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Ultimate Guide to Korean Air Miles: Part 4 – The Biggest Downside to Using Korean Air Miles

  • Million Mile Secrets

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update:   Korean Air is no longer a Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer partner.

    While Korean Air miles are terrific for booking cheap award flights on partners like Delta, Air France, and KLM to bucket-list spots like Hawaii and Europe, they’re only useful if you’re traveling by yourself or with family members.

    Most airlines let you book award flights for anyone using your own miles.  But Korean Air is a LOT more restrictive on who you can book award tickets for.  Unlike most airlines, Korean Air only allows you to book tickets for certain family members, like your spouse, parent, or children.  And you must provide proof of your relationship (like a marriage or birth certificate and register family members BEFORE making an award booking.

    This is the biggest disadvantage of using Korean Air miles.  You can NOT use your miles to book flights for a friend, partner, boyfriend, or girlfriend!  🙁  So look to other award programs if you’re traveling with your pals.

    You Can Book Travel With Korean Air Miles For The Whole Family!
    I’ll show you which family members are eligible and how to register them with Korean Air.

    Ultimate Guide to Korean Air Miles Series Index

    Korean Air Eligible Family Members

    Link:   Korean Air Family Plan

    You can use Korean Air miles for award tickets for yourself and these family members:

    So you can NOT book award tickets for your boyfriend, girlfriend, or buddies with your Korean Air miles.  🙁
    You Can Only Book Certain Family Members With Your Korean Air Miles

    You must have documents proving your relationship.  Those documents must include the passenger’s date of birth.  If your family member is not one of the listed relationship types, you can NOT add them to your account.

    For example, if you are adding your spouse, and your marriage certificate does not include a date of birth, you would provide your marriage certificate AND the passenger’s passport or birth certificate.

    Examples of valid supporting documents are:

    For more distant relatives, like grandchildren, you may need to send a chain of documents to prove your relationship, like your child’s birth certificate AND your grandchild’s birth certificate.

    Even if you don’t have plans to book family members with Korean Air miles now, it might be worth setting this up for future use.  Because it takes time to complete!  So it’s handy to already have your family members listed.

    How To Register Family Members

    You can add a maximum of 5 family members to your Korean Air account.  You used to fax documents to Korean Air, but you can now complete the process online.

    Step 1.   Open Korean Air Miles Account

    You can open a Korean Air miles account for free online.  Log-in to your account.

    “Login” in the Upper Right Hand Corner

    Step 2.   Navigate To Family Registration Form

    After logging-in, select “My Dashboard.”

    Click On “My Dashboard” to Get Started

    At the dashboard, click on “My Family.”

    In Your Dashboard, Click “My Family”

    Click on “Add a Member.”

    Click “Add A Member”

    You can add a family member online (easiest), in person at a Korean Air office, or by fax.  Click on “Add a Member” under “Apply Online.”

    You Can Now Register A Family Member Online!

    Step 3.   Complete Family Member Registration

    You’ll need to enter the following information into the family member registration form:

    Complete The Family Member Registration Form

    You can only upload proof of relationship documents in JPG, GIF, GMP, PDF, TIF, or PNG file formats.  It’s easiest to scan or take a photo of the documents with your cellphone and email them to yourself.

    After clicking “Submit,” your family member registration form will be automatically sent to Korean Air.  Within 1 to 2 weeks, they will confirm your family member by email.  After your family member registration is confirmed, you can book award tickets for them.

    Step 4.   Book Family Member Award Tickets

    After Korean Air has confirmed your family member registration, you can book award tickets for them online.  Follow the step-by-step guide to booking award tickets, and select which family members you want to book travel for.

    Successfully Registered Family Members Will Appear in The Award Booking Form
    You will pay the same number of miles and fees when booking an award ticket for yourself or a registered family member.  The change fee of 30,000 South Korean Won (~$26) per person or refund fee of 3,000 miles per person for an international ticket apply to the account holder and registered family members.

    Bottom Line

    Unlike most other airlines, Korean Air only allows you to book award tickets for yourself and certain family members.  And you must register your family members online, in person, or by fax before you book them award seats. You’ll have to provide proof of relationship documents, like a marriage certificate or birth certificate, that include the date of birth of the family member. Once your family member is approved, you can book Korean Air and partner award tickets for them with your miles, just like you do for yourself. 

    In the next post, I’ll show you how to transfer flexible points from my favorite points program to Korean Air!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)