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ANA Mileage Club has long been a theoretically incredible Amex Membership Rewards transfer partner. In practice, it isn’t always as easy to leverage at it sounds in theory, but the ANA award charts have nonetheless long been chock full of incredible gems for those who enjoy a good treasure hunt. On April 18, 2024, ANA is introducing major award chart changes. A number of popular current award chart sweet spots will soon increase in price substantially. Let’s be clear: there is certainly some bad news here. But it’s not all doom and gloom — and even parts that look gloomy today might not be as bad as they seem.
ANA Mileage Club devaluation is coming on April 18, 2024
As you’ll see noted throughout this post, ANA Mileage Club has major award chart changes coming on April 18, 2024. Those changes affect sweet spots both for travel on ANA as well as for travel on partner airlines. There is some bad news in these changes, but it should be emphasized that it’s not all awful news.
ANA has for years had some of the best award pricing in existence, both on its own flights and on partner airlines. I don’t think any of us could have reasonably expected that incredible values like 75,000 miles round trip in business class to/from Japan would last forever (indeed I think any reasonable award travel enthusiast has been amazed to see it last as long as it has!). The coming changes represent substantial increases in many cases. That said, in many cases, despite substantial increases, ANA will still have the best mileage price for a given situation. Again, even though prices are increasing substantially, there are still numerous situations where ANA will be among your best options.
Of course there will also be many situations where ANA will not be your best option — and ANA has always been an outlier in that the program is full of quirks that make it questionable even when it looks like your best option.
ANA’s major quirks: slow transfers, family booking + hard expiration policy
One of the biggest drawbacks for using ANA miles has long been that transfers to ANA are not instant. ANA does not allow award holds and transfers from Amex Membership Rewards can take 1-3 days (and those from Marriott are likely even slower!), which means that you either need to transfer to ANA and cross your fingers hoping that your award availability doesn’t evaporate or you need to proactively transfer points to ANA and hope that you’ll find a relatively near-term use since miles expire 3 years after they are earned regardless of activity.
While it is annoying that ANA Mileage Club requires round trip bookings for award flights, more annoying than that is the inability to book awards for those outside of your family. ANA only allows a member to book award tickets for the primary member or the primary member’s “spouse or same-sex partner and relatives within two degrees of family relationship”. They define those eligible as your spouse or same-sex partner, children, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This means that booking an award ticket for a friend or more distant family member or an employee / nanny / etc would not be allowed per the rules. You need to register eligible award ticket users and their family relationships in advance. My understanding based on anecdotal reports is that unlike Korean Airlines, ANA does not require documentation of your family ties, but YMMV.
The other major downside of ANA Mileage Club is that miles expire at the end of the 36th month after they are earned. New activity does not reset the clock. In other words, once you transfer to ANA, you need to use your miles within 3 years or lose them.
If the mileage cost is similar between ANA and your next best option, it wouldn’t make much sense to go with ANA because of the wait for transferred miles to show up and the risk of point expiration. Most other programs have instant or near-instant point transfers from the major transferable currencies and most allow point expiration to be extended with activity such as transferring more miles. Because ANA has such quirky limitations, it only makes sense to go with ANA if you can save a substantial quantity of miles.
The good news is that there are still situations where the juice will be worth the squeeze.
Links to ANA award charts
See award charts for travel on ANA here and for travel on partner airlines here. Note that seasonality (low / regular / high) only applies to flights on ANA and the date ranges for each time period can be found near the top of the page with ANA award charts under “Seasonality charts”.
It is also worth noting that only award chart sections that indicate a price “before revision” and a price “after revision” are changing. There are many award prices that are not scheduled to change at all.
Many ANA awards will not change in price in April 2024
Before getting deeper into the changes, it is worth noting that many ANA awards will not change in price at all in April 2024.
Economy and Premium Economy on ANA flights are unchanged
ANA is not changing the price at all of economy class or premium economy class awards on ANA metal. For example, round trip economy class awards between North America and Japan will still cost 40K / 50K / 55K miles round trip (in low / regular / high season). Premium economy will still be 62K / 72K / 77K round trip.
