Maximize Amex transfer bonus for incredible business and first-class redemptions to Japan
American Express Membership Rewards started December off right by bringing back one of our favorite promotions: a targeted 30% transfer bonus when transferring points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. If you don't know better, that news by itself might elicit a yawn. But, if you're interested in flying to Japan in style, you're going to want to read on.
There are excellent Flying Club redemptions on Virgin Atlantic's Japan-based partner ANA. A first-class round-trip award ticket from the U.S. to Japan starts at just 90,000 Flying Club miles from Honolulu (HNL) — which features ANA's new A380 — or 110,000 miles from the contiguous U.S. United charges 110,000 miles for a first-class one-way award from the U.S. to Japan, so you're getting a round-trip for around the price other programs charge for just half the trip.
For more TPG news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Flying Club used to hide this ANA redemption chart, but now you can confirm these rates right on the Flying Club website:
While these would be decent one-way prices, it's important to remember that the prices listed on this chart are for round-trip awards on ANA. You can book one-way tickets for half the cost.
This chart and its footnotes don't designate what's Western U.S. versus Central/Eastern U.S. However, based on what we've been able to confirm with Flying Club, the regions basically break down into distance bands calculated by round-trip mileage. Here are how the regions correlate by distance for the different tiers:
| Total round-trip mileage | Economy | Business class | First class |
|---|---|---|---|
7,000-9,000 miles (Hawaii) | 45,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
9,000-11,000 miles (Western U.S.) | 60,000 | 90,000 | 110,000 |
11,000-14,000 miles (Central/Eastern U.S.) | 65,000 | 95,000 | 120,000 |
But wait, there's more. The good news doesn't end with these incredible rates.
Related: Using Virgin Atlantic miles for mini round-the-world trips with ANA
How to hold award space before you transfer points
If you don't have enough miles yet and/or if you want to make sure that there's award availability before transferring your miles, Flying Club allows you to put ANA awards on hold. When I called in May 2019, I was able to get a 72-hour hold for an ANA award. However, a 24-hour hold is much more commonplace.
Either way, this should be plenty of time to transfer your American Express Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club. In TPG testing, points transferred between these programs immediately, so you don't have to speculatively transfer points to Virgin Atlantic and hope award availability opens up for the dates you want.
Related: Choosing the best Amex credit card for you
Reasonable taxes and fees on ANA awards
Usually when award redemption levels are low, carrier surcharges are high. That's especially true on Virgin Atlantic's own award chart. Unfortunately, Flying Club passes along ANA's carrier-imposed surcharges. So, awards aren't as cheap out of pocket as they would be if you booked the award through United or LifeMiles — both of which charge under $60 out of pocket round-trip.
However, taxes and fees are still reasonable when booking through Flying Club. I priced out two awards with a Flying Club agent for April/May 2020. Both a business-class flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) and a first-class flight from Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Tokyo-Haneda cost $266.85 in taxes and fees. Interestingly, I was given the option to pay 182.40 pounds sterling ($240) round-trip in taxes and fees. So, you might want to grab a no-foreign-transaction fee credit card and purchase with pounds instead.
RELATED: Best credit cards with no foreign transaction fees
Related: TPG Points Lab: Save miles booking Delta awards with Virgin Atlantic
Routes, pricing and aircraft types
The most relevant award redemptions for U.S.-based travelers are going to be on ANA's transpacific flights from its nine U.S. gateways to ANA's hubs in Tokyo (NRT/HND). Without paying for a connection, you're currently limited to the following routes:
- Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 777
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 777
- Houston (IAH) to
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 777-300ER through March 28, 2020
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 777-300ER starting March 29, 2020
- Honolulu (HNL) to
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 787
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — 2x daily, a mixture of Boeing 777-300ER and A380
- Los Angeles (LAX) to
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 777-300ER, increasing to 2x on March 29, 2020
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — 2x daily using a Boeing 777-300ER, decreasing to 1x on March 29, 2020
- New York-JFK to
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 777
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 777
- San Francisco (SFO) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 777
- San Jose (SJC) to
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 787-8 through March 28, 2020
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 787-8 starting March 29, 2020
- Seattle (SEA) to
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 787-8 through March 28, 2020
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 787-8 starting March 29, 2020
- Washington-Dulles (IAD) to
- Tokyo-Narita (NRT) — daily using a Boeing 777-300ER through March 28, 2020
- Tokyo-Haneda (HND) — daily using a Boeing 777-300ER starting March 29, 2020
Here's how much each round-trip option will cost, both in Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles and Membership Rewards utilizing the targeted 30% transfer bonus. (Membership Rewards amounts are rounded up to the next 1,000 as transfers must be in 1,000-point increments.)
