Best Ways To Book ANA Business Class Using Points [Step-by-Step]

In our article on ANA first class, we raved about the amazing service provided by ANA’s cabin crews. Well, business class passengers can rejoice, as they will experience top-notch service as well.

Whether your long-haul business class flight is on one of ANA’s Boeing 777-300ERs or the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, you’re going to enjoy the flight.

Table of contents

A Look Inside ANA Business Class
- ANA’s New Business Class
How to Fly ANA Business Class Using Points
Great ANA Business Class Redemptions
How to Earn Enough Miles for ANA Business Class
When Should You Search for Award Space?
What Makes This a Great Redemption?
- Business Class Service
- Business Class Catering
Final Thoughts

Table of Contents

A Look Inside ANA Business Class
- ANA’s New Business Class
How to Fly ANA Business Class Using Points
Great ANA Business Class Redemptions
How to Earn Enough Miles for ANA Business Class
When Should You Search for Award Space?
What Makes This a Great Redemption?
- Business Class Service
- Business Class Catering
Final Thoughts

A Look Inside ANA Business Class

ANA Business Class Seat 2 — Enjoy the comfort of ANA business class. Image Credit: Stephen Au

Thanks to amazing first class and business class products, ANA is considered one of the best airlines in the world.

At airports across the world, ANA’s business class passengers enjoy priority check-in counters where the process will be quick and your checked baggage will be marked as “priority.”

At 11 airports, you will also have access to priority security lanes, which can make the screening process much easier.

Airports With Priority Screening For ANA Business Class
Bangkok (BKK)	Paris (CDG)
Brussels (BRU)	Seattle-Tacoma (SEA)
Frankfurt (FRA)	Sydney (SYD)
Kansai (KIX)	Tokyo-Narita (NRT)
London (LHR)	Washington-Dulles (IAD)
Mumbai (BOM)

Once through security, you can continue to your gate if your flight is about to depart. Otherwise, you can swing by the ANA Business Class Lounge (or Star Alliance business class lounge).

Not surprisingly, the ANA Lounge is busier than the ANA Suites Lounge. Fortunately, ANA designed their business class lounge to accommodate more passengers. There are a few different seating areas to prevent overcrowding.

While you wait for your flight, you can enjoy a meal from a large buffet, which also includes several dessert options. There’s even a hot food station if you are in the mood for something more substantial.

Once onboard your flight, you will see that every seat in the business class cabin has direct aisle access. This is a staple of a good business class seat. Additionally, each seat is lie-flat, so you can rest peacefully during the flight.

Like many business class cabins, window seats are great for solo travelers. If you are traveling with a companion, the 2 middle seats might be better for you as it will be easier to chat.

During meals, you’ll have your choice wine to pair with a nice meal. While the presentation is on a tray, the actual meal gets great reviews.

To read more, check out our review of ANA 777 Business Class.

ANA’s New Business Class

ANA New 777 The Room Business Class. Image Credit: ANA

ANA is on a mission to offer refreshed seats and products aboard the new 777-300ER aircraft. While ANA has revamped all cabin classes, perhaps the biggest improvement is in business class.

ANA’s business class is already excellent, with staggered seats configured in a 1-2-1 configuration. Known as The Room, ANA’s new 777 business class truly feels like an endless expanse of in-flight real estate. Their seats, which alternate between forward and rear facing, measure an utterly mammoth 35 inches wide. To put this in perspective, Cathay Pacific, which used to offer the largest first class seats in the world, measures 36 inches.

So, ANA’s The Room, which is a business class product, is just 1 inch shorter than the previous record holder of the widest first class seat.

If this hasn’t gotten you intrigued already, ANA will offer incredible, 4K 22″ in-flight monitors for personal entertainment. These business class seats have the sliding doors, which allows for complete and utter privacy within your enclosed suite. In fact, ANA’s The Room might be the product that dethrones the QSuites.

