Sweet Spot Sunday: West Coast to Japan in ANA business class for 45,000 points one-way
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Japan still isn’t open to U.S. tourists. But, the country will presumably reopen to U.S. tourists without quarantine eventually. So you may be interested in speculatively booking a 2022 trip to Japan now. Or you may be looking into the best rewards to earn now if you plan to book a trip in a few months.
In either case, ANA business class is an excellent way to travel between the U.S. and Japan. And although you can fly round-trip in business class to Asia for 75,000 ANA miles on off-peak dates, today I’ll discuss a different sweet spot. In particular, I’ll tell you how (and why) to redeem 45,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points to fly one-way between the U.S. West Coast and Japan in ANA business class.
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Why it’s special
This Virgin Atlantic Flying Club sweet spot is noteworthy for several reasons. First off, here’s Virgin Atlantic’s round-trip award chart for ANA-operated flights:
| Route (between Japan and this region) | Economy | Business | 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 Eastern U.S. | 65,000 | 95,000 | 120,000 |
However, you can book one-way awards for half the points required for a round-trip. So, you could fly business class one way and first class the other — which is extremely useful since first-class award availability can be slim. You could also use a different program to book your return or even continue to a different destination before returning home.
Second, you can use a Star Alliance partner’s website to find award availability. My favorite is United MileagePlus due to its calendar search function.
Third, Virgin Atlantic charges a modest $50 fee if you need to change or cancel your award. Just be sure to cancel your award at least 24 hours before departure if you don’t plan to use it. Additionally, most transpacific ANA flights carry reasonable taxes and fees. Call Virgin Atlantic or check the fare breakdown with the ITA Matrix to determine the taxes and fees for a specific award.
And finally, this sweet spot is special because you can convert multiple transferable rewards currencies into Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. So, as I’ll discuss in a later section, it’s easy to accrue enough Virgin points for this redemption.
Related: The 5 best business-class seats for traveling solo
Routes
To get the award pricing discussed above, you’ll need to fly on a nonstop ANA-operated flight. After all, Virgin Atlantic’s website notes, “If a journey requires a connecting flight or stopover to reach the destination, points are charged for each sector,” before listing the award rates for booking ANA flights with Virgin points.
Here are the U.S. cities that have (or will soon have) nonstop ANA-operated flights to and from major airports in Japan:
- Tokyo Haneda (HND): Chicago (ORD), Honolulu (HNL), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), New York-JFK, San Francisco (SFO), San Jose, California (SJC), Seattle and Washington, D.C. (IAD).
- Tokyo Narita (NRT): Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, San Francisco and Washington.
- Osaka (KIX): Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Virgin doesn’t specify which U.S. airports are in the Western U.S. award pricing band. However, since you’ll only need to redeem 2,500 additional Virgin points each way for Central and Eastern U.S. airports, this won’t be a significant stumbling block for most travelers.
Related: The best ways to travel to Japan with points and miles
How to book this award
Unfortunately, you can’t redeem Virgin points to book ANA-operated flights directly on Virgin Atlantic’s website. Instead, you’ll need to call to book your award. But before you call, I recommend using one of the best websites for searching Star Alliance award availability to ensure there’s availability on your preferred travel dates.
One website you can use to search for Star Alliance award availability is United MileagePlus. In this section, I’ll show you how I’d search for award availability for two from Seattle to Tokyo next August. First, go to United’s website and enter your desired flight information. Be sure to check “Book with miles” and “Flexible dates.”
Once you click “Find flights,” a box will load asking you to log in. Close the box without signing in, and then you’ll see a calendar of award availability on the next page. Check the “Show only nonstop flight availability” box and then click on any dates you’d want to travel that show the dots for “Saver Award premium cabin” availability.
When you click on a date, scroll down to check the flight details. As you can see, there are two business-class saver seats available on an ANA-operated flight on Aug. 7, 2022, from Seattle to Tokyo Haneda.
Once you find availability, you can call Virgin Atlantic from the U.S. at 800-862-8621. The line is staffed from 2 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time, but wait times have been around two hours recently. So, if you’re looking to book an award with limited availability — perhaps because you received an ExpertFlyer award availability alert — realize that the availability may be gone by the time you get through to an agent (ExpertFlyer is owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures).
Related: How to book a $20,000 ANA first-class ticket for just $34
How to earn points for this award
One reason award travelers love Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is because it’s easy to earn Virgin points. One way to earn Virgin points is the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard®, which currently offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 bonus Virgin points after spending $2,000 or more on purchases in the first 90 days of account opening. Plus, you’ll earn 3x points on Virgin Atlantic purchases and 1.5x points on all other purchases.
The information for the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
You can also instantly transfer rewards at a 1:1 ratio from American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. So, wait for a Virgin Atlantic phone representative to confirm award space and then transfer points from one or more of these programs to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Since the transfer should be instant, you won’t need to put your award on hold or call back to book.
If you’re looking to earn rewards in one of the three transferable points programs, consider the following cards and their current bonuses:
- The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership. Plus, earn 10x points on eligible purchases on your new card at restaurants worldwide and when you “Shop Small” in the U.S. (on up to $25,000 in combined purchases) during your first six months of card membership.
- American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
- Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.
You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio and Bilt Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio. However, Marriott points typically take less than 48 hours to transfer and we don’t know how long Bilt Rewards points take to transfer. So, especially if award availability is limited, it’s best to transfer rewards from other programs.
Related: 3 great ways to redeem Virgin Atlantic points now that Delta awards are devalued
Bottom line
ANA business class is an excellent product, especially if you snag an aircraft featuring ANA’s The Room. And redeeming Virgin points is an excellent way to experience ANA business class for a modest amount of points. Plus, since you can book one-way awards for half the cost of round-trip awards, you have the flexibility to try a different airline — or ANA first class — for your other transpacific flight.
Featured photo by TungCheung/Shutterstock.
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