I had to book flights from Los Angeles to Jakarta this summer for my husband and while we would normally use our American Airlines miles to fly to Asia as our first choice (which are also valid for redemption on JAL / Cathay / Etihad flights), none of these airlines had any availability on the dates he wanted.
Knowing he had sufficient miles from his Chase Ultimate Rewards account to redeem for a premium cabin to Asia, I thought trying out Korean Air would be our best shot since there would be a slim chance for any Business/First class seats available on Singapore Airlines.
As expected, there was open availability flying Korean Air in Business and First on the dates he needed to fly out.


Miles required for redemption using Korean Air SKYPASS from LAX to CGK:
First Class – 95,000 miles
Business Class / Prestige Class – is 75,000 miles
Economy Class – 42,500 miles

Korean Air miles can be transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards instantaneously.
Korean Air is also a partner of Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and a member of the SkyTeam Alliance (Delta, Air France, Garuda Indonesia, Vietnam Airlines, Aeroflot, Alitalia just to name a few).
While none of us has ever flown Korean Air, even I’m excited that he’ll get to experience flying the long journey in Korean Air’s exceptional first class cabin.
