Can't redeem Krisflyer miles for Asiana flight?

[zzyss]

I was hoping to use Krisflyer miles to redeem a direct flight from SYD -> ICN on Asiana (~12 hours vs 26+ hours with Singapore stopover), but when I called up to make the partner booking the rep said that some airlines don't accept award bookings for direct flights. I'm quite the n00b at all this but it still sounds a bit weird and I remain skeptical - does that sound right?

 

[kamchatsky]

You should call the call centre for Star Alliance awards where you can redeem Asiana flights. I cannot see why they cannot redeem on Asiana flights, just ask for flight number OZ602 (SYD-ICN) or OZ601 (ICN-SYD). Having said that though it is very expensive use of points especially that SQ is so much better and you get 15% discount.

 

[dajop]

Sounds like you've found the operator with a face saving excuse. Not sure if it is perfectly correlated, but I would first look at united.com and try finding a seat by selecting "award travel" and searching for flights on your preferred dates. If there is saver availability in your preferred cabin then there may be a chance that SQ can also see an award on same date, so call back SQ and check once you find a suitable date with availability.

 

[zzyss]

Sounds like you've found the operator with a face saving excuse. Not sure if it is perfectly correlated, but I would first look at united.com and try finding a seat by selecting "award travel" and searching for flights on your preferred dates. If there is saver availability in your preferred cabin then there may be a chance that SQ can also see an award on same date, so call back SQ and check once you find a suitable date with availability.

Yeah, I did try United.com but they had no availability. Wasn't sure whether that was because I'm being too optimistic with the dates (trying for the year-end peak) or if there truly isn't anything from Asiana.

You should call the call centre for Star Alliance awards where you can redeem Asiana flights. I cannot see why they cannot redeem on Asiana flights, just ask for flight number OZ602 (SYD-ICN) or OZ601 (ICN-SYD). Having said that though it is very expensive use of points especially that SQ is so much better and you get 15% discount.

The points aren't really an issue. The time difference is a big deal though, 'coz I'm trying to book the flights for my father in law, who is a little on the older side and probably won't do too well with the much longer flight.

 

[Aggashi]

just to let u know that asiana has blocked out any redemption for peak season travelling from other airline partner FF

if u are an asiana FF member, you can claim for flight during "peak period" but will have to use an additional of 50% amount of required point for the redemption.


below are the dates that are consider "peak" season
[TABLE="class: tbl_type05 tm15"]
[TR]
[TH]Passenger Type
[/TH]
[TH]As of 2015
[/TH]
[TH="class: last"]As of 2016
[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]International Flights (departing from Americas)
[/TD]
[TD]5/16~7/5, 12/5~12/23
[/TD]
[TD="class: last"]5/14~7/3, 12/5~12/23
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]International Flights (departing from non-Americas locations)
[/TD]
[TD]1/1~1/11, 2/13~2/22, 7/23~8/24,
9/24~9/30, 12/24~12/31
[/TD]
[TD="class: last"]1/1~1/10, 2/5~2/9, 7/16~8/21,
9/9~9/16, 12/24~12/31
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: lastline"]
[TD]Domestic Flight
[/TD]
[TD]1/1, 2/17~2/23, 5/22~5/25,
7/17~8/23, 9/25~9/29, 10/8~10/11,
12/24~12/27, 12/30~12/31
[/TD]
[TD="class: last"]1/1~3, 2/5~2/10, 6/3~6/6,
7/22~8/28, 9/13~9/19, 9/30~10/4,
12/30~31
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[zzyss]

just to let u know that asiana has blocked out any redemption for peak season travelling from other airline partner FF

Thanks. We ended up just paying for the flights after finding out that Qantas code shares with Korean Air.