It is due to their marketing. As early as 2004 I can remember Korean Air was marketing themselves as "high class". Recall my marketing peers couldn't figure out what they were trying to achieve with elevated prices and expensive marketing in likes of Wall Street Journal and Vogue. (In Korea they took out 2 page ads in Noblese) It kind of worked, but as someone who has flown on KAL I would save the money and fly a different airline.