Korean Air SKYPASS

Award programs which allow travelers to take a stopover can be a very economical way of visiting more than one country in a single trip without having to pay any more miles than a regular roundtrip journey would cost.

Back in December Korean Air responded to an increase in the number of passengers cancelling fares at the very last minute (sometimes when already on the departing aircraft) by increasing the penalties for cancelling a ticket once in an airport's departure area. Now the airline has gone a step further by adding penalties for award ticket and upgrade cancellations which occur within three months of departure.

Korean Air SkyPass may not automatically jump out as being a particularly important loyalty program for those of us based in the US but, as it happens to be a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, any changes the program makes are worth noting. Normally when airline loyalty programs make changes to partner earnings the news isn't good but, although there are some negative changes being put through by SkyPass, these are partly offset but some positive changes too.