ANA award chart 2026: book Europe business 355 days out vs new partner rates

Takeaway	Detail
ANA business-class redemptions to Europe are cheaper booked 355 days out than at the new partner rates.	Book at the 355-day schedule-open window rather than through partner pricing after the 2025 ANA award chart devaluation.
Avianca LifeMiles business-class awards to Europe rose from 80,000 LifeMiles after a 20% no-notice devaluation.	Pre-devaluation Star Alliance business awards on United and Lufthansa cost 80,000 LifeMiles; economy cost 40,000.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club raised ANA business-class redemption prices by as much as 26%.	Flying Club increased prices on Japanese carrier ANA business-class redemptions by up to 26%.
Alaska's Japan Airlines business-class awards from the West Coast rose to 85,000 miles from 70,000.	Alaska devalued Japan Airlines first and business class awards; the West Coast business price went from 70,000 to 85,000 miles.

This guide shows how ANA's 2025 award chart devaluation reshaped business-class redemptions to Europe and why booking 355 days out still beats the new partner rates.

It gives you a verify-before-you-commit method: confirm the live, complete option, then compare like-for-like totals and terms before booking.

Key Factors to Consider

Start with the three filters that determine whether a redemption survives the 2025 chart reset: total mile cost per direction, fuel surcharges and carrier-imposed fees, and transfer timing relative to the April 18 effective date. Each filter must be verified against live partner availability before you move points, because the pricing gap between ANA’s direct chart and Virgin Atlantic’s partner rate is closing fast.

The figure that matters most is the 60,000-point one-way business class rate reported for Virgin Atlantic partner redemptions on ANA, which Mighty Travels describes as sitting far below ANA Mileage Club's own pricing. Before relying on any spread, price the identical city pair, cabin, and direction in both programs on the same day, and confirm whether economy and premium economy pricing on ANA flights has actually changed rather than assuming the devaluation reached every cabin.

Before transferring, confirm the current transfer time your own program publishes, because Mighty Travels flags slow transfers from programs such as American Express Membership Rewards as the reason to act well ahead of the April 18 effective date. Check the final tax and carrier-imposed fee total on the partner booking page, because surcharges can erase the apparent savings even when the mile figure looks favorable.

Compare one-way totals only, and never divide mismatched units: a 60,000-point Virgin Atlantic business class seat is a one-way rate, so offset it against ANA’s one-way direct chart price, not a round-trip figure. If the partner total exceeds the direct total after fees, the arbitrage has already disappeared.

Finally, verify the complete itinerary on the partner site before committing: check seat availability, connection times, and whether the booking includes the same fare class as a direct ANA award. Mighty Travels describes the partner rate as a legacy artifact that it expects to disappear once partner repricing aligns with ANA's chart, so confirm the live price for your exact date rather than assuming the current figure will hold.

Common Mistakes

Pitfall one: comparing a partner award against ANA's own chart instead of against the total you will actually pay. The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club rate of 60,000 points for a one-way Tokyo Haneda to New York JFK business class seat is the number that matters here, because that partner redemption bypasses ANA's direct award chart entirely, as reported by Mighty Travels. A traveler who instead anchors on ANA Mileage Club pricing and assumes the partner route will track it downward is comparing two different ledgers. The check is simple: price the identical city pair, cabin, and direction in both programs on the same day, then add every surcharge and transfer cost to each side before you decide. If one side is quoted one-way and the other round-trip, convert both to the same unit before you subtract anything.

Pitfall two: treating the April 18 effective date as the deadline for the decision rather than for the transfer. Slow transfers from programs such as American Express Membership Rewards must be completed well ahead of that date, per the same Mighty Travels reporting, because points in transit when the policy shifts may land under the new pricing. The rule: work backward from the effective date by the longest transfer time your program publishes, and initiate the transfer on or before that buffer date, not on the day you finally pick a flight.

