This is what happened to me couple of weeks ago.


I frequently fly JFK/ICN route for business.
When I asked "Priority boading" for Skyteam Elite members on KE086 Jan 26,
Korean Air agents were not allowed me to have prioirty boarding.
I have both Continnetal Onepass silver and Korean Air Morning Calm
which are eligible for Skyteam Elite benefits. I was little bit embarased since I was refused. They cleary mentioned that priority boarding is allowed for
Skyteam Elite Plus members (Continental Onepass Platinum or
Korean Air Morning Calm premium or Million miler)


When I got back from Korea, I searched over the internet,
Korean Air, Continental and Skteam. All 3 websites clearly mentioned that
Skyteam Elite members are eligible for priority boarding. This information made me upset again and I sent complaint e-mail to Korean Air.
I've got a call from one Korean Air manager at JFK 2 days ago,
he explained that they used to run this at JFK but they had so many issues
with this and they've decided to not to accept priority boading for
Skyteam Elite members. He also told me that they will hold internal meetings
soon and they will decide whether they will resume this serive at JFK or not.
Overall he was trying to explain reasons and unfortunately I am not still
happy with Korean Air. I think Korean Air should follow "Skyteam rules", priority boarding for Skyteam elite members, too as agreed by all Skyteam partners.


So far I have collocted 300K of Korean Air Skypass miles,
but I need to another 200K for Morning Calm Premium which is eligible for
Skyteam Elite Plus (Such as Onepass Platinum). This will probably takes forever FYI, there are no elite bonus miles from Korean Air unless you
fly with business / fisrt class. It is faster for me to achieve Onepass Platinum, if I stick to Onepass from now on. Since Continental joined Skyteam alliance, I was wondering whether I need to collect miles for Continental Onepass or Korean Air Skypass.


I used to fly with Continental & I was so happy with their services a lot. Such as generous elite bomus miles, ist class upgrade, priority boarding, priority check in and priority security check and etc. I also like Continental's business strategy, "Work hard, Fly right"!!!
Korean Air does not offer that kinds of rich benefits to Skyteam Elite members, only priority check in, lounge acess (4 times for 2 years) and additional allowance for baggages, that's it!!! Most of my colleagues who fly to Korea frequently were not happy with Korean Air, either.


I am not so sure whether the Korean Air manager will keep me posted what will happen from the meeting. I will fry same route with Korean Air in a month, I will see whether they will resume "priority boarding" for Skyteam Elite members or not.


Hope Continental launches EWR/ICN route someday...
I guess this will not happen soon since Continnetal already added Beijing route in 2005.

Priority boarding is very inconsistent, AF did not pre-board my last BOS-CDG flight, NW often does not pre-board if there are too many Elites on board etc. I found CO to be pretty good with this perk, never seen them not to do Elite pre-boarding. It can get to a problem if there are too many Elites on a given flight, I have seen a number of airlines limiting it to Gold/Plat or Plat only.

Here is my experience with Korean Airlines just this past week. I flew HNL-ICN. I went to HNL to check in and there was this huge line that wrapped out of the terminal. Fortunately it was for economy and I am Platinum Elite with NW so I went around to the first class checkin. After initially telling me she couldnt check me in unless I was in first or business, she did. She even gave me a better seat (exit row on 777). With priority tags, off I go to the Worldclub. At the gate, I asked if we had priority boarding. The GA said yes, after the people that needed extra boarding time and first class. After a 11-hour flight (it truly was a bad experience but that is for a different thread), we land at ICN. On the return trip, I get to the airport with 4 hours before departure to snag a better seat. I use their business class check in and had little problems. There was some issues with my e-ticket but that was with our ticketing office not with KE. I even got an invitation to their business class lounge (another story for a different thread). For boarding, we got to board right after the first class passengers and with business class. Luckily the return flight was only 7 hours.

I have never received priority boarding on any KL or AF flights within Europe. Come to think about it, as a Sky Team Elite Plus I have been upgraded only once by AF due to a severely overbooked flight. I have also had problems gaining access to different airline lounges. A few times I had to pull out the Sky Team printouts that spelled out the policy. After a few calls to the supervisors I was finally given access. Of course that is for a different post.

Priority boarding is inconsistent....Although if I'm seated in an exit row and want my carry on near me, I usually just walk past everyone. I can live with the evil looks