Japan isn’t the only decent value in economy and premium economy: awards between North America and Oceania ring in at 60K / 70K / 75K round trip in economy class or 88K / 98K / 103K in premium economy class on ANA metal. If you can find availability on ANA and you don’t mind routing via Japan (possibly utilizing a stopover there?), those are still excellent prices for trips to Australia.
Again, there is no devaluation at all in economy or premium economy class for travel on ANA-operated flights.
Star Alliance economy awards don’t change much
Partner awards do see devaluations in all classes of service, but not on all routes. In fact, departing from the United States, economy class redemptions are mostly unchanged or are only very slightly increased (typically by 5K miles round trip).
North American to Asia 1 and South Korea on partner airlines will still be 60K miles round trip in economy class. North America to Europe on Star Alliance partners remains an unchanged 55K miles round trip in economy class. If you want to travel from North America to Africa or the Middle East on partners, an economy class award will increase from 65K miles to 70K miles round trip — an increase of just 2,500 miles each way.
In short, awards in economy class (and in premium economy class on ANA) aren’t changing much if at all.
The major changes we’ll see occur in premium cabins. Unfortunately, that’s where changes stand to hurt the most, but it is worth at least recognizing that economy class travelers will barely notice a change in April 2024.
Many business class awards will require more miles, but could still be a good deal
Many business class awards will increase in price substantially in April 2024. Amazingly, even with huge increases in price, these awards could still be competitive with your best options under certain circumstances.
ANA round trip to Japan
One of the best sweet spots for redeeming ANA miles for travel on ANA has long been redeeming between North America and Japan. Awards on ANA metal have for years cost 75K miles round trip during off-peak dates (which sometimes run into Cherry Blossom Festival!), 85K miles round trip during standard dates, and 90K miles round trip during peak dates. Again, those are round trip business class prices.
From April 18th onward, those same awards will cost 100K / 105K / 110K round trip. Those are increases of as much as 33% round trip!
On the surface, that sounds awful. However, 100K to 110K miles for a round trip business class ticket is still substantially fewer miles than what most programs charge for business class awards to/from Asia.
Unfortunately, ANA isn’t as competitive as that sentence makes it sound because ANA adds / passes along carrier-imposed surcharges on award tickets. While you can still find business class awards from the US to Japan for just 75K miles round trip at the time of writing, those awards come with $620 in taxes & surcharges round trip.
While that’s still currently a relative deal considering that most programs charge 75K miles or more each way plus taxes, ANA will lose a lot of luster when an award increases to 100K miles and $620 round trip.
That said, ANA’s surcharges have fluctuated for years. We’ve seen ANA surcharges range from entirely reasonable (around $100 each way) to the relatively unreasonable state in which they exist today. Over time, it does seem like those surcharges have crept up more than down, but the fact of the matter is that if ANA reduces or eliminates its surcharges, the new business class award pricing would go from a deal that isn’t very competitive to suddenly becoming what could be the best deal for business class to/from Japan.
Star Alliance round trip to Europe
Another long-held favorite redemption is that ANA charges 88,000 miles round trip for partner business class awards between North America and Europe. That’s long been the best deal for round trip Star Alliance redemptions to Europe…..on airlines without carrier-imposed surcharges. The bold part of that sentence is because you wouldn’t want to redeem ANA miles for travel on Lufthansa, SWISS, or Austrian (for example) because of incredibly high surcharges round trip that erase the strength of this sweet spot.
However, paying 88K miles round trip for United, Air Canada, TAP Air Portugal, SAS, or even LOT Polish (which does have surcharges, but only very mild ones) has been a terrific deal because of the lack of surcharges on those airlines (or low ones on LOT Polish).
