ANA Mileage Club: The Optimised UK Workflow
ANA Mileage Club is the loyalty programme of All Nippon Airways. For UK collectors it offers two unusual things: access to the celebrated ANA First Class cabin (The Suite) to Tokyo, and one of the cleaner Star Alliance partner charts when you can navigate the round-trip booking requirement.
Who this is for
Anyone planning a return trip to Japan, anyone with Amex Membership Rewards looking for a serious First Class redemption, and patient collectors who don't mind the round-trip-only rule on partner awards.
How to build an ANA miles balance
- Amex Membership Rewards transfer. 1:1 to ANA Mileage Club, usually within 3-5 business days. The default UK route.
- Marriott Bonvoy transfer. 3 Bonvoy points to 1 ANA mile, with the standard 60,000-point bonus.
- ANA or Star Alliance flights. Direct earning for paid flights.
- HSBC Premier Reward Points. Not all HSBC Premier programmes transfer to ANA; check current arrangements.
Award search
ANA's website is functional but slow. United's award search is a useful cross-reference for Star Alliance partner space; Seats.aero gives the cleanest comparison view. For ANA's own metal, the ANA site is authoritative.
How to book
Online booking works for most ANA-operated and standard partner combinations. Multi-region partner awards may need a phone call to the ANA service centre. Critically: partner awards must be booked as round-trips. One-way Star Alliance partner redemptions are not available through ANA; use a different programme (Aeroplan, LifeMiles) for one-way needs.
Sweet-spot redemptions
- ANA First Class LHR-HND round-trip. Around 210,000 ANA miles plus modest cash. The signature redemption.
- ANA Business LHR-HND round-trip. Around 120,000 ANA miles for the new Room business product.
- Lufthansa First Class LHR-FRA-LAX round-trip. Around 165,000 ANA miles for a transatlantic First seat with very low cash co-pay.
- Star Alliance Business to South America. ANA prices these well; useful when LifeMiles availability falls short.
Common mistakes
- Looking for one-way partner awards. They don't exist on partner metal; build the round-trip you actually want.
- Transferring Amex MR for a specific date without checking ANA's transfer time (3-5 days). The seat may be gone by the time the miles arrive.
- Forgetting that ANA Mileage Club miles expire 36 months after they're earned. Build to use, not to hoard.
- Booking the standard ANA Business chart when one of the seasonal-low-season discounts is running. ANA periodically reduces partner award pricing for limited periods.
The optimised workflow
- Open a free ANA Mileage Club account.
- Build an Amex MR balance over 6-12 months via Amex Gold or Platinum.
- Identify the target return trip. ANA First Class to Tokyo needs the most lead time; partner awards are more flexible.
- Confirm round-trip Star Alliance availability on United / Seats.aero before transferring miles.
- Transfer the required MR to ANA. Allow 5 business days for the transfer to land.
- Book the round-trip online; call the service centre for complex partner itineraries.
- Confirm seat assignment, particularly in the First cabin where the front row is the prize.