| Round-trip to/from Tokyo (NRT/HND) | Economy | Business class | First class | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
From | Virgin Atlantic miles | Amex Membership Rewards points | Virgin Atlantic miles | Amex Membership Rewards points | Virgin Atlantic miles | Amex Membership Rewards points |
Honolulu (HNL) | 45,000 | 35,000 | 70,000 | 54,000 | 90,000 | 70,000 |
Seattle (SEA) | 60,000 | 47,000 | 90,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 | 85,000 |
San Francisco (SFO) | 60,000 | 47,000 | 90,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 | 85,000 |
San Jose (SJC) | 60,000 | 47,000 | 90,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 | 85,000 |
Los Angeles (LAX) | 60,000 | 47,000 | 90,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 | 85,000 |
Chicago (ORD) | 65,000 | 50,000 | 95,000 | 74,000 | 120,000 | 93,000 |
Houston (IAH) | 65,000 | 50,000 | 95,000 | 74,000 | 120,000 | 93,000 |
New York Kennedy (JFK) | 65,000 | 50,000 | 95,000 | 74,000 | 120,000 | 93,000 |
Washington Dulles (IAD) | 65,000 | 50,000 | 95,000 | 74,000 | 120,000 | 93,000 |
In case it needs emphasizing, this is simply incredible — particularly for business and first-class flights. Flights from the East Coast (like JFK and IAD) take around 14 hours outbound to Japan and 13 hours on the return. So, you can get around 27 hours of ANA's exceptional first-class product for just 93,000 Membership Rewards points. Mind you, it would cost 150,000 Membership Rewards if you were to transfer points directly to ANA to book these flights. Booking the same flights with United MileagePlus miles would set you back 220,000 miles.
Related: The ultimate guide to ANA first class
Searching for award availability
Next, you need to find award availability. Unfortunately, you can't book these awards through the Virgin Atlantic website, and you can't check availability on Virgin Atlantic's website either. But there are a few ways to search for ANA award availability: United's website, ExpertFlyer, ANA's website [membership required] or Aeroplan's website.
While the United website's nonstop search option is helpful, United also operates some flights on this route itself — leading to false positives on the calendar. ExpertFlyer's search function can take a bit to complete an ANA's availability search — especially when searching +/- three days — but at least you can see for certain whether or not ANA has availability on a particular flight.
Related: The beginner's guide to ExpertFlyer
Searching for awards on ANA's website itself requires an ANA Mileage Club account. While you can search seven days of availability at a time, "Seats available" might indicate that there's United award availability instead of ANA availability. Similarly, Aeroplan requires you to log in to your account — it provides flexible date searching but has false positives from United availability as well.
Related: Book this, not that: Star Alliance award tickets
Bottom line
Utilizing this targeted American Express Membership Rewards transfer bonus can yield excellent redemptions for premium-cabin flights from the U.S. to Tokyo. However, you're going to have to start at one of ANA's gateways and do some digging to find award availability. Still, it's definitely worth the time and effort to get a great deal on a great product.
TPG featured card
at American Express's secure site
Terms & restrictions apply. See rates & fees.
| 4X | Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year. |
| 4X | Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year. |
| 5X | New! Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App. |
| 3X | Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App, or purchased directly from airlines. |
| 2X | Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid car rentals booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com. |
| 1X | Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases. |
Pros
- Valuable dining and food-related credits
- Flexible rewards with airline and hotel transfer partners
- Multiple travel and purchase protections
- No foreign transaction fees
- Access to Amex Offers for additional savings (enrollment required)
Cons
- Not as useful for those living outside the U.S.
- Some may have trouble using Uber and other dining credits
- You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- New! Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App.
- Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App, or purchased directly from airlines.
- Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid car rentals booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App and cruises booked and paid through AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
- Pay It® lets you tap in the American Express® App to quickly pay for small purchase amounts throughout the month and still earn rewards the way you usually do. Plan It® gives you the option to split up big purchases into equal monthly payments with a fixed fee. You’ll know upfront exactly how much you’ll pay.
- Updated! $120 Dining Credit: Earn up to a total of $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the Gold Card at Grubhub (including Seamless), Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, The Cheesecake Factory, and Wonder. This can be an annual savings of up to $120. Enrollment required.
- $100 Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year at over 10,000 qualifying U.S. Resy restaurants after you pay for eligible purchases with the American Express® Gold Card. That’s up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
- $84 Dunkin' Credit: Earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you pay with the American Express® Gold Card at U.S. Dunkin’ locations. Enrollment required.
- $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Enjoy up to $120 in Uber Cash annually with your Gold Card. Just add your Card to your Uber account and you'll get $10 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the U.S. when you select an Amex Card for your transaction.
- New! As an American Express® Gold Card Member, you can enjoy complimentary Hertz Five Star® Status. Enjoy benefits like skipping the counter at select locations, adding an additional driver at no additional cost*, and vehicle upgrades**. Benefit enrollment and Hertz Gold+ registration are required. *Additional drivers must meet standard rental qualifications and must be a spouse or domestic partner to qualify as complimentary. Other additional drivers subject to fees. **Benefits are subject to availability and vary by location. Additional Hertz program Terms and Conditions including age restrictions apply.
- Take advantage of a $100 credit towards eligible charges* at over 1,300 upscale hotels worldwide when you book The Hotel Collection through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App **. *Eligible charges vary by property. **The Hotel Collection requires a two-night minimum stay.
- Book your travel through the Amex Travel App with added peace of mind – backed by American Express® service and support. Only for American Express® Card Members.
- Whenever you need us, we're here. Our Member Services team will ensure you are taken care of. From lost Card replacement to statement questions, we are available to help 24/7.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees.
- Annual Fee is $325.
- Terms Apply.