You can find this new business class suite on the following routes:

Tokyo-Haneda (HND) – London-Heathrow (LHR) on NH 211/212
Tokyo-Haneda/Narita (HND/NRT) – New York City (JFK) starting in winter 2019
Tokyo-Haneda (HND) – Frankfurt (FRA) starting in winter 2019

How to Fly ANA Business Class Using Points

As a member of Star Alliance, there are many ways to book business class award flights on ANA. Let’s talk about some of the best ways to do so.

ANA Mileage Club

ANA Award Chart — ANA Mileage Club is a great way to book award flights. Image Credit: ANA

The simplest way to book business class is through ANA Mileage Club. Follow these steps to book ANA business class:

Visit ANA’s website
Choose “ANA Mileage Club”
Choose “International” then “Award Reservation”
Log into your account
Enter your desired route and dates
Choose “Business Class”
Choose your flights

Hot Tip: Use our Transfer Partner Calculator to quickly determine how many miles you’ll get for transferring between programs.

An important restriction with awards booked through ANA Mileage Club is that you can only book awards for yourself and family members.

Make sure you book awards during the low or regular season. The dates for each season between North America/Europe and Japan are above. Image Credit: ANA

Additionally, ANA has 3 seasons that affect redemption rates: low, regular, and high. Book award during the low and regular seasons to get the most out of your miles.

The number of miles required for a business class flight differs between each season, but both low and regular season awards are acceptable rates. If at all possible, don’t book award flights during high season.

ANA Waitlist — If you see the “Waitlist” label, you won’t be guaranteed a seat. You’ll notice in the above image an example of what it looks like when only waitlist space is available. Image Credit: ANA

Finally, you can waitlist award seats. While this is a useful feature, be aware that this does not guarantee that you will eventually get a seat. It will be clearly listed, so you can make sure an award seat is actually available.

In the image above, you’ll notice the route takes you through Japan on the way to Australia. ANA allows you to travel through a third region on the way to your final destination. You can even book a stopover on the way, which is a great way to visit Japan!

You can transfer from American Express Membership Rewards to ANA so you can book with Mileage Club.

Transferring Membership Rewards often take 2 to 3 days. Make sure you remember this, as award space could disappear while you wait.

If you’re looking for some flight inspiration, check out the best ways to redeem ANA miles.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

While we’ve discussed elsewhere that it’s difficult to find Chase Ultimate Rewards sweet spots to Asia, Virgin Atlantic has remained a welcome exception to that rule.

The following chart is the ANA Award Chart using Virgin Points:

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club provides some stunning sweet spots to Japan on ANA. Image Credit: Virgin Atlantic

The above chart shows the round-trip cost in Virgin Points, though one-way trips are now allowed at half of the round-trip cost.

Here are some great example business class flights you can take:

San Jose (SJC) – Tokyo (NRT) nonstop round-trip for 90,000 miles + ~$300 in taxes and fees
Washington D.C. (IAD) – Tokyo (NRT) nonstop round-trip for 95,000 miles + ~$300 in taxes and fees
San Francisco (SFO) – Tokyo (NRT) nonstop round-trip for 90,000 miles + ~$300 in taxes and fees
Seattle (SEA) – Tokyo (NRT) nonstop round-trip for 90,000 miles + ~$300 in taxes and fees

To make things even better, Citi and American Express often run huge transfer bonuses of 25%-30% to top off your miles even more! If you line everything up correctly, you can fly from the West Coast to Japan in ANA Business Class round-trip for 70,000 points!

