Use Korean Air to fly Delta Business Class for up to 60,000 fewer miles—or save enough for a free domestic, round-trip First Class ticket on Delta.
Last month FCF wrote about why Delta-focused travelers should earn Amex Points or Starwood Starpoints, and transfer them to a Virgin Atlantic mileage account for flying on Delta. That’s because Virgin gives you a much better value-per-mile than that offered by using Delta co-branded cards. Use the Delta card to hit your elite-status spend bonus, then switch over.
This month FCF is taking a closer look at the Delta-Korean Air partnership as a possible back-up—especially for travel to Europe as Korean Air has a zone-mileage program, meaning all departures and destinations in a given zone require the same number of miles.
The same rule applies: Spend enough on your Delta card to get your elite status bonus, then switch cards to one earning Starpoints, then transfer the points to a Korean Air mileage account.
A Quick Recap
Korean Air’s mileage program often has lower mileage award rates for Delta operated flights than Delta’s own rate. Plus, award availability using Korean Air’s mileage program is often the same as Delta’s.
One Drawback: Award taxes are higher than those Delta charges on tickets to Europe and South America, sometimes $330 to $1,000 more.
Upside: Korean Air is part of the SkyTeam alliance. The continental U.S. is part of the North American zone, which also includes Hawaii, Alaska, and Canada. Likewise, “Europe” is one zone, so the mileage cost is the same to Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Mordovia, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and West Russia.
HOW TO SAVE 43% / 60,000 MILES TO EUROPE
One Example: New York-London in Business Class: Delta’s lowest mileage cost is 140,000 round-trip and $291 in taxes. The same flight using Korean Air miles costs 80,000 and $628 in taxes.
And you want to keep collecting Delta miles?
The way to view your savings: You get a free domestic First Class ticket or nearly two tickets for the price of one.
In case you don’t believe me:
Delta.com @ 140,000 Miles…
KoreanAir.com @ 80,000 Miles…
BONDAGE BUSTER #2
Save 38,000 miles to southern South America: On the Atlanta-Santiago route Delta’s lowest Business Class award costs 148,000 miles and $52 in taxes, while Korean Air charges 110,000 miles and $89 in taxes.
The way to view your savings: Equals just 2k miles shy of a one-way Biz Class ticket between the U.S. and Europe.
Delta.com @ 148,000 Miles…
KoreanAir.com @ 110,000 Miles…
ANOTHER EUROPE BONDAGE BUSTER #3
On Air France Houston-Paris, Delta’s lowest Business Class partner award costs 170,000 miles and $137 in taxes, while Korean Air’s is 80,000 miles round-trip and $1,129 in taxes.
The way to view your savings: Better than a 2-for-1, for ~$1,000.
Delta.com @ 170,000 Miles…
Korean Air.com @ 80,000 Miles…
FIRST CLASS BONDAGE BUSTER #4
Fly First Class for the same number of miles as Delta charges in Business Class (aka a “free upgrade”).
Korean Air gives you access to First Class awards; Delta does not, even on partner airlines, because Delta doesn’t have a First Class cabin. So Delta’s partners don’t share their best seats with the carrier.
Book Korean’s First Class cabin New York-Seoul for 160,000 Korean miles and $267 in taxes. FCF’s research shows that there’s often good availability for two and at times even four seats. (See Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 Sweet Redeems for lucrative Korean Air First Class availability.)
Korean Air.com @ 160,000 Miles…
HOW TO BOOK/SEARCH FOR KOREAN AIR AWARD SPACE?
Just create a Korean Air mileage account, which can be done in 5 minutes or less, and then login. The easiest path from there is to click on “Book a Flight” and then on “Award Booking.” From here, search for “Korean Air award” or “SkyTeam Award”—or just call 1-800-438-5000 next time you’re in the car for a while.