If you find yourself daydreaming about the snow monkeys in Japan, the hawker centers of Singapore, the ancient history that abounds around Asia, or just a really long flight in a comfortable seat with free-flowing champagne, there are numerous ways to use points and miles to get there. In this post, you’ll find the best values for travel to and from Asia using miles collected from the major transferable currencies.
This guide has been updated for 2026 with award chart changes, surcharge information, and cancellation policies.
What are transferable currencies?
If you want to use airline miles, it’s great to have transferable points. Transferable point programs let you transfer your points to any of several airline programs. This is appealing because it gives you the freedom to book many different flights through many different methods, some of which are strikingly cheaper than others. If you’re not familiar with transferable points programs, please check out our guides:
- Amex Membership Rewards Complete Guide
- Bilt Rewards Complete Guide
- Capital One “Rewards miles” Complete Guide
- Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide
- Citi ThankYou Rewards Complete Guide
- Wells Fargo Rewards Complete Guide (coming soon)
Best ways to get to Asia using points and miles
The deals below are sorted alphabetically. Remember that the lowest price isn’t the entire picture: be sure to consider which airlines levy fuel surcharges and the ease of amassing the miles for your chosen award. See each description for where to search, how to book, and which partners you can use to transfer. It is always best to confirm availability before transferring miles to ensure the award you seek can be booked with the miles you intend to use.
Air Canada Aeroplan
- The short story: Aeroplan charges a relatively high price for many awards to/from Asia, but they offer the most partner airlines of any program, thereby increasing the chances that you'll be able to assemble an award that works for your trip. The program's real value is the ability to add a stopover for only 5,000 additional miles, allowing you to combine two destinations on a one-way award. The Pacific Zone includes most of Eastern Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand. By contrast, India and Central Asia are in the Atlantic Zone. Lap infants are only 2,500 miles.
- Miles required: From 55K-115K one-way in business class (plus 5K miles for a stopover). Economy awards start at 35K each way. Note that Air Canada, Emirates, Etihad and United awards are now priced dynamically, with no maximum cap. Starting 6/1/26, economy prices will start at 32.5K each way. Most business-class awards from the US to Asia will increase by 10-15K one-way, but the shortest flights (under 5,000 miles in flight distance) remain unchanged.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Aeroplan.com (you’ll need to create a free Aeroplan frequent flyer account to search).
- Change and cancellation fees: Changes cost "$100" for "Lowest" fare awards; there's no fee to change Flex or Latitude awards. Cancellations cost $150 for most standard awards if done online at AirCanada.com (or $175 for most awards via call center). Other flex awards are free to change or cancel.
- How to book awards: Book online at Aeroplan.com. Can also book via phone. Lap infants must be added to your reservation over the phone. A stopover can be booked online, provided your itinerary has no more than 4 segments. More complex awards must be booked via phone (see Nick's 6-country 5-airline 5-day Aeroplan award and Aeroplan plans for future dream trips for more).
- No fuel surcharges on: Aeroplan no longer charges fuel surcharges.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Marriott
American Airlines AAdvantage
- The short story: American charges a reasonable number of miles for partner awards in business class between the US and Asia. Unlike Alaska Mileage Plan, American does not allow a stopover, but American Airlines miles can be quite easy to amass.
- Miles required: 60K miles each way in business class to Asia 1 (Korea or Japan) or 70K miles each way in business class to Asia 2 or the Middle East or the Indian Subcontinent. Economy awards start at 35K.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at AA.com.
- How to book awards: Book online at AA.com or over the phone.
- Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets. Note that Web Specials can not be changed, but can be cancelled and redeposited without a fee.
- Key warnings: Finding space can be tough, but if you can find it this can be an excellent use of American Airlines miles.
- Transfer from: Citi, Marriott
ANA Mileage Club (economy)
- The short story: ANA charges very low prices for travel on its own flights, particularly during "low" season, and competitive rates on partner airlines.
- Miles required: From 40K miles one-way in economy class during low season on ANA between the US and Japan (25K regular season / 36K high season). The rest of Asia ranges from 39K to 47K. Fuel surcharges are passed on, but can be quite reasonable to/from Japan and some other destinations. See award charts for travel on ANA here and for travel on partner airlines here.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or ANA's website.
