ANA (NH) Redemptions using VS Flying Club points - thread locked Sept 2022
May 3, 2017, 5:47 pm
#106
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
I see NYC-NRT is talked about in past posts and know how many miles I need for that portion but I'm wondering how much more, if any, it would be to BKK or other locations in SE asia. Is there a mileage calculator somewhere where I can plug in the destination to see? Not sure if SE-Asia destinations will push me into the next level of the distance award chart.
May 4, 2017, 4:41 am
#107
Join Date: Apr 2016
Programs: NH, JL, SQ
Posts: 164
I see NYC-NRT is talked about in past posts and know how many miles I need for that portion but I'm wondering how much more, if any, it would be to BKK or other locations in SE asia. Is there a mileage calculator somewhere where I can plug in the destination to see? Not sure if SE-Asia destinations will push me into the next level of the distance award chart.
to estimate mileage, you can use gcmap
May 4, 2017, 11:45 pm
#108
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 10
Can anyone confirm if they've changed back to charging 1500 miles + taxes/fees for lap child? Or are they still charging 10% of the cash fare? (I've been waiting on the phone for 40+ minutes to speak to someone)
May 5, 2017, 12:14 am
#109
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 10
Update: Finally spoke to a rep, she tried to price the lap child ticket but she says the system wouldn't let her do that, and I'd need to go directly to ANA for that 
May 5, 2017, 7:10 am
#110
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,049
(I suspect they will say that the ticketing agent has to apply the lap child)
May 5, 2017, 7:14 am
#111
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
I sense the OP is likely to be caught in a Catch 22.
May 5, 2017, 8:53 am
#112
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 10
ANA says they kind of need the issuing airline to issue the lap child ticket, since the adult tickets are issues through them. Suggested I put the adult tickets on hold first (which I was planning to do anyways) in case VS can't add it.
Has the OP booked for the lap child?
Has the OP booked for the lap child?
May 6, 2017, 7:22 pm
#113
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 20
Booked 2 IAD-NRT RT in F next March. As others have mentioned, it's 120K and about $170 per in taxes and fees per.
I have been planning on this for about four months and took advantage of the Citi (25%) and Amex (30%) transfer bonuses. Was relieved that availability or award cost did not change since the Citi transfer in March. Was worried that it might given the publicity it's gotten recently from View from the Wing and others.
I have been planning on this for about four months and took advantage of the Citi (25%) and Amex (30%) transfer bonuses. Was relieved that availability or award cost did not change since the Citi transfer in March. Was worried that it might given the publicity it's gotten recently from View from the Wing and others.
May 7, 2017, 3:48 am
#114
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,049
Ultimately I believe it's going to require a Flying Club agent being proactive and talking directly to ANA to sort it out.
But lap infants is an area where airlines alliances and partnerships really aren't designed to cater for...
May 7, 2017, 9:47 am
#115
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Sunny AZ
Programs: HH Diamond, Sixt Platinum, IHG Spire Ambassador, Marriott/SPG Gold .....
Posts: 3,214
Just got off the phone. The hold was maybe 5 minutes and I got a competent agent on the line.
Checked on UA for ANA saver first space and found some for March/April 2018 JFK-HND. Gave the agent the date/times/.... He put me on hold for a couple of minutes and said that they were able to get the tickets .... some details (name of passengers/ dob) and 240k points and $354 (or thereabout didn't pay much attention how much exactly) I got 2 tickets in ANA First. He gave me the VS booing confirmation and the ANA one. Went online and could chose seats on ANA before the booking appeared on the VS website.
Was as smooth as it can be.
Checked on UA for ANA saver first space and found some for March/April 2018 JFK-HND. Gave the agent the date/times/.... He put me on hold for a couple of minutes and said that they were able to get the tickets .... some details (name of passengers/ dob) and 240k points and $354 (or thereabout didn't pay much attention how much exactly) I got 2 tickets in ANA First. He gave me the VS booing confirmation and the ANA one. Went online and could chose seats on ANA before the booking appeared on the VS website.
