briggek8717

Answering my own question here. I did not need passports. Just had to send in birth certificates and marriage certificate to prove the family relationship. Emailed it in one day and it was set up the next.

Flight booked for 5 to Kauai using 125k KE miles to fly on DL metal.

luv2fly4free

I also booked to Kauai on DL metal. Curious- how much were you charged in taxes per ticket? They charged me $33.60 per ticket in taxes. However, on delta.com or alaskaair.com, that exact same route would only incur the normal $11.20 in taxes (Sept. 11 fee). What was your experience? Does anyone understand why Korean is charging more in taxes than Delta or Alaska does for the same flight segments?

thankyoupeters

How many rounds did you have to do with the KA booking department? I'm going to attempt to book on DL to Maui using KA miles but everything I've read says that finding DL award availability is very difficult.

mtkeller

KA is DragonAir, a subsidiary of CX (Cathay Pacific). Korean Air is KE (or KAL).

Anyway, the booking process is excruciating for flights not on KE metal. You can't call the SkyPass department. You call the general 800 number and they send a message with your name and number to SkyPass so that SkyPass can call you. They work M-F, 0830–1730 Pacific Time. Don't call late in their working day, or they'll make a note that they tried to call you and you didn't answer just to clear the call off their list. I'd try looking on the Alaska Airlines website for award space on DL flights, since in theory those should be available to KE. However, as one blogger recently told me "KE is a bad partner", so sometimes space one carrier makes available to some of their partners will not be made available to KE. In that case, you're out of luck.

luv2fly4free

Since I knew the process in advance after reading the multitudes of info about the process I could find online, I found it not to be too bad really. In fact, they actually even tried to connect me to a booking agent directly my first attempt once I told them I was worried availability might disappear before they returned my call. After trying to find someone to help willingly, they finally gave up and said they had already left for the day, but that was after an extended hold and a sincere sounding lady (they are in Malaysia) apologizing she couldn't get anybody on the line to help me. Anyhow, overall, the response was fast and professional the next day when they returned my call. I had no issues when I told them the flights I wanted to book that I had already confirmed had availability on both delta.com and on alaskaair.com at saver levels. I prefer using alaska over klm to find Delta space. The flying blue search has never seemed that great to me IMHO.

I followed the commonly described steps, they worked the first time for me, and tickets were issued. It isn't super straightforward but the multi-step process does work. Be friendly and availability will usually match what you have found if you are respectful to the other person and ask them in the right way. If not successful the first try, you can always put in a new request and try again the next day, speaking to a different agent.

luv2fly4free

Korean also accepts a driver's license for ID on a domestic itinerary booking

luv2fly4free

Anyone else had this experience?

mtkeller

What's the exact routing? That's what would be required to figure out what might be going on.

floridastorm

Just curious why KAL charges $499 R/T to Asia and Delta charges as low as $195 for the same route?

Are some folks still have trouble using their Skypass miles on Delta, or for that matter, on any of the Skyteam members?

Are you now able to use Skypass miles on Emirates?

MSPeconomist

Different airlines and different FF programs have different policies regarding the collection of fuel surcharges on award tickets. [DL calls these fees foreign origination surcharges and aligns them with AF/KLM for DL award tickets departing from Europe, for example, but doesn't collect them for USA departures to Europe.]

luv2fly4free

differences in surcharges collected are understood - differences in taxes collected shouldn't vary though if both programs collect taxes but one collects a different amount than the other for the exact same flight segments since they should technically be based on the same government rules governing the way to calculate those taxes, which should be the same between airlines without bias in theory

luv2fly4free

Anybody else have recent experiences of being overcharged using Skypass miles on domestic US airline (DL) itineraries? The situation seems to be they charge per flight segment, even with very brief connections, where there should not be a separate charge imposed. Their pricing engine doesn't seem to take that into consideration as it should.

Stgermainparis

If I'm seeing N (or other single letter code) as fare code for Hawaii flights on DL search, is it fair to assume it is saver level and therefore available for KE (at least in theory)? Or should I go by DL 45k point rate to determine saver?

mtkeller

DL has started hiding the full rate code, so a single letter shows up even for higher price bands. I'd say your best bet for figuring out if DL award space might be available to partners is to see if it comes up on a search on the AS site. That should be available to partners, but I've run into some issues with KE not having access to all alliance award space. (This was SU and AF space, but given how well DL and KE get on, I'd not be surprised if there are issues there, too.)

Mark Depew

Long time lurker...apologies in advance if it's obvious, but where can I find info on whether a Skyteam partner award space will be visible to KE reps?

For instance, if I want to fly LAX-LHR r/t, how do I know if the award space visible on delta and flying blue will be able to be booked with Skypass miles?

Is it the fare class? Some designation I'll find on the Delta site? Thanks so much for any help anyone can offer.