While you'll now be able to book Delta, Air France, KLM and other SkyTeam awards online, unfortunately this online process isn't available for Korean Air's non-SkyTeam partners — Alaska Airlines, Emirates, Etihad, GOL, Hawaiian Airlines and Jet Airways.
What makes the Korean Air mileage program so great? Well, you can fly a spectacular Korean Air first class product from the US to Korea, Japan, China or Northeast Asia for just 80,000 miles each way, but the same 80,000 miles will also get you a round-trip business-class flight between the US and Europe on SkyTeam partners. Interested in Hawaii? With SkyTeam partner Delta, you can fly between the mainland US and Hawaii for just 25,000 miles round-trip in economy or 45,000 miles round-trip in first class — making it a fantastic option for flights to Hawaii.
And Korean Air SkyPass miles are easily accumulated. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints or Marriott points. You can also accumulate them directly from the SKYPASS Visa® Signature Credit Card.
Before you start searching for award flights on Korean's website, here are some tips to avoid frustration. As with most airline partnerships, only the lowest-tier partner awards are available. Since Delta doesn't have published award charts, this means you might have to do some digging to determine the lowest-tier rate for a route.
Also, since Korean Air's website doesn't have a friendly multi-date search feature, it'll likely be easiest to search these awards on Delta's website first before heading to Korean Air's website to book the award. Finally, for the cheapest award rates, make sure to avoid peak season.
If you're new to the Korean Air SkyPass program — and the possibility of cheap first class flights to Hawaii, Europe and/or Asia piques your interest — here's a comprehensive guide to the program.
Bottom Line
It's always great to see airlines make award bookings easier and it's even better when it's a program that can provide outsized value. So we're particularly excited to see Korean Air award bookings available online.
H/T: Rapid Travel Chai
