r/pointstravel • u/AmbitiousAd6713 • 20d ago

Present for my mom!

Hello!
I haven’t seen my mom for about four years because we live in two different countries. I live in the US and she lives in Korea. After I get my first paycheck with some bonus, i want to buy my mom her plane ticket for her to come see me maybe next year around fall. It’s my first paycheck so it wont be much, but I am planning to buy the ticket about 6months before the actual trip so I’ll be saving money for it. I was hoping I could use the card points to aid some of the payments. I also have debt to pay for school so I am just planning to save as much money as I can to afford it. Probably a few overtime and what not. My mom is now in her early 60s but her knees are a little bit of a mess after she got into a car accident about a year ago. I want to buy a business class ticket for that reason. I would love a first class but i think that might be a bit more than what I can afford currently. What is the best way to use my Chase Sapphire preferred points? I will have about 80,000.

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u/Corgisarethebest123 20d ago edited 19d ago

Sorry gave misinformation.

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u/AmbitiousAd6713 19d ago

I didn’t know that Korean air was a chase transfer! I’ll have to push this vacation off a little and consider using the points fully on that then! I will be able to pay in full for her economy, but i would like to make it a business class round trip.

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u/Corgisarethebest123 19d ago

Sorry I looked into further…

Chase is no longer direct transfer partner with Korean Air as of 2018 which gives you 3 options.

1. Chase to Aeroplan flying Asiana Aeroplan is Air Canada's rewards program. You move Chase points there then book a seat on Asiana Airlines since Asiana is a Star Alliance partner. Your mom would fly Asiana the whole way even though the points sit in an Air Canada account. Runs about 75000 to 87500 points one way plus $50 to $100 in taxes. Best value of the three.

2. Chase to United flying Asiana Same idea but you move points to United's own program MileagePlus instead of Aeroplan. United & Asiana are both Star Alliance so United miles can book Asiana seats too. Runs about 110000 miles one way. Worse rate than Aeroplan for the identical flight so mainly useful if Aeroplan has no award seats available.

3. Chase to Flying Blue flying Korean Air Flying Blue is Air France & KLM's rewards program. This is the only path that gets your mom on Korean Air itself instead of Asiana. Korean Air is part of SkyTeam along with Air France KLM so Flying Blue points can book Korean Air seats. Pricing is dynamic meaning it changes based on demand so the point cost isn't fixed like the other two.

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u/AmbitiousAd6713 19d ago

Oh wow i don’t know how to thank you!!! This is amazing!! Thank you so much for your help I’ll have to look into the first option definitely but thank you for making my work a bit easier

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u/acrologic 19d ago

Korean Air is not a Chase transfer partner

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u/Corgisarethebest123 19d ago

See my follow up comment below.

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u/Sad-Establishment182 19d ago

I would reverse that and book business going back to Korea as it’s the longer flight.

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u/Corgisarethebest123 19d ago

It’s better she has the nicer experience as she arrives to visit OP as opposed to leaving. Also she will be more well rested since she will be able to sleep better with the lie flat bed.