Korean Air Skypass Ultimate Rewards transfers will return January 2015, per the Korean Air Skypass site, which now reads:
“※ Chase Ultimate Rewards point transfer is temporarily unavailable. It is planned to re-open during Jan, 2015″
Earlier, in Korean Air Skypass to Return as Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partner, I wrote that Skypass would return as a transfer partner, since it was now back on the Korean Air Skypass page as a way to earn Skypass miles, but at that point there was no date.
This is great news for those planning to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for Skypass awards, such as Korean Air First Class, which can't be redeemed for either with Delta SkyMiles (since you can't use SkyMiles to book any SkyTeam partner first class) or with Alaska MileagePlan miles (although it is possible to redeem Alaska miles for Korean Air Business Class).
After the United Award Chart Devaluation, Korean Air Skypass and Singapore KrisFlyer became the two most valuable Ultimate Rewards transfer partners, so it would have been a huge loss and devaluation of the Ultimate Rewards program if Korean Air Skypass was terminated permanently as a transfer partner, at least without a similarly valuable replacement.
Korean Air First Class is an excellent product, and even if it doesn't offer all the comforts of Singapore Suites, it's generally much easier to redeem for, for two people or even a family. See How to Redeem Korean Air SkyPass Miles for Award Travel for tips on booking these awards.
Now, the only wrinkle is that in recent responses, Chase has not committed itself to January 2015, hence the question mark in my title. There was no date commitment in a recent reply to a secure message I sent to Chase about Skypass returning as a transfer partner, and here's what Flyertalker Thunderroad received in response to private messages to Chase (emphasis mine):
“I can understand your frustration regarding the option to transfer points to the Korean Air SKYPASS program. As a
security measure, a business decision was made to suspend this benefit so that we can review processes and make
appropriate changes. Regretfully, at this time, no date has been determined as to the return of this functionality. We do realize this feature is part of the rewards earning structure. Although we reserve the right to make changes to the program at anytime, we ask that you trust we are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”
So Chase doesn't seem to be committing itself yet to January 2015, but I still take Korean Air putting January 2015 on its Web site as a very encouraging sign, even if we don't know when in January 2015.
Are you happy to see Korean Air Skypass return as a Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer partner?
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HT: Flyertalk