Virgin Atlantic ANA Award Chart: How to Book ANA Flights
This article has been updated to reflect the Virgin Atlantic devaluation on ANA partner bookings that went into effect May 23, 2024, plus Virgin Atlantic's current one-way ANA award chart.
A general theme: booking partner awards is one of the best ways to use your points. In this tutorial, we will walk through the Virgin Atlantic ANA award chart, how to earn Virgin points, how to find ANA award availability, and how to book ANA flights with Virgin Atlantic points.
How To Get Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points
Virgin Atlantic is a British-based airline that is a part of the SkyTeam alliance, enabling flyers to use their points and benefits across a wide range of airlines. Interestingly, despite Virgin Atlantic's SkyTeam relationships, you are still able to book ANA flights (Star Alliance) through an exclusive partnership between the two airlines.
Virgin Atlantic points are relatively easy to come by even for non-UK-based flyers. You can get Virgin Atlantic points by transferring your points from any of the following card issuers at a 1:1 ratio.
These issuers often run transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic, typically in the range of 20-30%. Because ANA premium-cabin award space is scarce, confirm availability before moving flexible points into Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
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Using Virgin Atlantic Points on ANA Flights
Virgin Atlantic uses a zone-based award chart to price ANA award flights. Virgin's published ANA chart is one-way and excludes passenger taxes, duties, fees, charges, and surcharges.
Virgin Atlantic ANA award chart (one-way)
Region / route | Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|
Domestic Japan | 7,500 points | - | - |
Japan - South Korea | 9,000 points | 17,500 points | 25,000 points |
Japan - China / Guam / Hong Kong / Philippines / Taiwan | 11,500 points | 22,500 points | 30,000 points |
Japan - Malaysia / Myanmar / Singapore / Thailand / Vietnam | 20,000 points | 35,000 points | 52,500 points |
Japan - Hawaii / India / Indonesia | 22,500 points | 37,500 points | 57,500 points |
Japan - Australia / Canada / Western USA | 30,000 points | 52,500 points | 72,500 points |
Japan - Europe / Central & Eastern USA / Mexico | 32,500 points | 60,000 points | 85,000 points |
For North America, this means ANA flights between Japan and Western USA or Canada price at 52,500 Virgin points in business class or 72,500 points in first class each way. Japan to Central and Eastern USA prices at 60,000 points in business class or 85,000 points in first class each way.
How To Find ANA Awards With Virgin Atlantic Points
You cannot simply search for ANA awards on Virgin Atlantic's website. To book, you have to call Virgin Atlantic directly and have an agent find and confirm the award space for you. Award availability can vary widely, especially for long-haul business or first class flights.
Virgin Atlantic award availability for ANA flights should broadly reflect partner-accessible ANA space that appears with programs like United Airlines or Air Canada, but partner search results are not a guarantee that Virgin can book the seat. You can also use Roame to search for these flights and cross-check options more quickly across partners before you call.
ANA is known for scarce premium-cabin award availability. At most, only one first-class award seat may appear on many flights, and business class seats can be scooped up quickly. If your dates are flexible, search more than one airport pair and use alerts so you can move quickly when space opens.
How To Actually Book ANA Flights With Virgin Atlantic
After you find a potentially eligible ANA-operated flight through United, Air Canada, or an award-search tool, call Virgin Atlantic to finish the booking. Give the agent the date, route, flight number, and cabin you want to book.
The Virgin Atlantic representative will look up the flight and confirm whether ANA award availability is actually available to Flying Club. Do not transfer points until the agent confirms that Virgin can book the seat.
Here's a step-by-step process on how to do this:
Find ANA-operated award availability
Search for nonstop ANA-operated flights through a partner that can display ANA award space, then note the route, date, flight number, and cabin.
Call Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Ask the agent to verify the exact ANA flight. Virgin Atlantic must be able to see and request the award space before you move points.
Transfer points only after confirmation
Once the agent confirms the award can be booked, transfer points to Virgin Atlantic and stay on the phone while the booking is ticketed.
Save the ANA record locator
After ticketing, save the ANA confirmation number and use ANA's reservation page to manage seats and passenger details.
Please note: as of some phone calls to Virgin Atlantic, agents may be able to confirm ANA award space but may not be able to hold it. Treat holds as uncertain and be ready to transfer only after the agent confirms the booking path.
What Fees Should I Be Aware Of?
Virgin Atlantic will pass on ANA's carrier-imposed surcharges to you, often considered part of the taxes-and-fees portion of tickets. The largest fees come from aviation fuel and insurance surcharges, which ANA updates periodically.
Additionally, if you need to cancel or change your ANA award ticket more than 24 hours before departure via Virgin Atlantic, there is a $50 fee. This can still be reasonable relative to the points savings, but include the cash fees when comparing programs.
Is This A Good Deal?
Virgin Atlantic's ANA award chart can still be excellent for premium cabins, especially if you can find ANA business or first class space to Japan. The tradeoff is that availability is scarce and carrier-imposed surcharges can reduce the cents-per-point value.
Other programs will charge the following prices for tickets on ANA:
- Air Canada: 75k miles in business, 110k miles in first (based on a ticket going from North America to Japan, under 7,500 miles flown)
- United Airlines: 80k miles in business, 110k-242k miles in first
Comparably, given the fuel surcharges, you might be willing to use more points or fewer points depending on how much you want to spend out of pocket. Regardless, this remains a strong redemption when the award space is real and the cash fees fit your budget.
Is ANA First/Business Class Any Good?
Simply put, ANA's first and business class are known as some of the best products available in the sky. I have flown ANA's old first class and found it to be a spectacular experience from start to finish as well.
Virgin Atlantic ANA Award Chart FAQ
Conclusion
While Virgin Atlantic is not necessarily my favorite award program, the ability to redeem Virgin points for ANA awards remains one of the best sweet-spot redemptions around. If you are planning to fly to Japan, use the current Virgin Atlantic ANA award chart to set your points target, search broadly for real ANA award availability, and call Virgin Atlantic before transferring points.
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