Korean Air SkyPass Devaluation Postponed To 2023

"I can’t think of a single airline where this option consistently represents a good value"

Well, LifeMiles does.

In doing so, KE have demonstrated them as a quick learner and the cultural fit for their JV partner, if not being forced. #KeepClimbing #OurFutureOurFight just sayin'

Glad I just redeemed 125,000 Skypass miles (for 2). Where are the Business class redemption rates? Most readers probably don't have 100 credit card referrals a year to amass enough miles for first class.

Would you share in another post some ways to maximise the values of SkyPass(Pesos)? I also have some but don't fancy KE or DL metal. Is there any other carriers or creative routing? TIA

perhaps good news locally for Asiana, although being star alliance they're already very united-esque when i try and book. i've only ever paid for my business class on korean air but was hoping to fly F eventually transferring a bunch of bonvoy points.

I know you used to be able to book korean air through alaska but i'm guessing that is either going to be gone or going through the roof?

Sounds very much like DL is trying to get their partners (the ones that they have significant investments or JV) to align their programs to have very similar foundations as SkyMiles and then they can start standardizing the award earn and redemption rates. In other words, if KE has a similar structure then they can report earnings based on $$ across both programs eliminating the distance based earning chart.

Then down the road as they move award flights from distance based to $$ based with a similar structure it will be almost as easy as flicking the switch.

A trend we have all predicted for quite some time - just that now we are close to the transition from the individual airline phase to the phase that involves partners. We are seeing a similar trend with UA/LH as well as they aligned elite status qualifications.

I have a significant amount of skypass miles too (transferred from UR a few years ago) that I'll need to redeem before 2021. On the bright side, I'm glad Skypass is giving us a heads up on when these changes will occur.

At least Korean Air gives some advance warning about this devaluation, unlike Qatar Airways did back in May 2018.

I wonder how this will impact redemptions on KE through DL. I'm currently seeing one-way business class redemptions at 85k from the US, so I hope this doesn't increase when the KE changes become effective

That's why we should remind readers that for a lot of people hoarding miles & points is not a good financial strategy unless you earn & burn often. Otherwise, cash is king.

Totally agreed with reader HYY369. Absolutely correct, great advice for members

KE has been dead to me since they part ways with Chase. Thank you, next!

Looks like it is time to get a ride in First on their 747-8 sooner rather than later! I fly USA to Bangkok often...looks like Korean won’t be much of an option going forward. Sad to see!

Was the speculative transfer really a great idea in hindsight? You haven't used a single mile in 14 months.

Sad to see but very much appreciate the long notice. I also did a speculative transfer from Chase to Korean and have several trips planned to Asia over the next year. Now one of them is going to be on Korean even if routing is slightly less than optimal.

I also transferred miles before Chase pulled the plug. Luckily I have a trip booked for February to use them and will end up orphaning about 10,000 points in two accounts, but oh well.

I thought the surcharges on my redemption were on the high side as well. Higher than I remember from a few years ago. Wonder if they are going to change those.

I too have a bunch of UR points I transferred there before the cutoff.

Finding first class space is hard. What are the new rates for BUSINESS CLASS redemptions?

I have a love-hate relationship with KE.

Their airplanes are gorgeous. Their service is impeccable. Their food is delicious.

And they have no wifi. Seriously. Well, the whole IFE thing leaves a *lot* to be desired. Plus, they have all kinds of weird restrictions on awards. Like, for J and above, only awards through their program can get infant ticket. Like, WTF? Or, on Alaska miles, only round trip can be booked, but apparently it's still doable if you do the other direction with some other program (it's really bonker).

I really wish KE gets its act together. It's a nice airlines, just please do things more rationally.

Korean Air currently has the weirdest elite levels I have ever seen. The entry elite level is achieved by 50K miles or 40 flight segments, which sounds OK but the next one is 500K miles for life time elite plus. The coming four-tier level is common and normal.

