Korean Air award tickets

Korean Air has 1:1 direct transfer of points from Chase Sapphire credit cards. There is a great flight from IAD (Washington DC) to ICN (Seoul) LONG layover of up to 22 hours -- I want to sleep in a bed -- then non-stop to CGK or DPS where we take AZ Quest from Bali to Japan.

My questions: Korean Air? anyone have experience in Economy or Premium Economy -- would love First but I don't have the points.

How to find out how many miles and availability? Has anybody actually redeemed award ticket (US citizen) on-line or on phone? We are sailing in Feb. -- how long can I wait to book and have a decent chance of a seat? Anyone who can give tips on using the very bulky web site?

Thanks. I appreciate any help. I only need the one way award -- the other way will be United NRT to IAD non-stop and I have the points from a United credit card.

Oh! will there be more cost because of the one way nature of both flights and will I book it IAD to CGK or multi destination IAD to ICN and ICN to CGK?

Have you looked at Korean Air's forum on Flyer Talk? They are Sky Team partners with Delta so you can ask there too.

More importantly have you checked their blackout dates? They have a lot of them, particularly at that time of the year.

I can't answer the question about one way redemptions but the majority of the Sky Team partners do not offer them. Delta will start in 2015 and as of now they still cannot be booked.

If you haven't been on the Journey yet it is a great ship.

I would be doing Korean Air on Ultimate Reward Points. Possible to do roundtrip but would take an extra night in Seoul and United has that nonstop from Tokyo to Washington that is 14 hours. I have more United points possible too. New to this mileage point game but already it is addictive and if I don't watch out I will have enough credit cards to get into trouble :o I also end up craving front of the bus tickets too!

OP- I noticed your cruise dates. Keep in mind Feb 19 is Lunar New Year in 2015. It's a major holiday in most Asian countries, especially Korea, China, and Vietnam. The festivities last 2 days to a week depending on the culture. Many people travel in the days before and after...I'd expect flights to Asia will be pretty full starting the weekend before the 19th. Several people I know fly to Asia almost yearly to spend NY with family. Factor that into your plans.

Have flown business on KE within the last year and was quite pleased. You got some good advice on the blackouts, though "technically" they are not blacked out but rather given a premium redemption rate that most effectively blacks them out when combined with inventory controls.

In addition, KE has several different configurations of its aircraft. If you go to the KE website, look under the upper tab named "On Board". You'll see a link "Seat Type Per Flight". KE has two varieties of economy, two of business and three of first. I am not aware of a "Premium Economy" on KL.

If you do book business on KE, give yourself some time to enjoy their lounge at ICN. Only airline I know that serves 30 year old single Scotch as the bar whiskey. And FWIW, ICN is a large shopping mall that happens to have runways.

Have flown business on KE within the last year and was quite pleased. You got some good advice on the blackouts, though "technically" they are not blacked out but rather given a premium redemption rate that most effectively blacks them out when combined with inventory controls.

 

In addition, KE has several different configurations of its aircraft. If you go to the KE website, look under the upper tab named "On Board". You'll see a link "Seat Type Per Flight". KE has two varieties of economy, two of business and three of first. I am not aware of a "Premium Economy" on KL.

 

If you do book business on KE, give yourself some time to enjoy their lounge at ICN. Only airline I know that serves 30 year old single Scotch as the bar whiskey. And FWIW, ICN is a large shopping mall that happens to have runways.

Thanks for the replies. I have learned so much from this forum but always a new place and new situations. I do appreciate the knowledge you share. We hope to leave DC either the 8th or 9th of Feb. Trying to stay home as long as possible with new grandbaby due on Feb. 3 :D Hopefully will be in Komodo for lunar new year -- suppose the moon's phases make the dragons go crazy ?

Does explain why Bali is really expensive that weekend and why hotels fuller than usual -- holidays for many Asians and summer for Australians -- just before school starts. Time to make those reservations as it is not going to get better.

On Korean Air site I can not seem to see award availability even though we are now 5 months out. December seems to be the last awards visible. Am I doing something wrong? Not loving the web site much. Any other way to get award seats from Korean Air using their miles and my SkyPass account?

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On Korean Air site I can not seem to see award availability even though we are now 5 months out. December seems to be the last awards visible. Am I doing something wrong? Not loving the web site much. Any other way to get award seats from Korean Air using their miles and my SkyPass account?

This might be helpful:

http://www.noobtraveler.com/using-ultimate-rewards-points-to-book-korean-air-award-flights/

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/02/14/how-to-redeem-korean-air-skypass-miles/

I have to add that when I am using award miles for a major trip, I start looking as soon as award seats are released. They can be very difficult to redeem for popular flights.

Bowie, I can't speak about Korean Air as I have no experience with their program, but did you know you can get a IAD-SFO-TPE-DPS flight on the 8th with your United miles? Either 40,000 for economy or 80,000 for business (and the SFO-TPE leg is on Eva, who's Biz class is very highly rated). Overnight in TPE. As you can transfer your Chase points to UA as well, it's worth a look.

Hopefully will be in Komodo for lunar new year -- suppose the moon's phases make the dragons go crazy ?

They're pretty lethargic most of the time. Three things to remember there: 1) Sturdy shoes for walking on dirt paths up and down hills, 2) rain gear, as it happens frequently (and then the dirt paths become mud, and 3) something good in the heat which is constant.

My philosophy there was to always have someone slower than me between me and the dragon. Especially since the rangers who are there to protect you are armed with.....a stick!! (I would have preferred if they were packing a SIG Sauer ;))

As for SkyPass redemption, you may just need to get on the phone with KE. Looking at the website, you're lucky....the first SkyPass high redemption period doesn't start until May 2015 for trips originating from North America.