No More Korean Air Skypass Transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards

Korean Air Skypass is no longer a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. As of November 21, Chase has discontinued the transfer partnership with no notice, a significant devaluation of Ultimate Rewards points for many members who value first class award travel to Asia.

Lack of Communication from Chase and Within Chase

Unfortunately, not only did Chase not provide any advance notice to cardholders of dropping Korean Air Skypass as a transfer partner, Chase also seems not to have communicated well internally to its customer service team. I called and the customer service agent and her supervisor were mystified as to why Korean Skypass was no longer showing as a transfer partner, such that they can also no longer process Ultimate Rewards transfers to Korean Air Skypass. They even contacted IT, who verified it wasn't an IT issue.

Why Was Korean Air Skypass Terminated as a Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partner?

Some have been told that Korean Air transfers were too problematic to process, although at least in my clients' experience they only took 1-3 days. It's possible that the loss of Korean Air Skypass is temporary and related to the updating of Korean's Web site–we should know more next week.

Loss of a Great First Class Product to Asia with Ample Award Availability

I've booked Korean Air First Class for my Award Booking clients that have needed first class award availability to Asia, when there was no award availability on other carriers, as well as for families traveling together. And taxes and fees are very reasonable on many one way awards from Asia to the U.S. Recently, one of my clients was charged about $240 per ticket for a return from China via Seoul Incheon to New York JFK, all in Korean Air First Class.

Alternatives

You can still book Korean Air Business Class with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, but not Korean Air First Class. And SPG Starpoints don't transfer to Korean Air Skypass, so forget that option as well.

Instead, you'll need to look at other Asian carriers for first class award travel: