• http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080728/aqm501.html?.v=15

    "SEATTLE, July 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Travelers in the Pacific Northwest will have better access to Asia because of a new partnership between Korean Air and Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. The carriers have entered into a codeshare agreement and expanded frequent flier partnership that will allow members to earn and redeem miles in either Korean Air's SKYPASS or the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program.

    Customers can take advantage of the new partnership from Korean Air's West Coast gateways of Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with connecting flights from other points throughout the Pacific Northwest. The agreement starts August 1, and customers can begin earning and redeeming miles starting Sept. 3....."


    Hmm...MP is getting pretty heavy with SkyTeam members. Will CO be dumping AS and SkyTeam and joining UA/StarAlliance? If so then I don't see any reason after that for AS not joining SkyTeam except for BA and AA...and people love their BA awards...but with AF, KL and the new DL/NW is there a reason to keep BA or AA? QF could be a casualty in all this as well if OneWorld felt left out.


  • Any idea if KE will offer intra-asia redemption - Japan-HK for example?


  • no elite miles...drag. NW consistently more expensive to Asia, and we'll not discuss the service levels in comparison....


  • Travel between North America and Korea/Japan/Taiwan/Mongolia/China (excluding Hong Kong)
    Economy Class KEYA 70,000 miles
    Business Class KEBA 105,000 miles

    Travel between North America and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thialand, Philippines, Cambodia, Guam)
    Economy Class KEYS 85,000 miles
    Business Class KEBS 110,000 miles

    Travel between Korea and Southeast Asia
    Economy Class KEYIA 35,000 miles
    Business Class KEBIA 60,000 miles

    Travel between North America and India/Middle East
    Economy Class KEYI 100,000
    Business Class KEBI 140,000

    Travel between North America and Australia/New Zealand/Fiji
    Economy Class KEYN 85,000
    Business Class KEBN 125,000

    Blackout Dates
    2008- May 19-Jun 30, Dec 8-Dec 23
    2009- May 23-Jun 5, Dec 12-Dec 27


    Additional Blackout Dates to Southeast Asia
    2008- Jul 20-Aug 20, Sept 12-Sept 14, Dec 28-Dec 31
    2009-Jan-1-Jan 11, Jan 23-Jan 27, Jul 17-Aug 16, Oct 1-Oct 4, Dec 23-Dec 31


  • Anybody know if there will be KE awards to Australia/NZ? This will add a possibility where BA was just taken away (can't really compare products though).

    Will we be able to redeem into KE F class?


  • Would KE flights be status earning though?

    no

    Big bummer.

    Oh well, I'm happy to replace CO with KE.


  • Hmm...MP is getting pretty heavy with SkyTeam members. Will CO be dumping AS and SkyTeam and joining UA/StarAlliance? If so then I don't see any reason after that for AS not joining SkyTeam except for BA and AA...and people love their BA awards...but with AF, KL and the new DL/NW is there a reason to keep BA or AA? QF could be a casualty in all this as well if OneWorld felt left out.

    Actually, LA too (a OW carrier), which IIRC, which will soon be getting cozy with KE via codeshares, etc.


  • Dang, Just fininshed a few legs on KE back a month or so, would have loved the miles to post to AS instead of my all-but-ignored DL account. Flew ICN to SYD. Service was great but the plane looked like it was built during the war. :-) Business class seats were no better than F on Alaska. Made for a really long redeye to SYD especially with a broken footrest. Apparently they are updating the fleet but we sure had an old one. Although it was a 777 and couldnt have been more than 10-12 yrs old.


  • Considering the current options to get to ICN out of SEA, this seems pretty good to me from a Mileage Plan member's point of view, even if EQMs aren't offered:

    Asiana - no miles
    United - no miles
    Northwest - EQMs, but usually the most expensive plus you have to connect
    Korean Air - miles
    Air Canada - connect, plus no miles

    That said, I just booked a trip on Asiana and would have been pretty mad if EQMs were offered!:D


  • Let see here.. No EQM's for

    1) BIS CO (aviod them then)
    2) BIS KE (too bad, now I have to find alternatives)
    3) BIS with AS50 award

    Re qualifying might be fun in 2009.

    Well, to be fair, KE is no different than say, QF. Besides, if they gave you EQM on KE, it would practically be stealing after two flights.