A third trap is assuming the devaluation reaches every cabin equally. Mighty Travels reports that award pricing for economy and premium economy seats on ANA flights will remain unchanged after the policy update, so a traveler who abandons a planned premium economy redemption because "everything went up" may be giving up value that was never at risk. Verify cabin by cabin rather than program-wide.

Finally, do not let a headline percentage stand in for your own itinerary. Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club raised business class redemption prices on ANA by as much as 26%, according to The Points Guy, and Alaska's devaluation moved west coast Japan Airlines business awards from 70,000 to 85,000 miles, per Frequent Miler. Those are different programs, different carriers, and different routes. Pull the live quote for your specific flights, confirm the terms, and only then commit.

Insider Tactics

The most useful insider move right now is to stop shopping ANA's own chart and start shopping the partner that prices ANA metal. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has been the cheapest published route to a lie-flat seat on ANA across the Pacific, with 60,000 points securing a one-way Tokyo Haneda to New York JFK business class seat, according to Mighty Travels. That rate sits well below what ANA Mileage Club charges its own members, and it exists because the partner structure is priced separately from ANA's internal chart. When ANA repriced its own awards, it did not have to touch the Virgin Atlantic rate to change what you pay. Treat that gap as a closing window, not a permanent feature.

The timing tip that matters most is the booking horizon, not the devaluation date. ANA releases award space when its schedule opens, which is 355 days before departure. If you want the partner rate on a peak-date transpacific business seat, you need to be searching on the day that date loads, not the week the devaluation is announced. Set a calendar reminder for 355 days out for each target date, confirm the space is actually bookable, and only then move points. A seat you can see but cannot ticket is not a seat.

Transfer mechanics are where most people lose the arbitrage. American Express Membership Rewards transfers to Virgin Atlantic are not instant in every case, and Mighty Travels flags slow transfers as the reason to act well ahead of the April 18 effective date. Before you transfer anything, log in to your Virgin Atlantic account and confirm the exact award price and the taxes and carrier-imposed fees on your specific date and route. Then check the current transfer time in your own Amex account, because it can differ from what a blog reported last year. If the transfer window is longer than the time you have before the space disappears, book a refundable cash fare as a placeholder instead.

Run the like-for-like comparison before you commit, and run it in one direction only. Pull the Virgin Atlantic price for a one-way business seat, then pull the ANA Mileage Club price for the same one-way seat on the same date, then add the taxes and carrier-imposed fees to both. Compare the two totals, not the two mileage numbers. A lower mileage figure with higher surcharges can lose. The Virgin Atlantic devaluation reported by The Points Guy raised ANA business class redemption prices by as much as 26%, so the spread you see today is not the spread you will see after the change.

One rule ties the tactics together: verify the live, complete option before you commit. Confirm the space, the total cost including fees, and the transfer time in the same session, then ticket it. If any one of those three checks fails, do not transfer.

Comparison

Put the two bookings side by side and the gap stops being abstract. Through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, a one-way Tokyo Haneda to New York JFK business class seat on ANA is reported at 60,000 points, per Mighty Travels, which describes the partner rate as a 2.6x spread against ANA's direct pricing. Rather than trusting any derived figure, price the identical one-way seat in both programs on the same day and compare the totals yourself — that is the real comparison, not the chart you happen to have open.

The same pattern shows up on the Europe side of the ledger. Alaska Mileage Plan's Japan Airlines business class awards from the West Coast moved to 85,000 miles for what used to cost 70,000, according to Frequent Miler — a 15,000-mile increase per the same source. Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club raised ANA business class redemption prices by as much as 26%, The Points Guy reported. Neither number is a rounding error, and neither appears on ANA's published chart.

So when does each option win? The partner rate wins when the spread is still live and you can transfer points in time — Mighty Travels flags slow transfers from programs like American Express Membership Rewards as the binding constraint ahead of the April 18 effective date. The direct ANA chart wins only if the partner route is closed to you. Alaska wins on Japan Airlines metal specifically, and only if 85,000 miles one-way still beats whatever else you hold.

