After years of restricted tourism, Japan is anticipated to open to all vacationers on Oct 11, 2022. No quarantine or tour information required.
So, when you’ve been itching to get again to the nation, now’s time to start out planning your flights.
ANA enterprise class is without doubt one of the finest methods to journey between the U.S. and Asia. And though you’ll be able to fly round-trip in enterprise class to Asia for 75,000 ANA miles on off-peak dates, right now I’ll focus on a distinct candy spot.
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Right here, I’ll let you know how (and why) to redeem 45,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership factors to fly one-way between the U.S. west coast and Japan in ANA enterprise class.
Why it’s particular
This Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership candy spot is noteworthy for a number of causes. First off, right here’s Virgin Atlantic’s round-trip award chart for ANA-operated flights:
| Route (between Japan and this area) | Financial system | Enterprise | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 15,000 | N/A | N/A |
| South Korea | 18,000 | 35,000 | 50,000 |
| China, Guam, Hong Kong, Philippines and Taiwan | 23,000 | 45,000 | 60,000 |
| Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam | 40,000 | 65,000 | 80,000 |
| Hawaii, India and Indonesia | 45,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| Australia, Canada and Western U.S. | 60,000 | 90,000 | 110,000 |
| Europe, Mexico and Central and Jap U.S. | 65,000 | 95,000 | 120,000 |
Nevertheless, you’ll be able to e book one-way awards for half the factors required for a round-trip. So, you can fly enterprise class a technique and first-class the opposite — which is extraordinarily helpful since first-class award availability might be slim. You can additionally use a distinct program to e book your return and even proceed to a distinct vacation spot earlier than returning residence.
Second, you should utilize a Star Alliance companion’s web site to seek out award availability. My favourite is United MileagePlus on account of its calendar search perform.
Third, Virgin Atlantic prices a modest $50 charge if you could change or cancel your award. Simply you’ll want to cancel your award not less than 24 hours earlier than departure when you don’t plan to make use of it. Simply observe that ANA lately began including gas surcharges to award tickets, so you may pay between $350 and $400 for many award tickets. Name Virgin Atlantic or test the fare breakdown with the ITA Matrix to find out the taxes and costs for a selected award.
And at last, this candy spot is particular as a result of you’ll be able to convert a number of transferable rewards currencies into Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership factors. So, as I’ll focus on in a later part, it’s simple to accrue sufficient Virgin factors for this redemption.
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Routes
To get the award pricing mentioned above, you’ll must fly on a nonstop ANA-operated flight. In any case, Virgin Atlantic’s web site notes, “If a journey requires a connecting flight or stopover to achieve the vacation spot, factors are charged for every sector,” earlier than itemizing the award charges for reserving ANA flights with Virgin factors.
Listed below are the U.S. cities which have (or will quickly have) nonstop ANA-operated flights to and from main airports in Japan:
- Tokyo Haneda Worldwide Airport (HND): Chicago O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD), Honolulu Daniel Okay. Inouye Worldwide Airport (HNL), Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX), New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport, San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO), San Jose’s Norman Y. Mineta San Jose Worldwide Airport (SJC), Seattle Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) (ending March 26, 2023) and Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport (IAD).
- Tokyo Narita Worldwide Airport (NRT): Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, San Francisco, Seattle (beginning March 25, 2023) and Washington D.C.
Virgin doesn’t specify which U.S. airports are within the Western U.S. award pricing band. Nevertheless, because you’ll solely must redeem 2,500 extra Virgin factors every manner for Central and Jap U.S. airports, this received’t be a major stumbling block for many vacationers.
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Tips on how to e book this award
Sadly, you’ll be able to’t redeem Virgin factors to e book ANA-operated flights straight on Virgin Atlantic’s web site. As an alternative, you’ll must name to e book your award. However earlier than you name, I like to recommend utilizing one of many finest web sites for looking out Star Alliance award availability to make sure there’s availability in your most well-liked journey dates.
One web site you should utilize to seek for Star Alliance award availability is United MileagePlus. On this part, I’ll present you the way I’d seek for award availability for 2 from San Francisco to Tokyo subsequent August.
First, go to United’s web site and enter your required flight info. You should definitely test “E-book with miles” and “Versatile dates.” Moreover, choose the month you’d prefer to journey and choose enterprise class as your required class of service.
When you click on “Discover flights,” a field will load asking you to log in. Shut the field with out signing in, and you then’ll see a calendar of award availability on the subsequent web page. Click on the “Kind and filter” button and unselect the “combined cabins” and “1+ stops” containers.
Lastly, click on on any dates you’d wish to journey that present 70,000 or 88,000 level costs to view accessible flights.
Observe that ANA-operated flights typically price 88,000 miles with United MileagePlus. In the event you click on on a date that exhibits awards accessible for 70,000 miles, it’s possible you’ll not discover ANA-operated flights. In flip, you might need to dig to seek out flights you’ll be able to e book with Virgin factors.
If you click on on a date, scroll right down to test the flight particulars. Search for flights which might be operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) as these are bookable with Virgin factors.
As soon as you discover availability, you’ll be able to name Virgin Atlantic from the U.S. at 800-862-8621. The road is staffed from 2 a.m. to 7 p.m. Jap time, however wait occasions have been in depth lately. In the event you’re seeking to e book an award with restricted availability, understand that the supply could also be gone by the point you get via to an agent.
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Tips on how to earn factors for this award
You possibly can immediately switch rewards at a 1:1 ratio from American Categorical Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Final Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards to Virgin Atlantic. So, anticipate a Virgin Atlantic telephone consultant to verify award area after which switch factors from a number of of those packages to Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership. Because the switch ought to be immediate, you received’t must put your award on maintain or name again to e book.
In the event you’re seeking to earn rewards in one of many three transferable factors packages, think about the next playing cards and their present bonuses:
- The Platinum Card® from American Categorical: Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $6,000 on purchases in your new card in your first six months of card membership.
- American Categorical® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases in your new card in your first six months of card membership.
- Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases throughout the first three months from account opening.
- Capital One Enterprise Rewards Credit score Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases throughout the first three months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Most well-liked Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
- Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
It’s also possible to switch Marriott Bonvoy factors at a 3:1 ratio. Nevertheless, Marriott factors sometimes take lower than 48 hours to switch. So, particularly if award availability is proscribed, it’s finest to switch rewards from different packages.
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Backside line
ANA enterprise class is a superb product, particularly when you snag an plane that includes ANA’s The Room. And redeeming Virgin factors is a superb method to expertise ANA enterprise class for a modest quantity of factors. Plus, since you’ll be able to e book one-way awards for half the price of round-trip awards, you have got the pliability to strive a distinct airline — or ANA first-class — in your transpacific flight residence.
