Originally Posted by
joejones
The other big benefit of Star Alliance Gold is that you get priority boarding and priority check-in (access to a special counter) on all of the Star Alliance airlines.
You should consider using miles for your vacation flights instead of flying LCCs. Domestic award tickets tend to be quite inexpensive in comparison to what you would pay in cash for the ticket. That said, ANA is much more stingy than JAL with award availability. I've ended up exchanging most of my ANA miles for e-coins (or whatever they're called now) as that's the only way to get decent domestic flights around weekends and holiday periods. International award tickets are easier to snag, especially if you check all the Star Alliance partner carriers.
The other thing I've found is that it's much harder to get JAL metal to/from the US as they offer far fewer seats than ANA, especially in PY. If you switch to JAL, you might end up "roughing it" in AA economy on a regular basis because that's the only in-alliance option available.
Thank you for your answer!
I also noticed that my boss recommended me to exchange my miles for ANA Coins, however, I still don't really see the point. Do you get Miles for flights bought with ANA Coins?
The only place I would use awards to go inside Japan would be Ishigaki and Miyako, as any other touristic place (Okinawa, Fukuoka, Osaka and Sapporo) are covered well enough by LCCs.
I thought the best cost performance way to use my ANA miles was to go somewhere far away of difficult to get to (Australia, NY?).
I think this is what I will do: I will get an ANA Card. Next year I will be Platinum. If next year I can keep my status I will stay like that. In case I see I wont be able to make it, I will apply for a ANA Super Flyers Card to keep Star Alliance GOLD and then in 2019 I could try JAL and see if it is better for me.
Thanx!