Virgin Atlantic (VS) Flying Club points redemptions on ANA (NH) - Master thread
 

This is the second edition of a long running thread about redeeming Virgin Atlantic (VS) Flying Club points on ANA.

The very long original thread, which I closed on 9th September 2022 can be found here :- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virg...ub-points.html

It is generally recognised at the time of writing (September 2022), that ANA redemptions are no longer the absolute bargain that they once were. This is due to post-Covid uncertainty / cancellations, high fuel surcharges and in all honesty, the fact they the secret is out and lots of people are chasing the elusive reward seats.

Having said that, there redemptions, when available, still represent excellent value, and I don’t see the demand for them diminishing in the short-term.

As Moderator for the VS forum, I accept that a lot of people only visit this thread on the forum, and have absolutely no interest in flying on VS metal. For that reason, all discussion about ANA will be kept in this thread. If anyone has any insights, tips or best practice that they can share, please post then in this thread - even if they were repeated in the previous thread.

The previous thread contains lots of such tips, but given the pandemic and changes to travel patterns, a lot of them are out of date - hence this new thread, which I hope will grow over time.

I have closed the previous thread, so if anyone has any unanswered queries, please fell free to re-post them in this thread to help it grow.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck bagging the J and F points seats. Japan remains one of may favourite countries in the world, and I look forward to returning in the future.

Nick
Mod VS Forum

I just spoke to Virgins rep, I was quoted $400 USD in taxes , is this normal ? I just wasn't expecting taxes/surcharge to be so high. Does anyone know which first route tends to be cheaper than others?

This is now standard, unfortunately.

I secured a JFK-HND in F last year for $75 O/W, for travel this year. Unfortunately had to cancel this year.

That’s the new going rate. I believe they are increasing again October 1st. It’s a devalue by fuel surcharges and fees increasing. I’m jumping through hoops to get my visa for my October trip so I don’t have to rebook and pay $700 more for a round trip.

Good luck!
thank you both for responding .

I've been reading the posts from the previous thread to understand how booking for award points works. From what I seen on blogs about how to book, alot of them gloss over important details as if it's an easy book. They explain just a general guide but when I try to follow whatever small section they have to explaining how to find said award seats, I could never find any decent ones. They make sound too easy but never explain too much in finding said seat. Isn't that the hardest part? Pardon my ignorance but this is what I get on how to do it in a general sense

- You can search for the award flights via partner websites such as United, Air Canada and so forth. These were the ones I have been looking at.
- For the life of me cannot find any J class, let alone F for any non direct flights from LAX to TYO. I'm pretty sure this is a super in demand route so unless I book for a date way in advance, should I start looking at different airports?
- There is very limited availability on these seats and in all probability I won't be able to find something between now and Dec?
- I'm stuck with either a few UA flights but can't find any NH. Of course if you want to pay for a straight cash fare, those are plenty available.

Is there something I'm not understanding here or is this the gist of how you guys go about this?

NH223 mid February HND-FRA has just been downgauged from 777 to 789 :-(

I think your summary is pretty accurate. These seats were hard to come by pre-pandemic, but Covid has thrown a whole bunch of spanners into the works.

This is something I haven’t done, but was planning until Covid.

From reading the numerous posts in the previous threads, it seems to me that the two essentials are patience and flexibility with airports / dates.

The other maxim is to book as early as possible. It is clear VS point rememptions are pretty low down on the ANA pecking order and several other partners get a shot at them first.

At the moment there are lots of people trying to rebook cancelled flights, so this makes it even harder.

Best of luck and please report any success you have in this thread.

Nick

You have to book as far in advance as possible. I believe that is T-330 days with VS. Otherwise somebody else has snapped up the reward seats - this is simply too well known and popular now.

Also note that ANA Mileage Club members get an additional one month head start for booking. So you might NEVER see ANA award flights on Aeroplan, UA, etc. for the dates you want. And of course there is no guarantee that VS will see award space that you might have found elsewhere.

You also need to be willing to position yourself separately to any city in North America that ANA flies to...

I am seeing some award ticket availability on the LAX-HND route for next year; however, it still shows it as the old 789 configuration.
Do you think just booking the 'correct' route (NH105/106) that should be flying 77W and hope they update the schedules to 77W be a good bet?


Maybe a better question would be: How often did they use to fly 77W vs 789 on these routes?

First time trying to get a business / first class ticket through ANA via VS points. I'm on United and when selecting a date I see there are some business flights at 88k points, but it says they are 1-way and when selecting a return fair I have to pay for that in points as well. Was this always the case or just a recent change? If so, this method got a lot more expensive at 176k points for a business class ticket.

Have I seriously just seen taxes/surcharges on a o/w economy ticket from FRA-HND of €423.84? Absolutely criminal!

Ignore the pints cost UA are giving you - you’ll be charged in VS points, based on their award chart. Assuming you’re flying long haul, the cost in J will be approx 45k/47.5k one way. First would be 55k/60k o/w, depending on the routing.

The surcharges are currently disgusting - I don’t think oil prices have gone up x5 within the last 12 months.

Really need a crystal ball for this one tbh. Fra-Hnd was an original launch route and has dropped the 777 for a 789, so who knows.

One tiny saving grace I’ve just seen mentioned is that they’re seriously considering losing the majority of the rest of entry restrictions by end of October - so we might possibly see some normality return!!

Ah I see. Appreciate it tons!