Advise wanted - JAL vs ANA milage program (when based in Japan)
Dec 21, 2022, 1:37 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
Advise wanted - JAL vs ANA milage program (when based in Japan)
Hi all,
with traveling now becoming possible again, I want to revisit my approach to miles and actually stick to one program for once. I live in Japan so the 2 big airlines we have here ANA and JAL.
Mile-hacking isn't so much a thing here, and the credit cards you can sign up with don't give you more than a couple thousand miles sadly.
I looked into membership program of both companies and, especially in Japan, they look identical. The credit cards they offer are pretty much the same, and the fares they charge for domestic flights as well.
Cards:
The usual gist is: Pay around ~$100 a year for a "gold credit card" that gives you 10-25% extra miles, and each purchase you make gives you roughly 1 mile per 200 yen (~$2).
The more expensive ANA cards give you 200 yen = 2 miles ($150 membership fee a year) or even 200 yen = 3 miles ($800 membership fee a year)
JAL gives you the same 200 yen = 1 mile deal, but you can upgrade that for $30 a year to be 200 yen = 2 miles. Their card gives you access to the business checkin counter when flying economy which is pretty sweet
/edit: I just discovered that there are ANA Amex cards in Japan that give you about 30k miles for the normal one and 100k for the gold one. So there are options
Other considerations:
- Japan is crazy about point programs and you can often convert between a lot of them, including ANA and JAL miles. More point programs support converting to JAL miles (dpoint, ponta, rakuten) vs ANA (rakuten, tpoint)
- one strategy would be to rack up bonus points with these providers and swap over, if signup bonuses are swappable. Need to check this
- JAL gives you a 10% discount when purchasing at the airport in Tokyo
- JAL owns LCC zip air, ANA owns LCC peach air
So far to my naive eye, it looks easier to rack up JAL miles because more stuff is able to convert to their milage program, and the card looks a bit better than ANAs.
But I'm sure I'm missing a lot of detail here, what else should I be looking at when making a decision? Is there a clear winner?
with traveling now becoming possible again, I want to revisit my approach to miles and actually stick to one program for once. I live in Japan so the 2 big airlines we have here ANA and JAL.
Mile-hacking isn't so much a thing here, and the credit cards you can sign up with don't give you more than a couple thousand miles sadly.
I looked into membership program of both companies and, especially in Japan, they look identical. The credit cards they offer are pretty much the same, and the fares they charge for domestic flights as well.
Cards:
The usual gist is: Pay around ~$100 a year for a "gold credit card" that gives you 10-25% extra miles, and each purchase you make gives you roughly 1 mile per 200 yen (~$2).
The more expensive ANA cards give you 200 yen = 2 miles ($150 membership fee a year) or even 200 yen = 3 miles ($800 membership fee a year)
JAL gives you the same 200 yen = 1 mile deal, but you can upgrade that for $30 a year to be 200 yen = 2 miles. Their card gives you access to the business checkin counter when flying economy which is pretty sweet
/edit: I just discovered that there are ANA Amex cards in Japan that give you about 30k miles for the normal one and 100k for the gold one. So there are options
Other considerations:
- Japan is crazy about point programs and you can often convert between a lot of them, including ANA and JAL miles. More point programs support converting to JAL miles (dpoint, ponta, rakuten) vs ANA (rakuten, tpoint)
- one strategy would be to rack up bonus points with these providers and swap over, if signup bonuses are swappable. Need to check this
- JAL gives you a 10% discount when purchasing at the airport in Tokyo
- JAL owns LCC zip air, ANA owns LCC peach air
So far to my naive eye, it looks easier to rack up JAL miles because more stuff is able to convert to their milage program, and the card looks a bit better than ANAs.
But I'm sure I'm missing a lot of detail here, what else should I be looking at when making a decision? Is there a clear winner?
Last edited by dvstr; Dec 21, 2022 at 4:54 am
Dec 21, 2022, 8:43 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 30,449
Depending on what the OP is hoping to get out of an FFP, consideration might be given to a different frequent-flyer program. For example, United's MileagePlus program has affiliated credit cards in Japan:
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...-partners.html
(United and ANA are both Star Alliance members. MileagePlus miles can be redeemed for flights on any Star Alliance carrier -- including ANA. Cash-paid ANA flights can be credited to MileagePlus.)
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...-partners.html
(United and ANA are both Star Alliance members. MileagePlus miles can be redeemed for flights on any Star Alliance carrier -- including ANA. Cash-paid ANA flights can be credited to MileagePlus.)
Jan 10, 2023, 7:29 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 8
Dang I didn't receive an email notification so forgot to check up on this thread... sorry and thanks for the replies!
Those cards look not bad at all, I didn't know about those! 100 yen (roughly $1) = 1.5 miles is a pretty sweet deal, I compared this to ANAs own cards, and to get a similar deal you'd need to go for the super high grade ones that cost like $800 a year. Even the amex gold card only gives you 100 yen = 1 mile. The cards with over $1000 yearly fee match up to 1.5 miles = 100 yen.
