Being an airplane and miles junkie, one of my goals is to fly every Airbus 380 first class product there is. So far I’ve flown Qantas and Lufthansa on the A380 in first class, and I have plans to fly Emirates and Air France Airbus 380 first class as well in the near future.

Lately I’ve been looking at how to efficiently redeem miles for Korean Air’s Airbus 380 first class, and I realize it can actually be a pretty darn good deal. Korean Air is transfer partners with Ultimate Rewards, which is the points currency of the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Bold credit cards. Points can be instantly transferred at a 1:1 ratio to Korean Air.

Korean Air actually has surprisingly reasonable first class award redemption rates. For example, first class from the US to South Korea costs only 160,000 Korean Air miles, which isn’t half bad.

While it’s not cheap, the real beauty of it is that Korean Air has phenomenal first class award space, even on the Airbus 380. In looking at award space on ExpertFlyer, almost every single date has 2-5 first class award seats on most of their to and from the US.

The thing to watch out for is that Korean Air has blackout dates, and if you want to fly during those dates you’re going to pay a 50% premium. The blackout dates are as follows:

With quite a few Star Alliance airlines more or less not releasing first class award space in advance, the relative value of an award like this increases. Good luck getting saver first class award space for 3-5 people to Asia on the same flight just about anytime of year through one of the “mainstream” programs. It ain’t happening.

So this really does tempt me, given that 160,000 miles is most definitely a reasonable first class redemption rate.

Anyone else tempted?

Posted on February 8th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Advice, Awards, Chase, Great Deals, Korean Air | 45 Comments »

  1. February 8th, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Sean said,

    Looks pretty good, especially as Delta doesn’t offer first class redemption. How about other SkyTeam members?

  2. February 8th, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    Peter Dominowski said,

    Absolutlely…one of my goals for the next year is to fly the A380 and the 787 (will try to go IAH-AKL when United starts flying it). This sounds like another great reason to use Chase Sapphire and Ink Business card.

  3. February 8th, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    Apu said,

    Certainly tempted, but not sure how I can get that many of Skypass miles, say for India…

  4. February 8th, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    Michael said,

    Sounds great, but 160K Chase points seems impossible to me :)

  5. February 8th, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    BrewerSEA said,

    Definitely might try this as a one-way award for 80k.

  6. February 8th, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Palmtenor said,

    What is the different between First Class and First Class Sleeper seat? Does Korean Airline mileage redemption allowing stopover/openjaws, or at least transfers?

  7. February 8th, 2012 at 5:54 pm

    James said,

    Must be nice being single Ben. 160k for you is 320k for me. Ahhh the pitfalls of loving one’s wife

  8. February 8th, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    Brian said,

    Does KE charge fuel surcharges on award redemptions (both skyteam and KE metal)?

  9. February 8th, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    Angelina A said,

    Tempted!!! Might do a 1 way …. :)

  10. February 8th, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    zbender said,

    Very interested – I have all butt-in-seat miles with Korean Air.

    Shall we do a redemption run…?

  11. February 8th, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    infamousdx said,

    @James – Amen! We have to work doubly as hard but at least we get another SSN to use for CC signups ;)

  12. February 8th, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    Zach said,

    They do add fuel surcharges..I remember redeeming a coach roundtrip for mother in law from IAD to OMG through ICN and fuel was around $500

  13. February 8th, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    ASen said,

    I would interested to know how you have racked up 160K points in such a short time!

  14. February 8th, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    Stvr said,

    How have you put on 160K in credit card spend? Are you in organized crime?

  15. February 8th, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    Nathan said,

    That’s 160,000 one way right? That’s a terrible redemption.

  16. February 8th, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    Nathan said,

    Never-mind, I guess it is round trip. It’s not bad, but also not great.

  17. February 8th, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Sean — This is going to be the best deal for Korean Air first class.

    @ Brian — Supposedly they do, though oddly enough I’m not seeing any fuel surcharges on revenue first class tickets, so I’m not sure why. I’ll look into this more closely and let you know.

