Candy Spot Sunday: West Coast to Japan in ANA enterprise class for 45,000 factors one-way
After years of restricted tourism, Japan is predicted to open to all vacationers on Oct 11, 2022. No quarantine or tour information required.
So, in the event you’ve been itching to get again to the nation, now’s a very good time to start out planning your flights.
ANA enterprise class is without doubt one of the greatest methods to journey between the U.S. and Asia. And though you may fly round-trip in enterprise class to Asia for 75,000 ANA miles on off-peak dates, at present I’ll talk about a special candy spot.
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Right here, I’ll let you know how (and why) to redeem 45,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership factors to fly one-way between the U.S. west coast and Japan in ANA enterprise class.
Why it’s particular
This Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership candy spot is noteworthy for a number of causes. First off, right here’s Virgin Atlantic’s round-trip award chart for ANA-operated flights:
| Route (between Japan and this area) | Economic system | Enterprise | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 15,000 | N/A | N/A |
| South Korea | 18,000 | 35,000 | 50,000 |
| China, Guam, Hong Kong, Philippines and Taiwan | 23,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 |
| Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam | 40,000 | 65,000 | 80,000 |
| Hawaii, India and Indonesia | 45,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| Australia, Canada and Western U.S. | 60,000 | 90,000 | 110,000 |
| Europe, Mexico and Central and Jap U.S. | 65,000 | 95,000 | 120,000 |
Nonetheless, you may e book one-way awards for half the factors required for a round-trip. So, you possibly can fly enterprise class a technique and top notch the opposite — which is extraordinarily helpful since first-class award availability might be slim. You could possibly additionally use a special program to e book your return and even proceed to a special vacation spot earlier than returning dwelling.
Second, you need to use a Star Alliance companion’s web site to search out award availability. My favourite is United MileagePlus resulting from its calendar search operate.
Third, Virgin Atlantic expenses a modest $50 price if that you must change or cancel your award. Simply you’ll want to cancel your award a minimum of 24 hours earlier than departure in the event you don’t plan to make use of it. Simply observe that ANA just lately began including gasoline surcharges to award tickets, so you will pay between $350 and $400 for many award tickets. Name Virgin Atlantic or verify the fare breakdown with the ITA Matrix to find out the taxes and costs for a particular award.
And at last, this candy spot is particular as a result of you may convert a number of transferable rewards currencies into Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership factors. So, as I’ll talk about in a later part, it’s simple to accrue sufficient Virgin factors for this redemption.
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Routes
To get the award pricing mentioned above, you’ll must fly on a nonstop ANA-operated flight. In spite of everything, Virgin Atlantic’s web site notes, “If a journey requires a connecting flight or stopover to succeed in the vacation spot, factors are charged for every sector,” earlier than itemizing the award charges for reserving ANA flights with Virgin factors.
Listed here are the U.S. cities which have (or will quickly have) nonstop ANA-operated flights to and from main airports in Japan:
- Tokyo Haneda Worldwide Airport (HND): Chicago O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD), Honolulu Daniel Okay. Inouye Worldwide Airport (HNL), Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX), New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport, San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO), San Jose’s Norman Y. Mineta San Jose Worldwide Airport (SJC), Seattle Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) (ending March 26, 2023) and Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport (IAD).
- Tokyo Narita Worldwide Airport (NRT): Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, San Francisco, Seattle (beginning March 25, 2023) and Washington D.C.
Virgin doesn’t specify which U.S. airports are within the Western U.S. award pricing band. Nonetheless, because you’ll solely must redeem 2,500 further Virgin factors every method for Central and Jap U.S. airports, this gained’t be a major stumbling block for many vacationers.
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The best way to e book this award
Sadly, you may’t redeem Virgin factors to e book ANA-operated flights straight on Virgin Atlantic’s web site. As a substitute, you’ll must name to e book your award. However earlier than you name, I like to recommend utilizing one of many greatest web sites for looking out Star Alliance award availability to make sure there’s availability in your most popular journey dates.
One web site you need to use to seek for Star Alliance award availability is United MileagePlus. On this part, I’ll present you ways I’d seek for award availability for 2 from San Francisco to Tokyo subsequent August.
First, go to United’s web site and enter your required flight info. Remember to verify “E book with miles” and “Versatile dates.” Moreover, choose the month you’d prefer to journey and choose enterprise class as your required class of service.
When you click on “Discover flights,” a field will load asking you to log in. Shut the field with out signing in, and then you definitely’ll see a calendar of award availability on the following web page. Click on the “Kind and filter” button and unselect the “blended cabins” and “1+ stops” containers.
Lastly, click on on any dates you’d need to journey that present 70,000 or 88,000 level costs to view accessible flights.
Observe that ANA-operated flights typically value 88,000 miles with United MileagePlus. When you click on on a date that reveals awards accessible for 70,000 miles, chances are you’ll not discover ANA-operated flights. In flip, you may need to dig to search out flights you may e book with Virgin factors.
Whenever you click on on a date, scroll right down to verify the flight particulars. Search for flights which are operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) as these are bookable with Virgin factors.
As soon as you discover availability, you may name Virgin Atlantic from the U.S. at 800-862-8621. The road is staffed from 2 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jap time, however wait instances have been in depth just lately. When you’re seeking to e book an award with restricted availability, understand that the provision could also be gone by the point you get by to an agent.
Associated: The best way to e book a $20,000 ANA first-class ticket for simply $34
The best way to earn factors for this award
You’ll be able to immediately switch rewards at a 1:1 ratio from American Specific Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Final Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards to Virgin Atlantic. So, anticipate a Virgin Atlantic cellphone consultant to substantiate award area after which switch factors from a number of of those applications to Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership. Because the switch must be instantaneous, you gained’t must put your award on maintain or name again to e book.
When you’re seeking to earn rewards in one of many three transferable factors applications, think about the next playing cards and their present bonuses:
- The Platinum Card® from American Specific: Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $6,000 on purchases in your new card in your first six months of card membership.
- American Specific® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases in your new card in your first six months of card membership.
- Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases inside the first three months from account opening.
- Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases inside the first three months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Most popular Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
You can even switch Marriott Bonvoy factors at a 3:1 ratio. Nonetheless, Marriott factors sometimes take lower than 48 hours to switch. So, particularly if award availability is restricted, it’s greatest to switch rewards from different applications.
Associated: 3 nice methods to redeem Virgin Atlantic factors now that Delta awards are devalued
Backside line
ANA enterprise class is a wonderful product, particularly in the event you snag an plane that includes ANA’s The Room. And redeeming Virgin factors is a wonderful strategy to expertise ANA enterprise class for a modest quantity of factors. Plus, since you may e book one-way awards for half the price of round-trip awards, you have got the pliability to strive a special airline — or ANA top notch — on your transpacific flight dwelling.
