All Nippon Airlines (1,000 Miles)
- Product Code: All Nippon Airlines
- Availability: In Stock
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$20.00
Tags: All Nippon Airlines
Tags: All Nippon Airlines
New Program Basics
There are now two zone-based award charts: one for flights operated by ANA and one for ANA’s partner airlines, both Star Alliance members and non-members.
ANA’s old, distance-based award chart allowed multiple stopovers at reasonable prices. Unfortunately, along with the switch from distance-based to zone-based redemption tables, ANA changed these formerly generous routing rules. Here is a brief rundown of rules to note when using ANA’s new program:
Chart Sweet Spots
Let’s first look at the best redemptions offered by the new program when flying ANA operated flights only:
Now let’s look at how to maximize the award chart for partner airlines (which includes if you are flying ANA and any partner segment). There are no different seasons for partner award flights, and all prices are for round-trip flights:
The pitfall with ANA is the taxes, fees and fuel surcharges it places on some partner flights. The following partners do limit this: United, Turkish, Air New Zealand and Air Canada depending on the routes. Even with considerable fuel surcharges, the mileage redemption rates for long-haul, premium-cabin flights make some of these routes a good deal.
I may be inclined to use ANA over, say, AAdvantage, to fly to Europe due to the fact one stopover is allowed.
ANA’s new award charts don’t always make sense. For example, parts of Oceania are closer to Japan than Hawaii but still cost more miles. There is an around-the-world option, which is priced based on the distance of the entire itinerary (it costs 20,000 miles for a trip of less than 2,000 miles in economy, and 300,000 for a journey of 50,000-plus miles in business class. The around-the-world ticket allows eight stopovers, with a maximum of three in Europe and four in Japan.
Bottom Line
I’ve flown ANA several times over my last 26 months of living in Japan. I flew ANA’s short-haul Dreamliner in business and economy from Haneda to Beijing, the 767 business from Narita to New Delhi, ANA’s last 747 from Haneda to Okinawa and ANA’s new “cube” first class from Chicago to Narita. My wife and mother have flown ANA’s long-haul Dreamliner from Tokyo to Seattle. It is a fantastic airline with impeccable cabin staff, great lounges and a comfortable onboard product. I am happy the new program did not completely destroy the value of ANA miles, as I still have the chance to fly ANA long haul at fantastic mileage costs.
On the other hand, one part of this change that really stings is the loss of the ANA search tool. It was the best online resource for finding Star Alliance partner award space. While losing the old ANA program and online search tool hurts, I believe it could have been much, much worse. As evidenced by the above examples, there are still some outstanding redemptions to be had.