- How to book awards: Book online at ANA's website.
- Change and cancellation fees: free to change / 3,000 miles per passenger to cancel.
- Key warnings: Some carriers assess high fuel surcharges; others have none or low surcharges. The ANA website interface is not particularly user-friendly or modern-looking, so it may take some time to get used to the search features. Low and regular season pricing only applies to itineraries entirely on ANA. Star Alliance awards or those mixing ANA and Star Alliance carriers are priced at high-season rates.
- No fuel surcharges on: Air Canada, Scandinavian Airlines, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Etihad, United
- Low fuel surcharges on: ANA, Asiana, LOT Polish, Turkish (higher than the others but low by comparison to some)
- Transfer from: Amex, Marriott
ANA Mileage Club (premium cabins)
- The short story: ANA charges 50K each way between North America and Japan for business class flights on ANA metal during low season, 52.5K during regular season, or 82.5K during high season. Star Alliance awards are charged at high-season rates. A stopover is allowed. ANA first-class awards range from 75K to 150K one-way.
- Miles required: From 50K one-way in business class. Fuel surcharges are passed on, but can be quite reasonable to/from Japan and some other destinations.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or ANA's website.
- How to book awards: Book online at ANA's website.
- Change and cancellation fees: free to change / 3,000 miles per passenger to cancel.
- Key warnings: Some carriers assess high fuel surcharges; others have none or low surcharges. The ANA website interface is not particularly user-friendly or modern-looking, so it may take some time to get used to the search features. Low and regular season pricing only applies to itineraries entirely on ANA. Star Alliance awards or those mixing ANA and Star Alliance carriers are priced at high-season rates.
- No fuel surcharges on: Air Canada, Scandinavian Airlines, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Etihad, United
- Low fuel surcharges on: ANA, Asiana, LOT Polish, Turkish (higher than the others but low by comparison to some)
- Transfer from: Amex, Marriott
Atmos Rewards
- The short story: Alaska has competitive rates on business-class awards to Asia with several nice partners, and you can include a stopover for free on a one-way award.
- Miles required: Award prices vary by distance. West Coast to East Asia starts at 60k, while the remainder of Asia will start at 75k-85k one-way. Economy awards start at half the price of business class (from 30K one-way).
- How to find awards: Award space from most partners shows on the AlaskaAir.com website.
- How to book awards: Book online for many partners, though some awards and more complicated routings) may have to be booked over the phone.
- Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets. There is a non-refundable $12.50 partner booking fee that is waived for Summit Visa cardholders.
- Key warnings: Finding premium cabin space can be a challenge and may require a consistent eye on availability. Adding a stopover can sometimes push awards into the next distance band, making it more expensive. Double-check to make sure that it's not cheaper to purchase both legs separately.
- Transfer from: Bilt, Marriott Bonvoy
Avianca LifeMiles
- The short story: Avianca LifeMiles has reasonable-ish business-class rates to Asia and may still be a good deal, especially if you can find the right partners or add a long economy-class leg.
- Miles required: From 90-100K each way in business or ~120K each way in first class, no fuel surcharges. Economy awards start at ~55K. Those prices are not very good, but note two things: first, there is sometimes variance by partner or city pair. Second, it is possible to pay less by combining a long-haul premium cabin flight with a long-haul economy class flight. See: Avianca LifeMiles’ awesome mixed-cabin award pricing: First class for less.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at LifeMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Avianca LifeMiles frequent flyer account). Note that you may need to toggle between "Smart Search", "Star Alliance", and a specific airline in the drop-down menu above the city pair to find availability.
- How to book awards: Book online at LifeMiles.com. Can also book via email. Phone bookings are known to be a hassle, but also possible. In a pinch, you can try a manual booking, though that process is quite slow and is best used when you aren't concerned about award availability changing.
- Change and cancellation fees: Theoretically $50 within a region, though flights between regions can cost $200 to cancel.
- Key warnings: Availability at LifeMiles.com does not always match what you’ll find at United.com. Phone agents generally do not see better availability than what is shown at LifeMiles.com. Always check the LifeMiles site before transferring points (and keep in mind the need to toggle between Smart Search, Star Alliance, and an individual airline when searching to see all availability). The mandatory $25 booking fee (added to all bookings) is the same whether one-way or round trip, so book a round trip to save.
- Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Wells Fargo, Marriott.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- The short story: Cathay Pacific has reasonable pricing for business and first class on long itineraries, but it can get quite a bit better if you're able to pair the long-haul flight with a long leg in a lower class. See: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles mixed cabin award pricing. First class for less. Cathay also releases more availability to its own members than to partners.
- Miles required: 119K miles each way in business class or 160K each way in first class on itineraries over 7500 miles (91/125K for some itineraries from the West Coast and less yet with mixed-cabin pricing as shown above).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at AsiaMiles.com (you’ll need to create a free Asia Miles frequent flyer account to search)
- How to book awards: Book online at AsiaMiles.com. Can also book via phone.
- Change and cancellation fees: $50 or 7,500 miles if done online / $90 or 13,500 miles if done over the phone (fees are per person, per sector) for changes. $120 or 17,000 miles to cancel.
- Key warnings: Fuel surcharges are moderate depending on route and origin.
- Transfer from: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- The short story: EVA's award chart features fairly average pricing at 75K or 80K each way from the US to Asia in business class, but EVA offers what is widely regarded as one of the best business class products in the sky, and they make quite a bit of award space available to their own members. The best value is booking a round trip, since EVA allows a free stopover (stopovers are not allowed on one-way tickets).
- Miles required: 75K / 80K each way from North America to Asia on EVA (80K from Chicago, New York, Houston, or Toronto). Economy awards are 50K / 55K.
- How to find awards: Search EVAAir.com. Note that setting up EVA Air accounts and booking multi-passenger awards can be very confusing when doing it for the first time. See this post for a step-by-step guide.
- How to book awards: Book simple awards online at EVAAir.com. Must call and book over the phone for stopovers.
- Change and cancellation fees: $50
- Key warnings: Star Alliance pricing is higher (87.5K / 97.5K each way). The best use is for EVA flights since they release more award space to their own members.
- Transfer from: Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank (economy)
- The short story: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank charges as few as 27K miles one-way for economy class awards to/from Japan. JAL offers expanded availability for its own members and enables booking seats 30 days before partners can.
- Miles required: Starting at 27,000 miles and ~$200 one-way.
- How to find awards: Search with Japan Airlines online. This can be a tricky process the first time; you can find a step-by-step guide here.
- How to book awards: Book with Japan Airlines online.
- Change and cancellation fees: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank does not allow changes to ticketed awards. The good news is that they have a very reasonable award cancellation fee of 3,100 JPY.
- Key warnings: The worst thing about Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is its hard expiration policy. Miles expire at the end of the month, 36 months after the date they were earned or transferred. There is no way to extend the validity or reinstate expired miles. Also note that JAL limits members to redeeming miles for themselves and family members.
- Transfer from: Capital One (1000:750), Bilt, Marriott
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank (business)
- The short story: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank charges as few as 55K miles one-way for business class awards to/from Japan. Even "standard" awards are only 80K miles. JAL offers expanded availability for its own members and enables booking seats 30 days before partners can.
- Miles required: Starting at 55,000 miles and about $214 one-way in business class
- How to find awards: Search with Japan Airlines online. This can be a tricky process the first time; you can find a step-by-step guide here.
- How to book awards: Book with Japan Airlines online.
- Change and cancellation fees: Japan Airlines Mileage Bank does not allow changes to ticketed awards. The good news is that they have a very reasonable award cancellation fee of 3,100 JPY.
- Key warnings: The worst thing about Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is its hard expiration policy. Miles expire at the end of the month, 36 months after the date they were earned or transferred. There is no way to extend the validity or reinstate expired miles. Also note that JAL limits members to redeeming miles for themselves and family members.
- Transfer from: Capital One (1000:750), Bilt, Marriott
Qantas Frequent Flyer
- The short story: Qantas offers good partner pricing for El Al flights to Israel.
- Miles required: 108K points in business class on El Al between Tel Aviv and Boston, Newark, and New York JFK. 125.4K points in business between Tel Aviv and Miami, 143K points in business between Tel Aviv and Los Angeles. With a transfer bonus, these rates can get better. No fuel surcharges for travel on El Al. See the full award chart here.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account).
