abhisheks77

I have ANA flight for three of us in Z class, which will earn around 31000 miles. Now I am considering that if I change my booking to P class, though still business, I will get back $350 but I will get 15000 miles.
On one side, that is over 2 cpp, plus ANA is an inflexible currency, so feel like cancelling Z class, re-book in P class and forget points.
On another forums post I am reading that ANA miles can be used on United for 150%. Still trying to learn, how it works.
What would you advice ?

Edit -- is below correct, what I am understanding ?

If I keep my booking in Z class, I will earn 31500 miles. After travel and this earning, I can move these points to United and I will have 45000 points to book any flight on United, or any Star Alliance airline.

If I keep my booking in P class, I will earn 15000 miles. After travel and this earning, I can move these points to United and I will have 22500 points to book any flight on United, or any Star Alliance airline.

Thanks.

paperwastage

when earning:

At/around travel time, You have to choose which mileage program to get the miles (whether its ANA MIleageclub or United Mileageplus)
you cannot "move" ANA miles to United Mileageplus program after that.

ANA Z class earns different than ANA P class on ANA Mileageclub
ANA Z class earns the same as ANA P class on United MIleageplus program (as long as you didnt buy a ticket from United where ticket number stars with 016)
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...tners/ana.html

this applies when flying ANA(NH/NQ) plane. if you have a ticket sold by ANA, but operated by a different airline (eg codeshare), the earning rates can be different

when redeeming:
you can use ANA miles to redeem flights on United (or United miles to redeem flights on United).

It will cost different amounts, eg:
- United may want 10k miles to redeem on a United flight
- ANA may want 15k miles for same United flight or not even find the availability on United

abhisheks77

ANA is not my resident country (US) or home country (India), so it is very unlikely that I will fly ANA again or will use miles on ANA.
I bought these tickets in Z class, from ANA directly.

If I get 315000 miles from this travel, will it be any good, or I can re-book P class ticket and forget about these miles ? trying to learn and decide on this confusion.

CPH-Flyer

If you are not going to fly ANA a lot, there are probably better programs for you. If you are US resident, accruing to United Mileage Plus is probably the way to go. ANA miles expire after 36 months, United miles does not expire so you have more time to build a balance to use.

abhisheks77

In that case, I shouldn't be worried much about saving $350 and stay with 15000 miles, but stay with Z class ticket and get 31500 miles, which I can use on United in future.
How can I instruct ANA that my 31500 earned miles to come to United, instead of ANA ? My travel date is in April.

paperwastage

you'll have to post your actual ticket (blank out name/dates/sensitive info).... only need to see route, fare class (Z/P), and who's actually operating the plane

because ANA Z earns 125% on ANA, ANA P earns 70% on ANA. i cannot understand how you got to your numbers


and as CPH-Flyer said, United mileage is slightly better because they dont have mileage expiry. but every program has different rates to earn, and different rates to redeem

as i said earlier, if you 're flying on an ANA plane with Z or P class, both earns the same rate if you want to put the miles into United Mileageplus. but need to confirm your ticket (that it's operated by ANA plane)

https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...tners/ana.html

Ticket number does not start with "016"
Mileage accrual table for eligible ANA fare classes
Class of service Purchased fare class6 Award mile earnings
(including fare class bonus)

Discount Business Z, P 150% <-----

CPH-Flyer

Your 31K miles calculated as ANA earning does not transfer to United afterwards. Pick ANA or pick United. Then calculate what you earn. You can book United flights from your ANA account, but there is another downside, while ANA may require fewer miles, they have a lot of copay, United only charge actual taxes.

abhisheks77

Ticket number starts with "205"
DEL to HND - NH838 - Class-Z(C) - All Nippon Airways
HND to SEA - NH118 - Class-Z(C) - All Nippon Airways

The one, which is cheaper is in P class, same route and airlines.
It is good, if I can use miles on United, while doing domestic travel. But how much miles will I get in United, for 31500 miles earned on ANA ?

paperwastage

i dont think you understand what CPH-Flyer and myself are talking about. your question should be "How much miles will I get in United, for FLYING DEL-HND-SEA on ANA"

you cannot assume the 31500 calculation for ANA, will directly translate to United. that's why CPH-Flyer said you have to pick a mileage program FIRST, then figure out how many miles the route +fareclass gives you on the program. compare the two

Example:
this is ANA's mileage calculator, go put in Int'l, each of the legs (DEL-HND + Z class, and HND-SEA + Z class)
https://cam.ana.co.jp/amcmember/SimulationEnResult

DEL-HND Z class gives you 4570 miles per person
HND-SEA Z class gives you 5968 miles per person
so each person gets 10538 miles one way

A map from the Great Circle Mapper - Great Circle Mapper
GCMAP says this route should be around 8451 miles one way, 125% of that is 10563miles (so numbers match up. each airline has small variation on how long DEL-HND should actulaly be)

You can do the same calculation for P fare, I'm not doing it for you Let us know what number you get for calculating P fare
===============
United is always 150% for route (regardless of ANA Z or P), so you should get 150% * 8451 = 12676mile per person (roughly... as said, each airline has small variation on how long DEL-HND should be)


Z fare:each person earns 10538 miles on ANA Mileageclub or 12676 miles on United Mileageplus.
P fare: you tell me after doing your calculation

You have to review the differences in program, generally rule that miles cannot be stacked into one account

- United - you cannot stack 12676*3 across 3 people into one account. each person has their own account holding 12676 miles. You can use those miles to redeem for other people, but no way to redeem a 13000 mile ticket even though you have 12676 times 3 people. you can buy miles to topup a specific account
- ANA - there is a special program that allows you to combine miles (only if you live outside Japan, has a 1k fee etc)
https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/amc/amc-...count-service/

abhisheks77

I calculated for P fare and here is the result :

Z fare: each person earns 10538 miles on ANA Mileageclub or 12676 miles on United Mileageplus.
P fare: each person earns 5901 miles on ANA Mileageclub or 8851 miles on United Mileageplus.

If we stick with Z class, 38028 miles looks good for United. But another issue is, there will go to 3 different accounts for three people, which may be difficult to book domestic flight.

- This is making me think, if I should even bother to stick with Z class and get these miles, or change it to P class.
- If I stay with Z class and tickets are already booked with ANA Mileageclub, do I have option to choose different mileage program (to United or any other), so those earned miles can go in that one ?

paperwastage

I'm like a math teacher now. show me how you got to 8851 miles for United Mileageplus

abhisheks77

I tried as below. For class P, each person will get 5901 miles.
150% of 5901 miles = 8851 miles for United Mileageplus

paperwastage

again, you didnt fly 5901miles. the 5901 number came from ANA.
your route (DEL-HND-SEA) is about 8451 miles. you're flying 8451 miles according to gcmap.com, ANA said you'll earn 70% based on distance flown , so 8451 * 0.70 = 5916 miles earned on ANA (their calculator said 5901)

you cannot take the number 5901, and apply it on United mileageplus because it doesnt make sense - United doesnt care what ANA said about earning 70% on P, United has their own calculation

https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...tners/ana.html
Otherwise, you should reference the "Ticket number does not start with 016" section. footnote4 You'll earn miles based on flight distance footnote5 and the purchased fare class and/or fare class flown. footnote2

Discount Business Z, P 150%

in this case, how many miles will you earn if you put them in United MileagePlus?
do you understand the difference? this is what CPH-Flyer and myself are trying to tell you

abhisheks77

I am getting it now. I didn't have clarity on, how miles and mileage program works. Checking this more now :-)