  • Looks like I'll be up bright and early on Sep. 3 booking a trip to Asia... :)


  • Let see here.. No EQM's for

    1) BIS CO (aviod them then)
    2) BIS KE (too bad, now I have to find alternatives)
    3) BIS with AS50 award

    Re qualifying might be fun in 2009.

    Not quite true on #3. AS reversed course and is providing 50% miles accrued and EQMs for AS50s booked after November 1. So half-true.


  • Let see here.. No EQM's for

    1) BIS CO (aviod them then)
    2) BIS KE (too bad, now I have to find alternatives)
    3) BIS with AS50 award

    Re qualifying might be fun in 2009.


  • It is strange; 70,000 Y (105,000 B) to Chinese Cities, but 85,000 Y (110,000 B) to HKG. What's the logic for needing more miles to HKG instead of e.g. CAN (100 miles from HKG) ? I don't expect to have an answer on this in this forum though.

    BW
    higher landing and gate fees?


  • It's no different than the number of EQMs earned from flying NW to Asia (of course they don't fly to AU).

    MP seems averse to EQM giving on it's partners that fly primarily longhaul to/from the US. Somehow the alliances don't seem to have this problem.

    If KE (or QF, or others) wanted to pay more to AS MP for the miles, they'd be EQMs.


  • Thanks Missy!

    KE's blackout days are so complicated.

    Too bad no F awards :(


  • Would KE flights be status earning though?


    no


  • Hmm good points. But if milege redemption rates are based purely on cost of doing business, why it will cost the same mileage (85,000 miles on Y) to redeem a ticket on KE from North America to HKG and Aus/NZ, knowing it is a lot farther to fly from ICN to AUS/NZ than to HKG ?

    And I thought it would be more efficient and less red tape to operate out of HKG than other Chinese airports. I guess political boundary does have an effect on mileage redemption, even though HKG is part of China nowadays.


    BW


  • Too bad no EQM for KE flights, otherwise it would be a fantastic alternative to NW Asia flights out of SEA.

    BW


  • great addition! It sucks there are no EQMS though


  • Travel between North America and Korea/Japan/Taiwan/Mongolia/China (excluding Hong Kong)
    Economy Class KEYA 70,000 miles
    Business Class KEBA 105,000 miles

    Travel between North America and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thialand, Philippines, Cambodia, Guam)
    Economy Class KEYS 85,000 miles
    Business Class KEBS 110,000 miles

    Travel between Korea and Southeast Asia
    Economy Class KEYIA 35,000 miles
    Business Class KEBIA 60,000 miles

    Travel between North America and India/Middle East
    Economy Class KEYI 100,000
    Business Class KEBI 140,000

    Travel between North America and Australia/New Zealand/Fiji
    Economy Class KEYN 85,000
    Business Class KEBN 125,000

    Blackout Dates
    2008- May 19-Jun 30, Dec 8-Dec 23
    2009- May 23-Jun 5, Dec 12-Dec 27


    Additional Blackout Dates to Southeast Asia
    2008- Jul 20-Aug 20, Sept 12-Sept 14, Dec 28-Dec 31
    2009-Jan-1-Jan 11, Jan 23-Jan 27, Jul 17-Aug 16, Oct 1-Oct 4, Dec 23-Dec 31

    It is strange; 70,000 Y (105,000 B) to Chinese Cities, but 85,000 Y (110,000 B) to HKG. What's the logic for needing more miles to HKG instead of e.g. CAN (100 miles from HKG) ? I don't expect to have an answer on this in this forum though.

    BW


  • Would KE flights be status earning though?


  • ok...now where is the interisland Hawaii partner!! ;)


  • Any idea if KE will offer intra-asia redemption - Japan-HK for example?

    it doesn't appear likely


  • Well, to be fair, KE is no different than say, QF. Besides, if they gave you EQM on KE, it would practically be stealing after two flights.

    It's no different than the number of EQMs earned from flying NW to Asia (of course they don't fly to AU).

    MP seems averse to EQM giving on it's partners that fly primarily longhaul to/from the US. Somehow the alliances don't seem to have this problem.


  • This is great news. I hope they'll offer an intra-Asia award category, as well... I guess a couple of days to wait before the award chart is online.


  • yes there will be an AU/NZ award

    The award levels will be up on the website tomorrow afternoon or Friday morning


  • With the MP devaluation they need to add as many partners as they can to make the program unique and competitive. Getting the major airlines of both SkyTeam and Oneworld is a good start. I'd like to see IB added sometime.







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