From April 18, 2024 onward, those awards will cost 100K miles round trip. News flash: that’s still a terrific deal, particularly from the west coast! The lowest price you’ll pay round trip with Air Canada Aeroplan is 120K miles, and that’s only from the East Coast round trip to Frankfurt and points west without a lot of connecting. Perhaps you’ll do a bit better than 120K round trip with Avianca LifeMiles with the right mixed-cabin award or a pricing anomaly sweet spot. But the odds of doing better than 100K round trip in business class for a Star Alliance award to Europe are very slim (Lufthansa Miles & More fans will point to Mileage Bargains, but those include high surcharges and aren’t very applicable since most people won’t have an easy way to amass many LH miles).
The key is that you’ll still need to find availability on the airlines with low surcharges or no surcharges. However, an increase of 6K miles each way is hardly a devaluation about which to get very upset in my opinion.
Star Alliance round trip to Central/South America
Business class awards from North America to South America increase in price from 88K miles round trip to 96K miles round trip. Sure, that’s a devaluation, but an increase of 4,000 miles each way — from 44K each way to 48K miles each way — is hardly one to mourn. That’s particularly true when you consider the fact that you won’t run into pesky surcharges on United or Copa, the two carriers you’re mostly likely to fly to/from South America.
I actually think that this sweet spot continues to be an unsung hero, though the biggest challenge, as is the case with many ANA sweet spots, is availability. That’s hampered here by the fact that United releases such little premium cabin space to partners. That said, Copa releases a bit more. That said, you should compare prices against Air France / KLM Flying Blue since Flying Blue also partners with Copa and you can transfer instantly to Flying Blue (and perhaps with a transfer bonus).
Other routes increase more substantially (but some were often hard to use anyway)
Star Alliance round trip to Africa / Middle East
A more substantial business class increase will be round trip awards from North America to Africa and the Middle East, which will increase in price from 104K miles round trip to 130K miles round trip.
I might argue that 65K miles each way is still a very good price for these awards, but the truth is that the real challenge here has always been finding availability on partners that don’t levy huge surcharges. Lufthansa, Swiss, and Ethiopian serve this region the best and all have surcharges that you’re not going to want to pay through ANA. Even if you managed to find a unicorn redemption in one direction that does not have high surcharges, it is difficult even with the ability to open jaw from a different city to find a round trip unicorn.
Star Alliance round trip to the Far East / South Korea / Central Asia
In my opinion, this is the hardest hit to the award chart. Partner awards to most of Central and Southeast Asia will increase in price from 95K miles round trip (just 47.5K each way!) to 130K miles round trip. While 130K miles round trip will still be a solid deal, it is a far cry from the relatively slamming deal you can get at 95K round trip when you find availability. This one will hurt for many ANA fans.
Again, while 130K round trip is still solidly decent pricing for these redemptions, one will have to question whether it’s worth putting up with ANA’s quirks (the slow transfers, the family redemption limitations, and the hard mileage expiration policy) is worth it for the mileage savings.
This change is clearly a bummer.
Other niche redemption changes
There are some other niche redemptions that increase substantially but that are relatively unlikely to affect many readers. For instance, business class round trips on ANA metal between Japan and Hawaii increase from 60K / 65K / 68K miles round trip to 80K / 85K / 90K round trip. Those are pretty painful increases to what were fairly amazing values.
Interestingly, first class redemptions during low season are still just 120K miles round trip between Hawaii and Japan, which could potentially still be a cool way to experience ANA first class.
All that said, if you can find ANA seats available to partners, you’ll be better off redeeming Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for awards between Hawaii and Japan as they will cost 70K miles round trip in business class or 115K miles round trip in first class regardless of season when booked through Virgin Atlantic. Perhaps more importantly, Virgin Atlantic, unlike ANA itself, allows for one-way award redemptions on ANA for half the price of a round trip ticket, which makes for a much more useful sweet spot pending availability.
