When I saw the title of the thread, it did seem like it might belong somewhere else.

Thinking through the question, it seems what's really being asked is:

What are the risks of transferring miles to an airline that one seldom uses? And that's about a general philosophy of Miles Management, which may quite rightly belong here (the specifics of Star, United, ANA, USAirways, and New Zealand aside).

It seems to me that there are several layers of risk:

* The rules of the program and its nuances may be unfamiliar to you
* The financial condition of the airline is always something to consider
* Not having elite status with the airline, you might not receive the kind of treatment as on your primary carrier (if you have status with that carrier)

Before deciding to make a transfer of miles into an unfamiliar program, you might want to read as much about the program as possible.

What are the redemption experiences of Flyertalkers? How wide open is available, especially on flights with their partners? What are the risks and downsides to the program and the carrier?

My own perspective is that before transferring a personally significant number of miles into any program, I want to know as much about that carrier and program as possible.

Personally, I don't know alot about ANA. I'd start just reading up on the program both at the airline's website and here on FT.

I'd also check out *A carrier Mexicana, which you can use to transfer Membership Rewards points into as well.

Finally, if you were only 25,000 United miles short, you could consider transferring your Membership Rewards points into Continental, moving the Continental points over to Amtrak, and then the Amtrak points over to United - all without any devaluation. Unfortunately, this process is now capped at 25,000 miles per year...