ANA Mileage Club is the loyalty program of All Nippon Airways, which is based in Tokyo. The airline is a member of the Star Alliance — a collection of 26 airline partners including United Airlines, Air Canada and other carriers reaching nearly every corner of the globe. This means ANA miles can be used to fly on any airline in the alliance. In addition, ANA has partnerships with airlines outside of the Star Alliance such as Etihad Airways, where ANA miles can be used as well. All flights booked with ANA must be round trip.
ANA also has partnerships that provide ways to earn miles. ANA is a partner of the American Express Membership Rewards program, so you can transfer AmEx points directly to ANA to book an award flight. Terms apply. ANA also partners with Marriott Bonvoy, letting you transfer points directly from Marriott to ANA. You also earn ANA miles by flying the airline or its partners.
When you’ve earned enough miles for a flight, it pays to know how to use them well. ANA publishes charts showing the number of miles required for a round-trip ticket between or within specific zones. See how many miles you need to book an ANA flight using ANA miles under Required Mileage Charts on this page at the website. See how many ANA miles it takes to book a flight on partner airlines under Required Mileage Charts. You’ll see that not all flight awards offer equal value. Here are some sweet spot redemptions for your ANA miles.
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U.S. to Japan
ANA flies nonstop from a number of U.S. airports to both of the major international airports in Tokyo: Narita International Airport (NRT) and Haneda International Airport (HND). During times the airline designates as “low season,” you can find business class round-trip flights between the U.S. and Tokyo for 75,000 miles. Compare that with how many miles you would need to book this route through another Star Alliance airline like Air Canada, which charges 150,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles for a business class flight. ANA’s low season for these routes typically includes select dates in January, April, early summer and early to mid-December.
U.S. to Australia
No matter which frequent-flyer program you use, flights from the U.S. to Australia cost a lot of miles. But flying ANA or a Star Alliance airline partner from the U.S. to Australia using ANA miles can be a good relative value. Round-trip business class flights on ANA that go through Japan require 105,000 miles during the low season. Star Alliance flights to Australia require 120,000 miles. As a comparison, booking this flight with one of the next best Star Alliance programs for these regions, Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles, requires 150,000 miles for business class.
U.S. to Europe
Many Star Alliance airlines are based in Europe, so you have plenty of options to book round-trip business class Star Alliance flights from the U.S. to Europe for 88,000 ANA miles. Round-trip economy flights to Europe at 55,000 miles are also interesting. LOT Polish Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and United Airlines are examples of airlines that have reasonable taxes and fees plus decent award availability when booking a flight to Europe with ANA miles. Other Star Alliance airlines like Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, SAS and Swiss Air Lines have high fuel surcharges or low award availability. Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles is probably your next-best option for booking a Star Alliance award flight to Europe. But at 90,000 miles for business class, even this next-closest competitor can’t beat ANA.
U.S. to Africa or the Middle East
Etihad/Star Alliance flights from the U.S. to Africa and the Middle East generally require more miles than flights to Europe and South America. With ANA, 104,000 miles gets you a round-trip business class flight from the U.S. to Africa or the Middle East. You can also book round-trip economy flights to these regions with 65,000 miles. Again, a close competitor is Turkish Airlines. But at 94,000 to 170,0000 Turkish miles to book a business class Star Alliance flight from the U.S. to Africa or the Middle East, it’s clear ANA miles get you more value for the same flight.
U.S. to South America
Star Alliance members Avianca, Copa Airlines and United offer flights between the U.S. and Central and South America, which you can book through ANA using ANA miles. On its award charts, ANA treats all of South America as one region. Some programs, like Air Canada Aeroplan, divide South American into two regions, making it more expensive to fly to southern South America from the U.S. So the sweet spots for ANA redemptions to South America are when you’re heading to the southern half of the continent. For example, with 88,000 ANA miles, you can fly round trip business class to anywhere in South America. Compare that with Air Canada, which offers a better deal, 75,000 miles, for a business class flight to northern South America, but costs more, 110,000 Aeroplan miles, for a business class flight to the southern half of the continent.
The bottom line
Although its award charts and round-trip booking requirements may discourage some travelers from using ANA Mileage Club, there’s real value to be had by using ANA to book award travel.
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