Award tickets between North America and Oceania also increase substantially, most notably on low season dates for travel on ANA, which increases from 105K miles round trip to 130K miles round trip. Business class on partner awards increases from 120K round trip to 145K round trip. Those are big hits to those who would have been able to find availability to make those trips work. While North America to/from Oceania is hardly a “niche” redemption, the availability challenge here has made this a sweet spot on paper that is much harder to execute on partner awards. It’ll be a shame to see it go away on ANA.
The best news of all: the ANA around the world award chart lives on
The best news in the ANA award chart changes is regarding what is arguably the best value using ANA miles: the ANA Around the World award chart remains unchanged. You can still stop in up to 8 cities and fly up to 12 segments circumnavigating the world in business class for incredible prices with the ANA round-the-world chart:
Particularly in the 20,001 to 22,000 and 22,001 to 25,000 mile bands, you can put together some absolutely amazing trips in business class (and if you can spare a few more miles yet, your routing options only get wider). Greg has also shown that it is possible to get creative and save miles.
The pain point here is still surcharges — you’ll still be hard-pressed to find availability on partners that do not levy high surcharges. However, for those who truly do enjoy a good treasure hunt, it is incredible to see that ANA is keeping this treasure map alive. Personally, I’ve felt like I’ve been just a couple of years off of really leaning in to an incredible round-the-world redemption. When I saw devaluations on the horizon, I worried that I had missed my window of opportunity for one of these awards before my kids were born. Now, I have hope that we’ll be able to make an epic family adventure out of the RTW award chart before the next round of devaluations, whenever they may come.
For more details / inspiration, see:
- Around the world in business class for 115K [Sweet spot spotlight]
- Round the World Award Booked! Lessons learned.
- Recap: Team Greg’s Luxurious Round the World Trip (3 Cards, 3 Continents)
- Tips for booking ANA’s Round the World award (Updated)
Bottom line
The coming ANA “devaluation” includes some disappointments. I think most award travel enthusiasts have long expected to see ANA award chart changes one of these days, but nonetheless the combination of award price increases and ANA’s quirky quirks will make this program an afterthought for many novice and intermediate award travelers. However, for more advanced hobbyists, I think that there is still plenty of potential value to be found in ANA’s program both before the changes come into effect and for the foreseeable future. There’s no doubt that ANA will no longer be held in quite the same regard it has been while its award charts remained rooted in prices of a decade ago as competitors inflated repeatedly, but if you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, ANA will still have some pretty killer deals to be hunted down.
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Great article! If a booking is made pre-devaluation and needs to be changed after milage requirements have increased, will the new booking require additional miles to cover the difference? (aside from the milage change fee)
Completed my first booking with ANA miles. ICN-ADD business. 108k miles + $76 for a $5100 booking (4.7 cents per point!). With increased chart it’d be 120k – still a great deal. Amex to ANA transfer took 36 stressful hours. The next best option to book was Aeroplan at 160K +$98, United was 178.5K + $55. I’ve read Ethiopian Air passes on fuel charges, but oddly the fees/taxes were actually cheaper than Aeroplan (?). I totally agree that the points transfer delay and hard 3yr expiration are big concerns. But in this case it was definitely worth the risk and I’ll keep looking at ANA for future bookings.
You think this will improve ANA business availability? I’ve done 100+ searches and found precisely zero ANA business seats available.
The wait-list feature also makes it particularly painful to search.
I’ll also point out that the business “availability” example shown in the article is “wait-list” meaning it is NOT available. Even Nick can’t find ANA business availability …
glad I flew an North America-Asia-Oceania-North America business class ticket recently. Thanks for the update, Nick.
If the RTW can hold off for another year, maybe I can do it. Had one, but canceled.
A table for this would help. Instead of explaining so much by text. LoyaltyLobby has one. Though I see it’s the same as on ANA.
tl;dr –
Econ / Prem Econ (Is that even possible?) – same
Business Class:
Europe / Latin America – ~same
Asia / Oceania / Africa – ~20 to 30% +/- higher
—
well..I did need a use for all those new Amex points I got. Hahahahaha.
Easier to use my current ANA balance of 100,000k from a canceled RTW.
