ANA is an incredible Japanese airline with great first class suites that have very comfortable beds and amazing service. I reviewed them here towards the end of the 4th part of my Island Hopper adventure.
They’re rolling out new first class suites and business class suites that look amazing! You can find them on routes like NYC and London to Tokyo.
New ANA First, with a 43″ 4K LED, a door for privacy, windows, and more:
The middle seats have a partition for privacy that goes up and down so that companions can talk to each other:
New ANA business:
Business class is staggered with forward and rear facing seats that also have privacy doors and middle partitions and go up and down:
The best way to book ANA awards is with Virgin Atlantic miles.
You only need 110K miles to fly in first class round-trip from the west coast to Japan or 120K miles to fly round-trip from the east coast to Japan.
Virgin Atlantic does pass along fuel surcharges, which has added a few hundred dollars onto the cost of an award in the past.
However ANA has now removed their fuel surcharges on flights to or from Japan! That will make this bargain of an award redemption even better as you can now book ANA awards with Virgin Atlantic miles without paying hundreds of dollars in fuel surcharges.
Using 120K miles for a first class award that costs $25,000, makes for a redemption worth more than 20 cents per mile!
Here is the Virgin Atlantic award chart for travel on ANA:
Unfortunately, you do need to call Virgin Atlantic to book travel on ANA at 800-365-9500. You can search for ANA award space on United.com.
Round-trip travel is required on ANA awards.
You can fly in ANA first class to Tokyo/Narita from Chicago, Honolulu, JFK, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.
You can fly in ANA first class to Tokyo/Haneda from Chicago, Houston, JFK, or Los Angeles, or Washington DC.
You can also fly ANA business class from Honolulu, San Jose, Seattle, or Vancouver to Tokyo/Haneda.
United now charges a whopping 242K miles to fly round-trip from the US to Japan in ANA first class, but you can call Virgin Atlantic to book travel for just 110-120K miles!
Search for first class saver awards on United.com and then call Virgin Atlantic to book:
You can transfer points from AMEX, Chase, or Citi instantly at a 1:1 ratio to Virgin Atlantic, or from Marriott to Virgin Atlantic at a 60:25 ratio, and you can hold awards over the phone.
The only question is, how long can this deal last? Have you taken advantage of ANA awards with Virgin Atlantic miles?
Leave a Reply
26 Comments On "ANA’s Removal Of Fuel Surcharges Makes One Of Today’s Greatest Mileage Bargains Even Better!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Thank you Dan. Was wondering if this move is temporary related to covid19 travel restart?
Likely due to the cost of fuel now.
Has anyone ever found more than 1 premium seat on partners?
It comes and goes between feast and famine. Just need to keep watching it.
A friend and I flew the new F using virgin miles in January 2020. Heck of a deal for an awesome product!
Did ANA also remove fuel surcharges when booking with ANA miles?
What about on partner airlines?
Yes, this will apply for any program on ANA flights that begin or end in Japan.
Dan, for the sake of saving myself a 5-hour wait over the phone with Virgin Atlantic, would you know if they would refund me the fuel surcharges I paid when I booked two NYC-TYO First Class flights for next March? I booked it in April
I called Virgin Atlantic this morning to confirm no fuel surcharges. Hold time was 20 minutes.
Certainly worth calling and asking. Let us know!
20 minutes?! What is this wizardry. I’ll call tomorrow and report!
its upsetting that the emirates miles are more one way then round trip, and that ana foces you to book round trip. is there a way to have some sort of disscussion as to which european countries will be open to american citizens this summer?
does anyone know how much fuel Surcharges ANA charges for using ANA miles to book Virgin Atlantic flights (NYC-TLV)?
I tried searching it online and I didn’t find any recent information, ANA customer service couldn’t help as well, they said that I need the 104k miles in the account in order to request the ticket from virgin and then they will see.
It was $174 for any roundtrip to Japan from the US. But that is now gone.
is this for NYC-TLV?
Hibiki discontinued
Does anyone know if flight dates can be changed? This is beyond a great deal and would love to take advantage of booking it but don’t know dates yet. Also, how is inventory thru VA? If i transfer the points from credit cards and then cant find a pair of seats, i dont really want to have the points on Virgin America.
not sure if anything changed but you can call to ask but in the past they held the reservation for a few days so you can get your miles into the account. I think it costs about $50 to make changes. The bigger problem is that not so easy to find dates in premium class. Sometimes they open up as you get very close but hard to plan a trip that way. If you are going from the east coast you might want to be flexible and go from DC or Chicago even if have to add on another ticket to get there.
Call before before transfering any points. Most points transfer instantly and Virgin will wait on the line while you do it. The best availability is 331 days out. But you have to call 331 days from your return date. I just did it 3 weeks ago. IAH and ORD are the best chances for premium seats. Business class is much easier to obtain, since ANA is only releasing 1 F seat at 331 days. But if you grab 1 F seat, you can call back 2-3 weeks prior to departure, and possibly grab another F seat as that is when ANA releases more inventory. Who knows how much longer this bargain will last? We have 1 F and 1 J seat out and 2 J seats for the return. It was 107,500 Virgin miles which is still an increible deal.
How about Thailand? Will this take me all the way to Thailand through Haneda from Washington DC, or will I need to book a separate segment?
Thank you!
2 separate awards.
Are you able to add a stopover?
No, but you can book 2 separate awards.
I noticed back in april that when using ana miles to book with their partner to fly on united airlines from the usa to tel aviv that started charging a new fuel surchage of $37.80 on top of the reg. tax of aprox. $49.70 that most star alliance charge like singapore, lifemiles, aeroplan, aegean.Details on Taxes/Fees/Charges/Airline Charges DEPARTURE PASSENGER AIRPORT TAX USD 27.26
September 11th Security Fee USD 5.60
ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE USER FEE USD 3.96
IMMIGRATION USER FEE USD 7.00
CUSTOMS USER FEE USD 5.89
FUEL SURCHARGE USD 37.80
If booking with Virgin Atlantic points Is it possible to add lap infant with points or would you have to pay 10% standard price?
what i do know is that they only charge 1000 miles for an infant + 40,000 for the adult when i booked a 1 way JFK to TLV on their partner Delta Airlines.
Does VS allow mixed carrier awards?