Major Updates

• “Cash and miles” payment option for flight tickets to be introduced for a test-run period from November 2020.
• More reasonable mileage accrual and redemption rates based on airfare and flight distance to be implemented from April 2021.
• More inclusive elite membership program with four membership levels and lower qualification requirements to be introduced from February 2022.

※ The new program will be introduced and implemented as of April 1, 2020. However, after a 12-month grace period, the changes in mileage accrual and redemption will be enforced as of April 1, 2021 and the changes in elite program will be enforced as of February 1, 2022 respectively.


Your award has to be ticketed by April 1, 2021. Aka you are correct you can make a reservation in March 2021 with old rates.

Thats if they still around by mid 2020. Looks like they going to go bankrupt before. 90 % of flights grounded!?

Oh yeah it's that bad. But even if they do go bankrupt, they certainly won't disappear. They're deemed "essential service" for the public by the government. The government won't let them fail.

KE is fully focused on their cargo business right now, with even some plans to urgently remodel some passenger aircrafts into cargo.

Any indication from KE that they might postpone the date for the new redemption chart to later than April 1, 2021 due to the Coronavirus?

None at all. I'm sure they're still planning on it because the new "bad" rates help them a lot haha. But I haven't see anything in Korean news about civil complaint by consumers either....

Sent an email to Korean Air customer care regarding any news on extension.

Nothing in the news STILL for any update at all or "rumor," literally the last thing that comes up on NAVER News is the baggage tracking feature in their app. I also didn't take time to dig into like the industry blogs or anything, just simple news search.

Any news? I tried searching around but the only things that pop up are the "new" credit cards, people complaining about mileage expiry and posts from last year explaining the changes... gonna have to burn my miles soon but feels like a waste to spend them now

Nothing like I said in my NAVER searches, BUT I hit the magic 125,000 miles recently too - so I'm gonna buy a ticket biz class to Atlanta for like Fall 2021 haha as far out as I can to burn them and be done with it! I don't mind getting a full refund for -3,000 miles before April 2021.

I feel like they totally would continue on with this plan because it helps them save on redemptions and things haha. But who knows!

Sad, I put up with the old fashioned way of doing things at KE because redemptions were good and transiting in ICN fit right into my travel patterns. But lack of useful non skyteam partners and devalued FFP mean I have little reason to stay. I've been a loyal customer since my Skypass Junior days and would have eventually become Morning Calm Premium flying almost exclusively in economy.

Oh well, guess I did well to jump ship when I could....

When Korean releases the new elite levels will they keep the requirement that most of the miles be flown on Korean? We Asiana people are now interested in knowing about all of this.

And also, what's the new "threshold" for the portion that can be used on credit cards with KE partnership? That's another way to reduce the burden of having to fly on KE metal.

KE was supposed to start rolling out its cash & miles options this month, but I haven't seen that yet.

“Cash and miles” payment option for flight tickets to be introduced for a test-run period from November 2020.

So does that mean I can qualify for their new status levels starting in 2021, and I will get the benefits starting Feb 2022? Or earning for the new status levels begins Feb 2022, meaning starting in February 2022 I would need to start the clock on flying?