    @ Stvr — Only part time. In all honesty, you get 100K points just for the Chase Ink Bold and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards, and then some strategic spend through the Ultimate Rewards shopping mall should get you there.

  18. February 8th, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    lucky said,

    @ James — No excuse, you have two SSNs, I only have one. :p

    @ Palmtenor — It depends on the aircraft type. Some have the sleeper seats, some don’t. As far as transfers or stopovers go, the award I was quoting was only as far as South Korea, so it’s probably a moot point unless you’re making a domestic connection.

  19. February 8th, 2012 at 7:05 pm

    Phil said,

    Never mind two I would like to get 4 of us on board :) in which case settling for j and using big stock of sky miles may be worthwhile. As for using 160k for 1, well that will be just another solo flight for the purpose of feeling elevated in first class. I can think of more all round rewarding ways to use the points. 320k for two is easily attainable if u can both get the cards but even then only worthwhile if you actually want to go to south Korea (which we happen to do)

    Also consider the relative value. 160k chase points also gets you 7 nights at any park Hyatt in the world with room to spare. I would not use my only stash of points fur the sake of feeling superior on a single flight to somewhere u probably otherwise wouldn’t even go

  20. February 8th, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    Stuart Falk said,

    Three questions:

    1. Does Korean Air offer one way rewards?

    2. If one is connecting in Seoul to another Asian destination (e.g. Cambodia), is there is through mileage cost or does one combine the two separate flights drom the two reward charts?

    3. I hear Korean charges taxes on its rewards. Is this true and, if so, how much do they amount to on the round trip in First Class from the USA to Seoul?

    Thanks.

  21. February 8th, 2012 at 10:17 pm

    Golfingboy said,

    Wow, speak of the devil, I asked Gary about this earlier in his blog post responding to a reader question about applying to a bunch of Chase cards and which one she should apply.

    You and I have an identical goal ;) except that you are probably much closer to this goal than I since I still need to apply for the Sapphire card.

  22. February 8th, 2012 at 10:25 pm

    NYBanker said,

    How are you getting into AF F? Did you do status match last year and have an AF gold card?

  23. February 8th, 2012 at 10:46 pm

    x said,

    They do charge Fuel Surcharge on award booking. Although their fare construction doesn’t list “YQ” , they do have “Q” surcharge, which is to be paid by the passenger when redeeming KE miles .

  24. February 9th, 2012 at 12:03 am

    Gene said,

    @Stuart Falk — Yes, you can book one-way awards for 50% of the roundtrip cost.

    I almost always choose first over business, but 120k SkyMiles (my value = $1,440) for full-flat business seems to be a much better deal than 160k UR (my value = $3,200) for first class.

  25. February 9th, 2012 at 8:08 am

    Tracy said,

    I second the comment about not being single, multipling points by two becomes unattainable very quickly.

  26. February 9th, 2012 at 8:21 am

    Chas said,

    @Tracy – Not if you’re multiplying sign-up bonuses by two as well!

    @Lucky – If you go down this path, I’d be interested to see a post on how your found the ins and outs of KE awards (e.g. routing rules, partner redemption, etc)

  27. February 9th, 2012 at 9:14 am

    Chris S. said,

    Any idea how many points it’ll take to get from LA to Rio?

  28. February 9th, 2012 at 10:25 am

    Spotty said,

    I appreciate the post but please CORRECT me if I am wrong, It has been repeatedly pointed that that KE and AF first rewards even if you have mileage in each of their RESPECTIVE FF programs. You are NOT allowed to redeem them ?

    Has this changed ?

  29. February 9th, 2012 at 10:35 am

    Does KE Allow First Class Mileage Redemptions - FlyerTalk Forums said,

    [...] KE Allow First Class Mileage Redemptions document.write(''); http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemil…comment-614039 I recently came across this post and it claims KE allows you to redeem F rewards on its program [...]

  30. February 9th, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Chris S. — If you’re trying to go from LA to Rio, you’re probably best off transferring to a program other than Korean Air, since their only partner flying that route is Delta, and they rarely have “low” level award space.

