Korean Air SkyPass Changes Milage Earnings On Three Partners

Korean Air A380 First Class Awards

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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 (take the recent Alaska/American Airlines news for example) but, although there are some negative changes being put through by SkyPass, these are partly offset but some positive changes too.

The three partners affected by the latest SkyPass changes are Air France, KLM and China Eastern (so the relationships Korean Air has with Delta, Alaska and American Airlines remain unchanged for now).

There aren’t too many changes being made but a couple are quite significant so I’ve created tables showing the old and new earning rates that SkyPass will be offering.

Air France – SkyPass Earnings

The Air France earning changes take effect from 1 November 2017 and are entirely negative.

a table with numbers and symbols

Economy Class tickets booked into fare code “U” will now earn miles equivalent to 75% of the distance flown (compared to 100%) and some of the cheaper Economy Class fares (fare codes T, E, N, G & R) will earn 5% fewer miles from 1 November.

KLM – SkyPass Earnings

Just like with Air France the changes in earnings kick in from 1 November 2017 but unlike Air France there’s a positive change here too.

a table with text and numbers

It’s not particularly surprising to see the same changes being made to Economy Class fares taken on KLM as we’re seeing with Economy Class fares taken with Air France (the two are essentially the same airline) ….but it’s a pleasant surprise to see fare codes P & F go from offering zero mileage accrual to 75% of the distance flown.

China Eastern – SkyPass Earnings

The good news here is that there are no negative changes to China Eastern earnings. The even better news is that highly discounted Business Class fares (Q fare code) will go from earning zero miles to earning miles at a rate of 130% of the distance flown from 29 October 2017.

a table with numbers and symbols

Important

These changes take effect from 29 October 2017 (China Eastern) and 1 November (Air France & KLM) and it is the date of travel that will dictate at which rate earnings are credited to your SkyPass account.

The date you book your fare will have no effect on your earnings so, if you were to book today but not travel until December (for example) you would earn miles based on the new earnings rates.

(HT: Business Traveller Asia-Pacific)

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