Here’s how to book ANA Business Class with Virgin Atlantic (do not transfer your points yet):

Visit United or Aeroplan.
Log into your Aeroplan or United account.
- For Aeroplan: Under “Use Your Miles” select “Travel.” Select your travel dates, cities, and business class.
- For United: Click round-trip, check “Book with miles,” and select your travel dates, cities, and business class.
Find your desired flight in ANA Business Class.
Call Virgin Atlantic at 1-800-365-9500 to book your award.
Transfer your points.
- If transferring from Chase, you will not be able to transfer points to another person unless they share the same address as you.
- If transferring from Citi and the Virgin and Citi names don’t match, you will need to use “Points Sharing” to transfer to a Citi account with the same name as on the Virgin Atlantic account. You will then need to transfer from Citi to Virgin Atlantic.
- If transferring from American Express, the names must match the name on the Virgin Atlantic account.
- If transferring from Marriott, the names don’t need to match. Keep in mind that if this policy changes in the future, you can transfer up to 50,000 Marriott points to other accounts to get around this rule.
Write down the ANA Record Locator and use it to select your seats.
- Navigate to ANA’s Manage Reservation Page. Enter your Record Locator and First/Last Name. If you have a middle name on your Virgin Atlantic account, you must type it after your first name without spaces.
  - Example: John Steven Doe will be First Name: JohnSteven and Last Name: Doe
You will be prompted to log in with your ANA Number and Password.
Click “Service” on the right tab to select your seats and add meal preferences.

The last thing you need to know is about transfer times: Chase and Citi transfer instantly, AmEx takes 2-3 business days, and Marriott can take the same as AmEx. Make sure you know this when you’re planning your award booking.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

If you want to fly business class on ANA, You will need to call Singapore Airlines to redeem KrisFlyer miles.

Follow these steps to book:

Visit Air Canada’s Aeroplan site
Log in to your Aeroplan account (you’ll need your account number)
Under “Use Your Miles” select “Travel”
Choose your travel dates, cities, and class of service
Find your desired flight — make sure it’s ANA business class
Call Singapore Airlines to complete the booking (800-742-3333)

With Singapore Air, you have the option to book one-way awards.

One of the best parts of the KrisFlyer program is that they partner with Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points.

Transfers from Ultimate Rewards typically process almost instantly. Membership Rewards take 1-2 days, and ThankYou Points typically take 2 days.

Check out other great ways to redeem with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

Asiana Club

Asiana Airlines Award Chart — Asiana miles are a great way to book business class awards on ANA. Image Credit: Asiana

Like Singapore Airlines, you can use Asiana Club to book one-way awards on ANA.

You must reserve and have your ticket issued 3 days prior to departure, which prevents snagging last-minute awards.

Search for availability using Aeroplan’s site (see above for the steps)
Call Asiana at 1-800-227-4262
- The U.S. call center is open Monday-Friday between 8:30am-5:30pm PT
Tell the phone representative you’d like to book an award with their Star Alliance partner ANA
Provide your travel dates and flight numbers
Once you confirm space, you will be prompted to give your credit card for any necessary taxes and fees

Other Options for Booking ANA Flights

Other options that you might want to consider include Avianca LifeMiles, United MileagePlus, or Air Canada Aeroplan. You can also book with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Great ANA Business Class Redemptions

Before you book your business class flight, decide what you need from the booking first:

Asiana Club can be a great way to book one-way award tickets if you don’t need a stopover.
Singapore Airlines will let you book one-way award tickets and stopovers, but will require more miles.
ANA Mileage Club will require a round-trip award, but redemption rates are good and you can book stopovers.
Virgin Atlantic will let you book one-way or round-trip awards, and redemption rates are great to Japan.

Let’s check out some ANA business class booking examples.

Departure	Destination	ANA Mileage Club	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	Asiana Club	Singapore KrisFlyer
Chicago (ORD)	Sydney	115,000 miles	N/A	165,000 miles	195,000 miles
New York City (JFK)	Tokyo	85,000 miles	95,000 miles	120,000 miles	175,000 miles
Washington, DC (IAD)	Bangkok	110,000 miles	N/A	135,000 miles	195,000 miles

Asiana Club, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and Singapore KrisFlyer require half the number of miles needed for a round-trip booking.

