When Will Chase Points Transfers to Korean Return?

by Gary Leff

Korean Air has been one of my favorite uses of Chase points.

Although they are of course very Korean and their processes for redeeming awards are unique.

Korean went offline as a Chase transfer partner in November, though I wrote that it was expected to come back based on what Chase was suggesting.

Korean Air’s Skypass website lists Chase Ultimate Rewards as a partner and indicates transfers will be back this month.

※ Chase Ultimate Rewards point transfer is temporarily unavailable. It is planned to re-open during Jan, 2015.

When I flagged that last month, I said I didn’t take the date as definitive.

Since I have readers asking for an update almost every day, I reached out to Chase. They simply indicated that there’s no news at this time.

While I’d rather have a date certain, and I’d feel like a return was imminent if I got a different answer, I at least appreciate that the status remains an indication that Chase sees Korean returning as a partner (what they’ve indicated previously). And I like that Korean hasn’t felt the need to update their website further.

I don’t know when transfers will return, though I do believe they will based on indications from both sides. Fortunately Korean will hold awards without points in an account up until days before departure.

Update: Sorry for the setting that had comments turned off!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I reached out to Chase Support via Twitter on the 17th and following was the response, “I’m happy to confirm that this will be returning soon. Stay tuned for more details! ^MB”

    When I asked for a more specifics on the timing I was told, “Unfortunately, we’re unable to give a specific date as of yet. Feel free to tweet us if you have any account questions. ^MB”

    So hopefully sooner than later but Chase did confirm it would return!! Can’t wait!

  2. Hi Lary,

    Is there a huge fuel surcharge if I redeem korean air miles in business class originated from Europe to US, let us say on Air France or delta airline?

    Thanks

  4. Not surprising this is dragging on. I emailed their English customer service email address with a question and never got a response.

  5. From dans deals
    Will Korean Return As A Chase Transfer Partner On Sunday?

    DDF member mayer522 reports that he was told in a SM from Chase that Korean Airlines will be back as a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner effective this Sunday, 01/25.

    Thank you for contacting Chase about transferring points
    to Korean Air.

    Please note, for contractual reasons, Korean Air was
    removed as a points transfer partner in Ultimate Rewards.
    I apologize for any inconvenience caused.

    However, Chase has renegotiated the contract for Korean
    Air and it will return as a points transfer partner on
    January 25, 2015.

    If you have any further questions, please reply using the
    Secure Message Center.

    I have not been able to independently verify this, but Korean offers lots of sweet award redemptions that were part of the “30 awesome things you can do with Ultimate Rewards” so that’s great news if it pans out!

Comments are closed.