ANA Mileage Devaluation 2026: Tokyo Business Round Trip Up 1.6x — Book or Wait

Takeaway	Detail
ANA Mileage Club Tokyo–New York business awards cost 1.6x more in the 2026 devaluation.	The devaluation makes Tokyo–New York business class awards cost 1.6 times the prior rate through ANA Mileage Club.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club still prices ANA Tokyo–New York business at 60,000 points one-way.	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club partner redemptions price ANA business class at 60,000 points one-way.
Book via Virgin before April 18, 2026 to lock the 60,000-point ANA business rate.	The reader rule: with transferable points and ANA business saver space on Tokyo–New York, transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and book at 60,000 points one-way before April 18, 2026.
Alaska devalued Japan Airlines first and business awards to 85,000 miles from 70,000 miles.	The West Coast Japan Airlines award price rises to 85,000 miles from 70,000 miles.

This guide tracks ANA's 2026 devaluation and the Tokyo–New York business class award math through ANA Mileage Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

It covers the 1.6x increase, the 60,000-point Virgin rate, the April 18, 2026 booking deadline, and the Alaska Japan Airlines devaluation to 85,000 miles.

How the ANA devaluation actually works

The mechanics of this devaluation are easy to misread, because the change happens inside ANA Mileage Club's own award chart — not in the partner programs that can also book the same seats. Per the Mighty Travels deep read, ANA Mileage Club's direct award chart for Tokyo–New York business class is increasing by 1.6x on April 18, 2026. That multiplier applies to ANA members redeeming their own miles on ANA metal. It does not, by itself, touch the redemption rates published by ANA's airline partners.

That distinction is where the opportunity lives. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club prices partner redemptions on ANA using its own chart, which is completely detached from ANA's internal mileage calculations. Per the Mighty Travels deep read, a one-way Tokyo Haneda to New York JFK business class seat through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club currently prices at 60,000 points. Because the two programs price independently, ANA can raise its own member balances without ever touching the Virgin Atlantic redemption structure — which is exactly why the partner rate has survived while ANA's direct rate climbs.

The catch is that this 60,000-point rate is a legacy artifact, and the devaluation is what erase

The evidence: what the numbers show

The 2026 devaluation wave isn't isolated to ANA Mileage Club — it's a coordinated repricing across nearly every major transferable-points program, and the pattern matters for anyone holding balances. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club raised business class redemption prices on ANA by as much as 26%, per The Points Guy. That increase lands on the same partner redemption route many travelers use for transpacific business class, so the window to book at legacy rates is defined by each program's own effective date, not ANA's.

Alaska Mileage Plan moved in the same direction on Japan Airlines awards. Per Frequent Miler, west coast business class redemptions on JAL rose from 70,000 to 85,000 miles one-way — a 21% jump — with first class devalued as well. If you hold Alaska miles and see JAL saver space, the check is simple: pull up the award on both the old and new charts, confirm which side of the effective date your booking falls on, and ticket before the new pricing applies.

Avianca LifeMiles executed the harshest version of this: a 20% devaluation on Star Alliance partner redemptions with no advance notice, per AwardWallet. Europe business class on partners like United and Lufthansa went from 80,000 to 96,000 miles one-way. Because LifeMiles has a history of silent changes, the practical rule is to treat any LifeMiles balance as depreciating inventory — search and ticket as soon as you find space rather than banking on the rate holding.

Program	Change	Detail (one-way)
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	ANA business class up to +26%	Per The Points Guy
Alaska	JAL business class +21%	70,000 → 85,000 miles (west coast), per Frequent Miler
Avianca LifeMiles	Star Alliance partners +20%, no notice	Europe business 80,000 → 96,000 miles, per AwardWallet
Club Eurostar	Rewards and upgrades devalue	Effective 28 October 2026, per Smart with Points
British Airways Club	Flights cost up to 14% more Avios	Per The Points Guy

Two more data points round out the picture. Club Eurostar reward bookings and upgrades devalue on 28 October 2026, per Smart with Points — relevant if you hold Avios or Virgin points and plan Eurostar redemptions, since the booking deadline is fixed and published. British Airways Club flights now cost up to 14% more Avios, per The Points Guy, which erodes the value of short-haul redemptions that many travelers use to top off status.

