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13 Best Ways to Earn Lots of Korean Air SKYPASS Miles [2021]

BY 

Stephen Au

- UPDATED: April 26, 2021   |    2

1. Travel  / 
2. Airlines

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Korean Air is a founding member of the SkyTeam Alliance that includes Delta Air Lines, KLM, Air France, and other well-known airlines. It serves 50 countries with its fleet of 180 aircraft and has a hub at Incheon International Airport (ICN).

SKYPASS, Korean Air’s frequent flyer loyalty program, provides members many opportunities to earn SKYPASS miles, other benefits, and discounts.

This guide will detail the many ways to earn SKYPASS miles. When you finish reading, you’ll be prepared to accrue SKYPASS miles as quickly as possible. Then it’s simply a matter of redeeming them for award travel!

The Korean Air SKYPASS Loyalty Program

1. Join Korean Air SKYPASS

Sign up for Korean Air SKYPASS here to begin earning miles based on the following factors: route flown, booking class, and cabin. It’s important that the name you use for your account matches the name on your passport.

Unlike some airline loyalty programs, you can’t claim miles for flights you took before enrolling in SKYPASS. In addition, miles aren’t earned for award flights, discounted flights, and infant tickets.

Korean Air SKYPASS has elite membership tiers, but they don’t earn bonus miles. However, if you think you’d enjoy perks like lounge access, priority boarding, and priority baggage handling, you’ll want to qualify.

Plus, members who have elite status with any SkyTeam carrier (including Korean Air) are eligible for a SkyTeam elite membership without meeting any other requirements.

2. Book a Korean Air Flight

A great reason to fly Korean Air is its first-class award availability. However, with cash 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:

The table below shows the accrual rates for each fare class:

Earn SKYPASS Miles With Credit Cards

3. Korean Air Credit Cards

While there is no shortage of Korean Air co-branded credit cards, unfortunately, most of them are from Korean and Japanese banks, so they aren’t available in the United States.

Here are the co-branded Korean credit cards that can be used to earn Korean Air SKYPASS miles:

Here are the co-branded Japanese credit cards that can be used to earn Korean Air SKYPASS miles:

Luckily, there are several credit cards to choose from in the U.S., shown in the table below:

The U.S.-issued Korean Air credit cards are from U.S. Bank. For the vast majority of us, earning Korean Air SKYPASS miles via transfer partners is much more viable.

Luckily, Korean Air partners with Marriott Bonvoy.

4. Marriott Bonvoy Credit Cards

You can earn Marriott points and transfer those points to Korean Air at a transfer rate of 3:1. Plus, for every 60,000 Marriott points that you transfer, you’ll receive an extra 5,000 SKYPASS miles bonus. The time it takes to transfer Marriott points to Korean Air can vary wildly from 1 business day up to 3 weeks!

Recommended Marriott Bonvoy Cards

Korean Air SKYPASS Travel Partners

5. Fly SkyTeam Carriers

Fly with carriers in the SkyTeam alliance and earn up to 150% in mileage bonuses! Each airline has its own earnings rate, which can be found under terms and conditions.

You must include your SKYPASS number when booking to receive mileage bonuses and show your SKYPASS card to receive discounts from SKYPASS partners.

The Mileage Accrual Chart by Route displays all domestic and international routes.

It’s a good idea to keep your ticket receipt and boarding pass until the miles are applied (typically 3-14 days from the date of travel). SKYPASS and SkyTeam miles expire 10 years from accrual.

Code-share flights must be issued on a KA flight number to earn miles if serviced by a partner carrier. Also, you cannot transfer miles between carriers.

Hot Tip: Need help finding award space? Check out our guide to searching for SkyTeam award availability.

6. Fly Other Partner Airlines

Other Korean Air-affiliated carriers also offer up to 150% in mileage bonuses. Click on an airline in the chart below for more information about that carrier’s policies:

Mileage can only be credited to one frequent flyer program at a time. Miles are not earned on complimentary tickets, award tickets, any tickets discounted 50% or more, or other special discounts.

Hot Tip: For more information, check out our in-depth guide to help you know where to credit your airline miles.

7. SKYPASS Car Rental Partners

Choose from a variety of rental car partners to earn additional SKYPASS miles, including Alamo, Avis, Hertz, National, and Rentalcars.com.

Here is the earning structure for all car rental partners with SKYPASS:

As always, provide your SKYPASS membership number when making reservations and show it at pickup. Miles are credited to the renter (driver) only 2-4 weeks from the date of service. Again, hang onto your receipt or voucher until the miles are credited to your SKYPASS account.

8. SKYPASS Hotel Partners

Stay at SKYPASS partner hotels in the table below and receive miles! It takes 2-4 weeks for miles to be applied to your SKYPASS account.

Special SKYPASS Programs

9. Pool Family Points

With the SKYPASS Family Plan, up to 5 members (including the SKYPASS member) can pool miles and redeem awards. You must register family before endorsing an award to them or redeeming an award through the Family Plan.

Members must be immediate family, including spouse, children, parents, siblings, parents-in-law, children-in-law, grandparents, or grandchildren.

Applications with family proof documents can be submitted through the website, fax, or a local office. The U.S. and Canada fax number is 310-417-5696 for reference.

10. Host an Event

Hold a Marriott Bonvoy Rewarding Event to earn 1 mile per $1 spent, with a maximum of 20,000 miles per event if you also booked at least 10 room nights on a single night (catered-only events are at certain participating hotels).

This includes most properties under the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio.

11. Book International Services

If you are in Korea, there are several opportunities to earn SKYPASS miles.

For instance, exchange or transfer money, participate in the SKYPASS mileage credit tour program through agencies like Hanjin Travel, or convert miles from OK Cashbag.

Specifically, if you exchange or transfer money from these partners, you can also earn Korean Air SKYPASS miles:

The miscellaneous companies you can earn SKYPASS miles with are:

12. Ongoing SKYPASS Promotions

Participate in ongoing SKYPASS promotions to earn additional miles. Check the Korean Air website for updates.

Shopping for Miles

13. The Cyber SkyShop

Earn SkyPoints for duty-free purchases you make at the Cyber SkyShop, then transfer 1,000 points for 500 SKYPASS miles.

Duty-free shopping is also available on Korean Air International Flights on board the fleet of 10 A380 aircraft from Seoul to New York, Los Angeles, and Paris. If you prefer to pre-order, this service is available for Korean Air only (no codeshare flights) at cyberskyshop.com.

Here are the shopping channels and methods:

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to earn Korean Air SKYPASS miles, whether booking travel with Korean Air and its partners or participating in non-travel partner opportunities.

Of course, one of the quickest ways to accumulate SKYPASS miles is by transferring points earned with credit cards. SKYPASS is transfer partners with Marriott Bonvoy, so that’s probably going to be the go-to method for many U.S.-based travelers. Happy earning!

For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, click here.