How to Earn Enough Miles for ANA Business Class

ANA can be transferred from American Express Membership Rewards at a rate of 1:1.

Singapore Airlines and Virgin Points can be transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi Thank You Rewards, all at a rate of 1:1. (For more on this topic, see our guides on: Chase Transfer Partners, Amex Transfer Partners and Citi Transfer Partners.)

You can also earn Marriott points and transfer those to ANA, Virgin Atlantic, Asiana, or Singapore Airlines at a transfer rate of 3:1. For every 60,000 Marriott points that you transfer, you’ll receive an extra 5,000-mile bonus.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

Business Owner? See our article on Chase business credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.

Recommended Amex Cards (Personal)

If you’re a business owner, check out our article on Amex business credit cards that earn Membership Rewards.

When Should You Search for Award Space?

ANA releases award space nearly a year prior to departure (355 days!), and you can even find availability up to 96 hours from departure. As soon as you have an idea of when you want to travel, begin your search. If award space is not available immediately, keep checking regularly.

What Makes This a Great Redemption?

ANA is one of the highest-rated airlines in the world, and they provide a great business class experience. Let’s take a deeper look at what makes these flights so much fun.

Business Class Service

While there are many complaints about service on U.S. carriers, you will be happy to know that the business class crews on ANA are fantastic. They are personable and always ready to help make your flight that little bit better.

Business Class Catering

ANA Business Class Japanese Main Course — Enjoy a great meal and a glass of wine when you fly ANA business class. Image Credit: Stephen Au

Whether in the ANA Lounge or on your flight, you can expect to have a pleasant meal. In the lounge, you’ll have a great selection of food at the buffet and hot food station to provide bigger meals.

You can choose from a nice selection of liquor, enjoy some sake, or try out the beer machine that tilts your glass and pours the beer for you (so fun if you like beer!).

Final Thoughts

When a business class flight to Asia or Australia is what you need, make sure you consider ANA. Long journeys can be tough, and they’re even worse when the service is poor. ANA’s world-class service and great catering will make your long flights an enjoyable experience.

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Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

Frequently asked questions

What is the best way to book ANA business class?

Often, ANA’s Mileage Club program requires the fewest miles to book first class flights on ANA (but it requires round-trip bookings).

Asiana Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and other Star Alliance partners can also provide some great redemption options.

What credit cards can help me earn miles to fly ANA business class?

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and ANA Mileage Club are partners with American Express Membership Rewards.

You can also earn KrisFlyer miles through Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards.

What do I get when flying ANA business class?

First and foremost, you can expect amazing service when flying business class on ANA. To top it off, you’ll have great meals and enjoy some nice champagne.

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About Spencer Howard

Always a fan of flying, it was only natural that Spencer was drawn to finding a way to improve the travel experience. Like many, he started this journey searching for cheap flights to take him around the world. This was fun for a while, but Spencer was intrigued by the idea of flying in business and first class! Throwing himself into what became an extensive research project, Spencer spent 3-4 hours per night learning everything he could about frequent flyer miles over the course of several months (he thinks this is normal).

Disclaimer: Any comments listed below are not from the bank advertiser, nor have they been reviewed or approved by them. No responsibility will be taken by the bank advertiser for these comments.

