Asiana Airlines announced on September 24 that it will expand its international mileage redemption flights to routes in Europe and Southeast Asia.
The mileage-exclusive flights will operate once a week on two routes: Incheon-Frankfurt, with 20 flights scheduled from October 29 to December 31, and Incheon-Phuket, with 18 flights scheduled from October 28 to December 26. Both routes will utilize large aircraft, with the A380 (495 seats) on the Frankfurt route and the A330 (298 seats) on the Phuket route.
The Incheon-Frankfurt flight departs Incheon International Airport at 9:00 a.m. every Wednesday and arrives at Frankfurt Airport at 3:15 p.m. local time. The return flight departs Frankfurt at 5:35 p.m. local time on Wednesdays and arrives at Incheon International Airport at 1:35 p.m. the next day.
The Incheon-Phuket flight departs Incheon International Airport at 4:00 p.m. every Tuesday and arrives at Phuket Airport at 9:10 p.m. local time. The return flight departs Phuket at 10:45 p.m. local time on Fridays and arrives at Incheon International Airport at 6:45 a.m. the following day.
The mileage required for a one-way ticket on the Frankfurt route is 35,000 miles for economy class and 62,500 miles for business class (Business Smartium). For the Phuket route, a one-way ticket requires 20,000 miles for economy class and 30,000 miles for business class. However, during peak season, a 50% mileage surcharge will be applied compared to off-peak periods.
Reservations open at 9:00 a.m. on September 24, and all remaining seats can be purchased with mileage. Depending on seat availability, paid seats may also be offered for sale.
An official from Asiana Airlines stated, "Customer satisfaction with the mileage-exclusive flights on North American routes was high, so we expanded these flights to Europe and Southeast Asia to meet demand. We will continue to review the possibility of introducing mileage-exclusive flights on various routes in the future."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