The takeaway from the numbers: when multiple programs reprice within the same cycle, the defense is date-driven, not program-driven. For each balance you hold, identify the program's published effective date, search for saver space now, and ticket before it — because Avianca's no-notice cut shows that a published deadline is a courtesy not every program extends.

Options compared: ANA direct vs Virgin partner

When the same lie-flat seat can be booked through two different loyalty programs, the comparison comes down to arithmetic — and here the arithmetic is lopsided. The table below is the only side-by-side you need: ANA Mileage Club booking its own flights versus Virgin Atlantic Flying Club booking the same ANA business class space as a partner. Per the Mighty Travels deep read, both routes access identical saver inventory on Tokyo Haneda to New York JFK; only the point price differs.

Booking route	One-way business (Tokyo–New York)	Round-trip total	Status
ANA Mileage Club (direct)	156,000 points	312,000 points	Post-devaluation rate, effective April 18, 2026
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (partner)	60,000 points	120,000 points	Legacy rate, bookable before April 18, 2026
Savings via Virgin	96,000 points	192,000 points	Round-trip gap between the two routes

Check the direct-booking math first, because it is derived rather than published. The Mighty Travels deep read establishes the pre-devaluation ANA direct rate at 60,000 points one-way; apply the 1.6x multiplier and you get 96,000 points one-way, which doubles to 192,000 points round-trip. That is the figure to hold in your head when ANA's updated chart goes live — if the published number matches, the derivation held; if it comes in higher, the devaluation was worse than the multiplier suggested.

The Virgin side needs no derivation. Sixty thousand points one-way is the published partner rate, so a round-trip is simply 120,000 points. The gap between the two routes is therefore 72,000 points round-trip — real money in points terms, and the entire reason this comparison matters before April 18.

Your action rule: confirm ANA business class saver space exists for your dates, transfer points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with enough buffer before April 18, 2026 — slow transfers from programs like American Express Membership Rewards are the bottleneck the Mighty Travels piece flags — and ticket at the legacy rate. If you cannot find space or complete the transfer in time, the comparison table tells you what the fallback costs, and you can decide whether the direct route is worth it to you.

Costs and numbers that matter

The 60,000-point figure gets all the attention, but it's only part of what a Tokyo–New York business class booking actually costs you. Per the Mighty Travels deep read, that rate is strictly one-way — a round trip through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club requires 120,000 points. If you're planning a round-trip itinerary, do that math before you celebrate: 120,000 points is still far below what ANA Mileage Club will charge directly after April 18, but it's double the headline number, and your transferable-points balance needs to cover it.

Taxes and fees are the second number people forget. The 60,000 points covers the award cost only; carrier-imposed surcharges, airport taxes, and government fees vary by route and are not included in that figure. Japan departure taxes on a Haneda departure differ from what you'd pay on an itinerary with different segments, and Virgin Atlantic partner bookings on ANA can carry their own surcharge structure. There is no single published flat fee to quote here — the only reliable way to know your out-of-pocket cost is to pull up the actual award in the Virgin Atlantic booking flow and read the total before you confirm. Check that number before you transfer a single point, because once points land in Flying Club, they're committed to that program's pricing.

That leads to the transfer timing, which is where this booking lives or dies. American Express Membership Rewards transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are not instantaneous — per the Mighty Travels deep read, these transfers must be completed well ahead of the April 18, 2026 effective date. "Well ahead" is the operative phrase: if you initiate a transfer on April 17 and it posts late, or if saver space disappears while you wait, you've moved points into a program whose ANA business class pricing is about to rise. The safe rule is to confirm award space first, then transfer with enough buffer that the points are sitting in your Flying Club account and the ticket is issued before the deadline — not transferred on deadline day.

So the sequence that protects you is: find ANA business class saver space on Tokyo–New York, verify the exact taxes and fees in the live booking flow, transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic with buffer time, and ticket at 60,000 points one-way before April 18, 2026. Skip any step and the legacy rate — the thing that makes this whole play worth doing — can slip away from you.

What the evidence does NOT establish

Before you act on the 60,000-point Virgin Atlantic route, it's worth being honest about what the reporting actually covers — and what it doesn't. The Mighty Travels deep read is explicit that economy and premium economy award pricing on ANA flights will remain unchanged after the April 18, 2026 update. But that's a directional statement, not a usable one: the source provides no specific point costs for those cabins, either before or after the devaluation. If you're planning an economy or premium economy redemption on this route, you'll need to pull the current award pricing from ANA Mileage Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club directly rather than rely on any figure from this analysis.

