ANA (NH) Redemptions using VS Flying Club points - thread locked Sept 2022
Mar 17, 2018, 4:44 am
#301
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 240
I’m trying to put together a RT itinerary for LAX-TYO in F, but there’s only award space for the outbound flight. VS (snd ANA) doesn’t allow OW bookings so how can I use these miles? If the return flight is in Y, is the total cost in miles half F and half Y? Or do I pay for the whole trip in F and do a voluntary downgrade to Y and hope F opens up?
Mar 26, 2018, 7:30 am
#302
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 30
Many years ago my GF and I started collecting air miles to use on a trip to Japan, we were on the phone to Virgin booking (economy + upgrade) at the time they sent the email round cancelling the route. Frustrating.
Since then we've continued to collect points with no ultimate aim although a year or so ago I looked at using them with ANA but it seemed so difficult we gave up.
We are getting spring next year and according to the Virgin website we've nearly got enough for 2 round trip returns with ANA in business class (London-Tokyo).
We've got these spread over 2 accounts (one each) and we are likely to be a little short on one so would need to top up the miles.
Would VA be able to reserve the tickets before charging me for more miles? Would they be able to book both tickets at once (we wouldn't want one booked without the other for obvious reasons)? Is there an optimum time ahead to try and book? Any ideas of the general availability of rewards on this route? Am I just asking for disappointment?
Since then we've continued to collect points with no ultimate aim although a year or so ago I looked at using them with ANA but it seemed so difficult we gave up.
We are getting spring next year and according to the Virgin website we've nearly got enough for 2 round trip returns with ANA in business class (London-Tokyo).
We've got these spread over 2 accounts (one each) and we are likely to be a little short on one so would need to top up the miles.
Would VA be able to reserve the tickets before charging me for more miles? Would they be able to book both tickets at once (we wouldn't want one booked without the other for obvious reasons)? Is there an optimum time ahead to try and book? Any ideas of the general availability of rewards on this route? Am I just asking for disappointment?
Mar 30, 2018, 5:31 pm
#303
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: IAH
Programs: UA GS, TK Gold
Posts: 304
I'm flying tomorrow iah-nrt-iah in F thanks to 30% bonus amex transfer offer in 2017. seems like I will be able to catch the downswing of cherry blossom season. I will stay 2 nights at PHT and 1 night in sapporo - VERY EXCITED TO MAKE THIS TRIP!!! this may be trip report worthy
Last edited by tonykline1947; Apr 4, 2018 at 6:03 pm
Mar 30, 2018, 5:34 pm
#304
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sunny AZ
Programs: HH Diamond, Sixt Platinum, IHG Spire Ambassador, Marriott/SPG Gold .....
Posts: 3,210
Cherry blossoms (some variety) is in full bloom and starting to loose pedals. But there should be enough left
Apr 17, 2018, 5:41 pm
#305
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Manhattan Beach, California
Programs: BMI Diamond Club Gold forever
Posts: 6,367
Excited to book for Sakura 2019, we flew ANA F back in March 2016 with points accrued on EY and redeemed under EYs so called “intern chart” ( 60k miles RT in NH F!). This isnt quite as good, but still a stellar deal, helped along when my wife’s business got an AMEX 100k promo offer.
Apr 20, 2018, 1:30 pm
#306
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 488
Will ANA check my baggage through if I connect with JAL to BKK at NRT overnight (less than 24 hours)?
May 7, 2018, 8:37 pm
#307
Join Date: May 2017
Location: EYW
Posts: 11
Tried to book today for next spring, but the availability only goes out to April 3rd and we wanted to stay until at least the 9th or 10th. My concern was that the dates when we wanted to leave were mostly unavailable. If I were to book today with a return on April 3rd, would there be any issues changing the return next week when the next set of dates open up? I would want to keep our departure date, and have no problems paying the change fee if it means ensuring we get the dates we want. Just don't want to wait a week and then find out that there is no more availability when we want to leave.
