Delta & Korean Air Strengthen Their Partnership... Sort Of

Lucky, I appreciate the news update but this feels like it was lifted completely from the airliners.net thread started nearly a day ago, without credit, down to Group 4 EQM analysis.

Without MQM, it's a non-starter for me. I make the MQD with the Amex, but status needs to be a thing here.

I'm hoping/wishing that DL will place KE back in group 1 of MQM earning (100% for all economy fare classes).

@ keitherson -- I can say with 100% certainty I didn't see this on airliners.net. I follow Delta's newsroom, and saw the press release come through. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the SkyMiles relationship between Delta and Korean Air.

@keitherson : not just this article, but tons of other of his posts in the past 6 months. basically the moment there's a thread on A.net, it'll miraculously appear as an OMAAT blog post within the next 12-24 hours, all without giving any single hat-tip or credit.

but what exactly do you expect from someone whose moral compass is sharp enough to get banned by one of the US3 ?

@ henry LAX -- Seriously? I know this might come as a shock, but it's not some incredible coincidence that my stuff appears around the same time it shows up in other places? Airlines put out press releases (most of which I get emailed directly), and those are covered in more than one place. Just because multiple sources see the same press release doesn't mean anyone is stealing info from anyone. I tip the hat to sources *all the time*.

I get Delta press releases by email, so I'm not sure why you think I'd "steal" the information from elsewhere when I'm getting it directly?

But you're free to believe what you'd like.

@lucky: fair enough. sorry for the accusation then 🙂 the semblance was just uncanny!

If flying a codeshare flight .... DL flight number on KL metal ... do you earn DL MQMs?

When Delta tweeted this yesterday, I immediately replied asking them to stop stiffing us on MQMs and MQDs. Late last year I had to get to Korea for work, and was looking for a refundable business fare. The real travesty -- beyond getting 0 MQMs (for J!) and no bonus -- is that J fares on Delta metal were (and likely still are) exorbitantly more expensive than on Korean metal. Really grinds my gears!

@keitherson Anyone who follows Delta on Twitter would have seen this yesterday. It's news. Lucky's reporting it. Others will, too.

@lucky - case in point :

A.net thread reply 36 : "although it's really cheap to earn just 100% award miles even for full fare international first class"

above, you wrote : "At most you can earn 100% redeemable miles for Korean Air flights, even if you’re flying full fare first class."

@ henry LAX -- OMG. I was making an extremely obvious observation. I swear on my life I didn't see the airliners.net thread. What a ridiculous witch hunt you're on...

@lucky - I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time, but I will call you out in the future if similar "coincidences" happen.

@ henry LAX -- Yes, please keep me honest the next time there's breaking news from an airline and it's covered in more than one place. Much appreciated.

@henryLAX
Just my 2 cents.

When Lucky said "At most you can". I think he is just stating some facts.

When Airline.net said "... it's really cheap ...". They are stating am opinion about the miles.
I am not sure how you can say Lucky was copying Airline.net from just this sentence.

In addition, Lucky is putting out 5 or 6 blogs a day while traveling. In addition, to reading press releases and twitter feeds, you really think he has time to monitor and copy other blogs who basically get information from the same source? I can't imagine Airline.net actually has a journalist who interview the airline and scoop exclusive stories.

You read a blog because you like how the blogger writes not because he is a journalist who breaks exclusives! Just give it a rest. It is just a freaking blog.

If you price out a trip on Delta.com it appears that you earn full MQMs and MQDs as long as the Korean Air flight you're booking has a DL code on it.

Lucky you are misleading readers. While you do not earn full mqms on tickets booked with Korean Air directly, codeshare flights booked on DL tickets earn full mqms as if they were a delta flight on delta medal.

So while I agree that booking a Korean Air flight separately sucks for your delta mqms (unlike booking KLM/AF where you can actually get more mqms based on distance), the fact is that this announcement means you will be able codeshare on Korean and receive MQMs and MQDs.

This is great news as Korean has an amazing business class.

My one complaint is that it's from ATL and not NYC.

Does KE still flies the A380 3 times a week to ATL ?

Tony .... unfortunately booking the nonstop A380 typically costs 2-3x other flights (when booked on delta.com)

If someone is going to make such a strong and demeaning accusation about Lucky- to claim he stole someone else's words- then you better damn sure have some rock solid evidence to support such a harmful and otherwise defamatory claim. Instead, what was presented here was so weak, that the accuser is bordering on committing an act of libel.

Keep up the good work Lucky and don't let the few troublemakers overshadow the great majority of us who love and appreciate your work!

Interesting to consider, especially with some of Delta's changes and declining presence at Tokyo's Narita Airport. I wonder if this is a hint of something more to come. I note Delta's codeshare extends to Korean's Seoul-Singapore flight, which could theoretically eliminate the once-a-day Narita-Singapore Delta flight. And what about Guam? Korea is a huge market for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands tourism-wise. Perhaps this is another sign that Delta will end its NRT-GUM service.

Why are there no flights to ICN that would get there earlier in the day? Both KE and DL arrive in the afternoon. Would be nice to have an earlier flight that would allow one to make connections without staying overnight