It’s rare that you hear travelers who do not recommend a trip to Japan. The city has everything you could want. High-quality food, sites to see, and friendly people. There are many ways to use points and miles to fly to Japan and in this article, we’ll cover how to use ANA miles to fly to Japan.
In addition to using ANA miles, 2 other interesting options are to use American Airlines or Alaska Airlines miles to fly Japan Airlines to Japan. If you have read about the Japan Airlines onboard experience, you can see why this is another popular option, in addition to flying ANA.
Credit Cards to Earn ANA Miles
ANA does not offer a multitude of credit card options like you will see with the US carriers in American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. With that said, transferable points from Amex will be the easiest way to generate the points that you need. ANA does partner with Marriott, however, the transfer time can take up to 7 days.
The Platinum Card®, American Express® Gold Card, and American Express® Green Card are the cards that will help you to earn points that can be transferred directly to ANA. The Platinum earns 5X on airfare, the Gold earns 4X on dining and US grocery stores, and the Green earns 3X on dining and travel.
Other Ways to Earn ANA Miles
ANA is a member of the Star Alliance. This means that you can not only use ANA miles to fly ANA to Japan but can you can also fly any of the airlines in the alliance. For example, you can use ANA miles to fly SWISS business class to Europe.
When it comes to earning ANA miles outside of Amex transfers, you can also credit Star Alliance flights to ANA. For example, you could credit your United Airlines flight to your ANA account to earn ANA miles. Before crediting your flight, go to wheretocredit.com to determine if it makes sense to credit your flight to ANA.
ANA Seasonality Charts
When you decide to use ANA miles to fly to Japan, it’s helpful to know about ANA’s seasonality award charts. ANA uses an L (Low Season), R (Regular Season), and H (High Season). In order to maximize the value of your points, aim to travel during the Low or Regular Season dates.
For flights between Japan (Zone 1) and Europe/North America (Zones 6 and 7), 2020 Low Season is January 6 – February 29, April 1-23. Regular Season is March 1-31, May 11-July 22, and August 20-December 17. By flying during these dates, you can save up to 15,000 ANA miles on your award booking.
Transfer Bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
While this article is focused on how to use ANA miles to fly to Japan, there’s an incredible sweet spot out there that you should know about. That sweet spot is with Virgin Atlantic. ANA and Virgin Atlantic are airline partners and the redemption rates for business and first-class are excellent.
Virgin Atlantic requires 95,000 and 120,000 Flying Club miles to fly ANA business and first-class to Japan from the Central/Eastern US. You can actually use fewer miles during an Amex 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic. During the bonus, 74,000 or 93,000 Amex points book you a business or first-class ANA flight.
How to Use ANA Miles to Fly to Japan
Business and first-class flights are ones where you will receive the highest return. The reason is that the cash cost of these flights, relative to economy, is much higher. Business and first-class flights are in the thousands of dollars while economy flights are typically in the hundreds of dollars.
For travelers looking to use ANA miles to fly to Japan, the “C” and “F” row in the chart above is where you will want to focus. Move to the right to the “North America Zone 6” and you will see the number of miles required. 75,000 miles and 85,000 miles are the numbers of ANA miles you will need to book a round-trip business class flight to Japan.
If first class is more of your style, hop down a row to “F”. There will find 150,000 ANA miles are the number of miles you will need to book a round-trip ANA first-class flight. Unlike business class, 150,000 ANA miles are the number of miles required for first-class where it’s Low or Regular Season.
Conclusion on How To Use ANA Miles to fly to Japan
There you have it. Now we know how to use ANA miles to fly to Japan. Not only can we redeem ANA miles for flights to Japan, but we can also redeem Virgin Atlantic miles to fly ANA to Japan. If you book a flight, let me know what you think about the ANA experience!
What about you? How do you use ANA miles? Have you used your ANA miles to fly to Japan or any other redemptions? Please let me know in the comments below or by sending me an email on my contact page.
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