May 8, 2018, 8:59 am
#308
Moderator: American AAdvantage & Marriott Bonvoy
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: PHX
Programs: American ExPlat; Marriott/SPG Lifetime Plat; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 8,116
Tried to book today for next spring, but the availability only goes out to April 3rd and we wanted to stay until at least the 9th or 10th. My concern was that the dates when we wanted to leave were mostly unavailable. If I were to book today with a return on April 3rd, would there be any issues changing the return next week when the next set of dates open up? I would want to keep our departure date, and have no problems paying the change fee if it means ensuring we get the dates we want. Just don't want to wait a week and then find out that there is no more availability when we want to leave.
FWIW also, I've found in this process that VX sees the same inventory as UA. So I searched for UA inventory on Award Nexus and it matched up perfectly with what a competent VX agent saw. I say that because I did encounter one agent who didn't see any seats that I did. When I told her that I was verifying availability on a partner site and that it always seemed to correlate she gave it another go and then saw the inventory, but I had to politely challenge her.
May 14, 2018, 1:47 pm
#309
Join Date: May 2017
Location: EYW
Posts: 11
Shouldn't be. I just did a similar booking. The return date I wanted was within the date range but not available so I booked the day earlier. A couple days later the date I wanted opened up. I called VX, they saw the seats, changed to the date I wanted and charged me $50 per ticket. It was simple.
FWIW also, I've found in this process that VX sees the same inventory as UA. So I searched for UA inventory on Award Nexus and it matched up perfectly with what a competent VX agent saw. I say that because I did encounter one agent who didn't see any seats that I did. When I told her that I was verifying availability on a partner site and that it always seemed to correlate she gave it another go and then saw the inventory, but I had to politely challenge her.
FWIW also, I've found in this process that VX sees the same inventory as UA. So I searched for UA inventory on Award Nexus and it matched up perfectly with what a competent VX agent saw. I say that because I did encounter one agent who didn't see any seats that I did. When I told her that I was verifying availability on a partner site and that it always seemed to correlate she gave it another go and then saw the inventory, but I had to politely challenge her.
May 14, 2018, 5:02 pm
#310
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 1
Just FYI, you can be quite creative with the route so long as you make a "return" booking.
I was able to do SFO-NRT, NRT-BKK, then NRT-SFO to return. I was charged 110k for (SFO<->NRT in first) and 32.5k for NRT-BKK one way in biz. The reps are very knowledgeable and friendly too.
I was able to do SFO-NRT, NRT-BKK, then NRT-SFO to return. I was charged 110k for (SFO<->NRT in first) and 32.5k for NRT-BKK one way in biz. The reps are very knowledgeable and friendly too.
May 21, 2018, 12:23 am
#311
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Hyatt Glb, MR Plat
Posts: 2,577
Any recent/updated DP's to this?
May 21, 2018, 2:35 am
#312
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,840
If I price out SFO-NRT-CTS (Sapporo) on NH F, would the miles price be the same as for SFO-NRT?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Jun 12, 2018, 12:38 am
#313
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: ATX
Posts: 6
Just booked IAH-NRT-IAH for Feb 2019. Transferred Citi points, which I think took about an hour or less to go through, and then called Virgin Flying Club late tonight. Pretty painless process. The CSR was very nice, and the whole thing went pretty quick. The flight posted to my account immediately, and I already chose seats thru my ANA account.
Thanks for all the info in this thread! This is my first complex mileage redemption and my first trip to Japan. I can’t believe I’ll be going there in such first class style.
Thanks for all the info in this thread! This is my first complex mileage redemption and my first trip to Japan. I can’t believe I’ll be going there in such first class style.
Jun 12, 2018, 8:07 am
#314
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: USA
Programs: AA Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 310
Just booked IAH-NRT-IAH for Feb 2019. Transferred Citi points, which I think took about an hour or less to go through, and then called Virgin Flying Club late tonight. Pretty painless process. The CSR was very nice, and the whole thing went pretty quick. The flight posted to my account immediately, and I already chose seats thru my ANA account.
Thanks for all the info in this thread! This is my first complex mileage redemption and my first trip to Japan. I can’t believe I’ll be going there in such first class style.
Thanks for all the info in this thread! This is my first complex mileage redemption and my first trip to Japan. I can’t believe I’ll be going there in such first class style.