5 Things to Know About the Korean Air Skypass Credit Cards

U.S. Bank issues multiple Korean Air Skypass credit cards that offer cardholders the rare opportunity to earn Skypass miles without flying:

• The SKYPASS SkyBlue Visa® Card.

• The SKYPASS Visa® Signature Credit Card.

• The SKYPASS Select Visa Signature® Card.

Korean Air doesn’t partner with any of the major transferable credit card programs, so if you’re looking to earn a slug of Skypass miles, one of these cards may be your best option. But if you’re not a Korean Airlines loyalist, you would probably do better with a general travel card or another airline card.

Here are five things to know about the Korean Air Skypass credit cards.

1. There are several Skypass cards

There are three consumer Korean Air Skypass cards to choose from, including two with an annual fee and one without. As usual, the higher the card’s fee, the more benefits and perks you’ll receive.

While the ability to earn Skypass miles on a $0-annual-fee card is nice, you’d have to put a lot of spending on the SKYPASS SkyBlue Visa® Card to earn enough miles for an award ticket (see more below). You also won’t receive any additional benefits or perks when you fly.

The $99-annual-fee SKYPASS Visa® Signature Credit Card lets holders earn a big sign-up offer and bonus miles on Korean Air tickets, dining and hotels, in addition to two Korean Air lounge coupons annually. These benefits are similar to other airline credit cards with comparable annual fees.

The SKYPASS Select Visa Signature® Card is built for Korean Air loyalists. The card’s benefits, including an annual $200 travel credit and two $25 duty-free coupons, can help offset the massive $450 annual fee, and the bonus categories are designed to reward frequent travelers.

» SEE: The guide to the Korean Air Skypass program

2. You’ll need good credit to qualify

According to U.S. Bank, you’ll need good to excellent credit to qualify for any of the three Skypass cards (typically, that would mean FICO scores of 690 or higher). If your credit scores fall in that range and you’re a Korean Air loyalist, one of these cards might be worth a look.

3. Skypass miles are tough to acquire …

Korean Air has only one travel transfer partner, Marriott Bonvoy, with Marriott points transferring to Skypass at a 3:1 ratio. And since the airline doesn’t partner with any of the major credit card points programs, Skypass miles are harder to acquire than other airline miles.

That leaves flying on Korean Air or a partner airline and spending on a Skypass credit card as the primary ways to acquire Skypass miles.

» MORE: How to make the most of Korean Air economy class

4. … But there are plenty of redemption options

Since Korean Air is a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, Korean Air miles can be redeemed on partner airlines like Delta Air Lines and Air France, in addition to nonalliance partners like Alaska Airlines. The Skypass program has multiple award charts you can use to determine the number of miles required for a specific redemption: one for flights on Korean Air, one for flights on SkyTeam partners, one for non-SkyTeam partner redemptions and a round-the-world award chart for multistop itineraries circling the globe.

Partner airline redemptions offer the best value. For example, as of this writing, you can use 25,000 Skypass miles to fly round trip on Delta between mainland North America and Hawaii. Or you can use 30,000 miles to fly round trip on Alaska Airlines between the U.S. and Costa Rica. Redemption values on flights operated by Korean Air vary depending on the time of year.

You can also redeem miles for access to the Korean Air Lounge, as well as for baggage fees, car rentals and hotel stays in partner hotels.

» MORE: 5 award sweet spots using Korean Air Skypass miles

5. You won’t want to carry a balance

The Skypass cards may be good for earning airline miles, but using them to finance a purchase or carry a balance will be expensive. That’s because your interest rate could range almost as high as 30% as of this writing.

If you need time to pay off your card balance, you’d do better with a card that offers an introductory 0% APR period. You may not earn airline miles with those cards, but the money you save in interest will far outweigh the value of any miles you’d earn on the Skypass cards.