Delta and Korean Air both sell F tickets on the same flights ICN<->USA, for the same price, but they are not the same experience. For example, DL7851 operating as KE35 ICN-ATL differences for F:

• DL7851 does not get KAL First Class lounge access
  • No name tag either
  • Miler Club Lounge only
• DL7851 does not get KAL Premium Care Service
  • No usage of the crew security line at ICN
  • No escort to the lounge
• DL7851 cannot pre-book pajamas (not a big deal obviously)
  • Seat selection is fine, did not try special meals

These tickets are the exact same price on both Korean Air and Delta at ~7 million KRW. None of the differences are advertised, and the language is quite confusing especially for the lounge rules which simply say "Eligible Passengers: First Class passengers" on the KAL English website. Just giving a heads up to anyone who might be paying cash for these flights in the future, and I think it's a failure of the spirit of the joint venture.


The benefit of DL flight numbers is the published routing rules on DL over the maximum permitted mileage (MPM) routing rules on KE. This can allow you to book something like ICN-ATL-SNA with a free stopover and without the 25% MPM surcharge by using DL numbers.