Did you have to call in for this change?

I had to call in regardless of the dates because it's a multi-city booking and the website wasn't even giving me the option to change online, which was there in the past when I had made a round trip booking. I'm not greatly experienced with ANA awards but based on this I just assumed you can't change a multi-city booking online.

I had to call in twice because I originally booked JFK-TYO,TYO-SIN,SIN-TYO-SFO where the latter two were just immediately following the outbound to secure the first flight, then I had to call in to push the middle segment when the date I wanted opened up, and then a 2nd call to push the return. I didn't get pushback either time regarding the dates despite both the middle and return flights being more than 365 from the original issue date of the ticket.

Is there a set amount of time for the waitlist to expire, or just the whim of ANA. I'm looking at booking travel around 12/29/21.

​​​​Also just to provide something more concrete on this, the validity of an ANA intl flight award is stated explicitly here https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/amc/inte...usage-validity

Is anyone aware as to how many tickets does ANA set aside for award tickets in the J cabin? As well, would they automatically release seats at a certain time prior to departure to accommodate more award reservations from the Waitlisted, if those seats are not sold?

If they do release such seats, is it an 'unlimited' number of seats that are available and unsold on the flight that are opened up for award tickets?
I'm primarily wondering about the JFK-NRT/HND and NRT/HND-JFK routes.

There are a fixed number of initial release seats, releases close to departure are a bit more random, and certainly not any remaining seat.

A couple of friends are planning on booking roundtrips to Taipei for one week in March 2022....one SFO-TPE-SFO, the other LAX-TPE-LAX. Plan is to use ANA miles and fly nonstop on EVA biz class if possible.

Problem is that the EVA biz seems to go FAST. So the idea was for them to book outbound with return the next day, and then 6 day later when the return flight they really want opens up, switch to that.

But what if they can find an EVA outbound but the return the next day is unavailable on EVA and they have to book it on ANA through Tokyo? Or what if they get an EVA roundtrip including the "wrong" return date but then later can't find EVA availabilty for the "right" return date and need to go on ANA instead? From what I'm reading, it sounds like they can't make that change. If they cancel and rebook, is it possible the EVA outbound flight they had will be gone?

You can't change a carrier, nor a routing.
See ANA partner flight award rule.
https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/amc/refe...tk/refund.html
As you wrote, cancel and rebooking may lose award space.

How comfortable would you all feel about transferring 300K+ MRs to ANA now for a trip to Japan and Australia mid-2022? (Obviously in order to book J seats, I would need to make the transfer in the next couple months.) My view is that even if travel is not open by then, since the ANA miles are valid for 36 months, I could rebook for 2023, 2024 or even 2025, assuming the expiration is based on use-by, rather than fly-by date. Is my reasoning sound? Is there anything I am not thinking of?

you can wait a little longer as that is still more than 365 days away

Yes, my plan is to transfer the MRs about 360 days ahead of time, allowing 5 days for the transfer to complete in time for the award space opening at 355 days.

Thinking to book a Japan to US J award with only firm plans to use the outbound (I am currently US based and this award would be providing my return). If I do this by booking the inbound segment on a random date in the future, how much flexibility do I have to change that date after completing the outbound? Would changes need to be within 365 days of the original outbound, or the original inbound? Also, as long as I stay within that window and award availability exists for the dates in question, can the award date be changed as many times as I want?

I have booked following itinerary: FRA-EWR (stopover), LGA-DEN, (open-jaw) SFO-FRA, at standard SA award rate for a return trip in Dec. AMC rules allow for 1 stopover and 1 open-jaw on one return ticket. Also, apparently, EWR and LGA are treated as the same city/connection (like KIX/ITM and HND/NRT) and not as an OJ.

In the meantime, the original LGA-DEN flight has been cancelled by UA and I have been offered alternative LGA-DEN flight on the same day, basically same flight times, but different flight number. The ticket has not been automatically updated/reconfirmed and AMC website is now giving me options to a) 'Confirm Flight(s)' or b) 'Select Another Flight(s)'. If b) is chosen, it refers me to calling ANA to make a change.

Can I ask to replace the LGA-DEN leg with a different one (eg LGA-ORD) - which would still keep the ticket within 1SO/1OJ rule, but would change the route - within the existing ticket? (Ie without cancelling the original ticket, redepositing miles and issuing a new ticket)

Per https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/amc/partner-flight-awards/, you will most likely be unable to change the route (LGA-DEN to LGA-ORD). Although if United did cancel it, maybe you could get a generous agent if you get very lucky.

Involuntary Cancellation... stranded due to cancelled return flight, no availability :mad:

So I have a transpacific roundtrip award reservation with ANA... the first segment is flown, and just received a flight cancellation notice for the return ticket.

Both segments are on partner carriers, and there is zero award availability for the same return routing the on the return dates on same partner carrier....

I know ANA requires award changes to remain on same routing/partner, but are there any leniency for say, when the return ticket is cancelled hence... a stranded traveler?