ANA Mileage Club Program Guide: Everything You Need to Know

Among points and miles enthusiasts, ANA Mileage Club has long been regarded as one of the best ways to redeem American Express Membership Rewards points. Unfortunately, no other major credit card points programs allow transfers to ANA Mileage Club. So, unless you have an Amex card in your wallet, your credit card points won’t be usable through ANA Mileage Club.

ANA, which stands for All Nippon Airways, is a Japanese airline and a member of Star Alliance. That means that ANA miles can be earned and redeemed on any other airline that’s a member of Star Alliance. And, oftentimes, ANA Mileage Club offers lower redemption rates than any other frequent flyer program for certain Star Alliance partner award flights. This is particularly relevant to U.S.-based travelers who often fly with United Airlines or Air Canada.

Unfortunately, as of April 18, 2024, the ANA Mileage Club program underwent a significant devaluation as award rates for ANA-operated premium-cabin flights between the U.S. and Japan as well as all Star Alliance-operated premium-cabin flights have increased (among other changes). This is the first time that the Mileage Club program has updated its award charts in over a decade. But, while ANA Mileage Club no longer offers the same value that it once did, this program is definitely still worth paying attention to.

And, although the ANA Mileage Club website is known for having some technical issues, the potential savings you can find through this program may be sufficient incentive to deal with these quirks. Through this program, you can find low-priced award flights from the U.S. to Japan in ANA economy and business class, good deals on flights between the U.S. and Australia on ANA or one of its Star Alliance partners, low-priced award flights between the U.S. and Europe on LOT Polish Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and United Airlines and good deals on travel between the U.S. and Latin America on Avianca, Copa Airlines and United.

So, even if you don’t live in Japan or you don’t plan on going to Japan, ANA Mileage Club is a frequent flyer program that you’ll want to keep on your radar, especially if you’re an American Express cardholder. In this article, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about ANA Mileage Club, including its elite status status program, how to earn miles, how to redeem miles and which of those redemption options offers the best value per point.

ANA Mileage Club Program Overview

All Nippon Airways began as Japan Helicopter and Aeroplane Transports Company in 1952. OIn December 15, 1953, the company operated its first cargo flight from Osaka to Tokyo, marking the first flight operated by a Japanese pilot since World War II. The company later began operating passenger flights on the same route in 1954. Then, in 1957, they changed their name to All Nippon Airways Company, which has stuck with the company to the present day.

Today, ANA has over 200 aircrafts in its fleet. The airline operates over 130 domestic routes throughout Japan as well as routes to over 30 international cities, including destinations on every continent except for Africa, Antarctica and South America.

Plus, since ANA joined Star Alliance in 1999, you can fly to almost anywhere in the world with one of ANA’s Star Alliance partners.

On top of the Star Alliance partners listed above, ANA also has several other non-Star Alliance partners with which you can earn and redeem ANA miles. Here are ANA’s other airline partners:

In addition to earning miles with the aforementioned airline partners, flights operated by many of these airline partners are also eligible to earn Premium Points, the metric used to earn elite status in the ANA Mileage Club program.

ANA Mileage Club Elite Status

ANA Mileage Club has its own elite status program that includes three premium tiers: Bronze, Platinum and Diamond. In order to earn an elite status, you need to accrue a certain number of Premium Points and a certain percentage of those Premium Points must have been earned from taking ANA-operated flights.

Premium Points can be earned on both ANA-operated flights and flights operated by Star Alliance members and Star Alliance Connecting Partners. Flights operated by non-Star Alliance partners are not eligible to earn Premium Points. The specific number of Premium Points that you’ll earn per flight is based on mileage, booking class, fare type and several other factors. Here is the formula used to calculate Premium Points earnings:

• Premium Points = Basic segment mileage × Mileage accrual rate by booking class and fare type/rule × Route Ratio + Boarding Points

The Route Ratio (which is essentially a multiplier for the amount of Premium Points you’ll earn) varies depending on whether you’re on a domestic Japanese flight or an international flight and depending on which airline you’re flying with. The Route Ratio for Japanese domestic flights is 2. The Route Ratio for ANA-operated international flights between Japan and Asia, Japan and Oceania and Japan and Vladivostok is 1.5. And the Route Ratio for all other ANA-operated international flights, Star Alliance member-operated flights and Star Alliance Connecting Partner-operated flights is 1.

