Asiana expands seats purchasable with miles ahead of Korean Air merger

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Asiana expands seats purchasable with miles ahead of Korean Air merger

Published: 20 Mar. 2025, 16:07

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Asiana Airlines planes are parked at Incheon International Airport. [NEWS1]

If you have racked up miles with Asiana Airlines, here comes the big chance to use them before the merger with Korean Air.

Asiana said Thursday it will operate six flights between Incheon and Los Angeles or New York, with entire remaining seats could be purchased with miles in April, May and June.

A total of 1,870 seats, regardless of class, were slated for availability from 9 a.m. on March 20. Normally, airlines only open very few seats for purchase with miles.

The specific routes and dates are Incheon-Los Angeles on April 22, Los Angeles-Incheon on April 29, Incheon-Los Angeles on May 4, Los Angeles-Incheon on May 11, Incheon-New York on June 4 and New York-Incheon on June 11.

Passengers need at least 35,000 miles per one-way ticket for economy class, and 62,500 miles for a business class ticket.

For peak season departures, May 4's Incheon-Los Angeles route and June 11's New York-Incheon route will require 52,500 miles for an economy class ticket and 93,750 miles for a business class seat.

This is Asiana's latest effort to encourage passengers to use their miles ahead of the airline's official merger with Korean Air, set for the end of 2026, a process in which the mileage swap ratio has been one of the nuisances.

The 1:1 ratio could cause consumer complaints as the cost of earning one mile through products or services such as credit cards or hotel reservations varies between the two airlines.

An industry source told the Korea JoongAng Daily last month that the "Asiana miles accumulated through boarding flights will convert into a 1:1 ratio to Korean Air's," while those earned through the use of products and services "will be lower than that."

Unused Asiana Airlines miles stood at 981.9 billion won ($672.8 million) as of the end of September last year, which the carrier reflected as deferred revenue, a type of liability, in its financial statements.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]