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How many Chase Ultimate Rewards points do you transfer to Korean Air SkyPass. In my case that number came to 582,000 UR points. In case you haven’t heard, earlier this week the Chase Ultimate Rewards program will no longer have Korean Air SkyPass as a transfer partner after August 24th of this month.
The reason given was a “mutual decision” per Chase and reported by Gary Leff from View from the Wing. Korean Air SkyPass was a strong transfer partner of the Ultimate Rewards program, and it is the only viable way to add miles to the SkyPass program outside of flying with Korean Air, signing up for their noncompetitive SkyPass Select Visa Signature card, or using Marriott points.
August 24th is your last day to transfer Chase UR points to Korean Air SkyPass
Gary and several other bloggers bring up an interesting question; given the announced ending of the relationship “How many Chase Ultimate Reward points would someone want to transfer into Korean SkyPass program?” The answer is going to vary per an individual’s sensibilities, but I thought it may be useful to some of you if I walk through how I came to my number.
First a couple statements about Korean Air SkyPass. Miles once added to the program last for 10 years and account activity does not extend or lengthen that period of time. You may only book awards for yourself and immediate family members. Korean does permit spouses, siblings, children and parents in that definition, but you’ll have to provide documentation for proof of relation. Sweet spots on their redemption chart include (one-way):
• North America to Korea, Japan, and China/Hong Kong First Class for 80,000 miles
• North America to Southeast Asia First Class for 95,000 miles
• North America to Southwest Asia First Class for 105,000 miles
• Mainland US to Hawaii Domestic First Class for 45,000 miles
• North America to Europe Business for 80,000 miles
In looking at the situation I feel confident that Chase UR points transferred to Korean Air SkyPass will be available for use. I don’t even think they would have to be used right away, but I wouldn’t want to hold on them much beyond 2 or 3 years as the risk of award devaluations becomes greater. I also have never flown in Korean Air’s first-class product, but I’ve read enough about it to understand that Susan and I are going to want to.
Another item to consider is WHERE are you going to use, and ultimately travel to with your transferred SkyPass miles. For myself the European business award and Hawaii awards are not interesting. Although good values, there are other redemptions and instruments I would use to travel to those destinations.
Korean Air SkyPass Award Regions
Korea, Japan and China and Hong Kong are also non-starters. I would rather use Virgin Atlantic miles on an ANA redemption’s or America Airline miles for a JAL or Cathy Pacific redemption (even if one of them may be a little more).
Looking at Korean Air SkyPass award regions Southeast Asia is most of Asia minus China, Japan, Hong Kong and India (including Sri Lanka). For me this is the area I want to fly Korean First class to: Thailand, Vietnam, Bali and Singapore. That puts a one-way redemption at 95,000 SkyPass miles. Since it will most likely be Susan and myself traveling, 190,000 miles will be needed for the both of us to travel one way.
The second part of the equation asks the question, “How many times do we want to take advantage of that one-way redemption?” For me it would be either two or three times during the next three years. After thinking about it for a few days I can to the conclusion to “go big” and do enough miles for three one-way redemptions in first class from North America to South East Asia. That came to 570,000 SkyPass miles. Canceling an award costs 3,000 miles and so I threw in an extra 12,000 miles as insurance. Total Chase UR points transferred to Korean Air SkyPass, 582,000 miles.
In Summary
I’ve been hording Chase Ultimate Rewards points for the last several years. I was redeeming them, but my earn rate was much higher than my burn rate. With this change by Chase I found a perfect place to transfer over 500K worth of UR points for use in the Korean Air SkyPass program. I understand the risks of devaluation, but I also think they are not that high during the next few years. I’m looking forward to trying Korean Air’s first class international product, and we’re both looking forward to visiting Southeast Asia in the future. Will I eventually regret transferring this many Chase Ultimate Reward points at one time? Time will tell.
