Korean Air Introduces Paid First Class Seat Upgrades

Korean Air has introduced a new system that allows its business class passengers to assign themselves first class seats by paying extra. These first class seats are called “Kosmo Zone” seats. The South Korean carrier unofficially used to upgrade its elite members in business class or full fare business class passengers to first class “seats”, but it seems that the airline decided to formally charge for this service now.

Kosmo Zone

Effective today, November 6th, 2024, eligible Prestige Class (Korean Air’s brand for business class) passengers can pay extra to upgrade their seats to First Class. This means that by paying extra, passengers get access to the First Class cabin, along with other benefits:

*First Class seating

*Priority handling of baggage (presumably higher priority than Prestige Class)

*First Class amenity kit

However, not all Prestige Class passengers are eligible for the upgrade to Kosmo Zone as there are restrictions to what kind of fare class the original ticket was. Also, Kosmo Zone is not available on routes where regular first-class tickets are sold.

The following restrictions apply:

*The Prestige Class ticket must be booked in either J, C, or D fare classes

*Million Miler Club (Korean Air’s highest elite tier) members that fly Prestige Class in J, C fare classes can apply for free

*Routes that sell regular first-class tickets are not eligible for Kosmo Zone

*The aircraft operating the flight must feature a first-class cabin

*Short-haul routes (e.g. Domestic routes and routes from Korea to Japan and China) are not eligible for Kosmo Zone

J, C fare classes are sold as Prestige Flex and Prestige Plus respectively, while the D fare class is sold as Prestige Standard (fare class D, I, R). While not always the case, J and C tickets are usually significantly more expensive than the other fare classes. For example, the screenshot below shows the fare for a flight from Seoul (ICN) to Seattle (SEA). This flight does not sell first class tickets, so is eligible for Kosmo Zone when buying the J (Prestige Flex) fare or C (Prestige Plus) fare.

The Prestige Standard fare here is sold as the R fare class, so it is not eligible for Kosmo Zone. The difference between the fares is nearly $900, and accounting for the fee (which would be covered in a second) it makes the upgrade a total of $1,500. It is up to the passenger to decide whether the upgrade is worth it or not, but the author finds this to be of great value as Korean Air first class tickets can easily cost at least $4,000.

Booking Kosmo Zone

Booking Kosmo Zone is easy, as it can be viewed on the seat selection screen. If the fare is eligible for Kosmo Zone, the seat map will open up, and seats in the first class cabin will become available.

Kosmo Zone fees

Kosmo Zone is a paid upgrade service, so fees are to be considered. Korean Air published the following fee table for medium-haul and long-haul routes:

Note: ₩200,000 is roughly $143, ₩400,000 is roughly $286, ₩800,000 is roughly $571.5, and ₩1,200,000 is roughly $857 at the time of writing.

For medium-haul routes, all routes that are operated with a plane with a first class cabin are eligible for Kosmo Zone. This is because Korean Air eliminated its first class service on all of its short and medium-haul routes, along with some long-haul routes back in 2019.

For long-haul routes, Kosmo Zone is eligible for the following routes as of November 2024:

All departures are made from Seoul (Incheon International Airport, ICN)

Americas

Seoul – Dallas (DFW)

Seoul – Seattle (SEA)

Seoul – Las Vegas (LAS)

Seoul – Honolulu (HNL)

Seoul – Vancouver (YVR)

Seoul – Toronto (YYZ)

Europe

Seoul – Amsterdam (AMS)

Seoul – Prague (PRG)

Seoul – Madrid (MAD)

Seoul – Rome (FCO)

Seoul – Milan (MXP)

Seoul – Lisbon (LIS)

Seoul – Vienna (VIE)

Seoul – Zurich (ZRH) (Summer only)

Seoul – Istanbul (IST)

Seoul – Budapest (BUD)

Oceania, Middle East, CIS

All flights

Note that while it might seem that a lot of routes are eligible for Kosmo Zone, half of them are operated with Boeing 787s which do not feature a first class cabin, thus not being eligible for Kosmo Zone.

As mentioned above, Million Miler Club members are exempt from this fee if booked in the J or C fare class.

Let’s take a look at an example from above, Seoul to Seattle. If booked in Prestige Class, the cost would be $1,769 one-way. To be eligible for Kosmo Zone, the fare class must be at least Prestige Plus which is $2,625 in this case. Add the Kosmo Zone fee of ₩800,000 (~$571.5), and the total would be $3,196.5 for a seat in Korean Air’s first class.

Since Korean Air charges nearly $4,000 in first class from Seoul to San Francisco (the closest first-class destination to compare with Seattle), this can save hundreds of dollars for those looking for the Korean first-class experience.

Bottom Line

Since eliminating first class on a lot of routes in 2019, Korean Air used to fly empty first-class cabins on routes that do not offer first-class service. While the airline unofficially used to upgrade its elite members in business class and full-fare business class passengers to these first class “seats”, it is now formally charging passengers a fixed amount for this service under the name Kosmo Zone, albeit with some restrictions. For those who want to take a peek at what Korean Air offers for First Class, Kosmo Zone could be of phenomenal value as travelers can save hundreds of dollars on first class “seats”.