So, if all other factors were the same, an ANA-operated domestic Japanese flight would earn you twice as many Premium Points as a flight operated by another Star Alliance member.

To make things a little less complicated, ANA has a ”Premium Point Simulation” tool on its website that can tell you how many Premium Points you’ll earn on domestic Japanese flights. However, if you want to figure out how many Premium Points you’ll earn on international flights, you’ll have to do the calculations yourself.

The following chart explains how many Premium Points you need to achieve each elite status tier, how many of those Premium Points must have been earned on ANA-operated flights and the benefits of each elite status tier:

The selectable benefits that are available to ANA Mileage Club Diamond members include the following:

• Receive 12 Upgrade Points (which can be used for cabin class upgrades and airport lounge access)
• Receive coupons worth 40,000 Japanese yen (about $270 at the current conversion rate) for accommodation and dining at IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan properties
• Receive a voucher for one fine dining experience
• Choose a complimentary gift from ANA’s hand-picked lineup of merchandise
• Receive 60,000 ANA SKY COINS (which are digital coupons that can be used to purchase Japan domestic and international flight tickets and travel products on the ANA website
  • 60,000 ANA SKY COINS is worth 60,000 Japanese yen (which is equal to about $405 at the current conversion rate)
• Receive 6 ANA Suite Lounge vouchers (which can be used by the primary member or friends and family)
• Receive coupons worth 40,000 Japanese yen (about $270 at the current conversion rate) which can be used on in-flight purchases on ANA international flight as well as products from ANA STORE@SKY, ANA FESTA and ANA DUTY FREE SHOP
• Receive e-vouchers worth 40,000 Japanese yen (about $270 at the current conversion rate) for payments on ANA Shopping A-style
• ANA will plant 20 coral seedlings on your behalf in the ocean just off Onna Village, Okinawa

It’s worth noting that you can earn 5% additional bonus ANA miles on flights if you have one of ANA’s co-branded credit cards. However, none of these credit cards are available in the United States.

Obviously, the ANA Mileage Club elite status program is fairly complicated. But, if you often fly to or from Japan, then it may be worth trying to earn ANA elite status. Having Bronze, Platinum or Diamond elite status can help you accrue ANA miles faster, access ANA airport lounges, receive preferential treatment and fly more comfortably.

How to Earn ANA Miles

There are many ways to earn ANA miles, the most obvious of which is taking ANA-operated flights. But, apart from that, you can also earn miles by flying with ANA’s airline partners, booking hotel stays, renting cars, transferring credit card and hotel points, shopping online and more.

ANA Domestic Flights

ANA Mileage Club calculates earnings on ANA-operated domestic flights within Japan differently than for its own international flights. To calculate how many miles you’ll earn on an ANA-operated domestic flight in Japan, you need to multiply the basic sector mileage (the distance flown) by the accrual rate, which depends on your fare type). Accrual rates vary from 50% to 150%. If you want to see the accrual rate for a specific fare type, you can do so on ANA’s website.

For instance, the segment distance between the cities of Tokyo and Sapporo is 510 miles. So, if you were to take a one-way ANA-operated flight on this route and your fare type was ANA FLEX (for which the accrual rate is 100%), you’d earn 510 miles. However if you purchased the same flight with an ANA SUPER VALUE SALE fare (for which the accrual rate is 50%), you’d earn 255 miles.

Of course, if you have elite status with the ANA Mileage Club program you will also earn bonus miles. For instance, if you were to take that flight from Tokyo to Sapporo with ANA FLEX fare, which would earn you 510 miles without elite status, you would earn 714 miles as a first-year Bronze elite member due to the 40% miles bonus.

