Always a fan of flying, Spencer wanted to find ways to upgrade his travel experience. Over the years, Spencer has been a guest speaker on multiple YouTube shows as well as podcasts on maximizing point...
Edited by: Juan Ruiz
Juan has been involved in credit cards, loyalty, travel, and personal finance for more than 10 years. He has worked for several outlets including The Points Guy and Forbes and was previously Editor-in...
37 comments
Ben
February 25, 2019
Great rundown!
But I just wanted to check with you. I’m sure you can book ANA flights directly with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. I was able to book first class tickets from Tokyo to Honolulu 4 weeks ago.
Stephen Au
February 25, 2019
Hey Ben,
Yes, it’s possible to book ANA First Class using Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. However, the redemption rates are generally not favorable. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic to book the same flight for much, much cheaper. Thanks for reading.
Ben
February 25, 2019
Stephen, I totally understand and agrees..
it just this step by step said..
“”Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Unlike when booking with ANA Mileage Club miles, to use Singapore KrisFlyer miles you have to call to book ANA flights.
Here’s what you need to know.
Visit Air Canada’s Aeroplan site
Log in to your Aeroplan account (you’ll need your account number)””
which I think is incorrect, and I agree Virgin Atlantic is much better value for sure!
Ben
Stephen Au
February 27, 2019
Hey Ben,
A lot of people don’t like the idea of calling to book award flights. They’d much rather prefer to do it online through a streamlined search engine, which Aeroplan has. This is why we included it as one of the best ways to book. Sure, Virgin Atlantic bookings on ANA flights is the best sweet spot. However, it can take a lot of time to complete bookings. Thanks for reading and your feedback.
Nicholas
March 01, 2019
Thanks for the info Stephen, is ANA partner availability ~330 days out and do you know how many F awards are released? I’m trying to rebook for next year and our son will be over 2 by then.
Stephen Au
March 19, 2019
Nicholas,
If you book when the schedule is first released, you’ll typically see 2 first class seats available. However, these are short-lived, so you must absolutely take advantage of it when the schedule is released. Otherwise, you’ll be lucky to find 1 seat. I recently flew ANA First Class from Tokyo to Los Angeles. The cabin was almost completely empty.. and yet there weren’t any last-minute award seats. ANA releases lots of business class seats close-in, but almost no first class seats close-in.
Andrew
March 20, 2019
Hi guys – great guide!
Couple of quick questions:
1. Can you add a domestic USA connecting leg for the same cost using Virgin miles?
2. Can you fly from and to different USA cities and it still count as a return flight?
Stephen Au
March 20, 2019
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for reading.
1. You can’t add a connecting leg.
2. Yes, you can return to a different city. Just remember you’ll have to pay based on each city. If departing from the West Coast and returning to the East Coast, you’ll have to pay half the round-trip cost for West Coast and half the round-trip cost for East Coast.
Brenda
April 15, 2019
Thanks for all the tips Steven! Our family of 3 (all adults) would like to travel to Japan on ANA with Chase reward points. Do you have any tips for getting 3 reward seats on one flight? Without having to travel in the winter?
Stephen Au
April 17, 2019
Hey Brenda,
Getting 3 reward seats in business or first is on ANA or Japan Airlines is tough but not impossible. Virgin Atlantic miles is the best and most cost effective choice in this case.
With business class, you’ll want to plan far in advance to get 3 seats.
With first class, you’ll almost always have no choice but to get last-minute availability if you want 3 seats.
Thanks for reading!
Patti
May 02, 2019
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your super helpful post! I was wondering if you could help me. My boyfriend and I are planning to travel to Japan in August 2019, First Class ANA by transferring to Virgin Atlantic.
But when I log in on United’s site and check on various combinations of dates, all the First Class, they all say Not Available. Are they supposed to open up or are they all spoken for, for good? Should I just try my luck with ANA’s availability at this point?
Thank you!
Stephen Au
May 04, 2019
Patti,
Thanks for reading. Generally, if you want to book ANA First Class, you’ll want to plan anywhere from 8-11 months before departure. It’s really hard to get availability otherwise. For business class, ANA opens up a lot of space within 3-4 weeks of departure. ANA doesn’t open up much first class space before departure, as they would rather fly the seat empty.
Mike
May 22, 2019
I would like to add a datapoint that my AMEX MR -> VS Flying Club transfer on 5/18 was instant.
Stephen Au
May 22, 2019
Hey Mike,
Thanks for reading. We appreciate the additional data point.
Bill
June 05, 2019
Hey Stephen,
Great article & step by step guide. I’m not sure if anyone else is having this issue, but when I look for award availability on United’s website. I can almost always find an outbound 1st class flight, but I can never find a return 1st class from Narita/Haneda. I’m looking at Spring of 2020. I’ve looked 9,10, 11 months out & nothing is coming up.
Any ideas?
Stephen Au
June 07, 2019
Hey Bill,
Award availability is nearly impossible to predict in a general sense. However, we would suggest playing with your return city, as you might find first class availability back to the same country and it may be worth it to just pay cash for a short domestic flight to your home city. Thanks for reading!
Rich C
July 08, 2019
Is it possible to take advantage of the Virgin sweet spot from SFO with a stop over in Seoul? We would like to spend 5 days in Seoul and 3 in Tokyo. Sounds like it is impossible to score the 4 tickets I am looking for in business or first. When checking for award space on United.com am I looking for any award space or just saver awards?
Stephen Au
July 08, 2019
Hi Rich,
Thanks for reading. Using Virgin Atlantic will not allow you to book stopovers. Instead, you can only book that exact sweet spot directly to Japan. It’s possible with ANA Mileage Club. You’ll either want to check far in advance (11-12 months before departure) or close to departure (within 2 weeks). If you’re using ANA miles, you can check directly on ANA’s website because they will have better award availability than United.com. Otherwise, you’ll want to use United.com or Aeroplan.com.
