Questions and Answers

Hello!

I’m likely going to be booking an award on Korean Air for the first time. I’ve already researched and understand how to book Korean-only itineraries on their website, but how do I book an award that includes partner segments? (My specific example is likely to be SEA-SFO on Alaska or Delta and then SFO-ICN-BKK on Korean.) Do I have to call in to do this?

Also, I will need 2 seats — should I get all the miles transferred into a single Korean Air account and book both seats on the same record, or can we each transfer our miles into our own Korean air accounts and books the awards separately? I’ve heard some talk, I believe, that once the first seat is taken, a second available seat may be wiped out. (We have 0 actual Korean air miles; all of the miles we will use will come from transferring points from credit cards, so I need to know if we should transfer all our points to a single Korean account or if it’s okay to transfer them to our own Korean accounts, which seems easier; not sure if the credit card companies let you transfer your points to someone else’s airline mileage account.)

Does booking the partner segment (e.g. SEA-SFO or SEA-LAX) change the mileage requirement for the award? That is, will SEA-SFO-ICN-BKK require more miles than SFO-ICN-BKK?

Finally, Korean opens up their schedule further in advance than Alaska or Delta. If I want to book the international award as soon as the date is opened up by Korean, I’ll have a problem booking the domestic connection (SEA-SFO) on the same itinerary because Alaska and Delta won’t have those seats loaded yet, right? Is there anything I can do about that other than wait? Is that reason enough to book the SEA-SFO connection entirely separately so that I have access to the SFO-ICN-BKK inventory as early as possible?

Thanks so much — I look forward to your replies. I’m trying to be all ready to go as soon as booking opens! 🙂

Best,
Todd

I always believe the fewer the itineraries the better, but I heard Korean has big restrictions on who can book award seats for others. I think they have to be a member of your family. So if you are not related do two bookings. I have never booked on Korean either so two may be easier anyway.

I can’t imagine the mileage requirement would change. I would wait since your booking so far in advance, save miles.

A follow up question that someone can maybe help me with. I have lots of skymiles but only one business seat opens on Korean for partners. If I start collecting Ultimate rewards, how many award seats does Korean open up?

I dont think KE allows mixing airlines on a partner award and round trip travel is required. Even if you book a one way, round trip miles are charged.

KE is also tricky in that you can only book awards for yourself using your own miles. You can book for a family member but you have to show proof of relationship when setting up pooled/family Skypass accounts. It’s probably easiest to transfer miles into separate KE Skypass accounts and book separately. I’d also call and asking about how partner segments work on an award, if its allowed.

Do you have any Alaska MileagePlan miles available? AS can book up to KE Business class and you’re allowed to add in the AS SEA-SFO segment at no extra charge

[USER=1604]@MdBoater[/USER] I think KE availability for their own members is pretty good. I’d create a KE Skypass account and check award space on their own metal before transferring and booking.