To make things easier, you can use the Mileage Calculator tool to calculate how many miles you’ll earn on a particular ANA-operated flight. You can simply enter your origin, destination, departure date, which kind of ANA co-branded card you have, your ANA elite status and your booking class. Then, this convenient tool will tell you how many miles you’ll earn for an ANA-operated flight (both international and domestic).

ANA International Flights

ANA uses a different miles earnings table for its own international flights. To determine how many miles you’ll earn on an ANA-operated international flight, you’ll need to multiply the segment mileage by the accrual rate that corresponds with your fare code. The following table includes the accrual rate for each fare code:

For instance, if you were to take the 4,775-mile flight from Seattle to Tokyo on ANA in Economy Class (fare code H), you would earn 3,342 ANA miles (4,775 miles flown * 70% = 3,342 ANA miles).

Plus, ANA-operated international flights are also eligible to earn elite status bonuses. So, if you took the same flight and you had first-year Platinum elite status (which offers a 90% bonus), you’d earn 6,349 miles.

Alternatively, you could simply plug your information into the Mileage Calculator tool on the ANA website to discover how many miles you could earn for any ANA-operated flight (domestic or international).

Partner-Operated Flights

ANA also allows Mileage Club members to earn ANA miles for flying with most airline partners. Each of these partners has its own earnings table, so you’ll have to visit that specific partner’s page on the ANA website to calculate how many miles you could earn on a specific flight. You can view all of these partner earnings tables by visiting the Partner Airlines page on the ANA website.

Then, you simply need to find the accrual rate for your fare code (just as you would for ANA-operated international flights) and multiply it by your flight distance to calculate how many miles you’ll earn for a specific partner flight.

For example, here are the accrual rates for flights operated by Air New Zealand:

So, if you were to book a Business Class flight on Air New Zealand from Auckland to Sydney, which has a distance of 1,345 miles, you’d earn 1,681 miles (1,345 miles flown * 125% = 1,681 ANA miles). Partner-operated flights are also eligible to earn bonuses, so you’d earn even more miles if you had elite status with ANA.

Transfer Partners

One of the best ways to boost your balance of ANA miles, especially for those who don’t fly with ANA or its partner airlines often, is to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to ANA Mileage Club. Amex points transfer to ANA miles at a 1:1 ratio and transfers generally take around 48 hours.

If you don’t already have Amex points, you can quickly earn a large sum of Amex points by earning a welcome bonus offered by one of American Express’s many credit cards. The Platinum Card® from American Express, the American Express® Gold Card and several other American Express cards are currently offering large welcome bonuses that could translate to several award flights booked through ANA Mileage Club.

Unfortunately, American Express Membership Rewards is the only credit card rewards program that allows transfers to ANA Mileage Club. However, there are several hotel rewards currencies that transfer to ANA miles at varying ratios. The following table includes all of ANA Mileage Club’s hotel transfer partners and their respective transfer ratios:

As you can see, none of these hotel rewards programs offer favorable transfer ratios with the exception of Shangri-La Circle, which offers a 1:1 transfer ratio. However, Shangri-La Circle points are typically considered to be way more valuable than ANA miles, so you’re better off spending them in their native program than converting them to ANA miles.

ANA World Hotel and Car Rental

ANA has its own hotel booking and car rental portal through which you can earn ANA miles for making eligible travel purchases. With the ANA Travelers porta (powered by Agoda), you can choose to search for hotel home stays, longer vacation rental stays of 7 days or more or car rentals. Then you can choose to either use cash and earn miles or redeem miles for your rental.

Through this portal you can book stays at over 1.5 million properties worldwide. All you need to do is enter your travel destination, your desired dates and the number of guests. Then, press the “Search” button and the ANA Travelers portal will show you a list of results that match your search query.

Through this portal, you’ll earn 1 ANA mile per 100 Japanese yen spent.