Chin V
July 09, 2019
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the write-up. It’s a great summary article for beginners like me. I think I know what I need to do but need some advice about my situation. My wife and I have points all over the place with Chase UR, United, and Virgin Atlantic. I feel like my best option is to transfer from Chase to Virgin and book through Virgin. Would this be the way to go? Is there anything I can do about my United miles? I think I can only book ANA tickets with United miles but I can’t transfer it to Virgin. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.
Jarrod West
July 16, 2019
Hi Chin,
Are you hoping to book an award ticket to fly ANA? If so, given the points you have at your disposal, transferring your Chase Ultimate Reward points to top off your Virgin Atlantic account would definitely be your most cost-effective option. Just be sure to find the award space you want to book first, because once you move your Chase points to Virgin Atlantic you cannot move them back!
Thanks for reading!
Bear
July 16, 2019
Where/how can you search 355 days ahead? United will only show 330 days in advance, and Aeroplan just spins endlessly when I try to search there.
Stephen Au
July 16, 2019
Bear, you’ll have to search using ANA Mileage Club to look that far ahead. One of the benefits of using ANA’s own mileage program is that you have access 25 days before United does. Aeroplan can glitch out if you look too far ahead.
Mike
August 02, 2019
Any experience with modifying your ANA via VS award flight?
For example: if I just want to change my departing city/date, will it cancel the entire original booking? And am I at risk of losing my return date?
Andrew Kunesh
August 09, 2019
Hi Mike, you should be able to change just the departing city/date without canceling the return ticket. You will, however, need to do this over the phone with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Thanks!
Luis M. Muniz
August 11, 2019
Hi great guide,
I’m a beginner. I’ve looked online to see how many miles is for Premium Economy from NYC to Japan with Virgin Flying Club. Is this worthwhile considering the fuel surcharge? I appreciate any information.
Thanks
Andrew Kunesh
August 13, 2019
Hey Luis, ANA (Virgin Atlantic’s partner to Japan) does not operate a Premium Economy cabin. However, you can book ANA’s economy, business, or first class cabins with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles. A round-trip from the U.S. to Japan has roughly $300 in fuel surcharges on a business class ticket. With this in mind, we think transferring miles to Virgin Atlantic for a business class award ticket on ANA is an excellent use of miles. Thanks!
RP
October 03, 2019
When searching on United for award space to book through Virgin, do these have to be saver-level fares?
Stephen Au
October 08, 2019
Yes.
Currently, United will only display partner award space if it’s at the saver-level. This may change in the future, but if an ANA flight is unavailable, it means there’s no space. If you see ANA award space, disregard the pricing. This is an available flight.
Matt
January 03, 2020
Hi Stephen,
I was able to find some business class reward seats for ANA on united.com (Business Saver Award), and confirmed that on ExpertFlyer. However when I called up Virgin Atlantic to hold them, they said ANA could not confirm the seats, meaning that Virgin was not able to lock in those seats for me. Does this happen often where award seats show available but ANA hasn’t actually released them? I’m assuming nothing to do but wait for them to be released or look at other dates?
Stephen Au
January 04, 2020
Hi Matt,
The way it works is that Virgin Atlantic must actually “request a booking” internally in their system. Their system communicates with ANA’s revenue management software, which then comes back with “yes/no” as a response to your award booking request. From time to time, this occurs where the availability does not match.
In this case, you’ll want to consider other flight options or dates. Thanks for reading.
Henry
January 05, 2020
Hi Stephen
Thanks for all the great information. I am trying to book two first or business tickets to Bangkok from Houston in March but wish for 5 day stopover in Tokyo. I have about 350k points both with Chase and with capital one available to transfer. Do you have a recommendation? I am open to airlines as long as the flights are direct. Can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks much
Henry
Stephen Au
January 05, 2020
Henry,
Thanks for reading. One thing you can explore is using United miles to book flights on ANA. Another method is to use Capital One miles transferred to Air Canada Aeroplan to book flights to Tokyo. Neither of these programs will permit a free stopover. The only other option is to use Singapore KrisFlyer miles to book with a stopover, but the miles cost is significantly higher than using Aeroplan or United miles.
Lisa S.
February 19, 2020
Hi, I’m trying to flying to Tokyo from the east coast USA later this fall. I clicked on ‘book with miles’ under United and clicked on first class but i tried different dates, there are no available first class options. It says “Not available” under any of the date ranges I picked. Any suggestions or feedback? Thanks!
Jarrod West
February 21, 2020
Hi Lisa,
ANA First Class seats can be very hard to come by and can sometimes be booked up a year out. Availability comes and goes, though, so your best bet is to keep searching and trying different dates until you find some.
Best of luck!
Dragonal
September 15, 2020
Hi Stephen,
Do you know if it’s possible to book ANA Business or First Class using Krisflyer for oneway redemption from Europe via Tokyo (with stopover) then onwards to Singapore?
Please advise, thank you.
Stephen Au
September 21, 2020
Hi Dragonal,
It is not possible to book a one-way redemption flight with a complimentary stopover included. Per KrisFlyer’s Terms & Conditions Section J.2.a, “Complimentary stopovers are not permitted for one-way awards.”
If you want to book this, you’ll end up paying the sum of the price for each segment.
DL
July 03, 2022
DId the ANA availability completely dry up? I’ve been keeping an eye on JFK-TYO/TYO-JFK using the UA site – previously there would be days here and there that had availability but nowadays it seems like there is nothing at all.
Plus it seems United made a change to display EWR options even when entering JFK specifically… which is annoying
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