Ativantage

So I’m getting a bit anxious about an upcoming trip and there are a few uncertainties I am trying to figure out. Hopefully folks can provide some clarity!

Summary of the plan: I am looking to travel from IAD to HND in late March 2024. The problem is that there are two of us, and we want to fly in J. I intend to use Amex MR for the award redemption, and I plan on calling ANA to book the award (basically, call the first day for 355 days from then, and if that fails, the next day for 356 days from day 1, etc until I get something).

What is not clear to me is how many seats ANA is now releasing at 355 days. I have heard anywhere from 1-4, but in searching ANA’s site (for example, looking at 350-355 days from today), if I search for 1 traveler, there are plenty of award seats, but for 2 travelers, it says there are no results. So do they truly only release 1 seat at 355 days or is this an issue with the site that can be overcome by talking to an agent?

Secondly, like many of you, I am scared of sending over the MR in advance and getting screwed. Does ANA hold those awards on the phone, ever? Most people say no yet there have been a few posts saying otherwise.

Third, as backup, if my first concern (only 1 award seat per flight released at 355 days) is true, I was thinking of just booking a refundable economy seat with ANA on the same flight for my companion. If an award seat opens up, can I then cancel that and then book the award, such as 2 weeks in advance? I read somewhere that you can’t make a backup reservation on the same flight because the system shows them as already booked, but I don’t understand why I can’t just cancel and grab the last minute second award ticket. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood?

Anyway, do folks think my plan is foolish? There are J awards to be had on this route but I’m just worried about getting seat #2. I hope I’m wrong and that NH101 actually opens at least 2 seats at the 355 day mark… If folks have data points I’d love you for it!

Chemystery

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will reply, but I can share what I did as a first-time redemption in this situation. I was trying for two J tickets and ended up going out of ORD as I was able to get one J and one F for now (used AC/AP to book, so more costly but easier to find availability). Closer in, if another of the same kind opens on our flight, I'll try to get us both in the same cabin, but I wanted to assure that we'd both have lie-flat seats so I could commence making the rest of the reservations.

Ativantage

I have done some thinking and come up with 4 scenarios, similar to yours. I cannot figure out which is “best.” Assuming I get the first seat at 355 days, I can then do:

1) Book an economy seat on the same flight using United miles, cancel it and switch to J if a seat opens up in J (especially in the final 2 weeks)

2) Buy a refundable cash ticket for premium economy via ANA. Same as option 1, cancel and grab the J seat if it opens. If not, I might be able to use points to upgrade to J (ANA website confirms this but I have no idea how many points it’ll be).

3) Split class booking (F and J). Sadly I do not have enough ANA points to do this, but it’s a solid idea.

4) Waitlist the other seat. Is it better to be waitlisted or to try and get a seat within 2 weeks? Are those the same seats that get opened to the waitlist or is it a separate set??

Right now it looks like some flights do have 2 J seats open at 355 days, but not all. I wonder if they are going to make 2 the norm again as they open up more…

freakazoid

Isn't the first issue here that ANA requires a roundtrip and IAD-HND simply can't be done 355 days out (+1 day arrival)?

AwardRook21

You can book a dummy leg for the return, and then change it.

jlucero

is the only way to book a one way ticket in this scenario to go through virgin? is that right? meaning through ANA no one ways allowed, but booking ANA through virgin allows one ways?

freakazoid

How do you book a dummy return flight, when the initial flight arrives at 356 days. At best you could book at 354 days.

You can not book 355 days out on Virgin (limit is 330 days), but it does allow one-way awards. Most ANA partners will allow one-way awards, e.g. Aeroplan allows one-way awards and 355 days out.

jlucero

ok gotcha. but ANA itself wont allow one way trips, is that right?