For certain hotels, the ANA Travelers portal may not offer the best room rate compared to other travel booking engines. So, you’ll want to compare the prices displayed on ANA Travelers to other rates available across the internet. However, if the price is right, this portal is a great way to earn ANA miles while booking hotel stays.

As previously mentioned, you can also use this portal to book car rentals. Similarly, you can simply enter your desired dates, driver age and pick-up and drop-off locations and the ANA Travelers portal will show you a list of results that match your search query.

You’ll also earn 1 ANA mile per 100 Japanese yen spent when renting cars through this portal. While this portal seems to have limited availability for rental cars, choosing to rent a car through the ANA Travelers portal is a good way to pick up some extra miles.

Hotel Stays

You can also earn ANA miles for booking stays with hotels directly or through third-party booking engines. Several of these hotel chains also allow you to convert their own rewards currency to ANA miles. For instance, you can choose to earn ANA miles directly for stays at World of Hyatt properties or you can choose to earn Hyatt points on that stay and then convert those Hyatt points to ANA miles. In cases like this, you should compare how many ANA miles each method would earn you for that stay.

The following table includes ANA’s hotel partners that allow you to earn ANA miles directly on stays and how many miles you could earn per stay with each partner:

Many of these hotel chains and booking engines also have partnerships with other frequent flyer programs in addition to ANA Mileage Club. So, if you’re planning on booking with one of these companies, such as Accor Live Limitless (ALL) or Booking.com, you might want to consider whether you’d be better off earning a different rewards currency.

It’s also worth noting that, by electing to earn ANA miles for your hotel stay, you’ll be forfeiting the opportunity to earn that hotel’s native rewards currency. So, you should consider whether you’d be better off earning ANA miles or hotel points.

Rental Cars

You can also earn ANA miles directly for renting cars from certain companies. However, many of these rental companies have partnerships with other frequent flyer programs. So, before you decide to earn ANA miles, you should consider whether or not you want to earn a different airline’s miles.

The following table includes all of ANA’s rental car partners that allow you to earn ANA miles directly on car rentals and their respective earnings rates:

In order to earn ANA miles on an eligible car rental, you will need to select ANA Mileage Club as your rewards program of choice at the time of booking as well as provide your ANA Mileage Club membership number.

In-Flight Duty-Free Shopping

You can also earn miles by making purchases with ANA Sky Shop, ANA’s in-flight duty-free shopping selection. These items are only available in-flight when traveling with ANA. However, you can browse through the ANA Sky Shop digital catalog, pre-order products and receive them during your upcoming flight.

You’ll earn 1 mile for every 100 Japanese yen spent through the ANA Sky Shop. Miles earned on these purchases can’t be registered retroactively, so make sure to provide your ANA Mileage Club membership number at the time of purchase.

Other Ways to Earn ANA Miles

ANA also has several other partners that allow you to earn miles across several different industries including shopping, sports, dining, education, spas, moving, communication and more. Here are some of these partners and their respective earnings:

How to Redeem ANA Miles

There are many different ways to redeem ANA miles including booking award flights, purchasing additional baggage allowance, renting cars, dining out, buying merchandise and more. However, if you want to get the most value out of your miles, your best bet is to stick to redeeming your miles for award flights with ANA or one of its airline partners.

Regardless, we’re going to cover each of the different ways you can spend your ANA miles and which of these redemption methods offers the most value per mile.

ANA Japanese Domestic Flight Awards

ANA publishes three award charts: one for ANA-operated Japanese domestic flights, one for ANA-operated international flights and one for partner-operated flights.

As mentioned above, ANA’s award charts recently underwent a devaluation on April 18. However, while award rates for ANA-operated international flights and Star Alliance partner flights have been raised, award rates for ANA-operated domestic flights were unaffected by these changes.

