Korean Air headquarters in Seoul. (image: Korean Air)
SEOUL, Dec. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea’s national flag carrier, said Thursday it has recently approved a request from a same-sex couple to use combined miles.
Earlier this week, a female same-sex Korean couple submitted a marriage certificate they obtained in Canada to apply for the airline’s SkyPass family members to share their miles.
The company accepted the request, a company spokeswoman said over the phone.
In a blog post, the “Acorne Couple” in their 40s, who achieved the right of permanent residence in the United States a year ago, said they submitted their marriage certificate issued in Ontario in 2013 and their tax report filed with the U.S. authorities in 2018 to use combined miles for overseas travel.
“The company approved the couple’s application for a SkyPass family membership as they submitted all required documents,” the spokeswoman said.
But the company said they cannot provide details on how many same-sex couples have applied for the SkyPass family plan to share miles as it violates the personal information protection act.
Same-sex marriage is illegal in Korea, so same-sex couples are not allowed to benefit from the country’s established systems and programs set for opposite-sex couples.
Korean director Kim Jo Gwang-soo and his partner Kim Seung-hwan were one of the country’s first same-sex couples to go public with their relationship, but they have been unable to register as a family under the current law.
On a talk show held in 2017, Kim said he called Asiana Airlines Inc. to ask if he and his partner could combine their miles when reserving tickets. But it was not accepted due to a lack of proper documents, according to Asiana Airlines.
“It is basically possible for same-sex couples to register as family members who can share miles if they can submit all necessary documents,” an Asiana spokesman said.
(Yonhap)
