Low-cost carriers offer unique deals to attract young travelers

Air Seoul’s ‘Mint Pass’ sold through the fashion platform Musinsa. [Courtesy of Air Seoul Co.]

South Korean low-cost carriers (LCCs) are offering unique deals to attract young and savvy consumers.

According to sources from the airline industry on Monday, Air Seoul Co. launched its Mint Pass for three roundtrips to Japan earlier this month. The offering sold out entirely in just three minutes of its release.

The Mint Pass is a type of free pass that allows travelers to fly to selected Air Seoul destinations a certain number of times.

The airline launched the 3-roundtrip Mint Pass at 399,000 won ($300.69) with a limit of 600 passengers, and saw a total of 240 million won in tickets sold out in three minutes.

Its 6-roundtrip pass and unlimited pass also saw high demand, with 70 percent and 80 percent of the available units sold, respectively.

Air Seoul targeted the You Only Need One (YONO) generation, a group of consumers in their 20s and 30s who buy only what they need and seek discounts and purchasing benefits.

Other LCCs are also leveraging their core strength of low fares to capture passenger demand by promoting early bird specials, which offer cheaper tickets for early bookings.

Eastar Jet Co. has been running the Travel Freely campaign since April 2024, featuring webtoon artist Kian84 as a model.

Customers booking international flights on the airline’s website can change their itinerary without incurring fees as long as they do so at least 14 days before departure.

This fee waiver promotion was initially set to end on September 30, but it has been extended until March next year.

According to Eastar Jet, the number of people purchasing international tickets increased by over 30 percent in the second quarter compared to a year ago.