That's of course assuming that 1 ANA mile = 1 united mile and they have identical worth
Downside of this would be that I can't convert other point programs into united miles, while on ANA I could. That makes it pretty hard to judge if it's more viable to collect on ANA vs United, and don't want to fragment my collecting.
Anyone here in Japan? Curious to hear comments and thoughts on what the better deal is
Depending on what the OP is hoping to get out of an FFP, consideration might be given to a different frequent-flyer program. For example, United's MileagePlus program has affiliated credit cards in Japan:
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...-partners.html
(United and ANA are both Star Alliance members. MileagePlus miles can be redeemed for flights on any Star Alliance carrier -- including ANA. Cash-paid ANA flights can be credited to MileagePlus.)
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/mil...-partners.html
(United and ANA are both Star Alliance members. MileagePlus miles can be redeemed for flights on any Star Alliance carrier -- including ANA. Cash-paid ANA flights can be credited to MileagePlus.)
That's of course assuming that 1 ANA mile = 1 united mile and they have identical worth
Downside of this would be that I can't convert other point programs into united miles, while on ANA I could. That makes it pretty hard to judge if it's more viable to collect on ANA vs United, and don't want to fragment my collecting.
Anyone here in Japan? Curious to hear comments and thoughts on what the better deal is
Jan 12, 2023, 9:56 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2022
Location: LAX
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,648
Other considerations:
1. what do you want to do with your points? Airlines have better award availability for their own flights, and only have access to limited partner awards
2. ANA doesn't allow booking one way award trips
3. ANA has fuel surcharges on awards, United does not
4. ANA allows you to book round-the-world award trips
1. what do you want to do with your points? Airlines have better award availability for their own flights, and only have access to limited partner awards
2. ANA doesn't allow booking one way award trips
3. ANA has fuel surcharges on awards, United does not
4. ANA allows you to book round-the-world award trips
Jan 31, 2023, 4:14 am
#6
Join Date: Jan 2023
Posts: 2
Dang I didn't receive an email notification so forgot to check up on this thread... sorry and thanks for the replies!
Those cards look not bad at all, I didn't know about those! 100 yen (roughly $1) = 1.5 miles is a pretty sweet deal, I compared this to ANAs own cards, and to get a similar deal you'd need to go for the super high grade ones that cost like $800 a year. Even the amex gold card only gives you 100 yen = 1 mile. The cards with over $1000 yearly fee match up to 1.5 miles = 100 yen.
That's of course assuming that 1 ANA mile = 1 united mile and they have identical worth
Downside of this would be that I can't convert other point programs into united miles, while on ANA I could. That makes it pretty hard to judge if it's more viable to collect on ANA vs United, and don't want to fragment my collecting.
Anyone here in Japan? Curious to hear comments and thoughts on what the better deal is
Those cards look not bad at all, I didn't know about those! 100 yen (roughly $1) = 1.5 miles is a pretty sweet deal, I compared this to ANAs own cards, and to get a similar deal you'd need to go for the super high grade ones that cost like $800 a year. Even the amex gold card only gives you 100 yen = 1 mile. The cards with over $1000 yearly fee match up to 1.5 miles = 100 yen.
That's of course assuming that 1 ANA mile = 1 united mile and they have identical worth
Downside of this would be that I can't convert other point programs into united miles, while on ANA I could. That makes it pretty hard to judge if it's more viable to collect on ANA vs United, and don't want to fragment my collecting.
Anyone here in Japan? Curious to hear comments and thoughts on what the better deal is
ANA offers SFC (Super Fliers Club) credit cards that allows you to keep ANA Platinum status indefinitely, even without any flights after the 1st year, so long as you pay the annual fee. ANA Platinum also equates to Star Alliance Gold, which gives you lounge access and more goodies when flying with ANA/Star Alliance members.
*I'm apparently too new and can't post URL......but search KNaviation SFC miles run for tutorial & details
JAL has a similar program called JGC (JAL Global Club) but they're changing the terms in 2024 and making it harder to re-qualify.
Keep us posted on what your decisions are, and if you do actually get the SFC let us know what it is like
Feb 2, 2023, 1:35 am
#7
Join Date: Jan 2023
Posts: 2
Other considerations:
1. what do you want to do with your points? Airlines have better award availability for their own flights, and only have access to limited partner awards
2. ANA doesn't allow booking one way award trips
3. ANA has fuel surcharges on awards, United does not
4. ANA allows you to book round-the-world award trips
1. what do you want to do with your points? Airlines have better award availability for their own flights, and only have access to limited partner awards
2. ANA doesn't allow booking one way award trips
3. ANA has fuel surcharges on awards, United does not
4. ANA allows you to book round-the-world award trips
JAL has similar cards (JGC), but they're about to update terms starting 2024 so that you can't just keep open the credit card for status.
At the end of the day see if it's feasible and within your budget, otherwise just go with something that's most convenient and offer routes that you will fly most often.