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ANA Adds One-Way Awards, but Raises Redemption Prices in the High Season

Alberto Riva's image
Alberto Riva
Edited by: Nick Ellis
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There’s good news and not-so-good news from ANA, the Japanese airline that offers a first and business class widely reputed to be among the best in the world.

The positive is that ANA has finally introduced one-way awards, instead of allowing only round-trip award bookings. The negative is that the airline has also raised the number of miles needed for awards during the high season. Both changes take effect on June 24, 2025.

Let’s see what this means in practice.

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ANA’s New Award Prices From North America

With stellar service, top-rated premium cabins, and flights to Japan from 8 U.S. destinations, All Nippon Airways, commonly shortened to ANA, is on many points travelers’ must-try list.

However, ANA has historically not allowed booking one-way flights with miles. Only round-trip bookings were possible when using its ANA Mileage Club loyalty program. That’s finally changing.

Starting with reservations made and tickets issued on or after June 24, 2025, ANA Mileage Club will allow one-way bookings. They will be priced at exactly half of a round-trip, according to the charts ANA publishes, which the airline just updated on its site.

Here are the updated round-trip prices in Mileage Club miles for flights between Japan and North America (except Hawaii) on ANA’s own flights:

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Class of Travel

Low Season

Regular Season

High Season

Economy

40,000

50,000

72,000

Premium Economy

62,000

72,000

101,000

Business

100,000

105,000

165,000

First

150,000

170,000

300,000

While introducing one-way awards, ANA has also raised the redemption rates for award tickets in high season. In premium economy and economy, you will need 31% more miles in the high season.

The increases are especially heavy in first and business class, where award prices will be 50% higher after June 24. A one-way ticket in first class will set you back a hefty 150,000 miles after the change. If you want to try ANA’s business class or first class and plan to fly in the high season, now’s the time to book, before prices go up.

It’s important to note that while ANA divides the year into 3 seasons, those seasons are variable by year:

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Year

Low season

Regular season

High season

2025

  • April 1 to April 23
  • April 24
  • May 12 to July 17
  • August 25 to December 14
  • May 11
  • July 18 to August 24
  • December 15 to December 31

2026

  • January 6 to February 28
  • April 1 to April 28
  • January 4 to January 5
  • March 1 to March 31
  • May 10 to July 15
  • August 24 to December 18
  • January 1 to January 3
  • April 29 to May 9
  • July 16 to August 23
  • December 19 to December 31

You’ll notice that the high season is about 2 months overall, so you won’t be too constrained when looking for award seats at the current, pre-devaluation prices. And while those high-season prices are certainly steep, ANA deserves kudos for not switching to a dynamic pricing model. Its fixed award charts make it easy to plan travel around the dates and the amount of points you have.

ANA Allows One-Ways on Partner Awards, Too

The new ability to book one-way award tickets extends to bookings on partner airlines using Mileage Club, too. In this case, there has been no change in the number of miles needed, which is relatively low. Between those bargain mileage rates and the ability to book one-way tickets, partner bookings will become an especially convenient way to use Mileage Club miles.

For example, after June 24, you’ll be able to book one-way tickets from the U.S. to Europe on ANA’s partners for 27,500 miles in economy, 50,000 in business, and 82,500 in first class. This includes airlines like United, Air Canada, and Singapore Airlines, all of which have well-regarded business class products deployed on flights across the Atlantic, as well as Lufthansa and Swiss, which have first class. (Taxes and fees can be high for redemptions on Lufthansa and Swiss, though, even as they are reasonable on other ANA partners.)

Hot Tip:

ANA miles may not be well known in North America, but they can offer a lot of flexibility. Check out our guide that covers the 16 Ways best ways to redeem ANA Mileage Club miles for maximum value!

There’s a bit of bad news here too, unfortunately. On June 24, ANA will end the ability to use Mileage Club miles to book around-the-world tickets. This was among the best ways to book a so-called RTW itinerary using miles — but it won’t go away for more than 2 months, so you still have some time if you’re thinking of crossing the globe on points and miles.

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Final Thoughts

As often happens, an airline has introduced a major change in how it lets people redeem points and miles. In this case, the change is mostly positive. ANA has finally allowed one-way bookings using points and miles, instead of permitting round-trips only. This introduces a welcome flexibility, from June 24, in using Mileage Club miles.

It also offsets the negative developments that came with the change — higher award prices in the high season, and the ability to book round-the-world tickets using miles.

Alberto Riva's image

About Alberto Riva

Alberto joined UP in 2024 after serving as the international editor in chief of Forbes Advisor. His passion for points and miles began when he moved to the U.S. from Italy in 2000, leading him to become the first managing editor of The Points Guy in 2017. He previously worked at Vice News, Bloomberg, and CNN.

Originally from Milan, Alberto has lived in Rome and Atlanta and now resides in Brooklyn, New York. He speaks Italian, French, and Spanish, has traveled to every continent except Antarctica, and enjoys skiing, mountaineering, and flying—often with his wife, Regan, and always in a window seat.

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