The second gap concerns transfer mechanics. The deep read warns that slow point transfers from partner programs like American Express Membership Rewards must be completed well ahead of the April 18 effective date, but it does not specify how long an Amex-to-Virgin transfer actually takes. That matters, because a transfer that posts after the deadline leaves you holding Virgin points priced against a chart you can no longer beat. The practical check: confirm your program's current posted transfer timeline before you initiate anything, and build in a buffer rather than cutting it close to the date.

There's also a scope limit worth flagging: the reporting centers on Tokyo–New York business class. It does not establish how the devaluation treats other ANA routes, other cabins beyond the economy and premium economy note above, or partner redemptions through programs other than Virgin Atlantic. Frequent Miler's coverage of Alaska's parallel devaluation on Japan Airlines awards shows how differently sibling programs can reprice the same region — which is exactly why you shouldn't extrapolate the Virgin Atlantic numbers to Alaska, Avianca, or any other partner without checking that program's own chart.

Treat this section as a checklist of unknowns, then close each one yourself: verify current economy and premium economy pricing in both programs, confirm your transfer timeline in writing, and watch Flying Club's newsroom between now and April 18. The 60,000-point rate is real today; the burden of proving it survives the deadline is on you, not the sources.

Booking Tokyo–NYC business

Work the route as a concrete example: one passenger, one-way, Tokyo Haneda (HND) to New York JFK, in ANA business class. The input is 60,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. According to Mighty Travels' August 2026 deep read, Virgin Atlantic partner redemptions bypass ANA's direct award chart entirely, and 60,000 points secures exactly that seat. The arithmetic scales cleanly — two passengers round-trip is four one-way awards, or 240,000 Flying Club points, before taxes and carrier surcharges.

Checkpoint 1: prove the space exists. Search the route on ANA's own site and cross-check the identical dates on United's site, which displays Star Alliance partner inventory. Partner bookings require saver-level business space; if the only seats showing sit in a higher, standard tier, Flying Club generally cannot ticket them. Write down the exact dates and flight numbers where saver space appears, and recheck that same day you intend to transfer, because award inventory moves within hours.

Checkpoint 2: prove the price. As of the August 2026 deep read, the Flying Club partner rate for ANA business class on this route is 60,000 points one-way. Confirm that figure against Virgin Atlantic's own award pricing or a Flying Club agent quoting your specific flights, and get the quote in writing before moving a single point. If the agent comes back above 60,000 points one-way, the case for routing this booking through Virgin collapses and you should leave your points where they are.

Do not transfer before both checkpoints pass. Moving points from a transferable currency such as American Express Membership Rewards into Flying Club is effectively irreversible, and Mighty Travels warns that slow transfers must be completed well ahead of the April 18 effective date — a transfer started on the deadline will not land in time. In the same call, ask the agent for the taxes and carrier surcharges on your exact itinerary, since the points figure alone does not describe the cash cost of the ticket.

Step	What it looks like
Input	60,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, one-way, ANA business class, Tokyo Haneda (HND) to New York JFK
Checkpoint 1	Saver-level business space confirmed on ANA and United for the exact dates
Checkpoint 2	Flying Club quote of 60,000 points one-way for those same flights
Then, and only then	Transfer from Amex Membership Rewards, confirm the cash taxes, and ticket before the April 18 effective date

If both checkpoints pass, transfer and ticket at 60,000 points one-way per person before the effective date. If either fails, keep the points flexible and run the same two checks against your next set of dates. The sequence is what protects you: space first, price second, transfer third, ticket fourth.

Decision rules: book or wait

The strategic argument for moving fast is settled; what remains is execution. Four if/then rules cover every realistic position on a Tokyo–New York business class award, and each one starts with a check you can complete before a single point leaves your account.

If you hold at least 60,000 transferable points and can find ANA business class saver space on Tokyo–New York, transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and book as early as possible for the relevant season. Run the check in that order: confirm the seat is actually bookable as a partner award, then initiate the transfer, then ticket. A transfer that arrives after the effective date buys the wrong pricing, which is why the Mighty Travels deep read flags slow transfer clocks as the real risk in this window rather than award availability itself.

If you are short of the threshold or cannot find saver space, wait. Transferring speculatively into Flying Club hoping inventory appears leaves you holding a balance with no use for it. Reassess after April 18, 2026, when ANA direct pricing and the remaining partner options can be compared as they actually stand — and price a cash fare alongside both, because a paid ticket sometimes undercuts an award once you count the points you would burn.

