ANA Mileage Club: The Ultimate Guide

One of ANA’s early Douglas DC-3 aircrafts

ANA’s roots began back in the early 1950s as a helicopter service company. Within just a few years, the company acquired its first airplane, a Douglas DC-3, and began flying passengers to various destinations throughout Japan. ANA grew rapidly and in 1999 the airline joined Star Alliance.

Today, ANA operates flights to 130 destinations all throughout the world. Its main network includes hubs and focus cities across Japan including:

• Tokyo
• Osaka
• Kyoto
• Nagoya (Chubu)
• Fukuoka
• Hokkaido (Sapporo)
• Okinawa (Naha)

As an ANA Mileage Club (AMC) member, you can accumulate miles, qualify and enjoy the perks of elite status and redeem your miles for free flights, hotels and more.

Flying ANA

ANA awards miles with every paid flight you take. How many AMC miles you earn will depend on several factors, though.

For one, your miles earned will vary based on whether a flight is domestic or international. Then you’ll need to calculate the basic sector mileage (distance flown). You’ll also need the accrual rate charts to determine the last bit of information.

The following shows the formula you need to calculate how many AMC miles you can earn:

• Domestic: Basic Sector Mileage x Accrual Rate. Rates for domestic flights throughout Japan depend on the sector (city). You can find the vast chart here.
• International: Basic Sector Mileage x Accrual Rate for the Booking Class. For international flights, accrual rates are determined by fare code. The earnings formula is detailed and convoluted, but all you need to know is that ANA has a handy calculator you can use to determine how many miles you will earn for any given flight.

Elite status will also make a difference on how many AMC miles you can earn when flying but more on that later.

Status Miles

Having elite status, or Premium Membership as ANA calls it, gives you a boost on all of your AMC miles earned from flying ANA and its partners. ANA has three levels of Premium Membership––Bronze, Platinum and Diamond—each with its own earning rate.

The rate increases during your second year of maintaining that specific status. Additionally, cardholders of an ANA Super Flyers Gold or Premium credit card (only available to residents of Japan) increase their miles earning rate by 5% respectively.

Flight Bonus Mile Accrual Rates With ANA Premium Membership

Membership Status	Accrual Rate for First Year of Membership	Accrual Rate for Second Year and Onwards of Membership
Bronze Service Member	40%	50%
Platinum Service Member	90%	100%
Diamond Service Member	115%	125%

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In addition to elevated mileage earning, Premium Members can enjoy unique benefits and perks. Each membership level, for example, gets lounge access, priority check-in, additional free checked luggage and more. The lounge access is notable because most airlines do not give lower-tier elites that benefit.

You can also earn exclusive milestone awards when reaching specific criteria, as seen in the chart below.

Earning Status

In order to earn elite status with ANA, you will need to accumulate Premium Points. You can earn Premium Points by flying ANA or any of its partners. To obtain elite status, you will have to fly at least half the required miles on ANA group operated flights.

• Bronze: 30,000 in one year, 15,000 of which must be earned on ANA Group operated flights.
• Platinum: 50,000 in one year, 25,000 of which must be earned on ANA Group operated flights.
• Diamond: 100,000 in one year, 50,000 of which must be earned on ANA Group operated flights.

Flights on Partners

As a member of the Star Alliance, you can earn AMC miles on dozens of partner airlines. Additionally, ANA has several non-alliance partners. This means that you can earn AMC miles when flying on any of its partners, of course with a few caveats, though.

ANA’s Star Alliance Partners (above)

ANA’s non-alliance partner airlines

Earning with partners is similar to earning when you fly ANA––Basic sector miles multiplied by the accrual rate for booking class. Each partner airline has its own chart on accrual rates, though. You can access the entire list here.

For example, United Airlines is one of ANA’s Star Alliance partners. You can see that the following chart includes the class of booking, the fare code and the accrual rate. Each partner will look similar, but with unique rates.

First Class

Type	Booking Class	Accrual Rate for Basic Sector Mileage
Normal Fares	F, A	150%

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Business Class

Type	Booking Class	Accrual Rate for Basic Sector Mileage
Normal Fares	J	150%
PEX Fares	C, D, Z	125%
Discount Fares	P	70%

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Premium Economy

Type	Booking Class	Accrual Rate for Basic Sector Mileage
Normal Fares	O, A	100%
PEX Fares	R	70%

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Economy Class

Type	Booking Class	Accrual Rate for Basic Sector Mileage
Normal Fares	Y, B, M	100%
PEX Fares	U, H, Q, E	70%
Discount Fares and Inclusive Tour Fares	V, W, S, T	50%
Discount Fares	L, K, G	30%

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Credit Card Spending

Most of ANA’s co-branded credit cards are issued through Japanese banks and are not available to U.S. citizens. However, there is one co-branded card available in the U.S.