Was as smooth as it can be.
May 9, 2017, 2:24 pm
#116
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 6
*Booking ANA (all nippon airways) award tickets via Virgin Atlantic rewards -> american express membership rewards transfer parter->
Please for give me for the title, but it serves to provide a keyword so others may find this post some how in the future.
My experience:
I had up to 150K MR to burn and of course i wanted to maximize my redemption value, so I sat down for 4 days straight full time researching and searching and testing routings. ITA matrix, United and aeroplan websites to search for availability.
It really could not be more easy or straight forward to get these bookings does safely and not risking your precious points or miles and as long as there is availability to get the award.
its not an intuitive process and we would all love for it to be a point and click process all via thier website.... but it isnt.. so you just suck it up and call and make sure you have your sh*t straight before your call, know the redemption, the route and airport codes, and airline and class. pretty straight forward. give all the details and what you want to the VA agent over the phone, and in my experience you wait a little while before they pickup and most are totally competent and even quick when you tell them exactly and in detail what you want. and if they are ahhhhh and uhhhmmmm slow and not competent you just coach them through.
How i did it:
-researched and found the awesome award value of MR->VA->ANA F class.
-found wide open availability (for my dates) from ORD-NRT
(pro tip, google ANA destination airports and pull up their Wikipedia page, and search from each of them JFK,ORD,IAD,SFO,LAX etc... until you get a hit.
Found out exactly what my trip would cost me. in my case i needed to connect from NRT to CAN and they DO NOT allowed connections within the same booking even for an increase in miles. but THEY DO allow you to just place another request for the connection in the difference of points, so I did two seperate award bookings one ORD-NRT F and one NRT-CAN Y
I knew what they would cost and I new the fees, so I requested that both of these be HELD for 24 hours. at which point I received a confirmation on my VA flying club account online. I hopped over to amex and transferred hte necessary points at a 30% bonus and then logged in to VA to realized they transferred INSTANTLY, I then immediately called VA and gave them my confirmation numbers for each booking and provided my CC details for the fees. my flying club account balance back to zero.
Later I recieved confirmation and Eticket numbers emailed to me and I was able to use these to search for my reservation on the ANA website. really nice and a brief process. the biggest thing is do your homework, research and be ready and pay attention and you can do it.
for those with horror stories about not getting a boarding pass or not being allowed to fly F on carriers like Air China. Unfortunately my guess is that it was their fault not VA or the carrier.
Again you need to pay attention, look at the carrier and VA for info, expect to check in with your award carrier, confirm online and over the phone well in advanced on all sides, be sure you can use your eticket number issued from VA to call up a record on the carriers website and that it shows flight numbers customer information and booking class. Dont just expect to be able to walk up to the gate agent with a printed email with a confirmation number on it with your miles and fees.
Again smooth as it can be.
Please for give me for the title, but it serves to provide a keyword so others may find this post some how in the future.
My experience:
I had up to 150K MR to burn and of course i wanted to maximize my redemption value, so I sat down for 4 days straight full time researching and searching and testing routings. ITA matrix, United and aeroplan websites to search for availability.
It really could not be more easy or straight forward to get these bookings does safely and not risking your precious points or miles and as long as there is availability to get the award.
its not an intuitive process and we would all love for it to be a point and click process all via thier website.... but it isnt.. so you just suck it up and call and make sure you have your sh*t straight before your call, know the redemption, the route and airport codes, and airline and class. pretty straight forward. give all the details and what you want to the VA agent over the phone, and in my experience you wait a little while before they pickup and most are totally competent and even quick when you tell them exactly and in detail what you want. and if they are ahhhhh and uhhhmmmm slow and not competent you just coach them through.
How i did it:
-researched and found the awesome award value of MR->VA->ANA F class.
