This is a pleasant surprise – the best redemption value out there has just become even more profitable.
The Virgin Atlantic Mile Relay at ANA is a Great Value
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a fantastic program for regular kites because there are incredible values for awards. The best use of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles is to travel on All Nippon Airways.
Here is the award ticket for return travel on All Nippon Airways:
As you can see, a return class ticket from the US to Japan costs 90,000-95,000 miles, while a first class ticket from the United States to Japan costs 110,000-120,000 miles.
The prisoner is that historically you could only cover miles for travel rounds. It was uncomfortable for a few reasons:
- Sometimes there were only awards available in one direction and not in the other direction
- Sometimes you just wanted to fly one way between the US and Japan and then connect elsewhere before returning home
- If you want to fly business class in one direction and first class in the other direction, you will pay the higher cost for the whole itinerary
All Nippon Airways business class
One-way awards are now possible at ANA
There’s good news on the front – you can now redeem the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club mile for one-way travel with All Nippon Airways at half the cost of a return trip.
The ANA partner page said:
One-way rewards trips on ANA are not available.
Now it says:
One-way rides are allowed at half the return miles below.
It is unbelievable!
In other words, you can now use:
- 45,000-47,500 Flying Club Miles for US and Japan One-Time Business Class Ticket
- 55,000-60,000 Flying Club Mile for One-Way ANA First Class Ticket Between USA and Japan
All of Nippon Airways’ new “The Room” class and “The Suite”‘s first class are absolutely amazing, so it’s such a great event.
All Nippon Airways’ first class
Should we be suspicious of this?
At first glance, it is surprising to see that the world’s best award redemption becomes even more valuable. So should we assume that we are just waiting for the other shoe to drop, which would be an increase in award costs?
I think about that:
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club recently changed the price of Delta Awards without notice, and it was overwhelmingly a devaluation
- At the same time, Delta owns a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, and I have a clear feeling that Delta has forced that change
- In the case of ANA, it could be that the compensation costs just aren’t very high, and that the program doesn’t really have an incentive to force people to fly back and forth.
So can we finally see a devaluation of this redemption opportunity? Absolutely, since it has been around for years. But do I necessarily interpret this change as meaning that such a change is imminent? Nope.
It goes without saying that this change is incredible news from now on. We will therefore have to hope that it does not come at a certain time with award costs. 😉
Hopefully we do not see an increase in ANA grant costs soon
Bottom line
What a pleasant surprise to see that the world’s best use of miles is getting even better, as it’s now possible to redeem Virgin Atlantic miles for one-way trips on ANA, at half the cost of a return trip.
What makes Virgin Atlantic Flying Club so amazing is how easily the points currency can reach, thanks to the fact that the program works with Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou.
If only we had an idea of when Japan will open its borders to visitors …
(Tip for David)