• ANA Card U.S.A.*: Earn 1 mile per dollar spent in purchases. Members can also receive priority check-in.

Transfer Partners

Credit Cards

Although there is only one co-branded ANA credit card for U.S. citizens, there are several transferable currency cards which allow you to convert your bank points to AMC miles.

• American Express Membership Rewards: 1 Membership Reward to 1 AMC mile.
• Marriott Bonvoy: 3 Bonvoy points to 1 AMC mile; receive a 5,000 mile bonus when you transfer 60,000 Bonvoy points

Hotel Transfer Partners

You can convert the following hotel points to AMC miles.

• IHG One Rewards: 10,000 IHG One Rewards points = 2,000 AMC miles
• Hilton Honors: 10,000 Hilton Honors points = 1,000 AMC miles
• World of Hyatt: 2.5 World of Hyatt points = 1 AMC mile; receive an additional 5,000 AMC mile bonus for every 50,000 points transferred

Converting your hotel points (with the exception of Bonvoy) to miles generally isn’t a great idea as the conversion rate is poor. If you have hotel rewards points that you don’t plan on using, transferring them to AMC could make sense.

Car Rentals

ANA partners with dozens of car rental agencies. These partnerships allow you to earn AMC miles each time you rent a car with the following groups:

• Alamo: Earn 300 AMC miles with each car rental
• Avis Rent A Car: Earn 100 AMC miles a day, up to 500 AMC miles
• Budget Rent A Car: Earn 1 AMC mile for every 100 JPY spent for rentals within Japan; earn 100 AMC miles a day, up to 500 AMC miles for rentals outside Japan
• Dollar Rent A Car: Earn 300 AMC miles for each vehicle rental and an additional 100 AMC miles when reserving through the ANA website
• Hertz: Earn 50 AMC miles per day
• National Car Rental: Earn 50 AMC miles per day, up to 300 miles per rental
• Sixt Rent A Car: Earn 350 AMC miles per vehicle rental

Additionally, there are several Japanese based rental agencies you can rent with and earn AMC miles for every Japanese Yen spent. You can find the full list here.

Shopping Portals

You can also earn AMC miles on your everyday purchases. The ANA Mileage Mall is ANA’s online shopping portal.

To begin earning AMC miles through its shopping portal, you’ll need to login to the mall with your ANA credentials. Next, search for the store you are interested in shopping in. Use ANA’s link to navigate to the store. After making a purchase, you will accrue AMC miles to your membership account. Depending on the store you shop at, the time it takes for your AMC miles to be added to your account may vary. Most shopping options are only valid for shopping within Japan.

Buying Miles

ANA has no option to purchase AMC miles.

On ANA Flights

You can use your AMC miles to redeem free flights on ANA metal. ANA also allows a free stopover and open jaw bookings, so you can get pretty creative with your itinerary.

On the downside, though, ANA only allows roundtrip flight awards. This goes for partner awards, as well.

Domestic

The ANA domestic award chart is distance-based and priced out by season. ANA has three pricing seasons––Low Season, Regular Season and High Season

Once you know which season your desired flight falls into, you can calculate how many miles you will need by pulling up the domestic award chart.

A flight from Tokyo to Nagoya, for example, is under 300 miles. In the Regular Season, this would price out at 6,000 AMC miles one way, but remember that you have to book a roundtrip with ANA, so the total mileage would be 12,000 AMC miles.

International

For international awards with ANA, charts are zone based and priced out by season. You’ll also be charged more or less depending on the cabin class.

ANA has eight zones. You can see them on the following map:

Once you find your zone, you’ll need to check the dates for departure and return and see which season they fall in––Low Season, Regular Season and High Season. Each zone experiences peak and off-peak seasons at different times of the year so the list is quite extensive, but you can easily access the list and find your dates.

Finally, you’ll need to confirm the mileage required for your class of service. Note that ANA does not refer to classes as economy, business, etc. on this chart. They are referred to by a letter which represents a class of service.

• Economy: Y
• Premium economy: PY
• Business class: C
• First class: F

Putting all of that information together, a round-trip flight from Tokyo (Zone 1) to New York (Zone 6) (or vice-versa) in C (business) class during the regular season would run 85,000 AMC miles.

