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If Seoul, South Korea isn’t on your bucket list, it should be! The country is known for its K-pop groups and amazing cuisine. While the country is densely populated, there isn’t a ton of great ways to fly non-stop from the United States.
In this guide, we’ll dive into four airlines to focus your award searches with.
Ways to book:
All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
American Airlines AAdvantage
Avianca LifeMiles
United MileagePlus
How to Earn these Points and Miles
Best Use of Points and Miles to Seoul, South Korea
All Nippon Airways Mileage Club
It’s well known that ANA has an amazing first class and business class seat. But their loyalty program is great as well! You have the option of flying ANA with a connection in Tokyo, but other partners like Asiana and United both fly non-stop from the United States.
Asiana departs from several different cities.
| Honolulu (HNL) | Los Angeles (LAX) |
| New York City (JFK) | San Francisco (SFO) |
| Seattle (SEA) | |
Keep in mind there are some restrictions for booking award flights. ANA doesn’t allow one-way bookings, so you’ll need to book round trip. Luckily, ANA does allow multi-city awards so you can explore two cities without backtracking.
ANA has different award charts depending on if the flight is operated by ANA or one of their partners.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| Partners | 60,000 | N/A | 95,000 | 165,000 |
| ANA | 45,000 – 60,000 | 66,000 – 81,000 | 80,000 – 95,000 | 165,000 – 180,000 |
Round-Trip Redemptions Booked through All Nippon AirwaysIt’s worth noting that pricing will be different for flights to/from Hawaii.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| 40,000 – 55,000 | 60,000 – 75,000 | 70,000 – 85,000 | 50,000 – 165,000 |
Round-Trip Redemptions Booked through All Nippon Airways on ANA Operated FlightsANA does pass along fuel surcharges so you can expect to have a high cash component in addition to your miles.
ANA First Class | Courtesy: ANA
American Airlines
It’s no secret that American Airlines is one of my favorite programs to earn miles through. While AA’s dynamic pricing can be a bit of a downer, their redemptions can be some of the lowest depending on the destination.
| Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| Partners | 35,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 80,000 |
| AA | 32,500 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 70,000 |
One-Way Redemptions with American AirlinesAmerican Airlines only flies from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Seoul. AA does partner with Japan Airlines who also flies to Seoul (GMP).
| Boston (BOS) | Chicago (ORD) |
| Dallas (DFW) | Honolulu (HNL) |
| Kona (KOA) | Los Angeles (LAX) |
| New York City (JFK) | San Diego (SAN) |
| San Francisco (SFO) | Seattle (SEA) |
Related: Flying Blue Sweet Spots
Avianca LifeMiles
You either love Avianca or hate Avianca. Avianca is an amazing to redeem miles with, but assistance with customer service is lacking. Avianca partners with ANA, United and Asiana since they are also a member of the Star Alliance.
ANA flies to several different US cities.
| Chicago (ORD) | Honolulu (HNL) |
| Houston (IAH) | Los Angeles (LAX) |
| New York City (JFK) | San Francisco (SFO) |
| Seattle (SEA) | Washington, DC (IAD) |
Here’s what you can expect to pay.
| Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| Continental US | 35,000 | 75,000 | 90,000 |
| Hawaii | 27,500 | 48,000 | 66,000 |
One-Way Redemptions with Avianca LifeMilesUnlike ANA, Avianca LifeMiles doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges.
United MileagePlus
United is another Star Alliance member on this list. Even though United only flies to Seoul (ICN) San Francisco (SFO), you can book with ANA and Asiana.
| Economy | Business | First |
|---|
| Partners | 38,500 | 88,000 | 132,000 |
| United | 35,000 | 70,000 | n/a |
One-Way Redemptions with United MileagePlusThe above pricing represents the best pricing. United does have dynamic pricing. You’ll likely see pricing much higher. Be patient until pricing is lower.
United has flexible cancellation policies. It might make sense to book through United if plans aren’t flexible even though pricing is slightly higher.
Related: Hyatt Regency Sydney Harbour View Balcony Suite: Review
How to Earn These Points and Miles
ANA only partners with one flexible points currency in the United States. American Express is your go to for points transfers to ANA. One of the best business cards to rack up points is the American Express Business Gold. One of my favorite cards to earn tons of Membership Rewards is The Blue Business Plus Credit Card from American Express. It earns a flat 2X on the first $50,000 each year.
American Airlines is the most difficult program to earn miles for from this sweet spot list. They don’t currently partner with a major transferrable points currency. But there are many cobranded credit cards with Citi and Barclays. One option is the Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard.
Avianca is a transfer partner with American Express, Citi and Capital One. Any card that earns those transferrable points are great additions to your wallet. Great cards from these banks include The Platinum Card from American Express, Citi Premier and the Capital One Venture X.
United only partners with Chase. You can transfer points to United from Chase or earn miles from several personal or business United cobranded credit cards. One of the best none branded Chase cards to earn points for United flights is the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Best Use of Points and Miles to Seoul, South Korea Bottom Line
Eagle eye readers will notice that Sky Team options aren’t included on this list. While there are several airlines within the alliance that fly there, like Korean Air and Delta, it is difficult to find good value. Sky Team airlines like to use dynamic pricing. It’s not uncommon to find awards for 200,000 for a one-way business class flight. If you can find good value with Delta or Flying Blue (Air France/KLM), that is a solid redemption!
Star Alliance flights represent the best value to Seoul, South Korea. A great place to start searches is through United even though you might ultimately book through another airline. You can use United’s flexible calendar to find the standard rates shown above and book those dates through one of the other Star Alliance programs.
Have you been to South Korea before? Let us know how you booked in the comments!
Still not sure how to find these award flights? Join our free private Facebook group to get daily tips on redeem points and miles.
The opinions in this article are the author’s and not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.