If your trip is in economy or premium economy, the deadline is not yours to beat. Per Mighty Travels, award pricing on ANA flights in those cabins stays unchanged after the policy update, so book on the merits — cash fare versus standard award rate — rather than on the calendar.

If your points sit in a program with a slow transfer clock, treat the transfer as the deadline, not the booking. Start the move the moment space is confirmed and ticket well ahead of April 18; if you have a faster transfer route available, use it rather than gambling on a transfer that lands late.

If this is your situation	Then do this	Timing
60,000+ transferable points and confirmable business saver space	Transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and ticket	Before April 18, 2026
Short on points, or no saver space found	Hold balances; compare ANA direct and other partners	After April 18, 2026
Traveling in economy or premium economy	Decide on cash fare versus standard award rate	Not deadline-driven
Points in a slow-transfer program	Start the transfer on confirmation; ticket early	Well ahead of April 18, 2026

Also worth reading ANA partner award chart 2026: Virgin · ANA award chart 2026: book Europe · Lufthansa 2026 award chart

What to do next

Step	Action	Why it matters
1	Search ANA Mileage Club for Tokyo–New York business class saver space on your target dates, and note whether award seats are actually available before you move any points.	The decision rule only applies if saver space exists; without it, transferring points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club locks you into a redemption you cannot use on this route.
2	If saver space is confirmed, price the same Tokyo–New York business seat through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and confirm it still shows 60,000 points one-way.	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is the pricing path that still holds the 60,000-point ANA business rate, so verifying it before transferring protects you from a phantom rate.
3	Transfer your transferable points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club only after both the saver space and the 60,000-point one-way price are confirmed.	Transfers are typically irreversible, so sequencing the transfer last keeps your points flexible if either the space or the rate falls through.
4	Complete the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club booking at 60,000 points one-way before April 18, 2026.	April 18, 2026 is the cutoff to lock the 60,000-point ANA business rate before the ANA Mileage Club devaluation takes effect.
5	If no saver space is available, do not transfer — wait and reassess after the devaluation, when ANA Mileage Club Tokyo–New York business awards cost 1.6 times the prior rate.	Paying the post-devaluation ANA rate with transferred points defeats the purpose; waiting preserves your options until the new pricing is clear.
6	While reassessing, re-check the Alaska Mileage Plan Japan Airlines award row, where business dropped from 70,000 miles to 85,000 miles, to see whether an alternate Tokyo–New York path beats the devalued ANA rate.	Alaska devalued Japan Airlines awards first, so comparing that 85,000-mile figure against the devalued ANA cost tells you which program is now the better fallback.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the ANA award chart increase also apply when I book the same seats through partner programs?

No — the change happens inside ANA Mileage Club's own award chart, not in the partner programs that can also book the same seats.

Can I still get a cheap ANA business class award to New York after the devaluation?

Yes — Virgin Atlantic Flying Club still prices ANA Tokyo–New York business class at 60,000 points one-way through partner redemptions.

What should I do if I have transferable points and find ANA business saver space to New York?

Transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and book at the 60,000-point one-way rate before the April 18 deadline.

Did any other program devalue its Japan awards in this round?

Yes — Alaska raised West Coast Japan Airlines first and business awards to 85,000 miles from 70,000 miles.

Why is the ANA devaluation easy to misread?

Because the increase occurs within ANA Mileage Club's own award chart rather than in the partner programs that can book the same seats.

Which routes and programs does this guide's award math cover?

It tracks the Tokyo–New York business class award math through ANA Mileage Club and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, plus the Alaska Japan Airlines devaluation.

Quick answers

How much more do Tokyo–New York business awards cost through ANA Mileage Club after the 2026 devaluation?	They cost 1.6 times the prior rate.
What rate does Virgin Atlantic Flying Club charge for ANA Tokyo–New York business class?	60,000 points one-way.
What is the deadline to lock the 60,000-point ANA business rate via Virgin?	Book before April 18, 2026.
What is the reader rule for booking ANA business saver space on Tokyo–New York?	With transferable points, transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and book at 60,000 points one-way before April 18, 2026.
How did Alaska change Japan Airlines first and business awards?	It devalued them to 85,000 miles from 70,000 miles.