CPH-Flyer

The redemptions for August 2020 was booked long ago when they were released. Your hope for that period is that NH will release additional seats, usually around 2 weeks before departure.

Ripper3785

Had an issue yesterday where two different VS agents could not see 2 seats of F availability that were showing on United. On United it did appear bookable(clicked through as far as I could). EF/NH websites both showed same availability. We called VS back about 10 hours later and they were able to see and book the seats.

frenchie2

ANA's new routes to Haneda from US airports became bookable on Jan 27. I saw award seats on United website and able to confirm them on Aeroplan website. Called VS to book but they told me they don't see the flights! How long will it take for ANA to see these new flights? Spoke to two agents on two different occasions and both told me the same.

dajoip

When making an ANA booking via VS, is it possible to add domestic connections (positioning in JFK/ORD from my home airport on the outbound, and then departing JFK/ORD to my home airport on the return)? Or does the entire booking have to begin/end in either JFK/ORD?

Also, is it too late to be trying to book JFK or ORD to Tokyo in Nov, 2020?

Thanks in advance!

nexusCFX

You can’t add positioning flights on another carrier.
They’re probably not sold out for every date but a lot of dates will be gone by now. For example I booked the 1 F seat released on NRT-SFO for a date end of Nov the day it became available to VS and I’m lucky nobody else had booked it in the 25 days it was released to other programs.

dajoip

Thank you! How far out are they usually released? Is there a schedule anywhere?

nexusCFX

ANA's calendar goes to about 355 days out. VS can only access them 330/331 days out so there's a period of about 25 days where other programs can book space and VS cannot.

If you need to try to find space for VS bookings, the UA website is a good search tool because they have a similar date limitation and a very good calendar view.

A cursory look says you're SOL for JFK which is not surprising. For ORD-TYO, there's F space all over the place in November along with some J, although for redeeming VS I would do F every time.

skelso

Hey all, I had the perfect itinerary booked but my inability to read screwed me. Looking for advice as I scramble to find a solution. For reference, this is all in early October and I'm based out of IAH. Going on vacation to Japan and a wedding in Mexico City. Looking for two seats.

Original trip was:

• IAH-HND (NH113) in F
• NRT-MEX (NH180) in J
• MEX-IAH (cash)

I now have an unavoidable conflict forcing me to start my trip in Mexico, then head to Japan, and then return to Houston. The new SFO-HND NH flight has opened up some additional NH F space so I'm probably going to lean on that.

My current itinerary:

• IAH-MEX (cash)
• MEX-NRT (NH179) in Y
• HND-SFO (NH108) in F
• SFO-IAH (TBD)

I have J MEX-NRT and J/F HND-IAH alerts set up on ExpertFlyer but from what I've read, ANA doesn't open up much last-minute award space.

Specific questions:

• MEX-NRT in Y isn't ideal. I can change this to SFO-HND F and reposition to SFO but it's going to add time and burn more cash/points. I guess I can hang out in the SFO Polaris lough. Is adding 9 hours of travel time (5 of that likely in AM Y) worth 11 hours of NH F? (Versus 14.5 hours of NH Y flying direct.)
• The HND-SFO arrival time (16:20) likely leaves me taking a red-eye back to Houston. Anyone have a better suggestion?

Open to any thoughts here.

Arbrctb

Hi,

I'm trying to book a seat on the new ANA route between ARN-HND - ExpertFlyer is showing availability but VS say they can't book yet.

Does anyone know anything about this route, and when/if these seats are likely to be bookable by VS?

Thanks!
Adrian

frenchie2

Did you actually have HND-SFO the NH108 booked?? I called VS a few times this week and all agent told me they do not have NH107 and NH108 available, no flights between SFO and Haneda on ANA. I was hoping to change my current ticket to those flights.

skelso

Yes! Per an /r/awardtravel thread, you might have to ask them to manually search for it. Otherwise HUCA.

frenchie2

I had the same problem for SFO-HND flight. Took the advice below and got it booked via SMS texting. Agent had no issue finding the seats that I wanted.

Thank you for the tip! I tried SMS booking and the agent was incredibly helpful and no issue at all. 30 minutes, 2 tickets changed. I am a happy camper.

What about LAX instead? Delta runs nonstop MEX-LAX, and ANA seems to have more award seats to LAX than SFO, including from NRT? if you get to LAX, both UA and AA have nonstop flight to IAH, vs in SFO only United runs nonstop to IAH. If you do stick with SFO, are there F seat on the NRT-SFO flight which arrives in the morning?

craigthemif

ExpertFlyer does not show you anything that you can act upon. ExpertFlyer can notify you to check the usual suspects - United, Aeroplan, etc. - to see whether partner airlines can see award space.

killzone5454

Hi everyone! Long time lurker and first time posting. I wanted to give another data point on F redemption on VS. I was successfully able to book NH107 and NH108 in November. Very easy and painless process booking through text. They found the flights no problem. Also wanted to confirm that VS views open jaws such as SFO-HND-SIN as one way segments and would not book a trip this way. One question I had was how long does the confirmation email take to arrive? Its been over 24 hours for me and I also don't see the booking on the website. Thanks!!

Arbrctb

I just managed to book ARN HND by SMS. Totally painless. Thank you for the tip!