
The 10-year mileage expiration is based on the date of the Korean Air flight taken, except for flights with partner airlines — this validity period is based on the date the miles posted to the member’s account.
Korean Air SKYPASS Program
SKYPASS Elite Status
Korean Air elite member status. Image Credit: koreanair.com.
Members in the SKYPASS program have 3 tiers of elite status: Morning Calm Club, Morning Calm Premium Club, and Million Miler Club.
Morning Calm Club: The lowest elite tier available in the Korean Air program comes with the following perks:
Additional checked baggage allowance
Access to the Korean Air Prestige Class lounge (up to 4 times over 2 years)
Morning Calm Premium Club: SKYPASS middle elite tier where members receive these benefits:
All Morning Club benefits plus:
Off-peak mileage redemption pricing during peak season dates
Million Miler Club: The highest elite tier in the program provides its members with the following perks:
All Morning Club Premium Club benefits plus:
Waived award ticket change fees
Special gift
Bottom Line: Korean Air offers limited benefits to elite members, all of which can be found on the SKYPASS Benefits page.
Value of SKYPASS Elite Status
The Korean Air program is pretty slim in terms of elite benefits, even at the top tier.
What you need to ask yourself is if the benefits offered align with what’s most important to you when you travel.
If you decide elite status within the SKYPASS program makes sense, I’d recommend focusing on the Morning Calm Premium Club tier to open up off-peak pricing during peak travel dates.
Bottom Line: All in all, you’ll likely be able to find more value with elite status in another program.
Earning SKYPASS Elite Status
Korean Air elite tier qualification. Image Credit: koreanair.com.
The SKYPASS program keeps it simple in the way that elite status is earned in the program.
Korean Air uses a mileage or segment qualification for its lowest tier, and then only uses a mileage requirement for its 2 upper tiers.
What makes the upper tiers unique is that you earn lifetime status once you fly the required number of miles.
In the case of Morning Calm Premium Club (middle tier), members earn lifetime status after flying 500,000 miles on Korean Air and/or a SkyTeam partner airline.
For the Korean Air Million Miler Club, members qualify for lifetime status after flying 1 million miles on Korean Air and/or a SkyTeam partner airline.
In addition to earning elite status by flying, Korean Air credit cards also provide an avenue toward qualifying for elite status.
Both the personal and business credit cards earn miles that count toward Morning Calm Club status, but the 2 upper elite tiers don’t let you qualify in this way.
Bottom Line: Members can earn elite status by flying a certain number of miles or segments, or through the miles that you can earn from credit card spending.
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How to Earn Korean Air Miles
Image Credit: Ehsan Haque/Upgraded Points
After breaking off its partnership with Chase Ultimate Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy, Korean Air has no transfer partnerships left.
While it can be challenging to earn SKYPASS miles relative to other programs, there are still a number of ways to accumulate them for your next redemption.
Earning Miles Through Flying
The SKYPASS program determines the amount of miles that you earn for each flight based on the distance and the type of ticket that you book.
For example, a “W” economy ticket for a flight from Washington (IAD) to Seoul (ICN) will earn 6,944 Korean Air miles.
Korean Air provides a Mileage Accrual Chart for all of the routes that it flies. In addition, you can check out the Mileage Accrual Rate Class to see the earnings multiple for the ticket that you book.
SkyTeam partner airlines have a separate earning chart that you’ll find by scrolling down on the Mileage Accrual Chart page.
When you click on each airline partner, Korean Air will provide you with the earning rate based on the ticket class that you book.
Korean Air SkyTeam Partner Airlines earning chart. Image Credit: koreanair.com.
In addition to SkyTeam partners, Korean Air also has individual partnerships with non-SkyTeam partners.
The earning rates for airlines in this group can also be found by scrolling down the Mileage Accrual Chart page.
Korean Air Other Affiliated Carriers earning chart. Image Credit: koreanair.com.
Earn Miles With Credit Cards
US Bank has several personal and 1 business credit card as part of its co-branded partnership with Korean Air. These cards can hlpe you earn points on everyday spending.
Earning Bonus Miles in Other Ways
With Korean Air being a major airline, members are provided with additional ways to earn miles that don’t require you to fly.
The first way that you can earn miles in this way is to follow the Korean Air Facebook and Twitter accounts, and also check out the Offers & Promotions Page for potential deals.
Korean Air also offers its members ways to earn miles through hotel stays, and car rentals.
The last way to earn Korean Air miles is to use the Cyber SkyShop portal for your duty-free shopping.
Hot Tip: If you add your airline loyalty program to other services, you won’t also earn status points with these franchises — unless it’s a preferred car rental agency that has specifically partnered with the airline; this partnership acts as a sort of alliance between airline and rental agency.
Branded and Partnered Credit Cards
While Korean Air used to provide top value for those with Chase Ultimate Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy points, the ending of that partnership has resulted in Korean Air having no flexible point program partners.
Korean Air Credit Cards
US Bank offers the Korean Air co-branded credit cards, and the bank actually has a couple of good options.
The SKYPASS Visa Signature Card and the SKYPASS Visa Business Card both offer respectable bonuses as their public welcome offer. You may also get lucky and be offered an elevated welcome offer in the mail.
Other Hotel Partner Credit Cards
Transfer ratios from other hotels like Hilton or Hyatt typically yield horrendous value, so we don’t recommend earning Korean Air miles in this way.
The only reason to transfer points from a hotel program to Korean Air is if you’re either in a bind or are looking to top off an account for a specific redemption.
Korean Prestige 2.0 Suite. Image Credit: Juan Ruiz
How to Redeem Korean Air SKYPASS Miles
SKYPASS members have a few ways to redeem Korean Air miles, although the best way to use those miles is for an award flight.
When you are pricing out an award flight, it’s important to point out a couple of items.
The main thing you’ll want to know is that pricing shown on all of the award charts is round-trip. Korean Air flights can be booked one-way, but partner flights are always charged the round-trip price — so itnever makes sense to book a one-way partner flight.
Once you have a handle on how to reference the award charts, you’ll want to keep in mind a few of the sweet spots within the award charts.
Two of the best values in the award charts can be found in the SkyTeam award chart and are as follows:
45,000 miles round-trip business class U.S. to Hawaii on Delta
80,000 miles round-trip business class U.S. to Europe on a SkyTeam airline
Hot Tip: In addition to these incredible opportunities, we have an entire post outlining the best ways to use Korean Air miles that I’d recommend checking out.
SkyTeam and Partner Awards
Image Credit: Alberto Riva
Korean Air utilizes multiple awards charts: one when flying on Korean Air, another when flying on a SkyTeam partner, and yet another when flying on a non-SkyTeam partner.
As you are going through the award search process, it’s important to reference the correct chart, all of which are linked below:
The SKYPASS program is good about showing all of its SkyTeam partner award flights, though the website is extremely slow and you have to search round-trip.
On the flip side, Korean Air award flights can be searched one-way, making the search process for these flights bearable.
Search the Korean Air website for Korean Air flights
Use the Delta and/or Flying Blue websites for SkyTeam flights
Search the Alaska Airlines website for Alaska flights
Use the Etihad website for Etihad flights
Search the British Airways website for Japan Airlines flights
Hot Tip: If you’re looking for an airline partner that’s not listed above or you can’t find award space on the respective website, consider using Expert Flyer.