Korea on sale today with all three alliances flying in April and May with discount fares from San Francisco to Seoul or Busan. Low fares return for late August and fall months departures. San Francisco SFO appears to have airfare $100 lower than any other U.S. airport today. San Jose SJC has similar fares in the low $700s.
This article compares the redeemable frequent flyer miles earned with tickets from each airline alliance with a look at Star Alliance tickets on Singapore Airlines or United Airlines, Skyteam Alliance with Delta Airlines and Oneworld Alliance with American Airlines ticketed with Japan Airlines codeshares.
Singapore Airlines San Francisco – ICN Incheon, South Korea $680.62
Economy V class does not earn miles in United Mileage Plus. Singapore KrisFlyer will credit 10% flight miles for economy V class for 1,127 redeemable miles.
United Mileage Plus members can earn miles on United Airlines operated aircraft to Seoul ICN on the same $696 fare. On March 23, United had a $695 fare SFO-ICN so this deal matches the route fare sale last month.
United Airlines San Francisco SFO – ICN Seoul, South Korea $695.60
United base fare on this ticket is $607 eligible for 5x redeemable miles and PQD. 3,035 redeemable miles earned on this route for US residents.
Delta Airlines San Francisco SFO – ICN Seoul, South Korea $710.20
Delta’s lowest fare routing is a flight from SFO to Seattle connecting to a SEA-ICN nonstop Delta flight. Delta economy V class earns 5x miles on $607 base fare for 3,035 redeemable miles.
American Airlines/JAL codeshare SFO – PUS Busan, South Korea
American Airlines ticket SFO-PUS Busan, South Korea is an option if you want miles and do not have to fly into Seoul, South Korea. This routing flies San Francisco to Los Angeles for an AA flight to Tokyo NRT. Japan Airlines operated aircraft cover the flight to PUS Busan and all return flights back to SFO. Since these are AA codeshare flights, 100% flight miles are earned as redeemable miles for this economy Q class fare.
American AAdvantage members earn about 12,870 redeemable miles.
Redeemable Miles earned on SFO-Korea tickets
- SFO – PUS Busan $731.70 American/Japan Airlines codeshare = 12,870 AAdvantage miles.
- SFO – ICN Seoul $695.60 United Airlines = 3,035 Mileage Plus miles.
- SFO – ICN Seoul $710.20 Delta Airlines = 3,035 Delta Skymiles miles.
- SFO – ICN Seoul $680.62 Singapore Airlines = 1,127 Singapore KrisFlyer miles.
- SFO – ICN Seoul $680.62 Singapore Airlines = 0 United Mileage Plus miles.
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