Award prices for ANA-operated domestic flights depend on the flight distance and whether the flight is booked during Low Season, Regular Season or High Season. Here is the award chart for ANA-operated Japanese domestic flights:

The award prices listed above are for one-way journeys. If you want to know the round-trip price, you can simply double it.

The opportunity to book domestic flights for as little as 5,000 miles is usually a great deal. For instance, you can book one-way journeys between Tokyo and Osaka for just 5,000 miles during Low Season (since this journey is under 300 miles in distance).

It’s also worth noting that ANA publishes another award chart for itineraries involving flights to or from outlying islands in the Okinawa Prefecture with a connection in Naha. You can view that award chart on ANA’s website.

ANA International Flight Awards

ANA also publishes a series of award charts for its own international flight awards. Award prices for ANA-operated international flights depend on which zones you’re flying between, your cabin and whether you’re flying in Low Season, Regular Season or High Season. You can view all award charts for ANA-operated international flights on ANA’s website.

ANA-operated international flight awards start at 12,000 miles for one-way flights in Economy Class between Japan (Zone 1) and Seoul, South Korea, or Vladivostok, Russia (Zone 2). However, prices for ANA-operated long-haul international flights during High Season can go all the way up to 280,000 miles for First Class flights between Europe and Moscow (Zone 7) and Oceania (Zone 10).

As previously mentioned, on April 18, 2024, ANA Mileage Club increased rates for ANA-operated Business class and First class award flights between Japan (Zone 1) and North America (Zone 6). Whereas Business class flights between these Zones were previously available for 75,000 miles during Low Season, this rate has since been increased to 100,000 miles.

Rates also increased for ANA-operated Business class and First class award flights between Japan (Zone 1) and Hawaii (Zone 5). Whereas Business class flights between these Zones were previously available for 60,000 miles during Low Season, this rate has since been increased to 80,000 miles.

The following chart includes the updated award prices for flights between Japan and North America and Japan and Hawaii during Low, Regular and High Season for each booking class:

Of course, these recent award rate increases have made it more difficult for U.S.-based travelers to find outsized value on redemptions for award flights between the U.S. and Japan.

ANA is also notorious for having very limited availability for premium-cabin awards. However, if you do some searching, you can book round-trip flights between the mainland U.S. and Japan during Low Season for 100,000 miles in Business Class and 150,000 miles in First Class (as shown in the award chart above). ANA currently operates routes to the following mainland U.S. destinations:

• Chicago
• Houston
• Los Angeles
• New York
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Seattle
• Washington, D.C.

You can also fly round-trip between the U.S and Japan in Economy Class for as little as 40,000 miles during Low Season.

Unfortunately, ANA levies rather high surcharges on their own award flights, including a surcharge of at least $216 each way for any itineraries originating in North America (except for Hawaii). That means that you’d end up paying surcharges of at least $432 for a round-trip between the mainland U.S. and Japan.

You can view all of ANA’s surcharges by clicking on “International Surcharge Info” on the Fare Rules page on the ANA website. These surcharges change often so you’ll want to keep up to date with them before booking your next ANA award flight.

In many cases, you may want to consider booking ANA-operated award flights through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club rather than through ANA Mileage Club as surcharges can be significantly lower.

However, even with those relatively high surcharges and the recent award rate increases to certain ANA-operated flights, purchasing ANA-operated award flights between the U.S. and Japan can offer solid value. For instance, we found a round-trip award in economy class from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo (HND) for 50,000 miles and about $538 in cash.

While the out-of-pocket cost to book this award is undeniably high, if you were to book this same exact flight entirely with cash, it would cost you a whopping $2,636.

So, factoring in the $538 in taxes and fees that you’d have to pay to book the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of nearly 4.2 cents per mile, which is fantastic for an economy-class award.

And, despite the recent rise in business class and first class award rates between North America and Japan, you can still find excellent value on premium cabin awards on these routes at certain times of the year.

Partner Award Flights

ANA publishes another series of award charts for partner-operated awards. Award prices for partner-operated flights depend on which zones you’re flying between and your cabin class. Partner award prices, however, do not vary based on what time of the year your book your flight (as they do with ANA-operated award flights). You can view all partner award charts on ANA’s website.

