[단독] Korean Air extends’round-the-world award ticket’ by two years

Input 2021.01.08 15:35 | Revision 2021.01.08 15:40

Korean Air (003490)This’round the world award ticket’ service will be extended for two years. Initially, the service was scheduled to end on April 1, but we considered the situation where travel was impossible due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19).

On the 8th, Korean Air said, “It was planned to end the round-the-world award ticket service on March 31, but we decided to postpone the end date for two years in consideration of the fact that the sky was blocked in the aftermath of Corona 19.” In fact, Korean Air’s international flight rate last year fell to 10% due to the prolonged Corona 19.

With the service extension for two years, round-the-world award tickets can be booked or issued using mileage at Korean Air service centers and downtown branches until March 31, 2023. The mileage required to purchase a round-the-world award ticket is the same as before. Economy class is 140,000 miles and business class is 220,000 miles.

Korean Air’s Round the World Award Ticket is a product that allows you to travel around the world on sectors operated by a total of 19 SkyTeam airlines around the world, including Delta Air Lines and Air France. In July 2000, it was born with the intent of giving the benefit of traveling the world using the founding airline of SkyTeam.

With a round-the-world award ticket, you can travel east or west across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, making a round around the globe. You can stay in the desired city only up to a total of 6 times, and the number of stays per continent is limited to a maximum of 4 times. For example, it is possible to travel from Incheon to Jakarta in Indonesia, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Athens in Greece, Beirut in Lebanon, Paris in France, and New York in the United States, and then return to Seoul.

Korean Air was planning to end the round-the-world award ticket service independently of the mileage system reform. This was because the usage rate was so low, and passengers suffered a lot of restrictions and inconvenience during the use process.

According to Korean Air, only two airlines currently operating the Round the World program within SkyTeam are Korean Air and Aeromexico out of 19 member companies. For routes not operated by Korean Air, other airlines within SkyTeam have to be used. In this process, other airlines deducted mileage excessively or did not provide refunds, leading to inconvenience to users. A Korean Air official explained, “The regulations are also strict, so the actual utilization rate is only 0.01%.”

Korean Air said that until November of last year, “the round-the-world award ticket program will end as scheduled, and there is no plan to maintain similar services.” However, the travel community changed his position when pointed out such as, “In consideration of the Corona 19 incident, the expiration date must be extended” and “Responsible for the mileage accumulated to travel around the world.” Korean Air also delayed the reorganization of the mileage system from April to April 2023 for two years in consideration of the Corona 19 crisis.