    @ Spotty — That’s the case for Air France, though if it’s the case for Korean Air, it’s the first I’ve heard of it.

  31. February 9th, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    Spotty said,

    Lucky – I appreciate you providing this information. I am to take it that you were able to book this when you call KE ?

    Cause when I last spoke to KE they said I do not have STATUS and am not ALLOWED to redeem KE awards in F.

    I have been wanting to do this for a very long time. Since KE has a fantastic product even before the A380 came along for the F cabin.

    More so like EK, KE too have “F” redemption inventory in A class. Which is available 90% of the times. They have P for paid First.

    Looking forward to hearing from you.

  32. February 9th, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    Brian said,

    @Chris S. – If you have UR points, might be able to transfer to BA (Avios) instead. As I understand it, booking through BA to South America is YQ-free and also saves some points.

  33. February 9th, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Brian said,

    @lucky Thanks for checking. TBH I’m more curious about whether they charge YQ on their North America > Europe award travel. KE’s mileage cost is 80k/100k on J/F vs CO’s 100k/12k5. This would be an awesome deal if YQ were not charged. Otherwise, I’d probably stick with CO/UA and their friendlier routing rules.

  34. February 9th, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    Srt8-blue said,

    We need to know if it is true that non-elite members can not redeem F on KE. It would be a shame to transfer that many miles and not be able to redeem.

  35. February 9th, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    Craig New York said,

    @Spotty and @Srt8-blue
    Your posts got me concerned. I called Korean Air myself and after being on hold for 10 minutes, they informed me that you do not have to be an elite member to obtain an F award redemption. I wonder why Spotty obtained different info.

    Ben — It would be great to have more info about Korean first class products. Perhaps another blog post???

  36. February 10th, 2012 at 12:05 am

    Spotty said,

    I appreciate you clarifying this. I am looking forward to trying out this soon.

  37. February 10th, 2012 at 3:06 am

    Mitch said,

    Now that the elite bit has been sorted, the next thing I would be curious/worried about is if you can actually redeem for the Kosmo Sleeper Suites on the A380/77W. It appears when they were introduced, you could not do so without status. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/korean-air-skypass/980520-hilarious-new-policy-77w-f-cosmo-suites.html There’s also the fact that the chart doesn’t explicitly say suites for the F pricing.

  38. February 10th, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    BrewerSEA said,

    @Chris S. @lucky

    KE flies LAX-GRU with a 772 with their new first class product, I believe 3X weekly. 140k r/t in F.

  39. February 11th, 2012 at 9:52 am

    NYBanker said,

    How are you getting into AF f? Paid?

  40. February 11th, 2012 at 10:42 am

    lucky said,

    @ BrewerSEA — Total oversight on my part, whoops.

    @ NYBanker — By transferring Membership Rewards points to an Air France account, you can book a “flex” first class award. Not a great value, but seems like a product worth trying.

  41. February 11th, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    MTKeller said,

    @lucky Presumably you’ll be transferring the MR points into the account of a FB elite member, since only they can book flex (and therefore F) awards.

  42. February 11th, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    lucky said,

    @ MTKeller — Left out the word “elite.” You’re absolutely right.

  43. February 11th, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    NYBanker said,

    I thought even those Flex F awards were only for AF Gold Elites (their top status).

    Do you have a friendly Elite member willing to make the booking for you (upon you giving them the points)? Or did you partake in AF’s status match last year?

    I thought about doing to match just to be able to try this F…but never got around to it. :(

  44. February 12th, 2012 at 5:21 am

    MTKeller said,

    @NYBanker FlyingBlue’s tiers are Silver, Gold, and Platinum, so Gold isn’t the top tier. There was some discussion on this on the FB section of FT recently, and it appears that it’s any elite as a Silver was working on making a booking.

  45. February 23rd, 2012 at 10:45 am

    Great Credit Card Summary « said,

    [...] Airlines, Alaska, and Qantas intra-Australia. They transfer to Korean Airlines (which as Lucky observes offers great first class award availability on the Airbus A380 to Seoul). They also transfer to [...]

    46. Add A Comment

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