Lufthansa Group has announced a new partnership with KORAIL, the main train operator in South Korea. The new partnership enables Lufthansa air and rail bookings in the country. Lufthansa has long embraced intermodal travel, partnering with Deutsche Bahn (DB) and ICE express trains for rail and flight combined bookings. The intermodal service was extended last year through a Star Alliance partnership with DB.
Extending Sustainable Travel: Collaborative Rail & Air Bookings with KORAIL via AccessRail
Lufthansa Group has now extended its intermodal services to Asia with KORAIL, the leading train operator in South Korea. This collaboration offers passengers the unique advantage of easily combining air and rail travel within South Korea. The aim is to provide travelers more options and flexibility while promoting sustainability.
A First for South Korea
Lufthansa’s new intermodal partnership enables seamless travel between Seoul-Incheon International Airport (ICN) and eight different destinations in South Korea. These destinations include Busan, Dongdaegu, Gwangju, Ulsan, Pohang, Yeosu, Mokpo, and Jinju. Travelers can book their rail-to-air tickets through the Lufthansa website or their preferred travel agent. The services are fully integrated into the Global Distribution System (GDS). This cooperation ensures passengers a smooth and hassle-free experience, offering a convenient one-stop solution for their travel needs.
Roy Lease, Vice President and head of Partnership Management at Lufthansa Group, said: “Extending our intermodal offers to regions outside the Lufthansa Group hubs is part of our multimodal strategy. By offering connecting services with the Korean Railway company KORAIL, we are happy to integrate 8 Korean cities into the Lufthansa Group network.”
This is the first intermodal partnership for Lufthansa Group in the Asia Pacific region. It gives passengers greater flexibility when flying from South Korea to Europe and beyond.
Lufthansa Domestic Intermodal Travel
Through a cooperation with Deutsche Bahn (DB) Lufthansa offers Rail&Fly services. They enable air and rail travel from 5,600 DB stations on IC/EC (InterCity and EuroCity) and ICE (InterCity Express) trains connecting to an international flight at Frankfurt Airport.
DB Partnership with Star Alliance
In August of last year, DB became the first intermodal partner of Star Alliance, expanding the rail and air service for all passengers of Star Alliance member airlines in the German market.
The Intermodal Partnership model, an industry-first, combines airline service with other modes of transportation such as trains, buses, and ferries. This partnership extends across the entire Star Alliance network, linking loyalty systems and making airport-to-station-to-port transit seamless. Star Alliance has plans to further expand these types of partnerships in the future.
The collaboration between DB and Star Alliance builds upon the successful Lufthansa Express Rail program. For over 20 years, Lufthansa customers have been able to conveniently purchase combined tickets for both air and rail journeys in a single booking.
Customer Benefits of Intermodal Travel
With this new partnership, all 25 Star Alliance member airlines can include DB’s ICE trains in their flight itineraries. Some of the benefits for customers include:
- A simplified booking process. Passengers can purchase a single ticket for both their flight and train journeys, complete with seat reservations. They can check in at any time up to shortly before the train departs. Travelers will receive boarding passes for both the flight and train.
- More flexibility in travel options, with integrated ICE train journeys offering a wider range of timings, durations, and prices.
- Priority baggage handling and other services are available in the AiRail check-in area at Frankfurt Airport.
- Customers can earn points or miles for train journeys when booking combined train-flight trips. These benefits apply via Lufthansa Express Rail with any Star Alliance member airlines’ frequent flyer programs.
- Additional benefits include access to DB lounges. This applies to Business and First-Class flight customers of Star Alliance member airlines when using an LH Express Rail ticket.
Harry Hohmeister, Board member at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “Our partnership is unique worldwide. Once again, we are pioneers in Germany for intelligently linking different types of transport. We are creating added value for customers, for Germany as a business location, for the environment, and for society. Mobility of the future means mastering challenges together. The successful Lufthansa Express Rail cooperation is an outstanding example of this – and on this foundation, we are now taking the next logical step. Our customers will benefit from this partnership more than ever before.”