zippy the pinhead

I booked a family trip using family pooled miles recently. I broke it into two one-way flights as outbound fell during peak (high mileage charge) times but the inbound/return leg did not. Outbound was economy class, inbound was business/Prestige class.

We've had family pooling in place for years, but two family members are on a different carrier because we didn't have sufficient miles on KE for the whole famn damily. So it was myself and number one son. Wife and a fourth family member are on the other carrier.

Anyway, after talking with someone at KE, I learned that there are limits on the tickets which can be issued when family pooling is used. It only took me about two hours of phone time to get this resolved, so maybe future readers and SkyPass mileage redeemers may benefit from this account.

I booked and paid for the outbound economy class seats via the KE Web site. No problems. When I attempted to book the return flight in Prestige Class, I got a cryptic error message which stated something to the effect that it couldn't be done, and a garbled sentence about the family member has to be logged in themselves. Couldn't make heads or tails of it. Called them to ask for help, and two different agents gave me totally different information. The first agent was at a loss, and even though I was holding for >20 minutes while he talked with people in his office, in the end he couldn't explain it and all he could do was make an unticketed reservation for me and tell me to try logging in later to see if the mileage deduction and taxes could be covered. The second agent said that I needed to pay a $54 fee since I was "changing" the existing reservation the first agent had established (he combined the two legs under a single reservation number, which I hadn't requested). I tried to explain that I'm not paying a fee, since it wasn't my bad, and ended up requesting escalation. Finally, I got with someone more senior and they explained the crux of the issue: even though I have family pooling in place, with sufficient miles to get the seats I wanted, their system can't do tickets for two people at once when some of the miles are coming from other family members who are not flying. In other words, since I was getting miles from my wife's account to cover the seats, the system needed me to book one seat at a time under separate PNRs in order to pull the miles from her account.

The more senior person created reservations for each of us, and then I had to log in as each person separately to arrange the mileage deduction & pay for them, one at a time.

TL;DR: if you book seats using family pooling on Korean Air, under certain circumstances, seats can only be booked one at a time.

KosherKimchee

Wanted to add to this thread since very little data out there on family sharing.

So wanted to book 2xF tickets for myself and son ICN-LAX. 160k total and I (after a Marriott xfer) had 157k and change. My son had slightly more than 3000 or so orphaned miles in his Skypass account so thought this would be easy to book online. He's been part of my family plan I've booked many tickets on Korean before using my Skypass acct (for him and the rest of my immediate household).

So family sharing didn't work online --- said same thing as OP-- something about the user needed to be logged in. Logged in through my son's account and got the same error (not a surprise)

Here's where it became interesting. So I called up Skypass and the agent put me on hold and set up the booking.

First he had me key in a texted code to use my 157k miles.
Then he texted another code (for using my son's miles, but my son's phone number is also my mobile) for using my son's 3k miles.
Finally took payment (again, by automated system)

Zeroed out my son's account and the balance came from my Skypass. Ticketed fine - dont know why it didn't take online and was a ~15 minute phone call with various holds and texted codes.

luv2vacay

Thanks for the info. I'll see what happens when we do our booking next month. It would be kinda stupid (IMO) to set up everything (especially when the online access has the checkbox that says "this person can use my miles"), if they don't let it actually work.

luv2vacay

and yes, just had something similar happen.

Both accounts are setup for Family pooling and both items are set to "yes"
Cannot book online for either account, it just says we need to contact reservations, doesn't state why.

I called and sure enough, they need BOTH people on the phone to book.

Sigh

luv2vacay

So as of today, here's apparently the procedure:

Even if you have family pooling enabled/setup, you still have to call.
1) Hope that that Skyteam member (I think that's what they said) is available, else you schedule a callback.
2) They get all of your info (the person calling). Then they text you (or email) a 4-digit code. You tell them that you received it and then they transfer you to an automated system to enter 4-digit code and then it transfers you back to the person (hopefully).
3) They then talk to person #2 and ask for DOB. They then text a 4 digit code (or email) to that person. That person tells them they got the code and then transfers you again where you (or whomever called in) enters the code into the automated system and it transfers you back (hopefully)
4) then they have you pay for any taxes/fees which you give them your first 12 digits of the CC and then they transfer you to another automated system where you put the last 4, and CCV and then it transfers you back (hopefully).
5) Then they issue the tickets and you get them in email about 10 minutes later.

quite the setup and with the multiple transfers I'm quite shocked I didn't get disconnected. The reps are all very friendly, fortunately.

Oh, and do NOT forget that you will need to take that credit card with you when you check-in for verification purposes.

mikesaidyes

Korea loves to do text verification and identity checking to know it's the actual person. Mobile phones and ID are tied together so it's how they actually truly verify ID for online websites, literally everything haha. Weird to most, but just par for the course here!

Minnie Sota

I have 2 KE tickets booked under my name for me and husband to travel. Marriott transfers just showed up in my account and it wont let me book them. Is this considered pooling even though all the points are mine and I am booking the tickets in my account??

KosherKimchee

KosherKimchee

hsangk95

Related to the Family pooling scheme they've got, I recently tried to book an award ticket using family miles (Pooled total of 240k miles).
Apparently you aren't allowed to book sky team flight nor upgrade awards by pooling from family members. Only allowed to book awards on KE operated flight using pooled miles.
But on the other hand, you are able to book award tickets on affiliated Arlines Eg Etihad, emirates??? BUT NOT ON SKYTEAM?
Plus emirates and etihad never have award availability for Skypass!
Also, you're not allowed to transfer miles, nor buy miles.
This has to be some sort of violation of some sort of sky team contract...
I have been religiously crediting all my skypass + emirates/etihad miles since I was a child, and this is the service I get....
TLDR: Korean air doesnt want to let you use your pooled miles on any other airline apart from them.

bizum

Was family pooling this convoluted before? I could've sworn it was much easier to use, no multi verification required.