On Sunday, figures showed that the combined worth of unredeemed miles for South Korea’s two largest airlines totaled 3.4 trillion won (US$2.5 billion) as of the first half of 2023, a 17.4% increase since the same time in 2019. Korean Air accounted for 2.4 trillion won, with Asiana Airlines making up the remaining 942 billion won.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the government to agree to a three-round extension of expiry dates, up to 30 months. Since 2008, air carriers have enforced an expiration policy on mileage points, and in 2019, these points began to expire. Airlines have been hosting promotional events to encourage customers to use their unredeemed miles in order to reduce debts ahead of their planned merger.
Earlier in August, Korean Air increased the maximum redeemable miles from 20% to 30%.
This photo, taken on May 18, 2023, shows planes of Korean Air Co. and Asiana Airlines Inc. at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
colin@yna.co.kr
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