Partner award flights start at 15,000 miles for round-trip flights within Japan in economy class. Round-trip partner-operated flights between Japan and North America cost 50,000 miles in economy class (just as they did before April 18, 2024). However, on April 18, business class award rates on this route increased from 85,000 miles to 100,000 miles and first class award rates increased from 150,000 miles to 170,000 miles. Economy class award rates on these routes were unaffected.

In general, many award rates for Star Alliance partners have increased by between 22% and 33%, which represents a very large devaluation of the ANA Mileage Club program. However, notably, award flights within North America (regardless of booking class) were not affected by these changes, which is good for those who want to book domestic U.S. flights on United Airlines with ANA miles.

ANA passes surcharges on from certain partners and doesn’t pass on surcharges from others. In particular, award flights operated by airlines within the Lufthansa Group, including Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa and Swiss, tend to have the highest surcharges (sometimes exceeding $1,500). Luckily, you can avoid paying surcharges altogether by booking award flights operated by partners such as Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and United Airlines (with the exception of certain United flights around Asia).

Unfortunately, finding partner award availability through ANA Mileage Club can be quite a challenge as partner award availability is fairly limited through this program. However, here are some potentially good deals to look out for if you’re willing to do some searching:

• Round-trip Business Class flights within North America on Air Canada and United Airlines for 55,000
• Round-trip Business Class flights between the U.S. and the Philippines on Philippine Airlines for 130,000 miles
• Round-trip Business Class flights between the U.S. and Europe on TAP Air Portugal or United Airlines for 100,000 miles
• Round-trip Business Class flights between the U.S. and South Africa on Ethiopian Airlines for 130,000 miles
• Round-trip Business Class flights between the U.S. and South America on Avianca or Copa Airlines for 96,000 miles

Once again, though, it’s often very difficult to find partner award availability through ANA Mileage Club, especially if you’re looking to book a premium-cabin award.

Star Alliance Round-the-World Awards

ANA Mileage Club is a fairly good program with which to book a round-the-world award. There are a few restrictions to keep in mind. But, you can book up to 12 segments and up to four ground transfers (including travel between different airports in the same city) as well as multiple transfers on the same ticket. You are allowed to book mixed-cabin awards but the price in miles will be based on the highest cabin class. For instance, if you were to book one segment in Economy Class, one segment in Business Class and one segment in First Class, all three segments would be priced as if they were First Class.

ANA round-the-world awards can only include flights on Star Alliance partners. Segments on non-Star Alliance partners are not permitted.

Here are a few other restrictions to keep in mind:

• Flights must be used to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans once.
• The itinerary must be east-to-west or west-to-east. Backtracking is not permitted.
• Up to 8 stopovers are permitted between the departure point and the final return point.
• Up to 3 stopovers are permitted within Europe.
• Up to 4 stopovers are permitted within Japan.

With proper planning, you can get a ton of value out of your ANA miles by booking a round-the-world award. Here is ANA’s round-the-world award chart (which was not affected by the recent April 18 changes):

If you have some travel flexibility and you want to book a round-the-world award with Star Alliance, ANA Mileage Club is usually the best program with which to do so. You can also book Star Alliance round-the-world awards through Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, but the prices are often significantly higher than ANA Mileage Club.

ANA World Hotel and Car Rental

In addition to earning miles through the ANA World Hotel and Car Rental portal, you can also spend your miles to book hotels or rental cars all around the world. Unfortunately, redeeming your miles this way typically provides very low value.

To book hotels and rental cars with miles, you simply need to search your destination and travel dates as you normally would. Then, you just select the “Book with miles” option at the top of the search results in order to view each hotel’s or rental car’s rate in miles.

We found a room at the Dorsett Singapore hotel available for 31,237 miles per night. If you were to book the same room with cash, it would cost you 31,237 Japanese yen (which is equal to $209.10 at the current exchange rate).