-found wide open availability (for my dates) from ORD-NRT
(pro tip, google ANA destination airports and pull up their Wikipedia page, and search from each of them JFK,ORD,IAD,SFO,LAX etc... until you get a hit.
Found out exactly what my trip would cost me. in my case i needed to connect from NRT to CAN and they DO NOT allowed connections within the same booking even for an increase in miles. but THEY DO allow you to just place another request for the connection in the difference of points, so I did two seperate award bookings one ORD-NRT F and one NRT-CAN Y
I knew what they would cost and I new the fees, so I requested that both of these be HELD for 24 hours. at which point I received a confirmation on my VA flying club account online. I hopped over to amex and transferred hte necessary points at a 30% bonus and then logged in to VA to realized they transferred INSTANTLY, I then immediately called VA and gave them my confirmation numbers for each booking and provided my CC details for the fees. my flying club account balance back to zero.
Later I recieved confirmation and Eticket numbers emailed to me and I was able to use these to search for my reservation on the ANA website. really nice and a brief process. the biggest thing is do your homework, research and be ready and pay attention and you can do it.
for those with horror stories about not getting a boarding pass or not being allowed to fly F on carriers like Air China. Unfortunately my guess is that it was their fault not VA or the carrier.
Again you need to pay attention, look at the carrier and VA for info, expect to check in with your award carrier, confirm online and over the phone well in advanced on all sides, be sure you can use your eticket number issued from VA to call up a record on the carriers website and that it shows flight numbers customer information and booking class. Dont just expect to be able to walk up to the gate agent with a printed email with a confirmation number on it with your miles and fees.
Again smooth as it can be.
May 9, 2017, 9:59 pm
#117
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP 1MM; DL Gold; UA 2P
Posts: 209
separate award pricing with a connection?
in my case i needed to connect from NRT to CAN and they DO NOT allowed connections within the same booking even for an increase in miles. but THEY DO allow you to just place another request for the connection in the difference of points, so I did two seperate award bookings one ORD-NRT F and one NRT-CAN Y
Either way, it has been my experience that I HAVE been able to put on hold an ANA award ticket that included a connection, specifically SFO-NRT; SIN-NRT-SFO (i.e., an open-jaw, but in full disclosure I have not ticketed it yet). What I found, peculiar (and I swear inconsistent with what I was quoted by a previous agent last week), is how such an itinerary should be priced. Specifically, I've been told by two separate agents that it should be priced as:
110K miles, broken down as:
SFO-NRT-SFO in J for 90K miles, plus
SIN-NRT in Y for 20K miles (1/2 the cost of what would be a standalone NRT-SIN-NRT in Y, assuming the unofficial ANA award charts for VS I've seen online).
(the SIN-NRT segment was not available in J, but was available in Y)
I had expected this could be booked as a J award for 95K award miles, as the total segment mileage of SFO-NRT; SIN-NRT-SFO falls just below 14K miles. In a long conversation with an agent who seemed rather informed, he said that the mileage costs for ANA involving a connection like this are always separately priced. Is that others' experience? Or might this be some odd pricing oddity because the orphan SIN-NRT segment was booked in Y?
Last edited by Bill_Luv2Fly; May 9, 2017 at 11:29 pm
May 10, 2017, 12:19 am
#118
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP 1MM; DL Gold; UA 2P
Posts: 209
Post #409 offers what seems to be the authoritative answer on the current limitations on ANA awards booked through VS.
I also realized that post #476 illustrates an example with pricing that seems consistent with my experience (each leg priced separately):
SFO-NRT; ORD-SFO is priced at 92,500 in J, which is 1/2 of a 90K J rt (award price for SFO-NRT-SFO), and 1/2 of a 95K J rt (award price for ORD-NRT-ORD).
May 10, 2017, 4:35 pm
#119
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 794
Not exactly sure what you mean they allow a second request "in the difference of points". Of course they would always let you book another distinct award, but I presume you mean something different...
