You Can Now Book Korean Air SkyTeam Partners Online!

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Good news for folks who use Korean Air miles!

Via View From the Wing, you can now book Korean Air SkyTeam partner award flights online, without having to call their customer service agents.  This is a more efficient process, which will be a big time-saver!

I’ll show you how to book Korean Air SkyTeam partner awards online!

Book Korean Air SkyTeam Partner Awards Online

Link:   Book Korean Air SkyTeam Partner Awards

Korean Air used to make booking partner awards more difficult by making them unavailable online.  You’d have to call their service centers and speak with a representative to finalize your plans.

You still can’t book independent Korean Air partners online (like Alaska Airlines).  But you can now book SkyTeam partner airlines online!

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1.   Click “Redeem Miles” and Sign-In to Your Korean Air Account

Navigate to the Korean Air website and click “Redeem Miles“.  You will be asked to sign into your Korean Air account.  If you don’t already have an account, you can sign-up here (free to join).

Step 2.   Click SkyTeam Award

After you click “Redeem Miles“, a new link will appear, called “SkyTeam Award“.  Click it.

Step 3.   Enter Your Travel Information

Fill-out your travel information (origin, destination, dates, etc.).  To search for a partner award seat, make sure both “Award Booking” and “SkyTeam Award” are selected.

When you book an award flight on a partner airline, you will NOT be able to book a one-way ticket.  Only round-trips and multi-city itineraries are allowed.

You can add up to 9 passengers on a reservation.  But they MUST be your family members.  And you’ll have to register each member with Korean Air before you book flights for them.

Step 4.   Choose Your Flights

After you’ve filled out your travel information, it’s time to decide which flights work best for you!

You’ll see a list of flights to choose from, as well as a note showing which partner airline is operating the flight.  Select “Calculate” after you’ve found the flights you want.

Step 5.   Click “Continue”

The total amount of miles and cash you owe will now display at the bottom left of the page.

As you can see, a round-trip award flight in coach to Europe on Delta will cost 50,000 Korean Air miles, which is a great deal!  But you’ll also pay ~$371 in fuel surcharges, which is unacceptable.  Especially considering coach sale fares to Europe have been under ~$500 recently.

If you haven’t transferred your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Korean Air yet, you’ll see this note:

You’ll need to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to Korean Air if you want to proceed any further in the booking process.  And the transfer process should be instant!

There Are Other Great Uses of Korean Air Miles

While you’ll pay huge fees on award tickets to Europe, there are other places to use Korean Air miles that give you great value.

For example, you can fly First Class round-trip on Korean Air from the US to Hong Kong for 160,000 Korean Air miles.  Plus, the taxes & fees aren’t nearly as high as an award flight across the Atlantic.

This is a fantastic deal.  United Airlines will charge 180,000 United Airlines miles for the same Business Class ticket.  And American Airlines will charge 220,000 American Airlines miles!

Or, you can fly from the US to Hawaii on Delta for just 25,000 Korean Air miles round-trip in coach!  Or 45,000 Korean Air miles round-trip in Business Class!

United Airlines and American Airlines both charge 45,000 miles for the same round-trip in coach.  The only cheaper round-trip award to Hawaii is with Virgin America at 20,000 Virgin America points.

Need More Korean Air Miles?

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Korean Air at a 1:1 ratio.  And you can quickly earn more Chase Ultimate Rewards points by signing-up for:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – Earn 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• Chase Sapphire Reserve – Earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card – Earn 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Just remember, Chase won’t approve you for these Chase cards if you’ve opened ~5 or more credit cards (from any bank) in the past 24 months (excluding certain business cards).

You can also transfer Starwood points to Korean Air at a ratio of 1:1.  And you’ll get 5,000 bonus miles for every increment of 20,000 Starwood points you transfer!  You can get more Starwood points by signing-up for:

• Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
• Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express

Bottom Line

Korean Air has improved their booking process on their website!  You can now book SkyTeam partner awards online, to places like Europe and Hawaii, without having to speak to a Korean Air representative.

I’m glad to see Korean Air making things easier for their customers.  Though they still make you register your family members and require documentation proving your relationship to book award tickets for them.

Let me know what you think of the changes!