So, this redemption would yield a value of about 0.6 cents per mile, which is very poor. Any time you redeem your miles for hotel stays or car rentals through the ANA World Hotels and Car Rentals portal, you’ll get this same value. That’s because 1 mile is equal to 1 Japanese yen through this portal.

ANA Variety Coupons

ANA Mileage Club also gives members the option to redeem their miles for Variety Coupons, which are essentially experience vouchers redeemable with partners that are available for between 10,000 miles and 100,000 miles. For instance, you could spend 30,000 miles on a coupon for the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka that’s good for a one-night stay for two guests plus consumption tax and service charges but excluding meals.

Alternatively, you could redeem 20,000 miles for a full-course dinner for two with aperitifs at THE JEWELS restaurant in Sapporo, Japan.

Redeeming your miles for Variety Coupons actually provides decent value. For instance, a one-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Fukuoka costs around 48,000 Japanese yen or more (equal to about $321 at the current exchange rate). So, redeeming 30,000 miles for the coupon we just mentioned would yield a value of a little over 1 cern per mile. While you can still get far more value by redeeming your miles for award flight, that’s not a bad value.

Unfortunately, these Variety Coupons don’t offer much flexibility. Once you purchase a Variety Coupon, it can only be used for a specific service at a specific location.

You can view all available Variety Coupons on the ANA website.

Gift Cards

ANA allows you to redeem your miles for gift cards for Amazon or Macy’s. Redeeming 12,000 miles can get you a $100 Amazon e-gift card or a $100 physical Macy’s gift card that will be sent to you in the mail.

In both cases, you’d be getting a little over 0.8 cent per mile in value, which is pretty poor.

Convert to Partner Points

Unlike many frequent flyer programs, ANA Mileage Club allows you to convert your miles into many different partner rewards currencies. You can convert miles in increments of 10,000 to several different programs including Rakuten and Marriott Bonvoy. You can view the full list of eligible programs and their transfer ratios on ANA’s website.

Redeeming your ANA miles this way will typically yield a very low value. You’re far better off redeeming your miles for award flights.

Donate Your Miles

If you want to use your miles to make a positive impact, you can donate them to one of ANA’s partner charities. Miles are worth 1 Japanese yen apiece when donated this way, which is pretty poor value when compared to the value you could get for redeeming your miles for flights. However, if you don’t plan on using your miles and you want to use them to help the world, donating is a great way to do so.

You can view the full list of ANA’s partner charities on the ANA website.

The Bottom Line

For most U.S.-based travelers, ANA Mileage Club probably isn’t the first frequent flyer program on your radar, particularly because American Express Membership Rewards is the only major credit card currency that transfers into this program.

However, ANA Mileage Club is worth paying attention to due to its position as a member of Star Alliance, meaning that you can use ANA miles to book award flights operated by United Airlines and Air Canada as well as a long list of other international airlines. ANA Mileage Club is also the best program for booking Star Alliance round-the-world awards.

And, despite the fact that the Mileage Club program underwent a serious devaluation on April 18, 2024, as award rates for ANA and Star Alliance premium cabin awards increased, the Mileage Club program still has a lot to offer.

Members can still find some great value by redeeming ANA miles for ANA-operated flights between North America and Japan in premium booking classes as well as in economy class.

You can also find solid deals on flights between the U.S. and South America on partners like Copa Airlines and Avianca, flights between the U.S. and South Africa on Ethiopian Airlines and flights between the U.S. and Europe on United Airlines and TAP Air Portugal. ANA also offers some well-priced award flights between the U.S. and Japan. Unfortunately, finding partner award availability through the Mileage Club program can be fairly difficult.

So, if you’re an American Express cardholder or you often fly with Star Alliance members, it may be worth trying to rack up some ANA miles even if you live outside of Japan. In many cases, this could be the best frequent flyer program through which to book your next award flight or round-the-world award.