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Roundtrip to Asia and Europe for 95k and 88k, respectively? Yep…lemme show you how.
American Express Membership Rewards has amazing transfer partners ( 16 just with airlines). One of which you may have overlooked is ANA. ANA ( All Nippon Airways) is a Japanese Airline whose loyalty program is called Mileage Club. They’re a member of Star Alliance which means we can use their points to access awards on partner airlines with great business class products like EVA, Asiana, Swiss, Lufthansa, Air Canada, etc. Let’s take a look at how you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards into ANA so you can access sweet spots and fly to Asia and Europe in business class for much less than you’d pay using other airline programs.
You could fly roundtrip to Europe for just 88k Amex points in a Throne…keep reading.
Here’s a look at the Airlines that partner with American Express Membership Rewards. ANA is in the 2nd row and is a 1:1 transfer partner. Typically transfer take 1 to 3 days.
ANA’s Star Alliance partners…in case you need a refresher
Here’s how ANA defines zones throughout the world:
And then here is ANA’s chart for Star Alliance Partners from North America: Look at North America to Asia 2 & 3 and then Europe 7. 95k Roundtrip and 88k roundtrip, respectively
To compare…United charges 80k ONE WAY…or 160k Roundtrip to Asia on partners.
United isn’t a partner of American Express, but is being used to simply show the value of the ANA chart. It is a transfer partner of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards and should be mentioned as many people carry both company’s cards.
And then 60k on United’s metal to Europe or 70k on partners one way.
Aeroplan (an Amex Transfer Partner) is 75k One way or 150k Roundtrip to Asia.
55k each way to Europe 1
You can also utilize ANA’s routing rules to bake in a Stopover. So if you wanted to fly on EVA to Manila and stop in Taipei on the way or coming back, you could for no additional points.
You can save 10s of thousands of miles purely using one partner vs another. If you enjoyed our little tip…sign up for daily emails!
Is there always availability going to Manila from Dallas using ANA?
Maria – it varies, you’ll have to search to find it
Do you know if ANA allows open jaw RTs? Would love to fly into, say, Zurich on Swiss metal, then fly back home out of Frankfurt on Lufthansa.
Aaron – yes they do, as long as you stay within the same region
What is ANA’s search and booking process like?
Same question. Need to attend a wedding in Europe in June and this would be great but I have zero experience searching and booking through ANA – have only ever flown them as a redemption through Aeroplan. Need some guidance, too.
TDA, AdamR – The search on ANA is rather cumbersome. I’d use United or Aeroplan to find the avail you’re looking for and then when you have options use ANA to compare taxes and fees. ANA can be a lot, but there are many options that don’t impose $1200 like you found on LH. The ANA search engine is not easy to use. YOu need to log in —> ANA Mileage Club —- Partner Flights —– Award Reservation… should be able to get through it from there. Check out routing on EVA, not bad on taxes and fees
Thanks! Will check it out now. And yeah, very cumbersome. But having lived in Japan for several years, I don’t know why I was so surprised by this. For the EVA routing to MAD, any pointers on how to force that route? All that was returned was LH.
Downside is taxes/fees through ANA can be considerable. My SFO-BKK RT J had over $500 in fees.
Just looked at SEA-MAD at taxes were $1210. Not a great redemption rate for LH. Hard pass on this one, guys, if doing NA to Europe.
Been doing this for years. Used to be 90k. Taxes are usually $300 ish although leaving from Asia it’s been $170. The taxes are irritating but not as bad as Avios.
and unfortunately ANA is not a travel partner of amex UK. its really sad.
Is there an easy way to find out what the taxes would be before you transfer miles in?
It should give you the taxes and fees if you go til the end screen