Lucky, you misread the sentence presented by KE.
KE means a one way ticket from ICN to TAO will cost 20,000 KE miles while one way ticket from ICN to TPE will cost 25,000 KE miles, not one way ticket from TAO-TPE will cost 20,000 KE miles (Although CI does have 2 weekly flight sfrom TAO to TPE).

Dang, April of 2021? I can respect that advance notice.

Does this apply for travel after April 2021 or for bookings made after April 2021 (ie travel up to early 2022)?

I'm a Korean reader and all details have been released in Korean. Looks like the details are not released in English yet. Will send you the details of new Skypass program in English.
One more word : Korean frequent flyers in panic.

Thanks for the update! Burnt most of my miles from the UR transfer taking family to NRT via ICN and then TPE again via ICN and return to SFO via ICN all in F. Still have 47k left....

One plus point is being able to redeem for partners one-way now. Whether there are any sweet spots in that new award chart I'd love to know...

In the past, we could only book roundtrip tickets with Korean, both with cash or award miles. Seems like it's now possible to book one-way trips as well.

@Lucky -- I'm in a similar situation as you are. We transferred tons of Chase Ultimate Rewards points over to SkyPass before the partnership ended. I would love hear any follow-up posts on best value routes for business/first from US to Asia. Thanks for the heads-ups!

You bloggers all advocate against speculative miles buys and transfers, yet you moved hundreds of thousands of miles to KE?

The Korean page mentions the details of the levels. Basically the lowest level, silver is 10,000 qualifying miles a year and that gets you current Morning Calm status benefits. The higher levels have things like “gifted silver status” and such that are almost the same as Delta. The highest level, I believe, is 40,000 miles a year. I can translate more in detail if you like.

Edit: huge error I didn’t mean to write 40 as the highest level. It’s 100 a year.

I guess it isn't surprising that as it becomes easier and easier to get miles, airlines need to up the cost of redemption. It's a liability on their balance sheet, so they can reduce the liability by raising redemption rates. You can't have one without the other.

This sucks tremendously. Frequent ICN-USA and back business mileage ticket traveler and will now have to look elsewhere. Praying that Asiana doesn't follow this. Korean Air has one of the best programs in the world, now they won't. See ya...

Do we know if KAL has announced any delay to to their changes? Guessing not, but guessing a lot of people are going to need to burn soon otherwise.

Just a idea pitch, as it's not your usual story post style, but a given how many cert and mileage extensions, a state of the 'point program' union post may be good.

Excellent news.

While I'm glad they delayed the changes, good luck finding any First class at this point. I think only the JFK-LAX route has it. Nothing else does, currently. (this is looking out as far as I can go on their award booking). Although perhaps one can redeem for Delta flights (the rare one that's available for First) if you don't mind not getting anything other than some cheezits and water.

But, it is better than the Virgin/Delta de-valuation so I'll take what I can get.

They should do gradual increases each year rather than a huge hit every decade like this. Miles from credit cards went from being a deal to basically the same price as paying cash for first class tickets now. I get the segment idea but it really should be for the whole trip, not each take off and landing. It's not my fault they want to land in Korea to pick up other passengers before going to my final destination. And most of the time the first and business class seats are mostly empty so what gives with this sudden change?

KE dropping Chase was a huge loss also. I was sitting on chase points figuring that i could transfer any time and found out after the program was dropped. Marriott Bonvoy points are transferres nowhere near the rate, making it double what it was before and now they're going to double it again. I also found out i can redeem all of my amex points for cash at 1.25 cents each so finding out that the points for bonvoy are even further devalued just really makes these programs not worth it anymore. One thing i do wonder now is if redeeming points with amex to buy fights will be a better deal than transferring directly to the airline. Either way, I'm pretty disappointed to be sitting on 5 million bonvoy points i right now and i already have 350k korean miles that will become worth less than one round trip. Geeez.