Well..I imagine those USA – Asia round trips in business will be easier to find? Yes? But at the new price…other programs, are more attractive as others have stated.
Yes when comparing the miles needed (after this devaluation) it still seem a good deal when up against other programs, but also keep in mind other programs regularly have transfer bonus that means 20% or 30% off (eg Virgin and Aeroplan), but ANA never has. And as many mentioned, the 1 seat only availability means it is impossible to redeem for 2. Really hope they would change. But always appreciate the free change of dates and relatively cheap cancellation, glad that has not changed.
so maybe more attractive Chase –> Aeroplan, rather then Hyatt? But Amex to Aeroplan bonus is few and far between – just searching DOC – 2019 last one? [edit: 2022 – 15% per travel on points site]
So if ANA is less attractive (Europe/Latin America excepted)..then Amex to Flying Blue (never ticketed here), Etihad? (Just reading about 2023 deval, very limited use…Abu Dhabi is out of the way if you don’t care for the Middle East), or Choice?
But those two airlines aren’t for Asia-North America.
If this deval also is accompanied by lower surcharges (I doubt it) and more availability (either through less demand or more seats opened up), then it won’t be too bad. After all, it’s pretty much impossible to find availability in F/J on many routes lately, even close in. One seat at schedule open, gets snatched up by bots, and that’s that. I have miles expiring next month that I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to use the last year.
Let’s face it: 100k RT to SE Asia sounds great, but add in $620 in fees, and assuming 1.4cpp, that’s really more similar to 140k RT with reasonable fees, and that’s nothing special. Add in the RT requirement, expiration, lack of availability, slow transfers, the wasted time and effort searching and dealing with everything, and ANA is really not a good program at all, except of course the RTW chart, which I expect to be nerfed soon enough.
Agreed. When YQ was only $150 with decent availability, it was a great deal, but I never needed ANA back then coz AA was so easy to earn and redeem. Esp after this devaluation, if AA keeps today’s redemption rates, it is unquestionably easier and a better deal for a simple award to SE Asia.
Good write up. Still hoping to take a RTW trip one day, so I’m very happy to see no changes to that chart.
Did North America to Oceania partner business class awards change (was 120k RT)? Seems United has increased capacity to down under.
Appreciate this look into ANA. One thing about Copa on Flying Blue — phantom award space is rampant, and a KNOWN issue to FB, but they haven’t been able to fix it. Would never transfer points in FB again to book Copa without calling in. Both the AF/KLM websites and apps are completely unreliable for Copa.
Good to know. Thanks!
There’ll be no change from N.A. (zone 6) to southeast Asia (zone 4).It’s always been 136K in J, not a sweet spot comparatively.
You must be thinking of star alliance awards. For me, west coast to SE Asia on ANA metal was always 100-115k.
when cathy devalued at least i was able to book some award flights. still cant with ana
The award increase doesn’t matter when you try to get the award ticket nearly a year out and it is already waitlisted! 1 award seat per flight has already been a devaluation.
As ANA has stated, this is just a partial revision of its award chart. More changes are likely in the pipeline. One of the future changes I expect is the removal of the RT requirement (at least on ANA metal), which is the most serious impediment to award redemption using ANA miles. ANA doesn’t like to see most of its most valuable saver awards redeemed via its partners’ programs (rather than its own), as they are currently the case.
This would be great. Any link to such news?
Very strange why this blogger always includes a selfie like he’s an IG model. Very bizarre
A lot of bloggers have been doing this for a long time. I think some believe it makes the articles more personable since you have a face to go with a name. I’m with you in that I don’t care. There was a blogger who always had photos of his wife in pictures like she was a model and she wasn’t. He eventually sold out.
blah blah secrets?
Wonder how much he made off with?
Know he got a divorce…that’s what I remember. And that blog is trash now too – the few times I visited.
Don’t like the selfie overload. It’s too much. I tend not to click on such articles.
Goofy selfie Boiiiii