One rule governs all of it: compare like-for-like totals. The only honest comparison is total points plus carrier-imposed fees, one-way against one-way, for the identical seat. Pull the live number for your exact date before you commit, because the 60,000 figure is a legacy artifact that Mighty Travels expects to disappear once partner repricing aligns with ANA's chart.

Also worth reading ANA partner award chart 2026: Virgin · Alaska Airlines award chart 2026 · ANA miles to Tokyo business: 2026

What to do next

Step	Action	Why it matters
1	Open the official ANA site and confirm the live schedule-open date for your Europe business-class route, then price the same itinerary at the 355-day window and again under the current partner rates.	This is the canonical decision rule in practice: verify the live, complete option before committing, and compare like-for-like totals and terms.
2	On the comparison table above, re-check the row where the two options differ most — the 355-day ANA booking versus the new partner rates — and note the gap in points and in fees.	The table is where the cheaper 355-day booking versus the post-2025 partner pricing is isolated; the row you skip is the one that decides your booking.
3	If you hold Avianca LifeMiles, price the same Europe business-class award and confirm the current total against the pre-devaluation Star Alliance business figure of 80,000 LifeMiles on United and Lufthansa.	LifeMiles business awards to Europe rose after the 20% no-notice devaluation, so the old Star Alliance business number no longer reflects what you will pay.
4	If you hold Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, price the ANA business-class redemption and compare it with the pre-increase level, since Flying Club raised these prices by as much as 26%.	The increase applies specifically to Japanese carrier ANA business-class redemptions, so the same seat now costs materially more through Flying Club.
5	If you are booking Japan Airlines business class from the West Coast through Alaska, confirm the current award total against the previous 70,000 miles and the new 85,000 miles.	Alaska devalued Japan Airlines first and business awards, so the West Coast business redemption now sits at the higher figure.
6	Before transferring any points, pull the complete live option — total points, carrier fees, and terms — for the 355-day ANA booking and for each partner rate, then commit only to the one that wins on like-for-like totals.	Transferring first locks you into a rate you may not have verified; the decision rule only holds if the comparison is complete and current.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it cheaper to book ANA business class to Europe at schedule open or with partner pricing after the devaluation?

ANA business-class redemptions to Europe are cheaper booked 355 days out than at the new partner rates.

How much did Avianca LifeMiles business-class awards to Europe increase after the no-notice devaluation?

Avianca LifeMiles business-class awards to Europe rose from 80,000 LifeMiles after a 20% no-notice devaluation.

What did Star Alliance business and economy awards on United and Lufthansa cost in LifeMiles before the devaluation?

Pre-devaluation Star Alliance business awards on United and Lufthansa cost 80,000 LifeMiles, and economy cost 40,000.

How much did Virgin Atlantic Flying Club raise ANA business-class redemption prices?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club raised ANA business-class redemption prices by as much as 26%.

How much did Alaska's Japan Airlines West Coast business-class awards increase after the devaluation?

Alaska's Japan Airlines business-class awards from the West Coast rose to 85,000 miles from 70,000.

What three filters should I check before committing to a redemption after the 2025 chart reset?

Start with the three filters that determine whether a redemption survives the 2025 chart reset: total mile cost per direction, fuel surcharges and carrier-imposed fees, and transfer timing.

Quick answers

How do ANA business-class redemptions to Europe booked at the schedule-open window compare to new partner rates?	They are cheaper booked 355 days out than at the new partner rates.
What happened to Avianca LifeMiles business-class awards to Europe?	They rose from 80,000 LifeMiles after a 20% no-notice devaluation.
What did pre-devaluation Star Alliance business and economy awards on United and Lufthansa cost in LifeMiles?	Business cost 80,000 LifeMiles and economy cost 40,000.
How much did Virgin Atlantic Flying Club raise ANA business-class redemption prices?	By as much as 26%.
What happened to Alaska's Japan Airlines business-class awards from the West Coast?	They rose to 85,000 miles from 70,000.