Either way, it has been my experience that I HAVE been able to put on hold an ANA award ticket that included a connection, specifically SFO-NRT; SIN-NRT-SFO (i.e., an open-jaw, but in full disclosure I have not ticketed it yet). What I found, peculiar (and I swear inconsistent with what I was quoted by a previous agent last week), is how such an itinerary should be priced. Specifically, I've been told by two separate agents that it should be priced as:
110K miles, broken down as:
SFO-NRT-SFO in J for 90K miles, plus
SIN-NRT in Y for 20K miles (1/2 the cost of what would be a standalone NRT-SIN-NRT in Y, assuming the unofficial ANA award charts for VS I've seen online).
(the SIN-NRT segment was not available in J, but was available in Y)
I had expected this could be booked as a J award for 95K award miles, as the total segment mileage of SFO-NRT; SIN-NRT-SFO falls just below 14K miles. In a long conversation with an agent who seemed rather informed, he said that the mileage costs for ANA involving a connection like this are always separately priced. Is that others' experience? Or might this be some odd pricing oddity because the orphan SIN-NRT segment was booked in Y?
Either way, it has been my experience that I HAVE been able to put on hold an ANA award ticket that included a connection, specifically SFO-NRT; SIN-NRT-SFO (i.e., an open-jaw, but in full disclosure I have not ticketed it yet). What I found, peculiar (and I swear inconsistent with what I was quoted by a previous agent last week), is how such an itinerary should be priced. Specifically, I've been told by two separate agents that it should be priced as:
110K miles, broken down as:
SFO-NRT-SFO in J for 90K miles, plus
SIN-NRT in Y for 20K miles (1/2 the cost of what would be a standalone NRT-SIN-NRT in Y, assuming the unofficial ANA award charts for VS I've seen online).
(the SIN-NRT segment was not available in J, but was available in Y)
I had expected this could be booked as a J award for 95K award miles, as the total segment mileage of SFO-NRT; SIN-NRT-SFO falls just below 14K miles. In a long conversation with an agent who seemed rather informed, he said that the mileage costs for ANA involving a connection like this are always separately priced. Is that others' experience? Or might this be some odd pricing oddity because the orphan SIN-NRT segment was booked in Y?
Same experience here. Tried to make reservation for
SFO - NRT - BKK - NRT - SFO
they will price SFO - NRT -SFO as one award in F
and NRT-BKK-NRT as another award in J.
Talked to several CSR and they all came back with the same answer.
May 11, 2017, 9:14 am
#120
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 6
Seems like I found the answers to my questions.
Post #409 offers what seems to be the authoritative answer on the current limitations on ANA awards booked through VS.
I also realized that post #476 illustrates an example with pricing that seems consistent with my experience (each leg priced separately):
SFO-NRT; ORD-SFO is priced at 92,500 in J, which is 1/2 of a 90K J rt (award price for SFO-NRT-SFO), and 1/2 of a 95K J rt (award price for ORD-NRT-ORD).
Post #409 offers what seems to be the authoritative answer on the current limitations on ANA awards booked through VS.
I also realized that post #476 illustrates an example with pricing that seems consistent with my experience (each leg priced separately):
SFO-NRT; ORD-SFO is priced at 92,500 in J, which is 1/2 of a 90K J rt (award price for SFO-NRT-SFO), and 1/2 of a 95K J rt (award price for ORD-NRT-ORD).
Sorry that was poorly written. I just meant to say exactly as we all seem to agree. connections are allowed but they are made on a separate request or booking. If you play it right it would seem depending on the connection and distance they fall within the unpublished award calendar as well which is great. and in my opinion for the value the fees and fuel surcharges are nearly negligible. and as some have mentioned they were able ot get an extra hop or connection within the same booking with each leg in a different class more power to you, but if the CS agent gives me trouble and i've already waited on them to pickup for 25 minutes im not exactly going to try and coach them through if i still get my high value reward booked.