KAL starts to penalize int’l passengers who no-show

Korean Air will charge penalties from customers who miss international flights without giving notice starting in October, the company said Monday.

The carrier imposed so-called no-show charges on domestic flights in October 2008 and decided to expand them to international flights after the no-show rate reached 2 percent of all reservations in 2015.

“Considering we have 218 seats on our A330s, [2 percent] is about 4 cancelled seats per flight,” a spokesman from Korean Air said. “Multiplying that number by all 132 planes we have flying to 119 cities, it adds up to a considerable number of no-show customers.”

The penalties will vary according to the distance of the flight.

The penalty will be $120 for flights bound for North America, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania, $70 for flights to Southeast and Southwest Asian and $50 for short flights to countries such as Japan and China.

“We aim to establish a culture in which passengers refrain from carelessly cancelling their reservations to offer seats to customers in need,” Korean Air said in a statement. “Other air carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Emirates also have very tight no-show charges.”

Different no-show penalties will be levied on tickets bought with membership mileage: 500 points for domestic tickets, and 5,000 to 12,000 points for international tickets depending on the distance.

The existing no-show fines on domestic flights is 8,000 won ($7).

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]