- How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com.
- Change and cancellation fees: 5,000 miles per passenger to change / 6,000 miles per passenger to cancel.
- Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Citi, Marriott
Singapore Krisflyer
- The short story: While award prices are high, Singapore KrisFlyer has much better availability in premium cabins for its own members. They also offer a stopover on a one-way award.
- Miles required: 112.5K / 117K from the West Coast / East Coast to Singapore in business class or 154K / 156K in first class (see the full award chart here).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com
- How to book awards: Book online at SingaporeAir.com or over the phone with Singapore KrisFlyer. Can waitlist as many options as you’d like as long as you have enough miles to book the award being waitlisted.
- Change and cancellation fees:
- Change of date / route / class / add a stopover for travel on Singapore Airlines or Silk Air: $25.
- Change of date / route / class on partner airlines: $50.
- Cancellation: $75.
- No-show: $100-$200.
- Key warnings: Note that transfers to Singapore KrisFlyer are now instant from Amex Membership Rewards and typically take around 7 hours from Capital One and Chase (slightly longer from Citi). Waitlisted itineraries that do not clear by 14 days prior to departure will get canceled.
- Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
Turkish Miles & Smiles
- The short story: While Turkish no longer offers the terrific Star Alliance business class award rates to Asia that it used to, they are still on the upper end of reasonable for the Middle East and Central Asia.
- Miles required: 93K in business class one-way to the Middle East, 100K one-way to Central Asia (Indian Subcontinent), or 130K one-way to what they dub the "Far East" (defined as Brunei, Cambodia, China (except Hong Kong and Macao), China Taipei, Hong Kong - SAR of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam).
- How to find awards: Search for available space at united.com and call or email Turkish to book or go to turkishairlines.com, log in to your account, go to "Miles transactions" to find the Star Alliance booking tool and click "book now" to go to that search tool (not the tool on the home page at turkishairlines.com). Note that there may be bookable options that do not appear on the site (hence checking United and calling when necessary).
- How to book awards: Book online at turkishairlines.com using the instructions above or over the phone at 1-800-874-8875 or book via email.
- Change and cancellation fees: The fee to change or cancel is $70 per passenger, though I've been unsuccessful in finding agents who know how to change a partner award. Thus cancelling for $70 is your best bet.
- Key warnings: Turkish is sometimes unable to see Star Alliance availability for no explicable reason. However, Turkish allows a hold for long enough for points to transfer. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that you get your desired itinerary on hold via phone or email before transferring points.
- Transfer from: Bilt, Citi Thank You, Capital One, Marriott Bonvoy
United Mileage Plus
- The short story: United charges as few as 88K miles for business class with partners. They allow mixing of partners and cabins, which increases the number of possible awards, given the number of partners in Asia.
- Miles required: Starting at 88-110K miles each way in business class. Economy awards start at 40K. United credit cardholders get 10-15% off award prices and have access to expanded availability.
- How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com.
- How to book awards: Book online at United.com.
- Change and cancellation fees: There are no fees to change or cancel award tickets.
- Key warnings: United has eliminated its award chart, so we see a variance in award prices between United and Star Alliance flights as well as a difference between close-in booking and flights farther than 30 days in advance.
- Transfer from: Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy
Virgin Atlantic (for ANA)
- The short story: Virgin Atlantic still offers very good pricing for ANA first- and business-class awards between the US and Japan.
- Miles required: 72.5K / 85K one-way for first class between the US West Coast / US East Coast and Japan, or 52.5K / 60K miles in business class. Economy awards are 30K-32.5K.
- How to find awards: Search United.com to find ANA partner award space. An easier option is to use Seats.Aero. Use the Explore United MileagePlus feature in the tool to find ANA flights.
- How to book awards: Call Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at 800-365-9500.
- Change/Cancellation fees: $100. If your original taxes were less than $100, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to simply forfeit the taxes.
- Key warnings: Virgin Atlantic charges each segment separately, so this award is best for direct flights. They also add fuel surcharges for ANA flights, which as of 2024 are about $360 from the US to Japan or $450 from Japan to the US (or around $730 if booked as a round trip).
- Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Marriott, Bilt, Wells Fargo
List of transfer partners (how to get the miles)
The following chart shows the available transferable points programs for each of the above airline frequent flyer programs:
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Chase Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Capital One Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Bilt Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Wells Fargo Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Rove Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | |||
| Alaska Atmos Rewards | 1 to 1 (Instant) | ||||||
| American AAdvantage | 1 to 1 (Instant) | ||||||
| ANA Mileage Club | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | ||||||
| Avianca LifeMiles | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | ||
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1,000 to 800 (4 to 8 hours) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (1-2 days) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | |
| Etihad Guest | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~1 hour) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | ||
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1000 to 750 (~1 day) | |||||
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | ||||
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1 to 1 (12-24 hours) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (~1 day) | 1 to 1 (12-24 hrs) | |||
| Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles | 1 to 1 (12-24 hours) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | |||
| United MileagePlus | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | |||||
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) |
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more pictures of Stephen please
Already time to update — gotta add Wells Fargo as a transfer partner for Cathay.
Why is Delta not mentioned at all?
Don’t sleep on EVA! As pretty fixed scheduled travelers, my wife and I have now have about a three-year period (re-qualified for TK Elite Plus in the first 1-year period) where we can be free agents with miles. After a previous MNL-TPE-LAX RT where as a TK *G, I was fortunately upgraded on on both MNL-TPE and TPE-MNL segments, I was really impressed by their J seats/service. we used Citi TY miles received from the newly acquired Premier card (primarily SUB +7K) in addition to Cap1 miles (at 2:1.75) to get two RT BC EVA J seats at 150K each, compared with each way over 150K each way when searching on Seat.areo and AwardTool (which are both great IMO). It involved us going through a process to get each of us MileageLand accounts (easy), and creating the nominee link (which may have required some human verification), but the entire process took about 24 hours. I was then able to immediately transfer my miles to her account and create the booking. Quite frankly, 200K Cap1 to get to 150K EVA miles RT vs. the numbers I was seeing with the award tools was a no brainer. It reinforces FMs guide statements that individual programs members can receive better value. I couldn’t be more happier, but YMMV.
I think we’ve reached the point where the primary consideration is saver availability for two people, even if the price doesn’t seem all that saver-priced.
Why no discussion of JAL flights?
My question is, if I have 75,000miles on my AA advatage account, how can I maximize them to get a ticket to Bangkok from Miami as cheap as possible? Do I just go through AA advatage website directly or should i transfer them somewhere else?
when I click on the link (“You can also see all of our “Best Ways to Get To” series here.“) it gives a 404 error
Thanks. That should be fixed now.
still getting the same 404 message, Tim, even after refreshing it several times
Wait, now it’s working. Thanks!
Love these articles. Thanks! I asked Gemini AI to summarize into a chart, here it is as a helpful reference for others: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/111xnMNGBFx1J9CxtQN_TJ59ke1zxx2240tULubkvDb8/edit?usp=sharing
Any solutions/workarounds to AwardTool.com not opening when using NordVPN? (other than deleting NordVPN?)
Award travel to mainland china by direct flights is extremely difficult (booking southern china airlines via AA miles over the phone only might be the only option and difficult to search even in economy) . Even if considering one stop flights, Visa problem couple with language barrier makes it Cathay (round trip okay) and Eva (to only not back) the only options
Because no Western airlines are allowed to fly over Russia, the Chinese have an advantage over carriers to/from Europe. The Chinese are getting so much traffic they don’t have to offer awards.
For the programs that offer stopovers, can you clarify whether the distance used to calculate the distance band is based on the straight line distance between A and C or if it’s based on the cumulative distance from A to B to C?
cumulative distance
As far as I can tell, ANA is making little or none award space available to its members these days…and even less to its partners. Does anyone have insight as to whether it’s easier to find upgrade space, especially C to F, using ANA miles? Do ANA’s upgrade awards also have to be RT, like their flight awards?
Getting Asia in business class is definitely harder and more expensive than it used to be…
Any plans to update this one to 2025 version
Couldn’t have timed this any better! Turnaround time of less than 5 days… awesome FM team on a mission!
Thanks a ton for the updates