24 comments

Sandra Waring October 10, 2019
Hi, great write-up, I have a quick question. I have 90,000 United points kicking around, but you only detail step by step for ANA points or Virgin Atlantic points. Can I get some info of how to use United points for this redemption or is this impossible?
Reply
- Stephen Au October 10, 2019
  Hi Sandra,
  Booking ANA business class is totally doable using United miles. What you’ll want to do is visit United and perform an award search based on your preferred departure city. Choose your date(s) and when you’ve located award availability, confirm the reservation only by paying with United MileagePlus miles plus any taxes and fees (minimal). Thanks for reading!
  Reply
Sharon Streb June 3, 2021
I am confused about ANA–I am flying from WAS to Frankfurt (my endpoint is Dusseldorf). I have 268K miles Amex points. I was hoping to fly on ANA from Washington to Frankfurt, but I only see United offered–though the flight is 88k for business class which I think so far is the best deal. However, I will still have to get a flight from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf and vice versa on my return trip.
I have to say it is exhausting trying to find the right deal. I am traveling from WAS to Dusseldorf then to Sicily then back to Dusseldorf then to WAS. My only goals–to fly business and use as fewer miles as possible–but I think I might just give up and use Air Canada for miles.
Reply
- Jarrod West June 3, 2021
  Hi Sharon,
  Using 88k ANA miles to fly aboard United Polaris will definitely be your best deal. ANA does not operate a route between Washington and Frankfurt, so when you use their miles to book a ticket, you’ll fly on one of their Star Alliance partners (i.e. United) for your flight.
  If you want to fly directly in ANA business class, you’d likely need to fly from the US to Tokyo, or to another city in Asia with a layover in Tokyo.
  Reply
Kavita Choudhary June 11, 2021
Is ANA award availability very bad? I only see waitlist options even 355 days in advance. And I guess they dont open more than 2 tickets in business class.
Reply
- Jarrod West June 15, 2021
  Hi Kavita,
  Depending on what route you’re searching for, the tickets might very well be booked as soon as they become available. If you keep searching 355 days out as flights become available you might be able to score one!
  Reply
Susan Timm-Sirignano June 14, 2021
I cannot find available business class seats from JFK to Tokyo. Is there any reason to go on a waitlist?
Reply
- Jarrod West June 15, 2021
  Hi Susan,
  That is one of the toughest routes to book. Seats open up 355 days out and are usually booked shortly after. You can definitely join the waitlist though in the hopes that someone who currently has the ticket booked cancels.
  Reply
Sara February 3, 2022
Can you book JFK-TYO-PEK in ANA business class with Virgin Atlantic Miles? Or does it have to be Tokyo when you book with Virgin miles? Thank you.
Reply
- Stephen Au February 3, 2022
  Hi Sara,
  You can book these flights separately using Virgin Atlantic points, but you will have 2 separate tickets and will need to pay the miles required for each ticket.
  Reply
Paul P March 10, 2022
On ANA’s website (https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/amc/partner-flight-awards/) it states “Awards cannot be redeemed for one-way flights.” Yet, you wrote above the “one-way trips are now allowed at half of the round-trip cost”. Is ANA’s website not up to date, or has this policy changed?
Reply
- Jarrod West March 16, 2022
  Hi Paul,
  The sentence you are quoting is referring to using Virgin Atlantic points to book an award with ANA. Since Virgin Atlantic is its own program with its own award chart, you can use its miles to book a one-way award with ANA.
  Reply
Chris Ryan June 4, 2022
This is my first time every commenting on one of these forums, but after months of trying to figure out how to successfully book an award flight on ANA I felt that I had to share my experience. The requirement to book a round trip itinerary makes this even more annoying. For those of you banging your head against a wall trying to actually find availability, I feel your pain. Here’s how I did it:
1. Plan to book your tickets 355 days out at 9AM Tokyo time. They will not release 355 days out at 9AM your local (non-Tokyo) time. Get to your computer a few minutes before to get set up.
2. Make sure you’ve selected Japan as the site country (top right of the homepage) and select English as the language. This will set the website timezone to Japan. This will enable you to see the desired date. If you’re on the US site, you’ll essentially be a day behind, and won’t see the most recently available day.
