[Ki Ha-young's Life Card] Use Your Credit Card Airline Voucher by Next Year

With Overseas Travel Blocked by COVID-19
Card Companies Extend Flight Ticket Voucher Benefits Until Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young]Is there anyone these days without at least one credit card? In modern society, anyone can have a card if they want. Credit cards have brought unparalleled convenience to daily life. Now, wherever you go, you can easily see people paying with credit cards or smartphones. As demand has increased, cards with various benefits are being released almost daily. Accordingly, Asia Economy delivers diverse stories related to cards, which are inseparable from our consumer life, through the weekly 'Cards in Daily Life' corner?from introducing new cards, industry behind-the-scenes, to guides for card beginners.

Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, card companies are extending the usage period of overseas flight vouchers until next year. This delays the measure that was extended once until the end of this year due to COVID-19.

Overseas flight voucher benefits are usually provided with premium cards that have an annual fee of 100,000 KRW or more. Customers apply for premium cards considering these voucher benefits. They try to fully enjoy the voucher benefits to receive advantages exceeding the annual fee. Among these, overseas flight vouchers were one of the preferred major benefits because they help save travel expenses.

However, this year, overseas travel has been virtually halted due to COVID-19, making it difficult to use overseas flight vouchers. The overseas flight voucher benefits can be received as a free round-trip ticket for one companion or an upgrade of the cardholder’s seat by one class, but this year, with overseas travel blocked by COVID-19, the flight vouchers became useless.

In response, card companies have started extending the usage period of flight vouchers to alleviate customer inconvenience. Shinhan Card recently decided to uniformly extend the usage period of overseas flight and hotel vouchers until December next year. The five premium cards targeted are 'The Premier Gold Edition,' 'The Premier,' 'The Ace Blue Label,' 'The Ace,' and 'The Best.' KB Kookmin Card also plans to extend the usage period of flight vouchers provided to customers using flight voucher cards such as the 'ROVL Card' and 'BeV Card' until the end of next year.

Samsung Card extends the usage period of flight vouchers by six months or provides substitute vouchers in Shinsegae gift certificates if customers wish. Lotte Card also allows customers to extend the usage period of flight vouchers up to one year or change to other voucher benefits such as Lotte gift certificates if desired.

Additionally, Hyundai, Hana, and BC Cards have extended the usage period of flight vouchers until the end of next year, and Woori Card allows continuous extension of flight vouchers in three-month increments if customers want.

As we approach mid-December this year, time is running out. If you have unused benefits such as flight vouchers from cards issued this year due to COVID-19, please check now to extend the usage period or receive substitute services. Unless you take care of it yourself, card companies rarely take the initiative to secure benefits for you.