On Flights With Partners

You can also use your AMC miles to fly on all of ANA’s partner airlines. The mileage required to book partner flights depends on the zone and the cabin class. Unlike flights on ANA metal, you don’t have to worry about seasonal pricing.

First, find the zones you will be leaving from and arriving at. The zone chart is similar to the chart ANA uses for its own international redemptions, but not identical.

Once you have confirmed the zone, you can use ANA’s chart to determine how many AMC miles your flight will cost based on the cabin of service.

For a flight that begins and ends in North America (Zone 6), a round-trip economy ticket will run you 30,000 AMC miles.

ANA does impose carrier fees with some of its partners, but not all. An example of a partner where the fees are carried over is with Lufthansa. A round-trip flight from Chicago to Frankfurt in business class on this partner airline would cost $1,582.35 in fees. These fees are subject to fluctuation based on economic conditions.

Using your AMC miles to book with partners that don’t have these fees can be a great way to save on costs. An example of a partner airline where more manageable fees are imposed is Turkish Airlines. This round-trip ticket to Budapest via Turkish Airlines in business class costs $449.35.

The best deal redemptions are on airlines based in the Americas: Copa, Air Canada, United and Avianca. ANA does not have fuel surcharges on these airlines.

Fees

Change and Cancellation Fees

Most airlines charge non-elites some kind of fee for changes to flights, and up until late last year, ANA was similar. Now changes and cancellation fees may apply and could cost up to $500 based on the fare purchased. In keeping with other flights purchased in the U.S., you can change your award flight until 24 hours prior to departure.

Sweet Spots

Round the World Ticket

ANA’s Star Alliance Round the World ticket is a favorite for points and miles enthusiasts. With a Round the World ticket, you can fly all over the globe with up to 12 flight sectors. Depending on the cabin class of travel and number of miles being flown in total, one of these trips will run you the following rates:

To book one of these tickets, you’ll first need to find flight availability. One of the best ways to search for Star Alliance availability is through the United.com website. You’ll want to search segment by segment. Only flights with saver availability on United will qualify for a Mileage Club booking.

After you have written down flight info and confirmed availability, you’ll need to call into ANA to book the ticket.

Once you depart, you also need to cross the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean once.

Quirks

Expiration

Unfortunately, ANA has not gone the way of most other airlines and still imposes an expiration on AMC miles. Specifically, AMC miles have a shelf life of three years before they expire. Normally, ANA does not offer a way to extend them, but due to the pandemic, the airline is providing a way for you to extend the expiration date of miles up to March 31, 2024.

As a Diamond elite status holder, AMC miles do not expire.

Family-Only Booking

ANA’s award booking policy when redeeming miles for others is incredibly restrictive. Where most airlines allow you to book a flight for anyone, ANA limits award bookings to only family. Specifically, family members can be their spouse or same-sex partner, and relatives within two degrees of kinship.

Infant Fees

Children under 24-months old can fly as a lap infant for a significantly reduced cost. In fact, ANA charges just 10% of the cost of the ticket. For an award ticket, this means that you would pay a 10% fee of what that seat would cost if it was a revenue ticket.

This can be a great deal when flying in economy, but the fees can really add up the more premium the cabin.

You can also book an award seat for your child of any age. Note that a child eight days to 24 months old cannot ride in their own seat in first class on any flight and in business on certain Boeing 787, Boeing 777, Boeing 767 and Airbus 380 aircrafts.

To book your infant as a lap child, you’ll need to contact ANA directly.

Family Pooling

Family pooling is available to ANA Mileage Club members who do not reside in Japan. These are the things you need to know about pooling your miles through ANA’s Family Account Service (AFA).

• A primary member can apply to open a family account.
• You can pool your account with up to eight family members, including the primary member.
• Family can include your partner and up to second degree relatives––grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, half-siblings and cousins.
• A one-time 1,000 AMC-mile registration fee will be deducted from the primary member’s account.

Register for an AFA account here. It can take up to two weeks for the registration process to be completed and you may be asked to provide additional documentation.

Other Ways To Earn Mileage Club Miles

Hotel Stays

In addition to being able to transfer points from several hotel loyalty programs to ANA, you can also earn additional AMC points when staying with a large number of hotel chains, most of which are Asia-based. With many hotel programs, you will have to choose between earning airline miles or hotel points—you can’t earn both.

ANA’s Mileage Club program has some of the best redemptions for Star Alliance flights on the frequent flyer market, especially when flying business class. Just make sure to watch out for those high fuel surcharges that can pop up. If you don’t have ANA on your radar, the next time you need to book a round-trip airfare make sure to check it out.