3. You’re going to have to book the inverse of your desired itinerary to get started. This likely means that your outbound flight will be waitlisted. That’s ok, we’ll get to that later. For example, my desired travel was Jan 1 JFK > HND | Jan 15 HND > JFK. So when the Jan 1 seat became available at 9AM Jan 11 Tokyo time I booked Dec 15 HND > JFK with a return of Jan 1 JFK > HND. The outbound is waitlisted as expected, but I’m confirmed on the Jan 1 flight. Half way there!
4. You’re then going to modify your existing reservation at a later date for your desired return. I’ve only done this on the phone because I wasn’t able to be in front of the computer at the time, but this might also just work by modifying your reservation online too. In this example, I’d call ANA Customer Service phone number (1-800-235-9262) at Jan 25 at 8am Tokyo time and expect to hold for a bit. Then ask them to modify the reservation. On the phone I was told that they’d have to cancel the original one and rebook due to the reversed direction of the itinerary, but since I already had the confirmed ticket to my name, they were able to keep it for me.
5. And just like that I had my desired flight without being waitlisted. I pulled my hair out trying to get to this point before. I changed the time on my laptop, I downloaded a VPN, but it ultimately came down to modifying the country setting on the ANA website, booking the inverse, and modifying the reservation at the right time.
Reply
- Minhan March 8, 2023
  Thank you so much for the tips! I’ve been concerned on the waitlist situation!
  Reply
Jess S. October 24, 2022
I’m trying to book business class seats one way from Tokyo to the US west coast with miles. Based on this it looks like ANA booked through Virgin could be the best way, but I’m not seeing ANA flights when I search on Aeroplan or United. What am I missing?
Reply
- Chris Hassan October 31, 2022
  Hey Jess,
  Availability is very hard to come by right now, but keep looking!
  Reply
Chris Cobb December 26, 2022
If I’m searching United for flights booked with miles, and an ANA flight pops up, is that a flight that can be booked through Virgin? Or are there only certain flights that can be booked that way? I notice some of them say “Saver Award”. I’m just wondering what I should be looking for on the United site to ensure it’s something I can book through Virgin. Thanks! Also, is it possible to buy (with miles) an economy seat on ANA with Virgin Miles, then upgrade later should a business or first-class seat open up?
Reply
- Jarrod West January 30, 2023
  Hi Chris,
  If you see a saver award flight operated by ANA when searching on United, then yes that should be bookable through Virgin.
  Reply
Julie January 13, 2023
Hello, I am trying to book a flight to Tokyo from DC (IAD). I am seeing ANA flights available on their website and on United. I tried calling Virgin and they said they do not have awards for those flights, despite both United and ANA having point options available. Do you suggest booking directly through ANA? I am trying to figure out if I can transfer points via Chase or Capital One to ANA. I assume that is not possible, so do you have suggestions on how to book with points from Chase? Thank you!
Reply
- Jarrod West March 13, 2023
  Hi Julie,
  You are correct that neither Chase nor Capital One transfer to ANA. However, you could transfer your Chase points to United or Air Canada to book an ANA award.
  Reply
Zara January 17, 2023
I am currently trying to plan travel to Japan and was hoping to use some Chase Points for an ANA flight, but it seems like ANA isn’t part of the the airlines I can transfer points to anymore, even if they are part of Star Alliance. If I want to fly with United and hopefully use points for ANA, would I transfer my points over to United? Thanks in advance!
Reply
- Jarrod West January 30, 2023
  Hi Zara,
  To book an ANA ticket with Chase points you could transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, or United.
  Reply
Cho February 28, 2023
Hello!
Thanks for this very informative breakdown. I have a question – in regards to your statement below:
“How to Earn Enough Miles for ANA Business Class
ANA can be transferred from American Express Membership Rewards at a rate of 1:1.”
Does this mean the points from American Express Membership Rewards can directly be transferred to ANA? And for example, if a RT from the west coast to Tokyo costs 80k ANA Miles, I’d transfer 80k AmEx points?
Thanks!!
Reply
- Jarrod West March 7, 2023
  Hi Cho,
  Yes, you can transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points directly to ANA at a 1:1 rate.
  Reply

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Best Ways To Book ANA Business Class Using Points [Step-by-Step]