ANA miles to Tokyo business: 2026 devaluation vs partner rates

This guide compares every way to book Tokyo–NYC business class on ANA metal for 2026, using the 60,000-mile ANA direct award as the benchmark.

It shows how the 2026 devaluation and partner rate hikes — including Virgin Atlantic's increase of up to 26% — change which program your miles are best spent in.

How ANA's 2026 devaluation actually works

ANA's 2026 devaluation is not a flat, across-the-board increase. It raised award prices on its own metal in many cabins and markets, yet the Tokyo–NYC business class award stayed bookable at 60,000 miles one-way, according to Mighty Travels. The mechanism is selective repricing: some own-metal awards went up, while this flagship transpacific business seat was preserved at the 60,000-mile one-way level rather than swept into the hike.

The same devaluation wave moved through partner redemptions on ANA. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club increased the prices of business class redemptions on ANA by as much as 26%, as reported by The Points Guy. So the partner path to the identical ANA seat repriced upward at the same time ANA's own price held, which is the core of how the devaluation works: it is not one program acting alone but a coordinated upward drift across the award chart, with ANA's own Tokyo–NYC business award as the exception that did not move.

The mechanism extends beyond ANA and its partners. Alaska Airlines devalued Japan Airlines first and business class awards, with the west coast now costing 85,000 miles for what used to cost 70,000, per Frequent Miler. Avianca LifeMiles devalued Star Alliance redemptions by 20% without notice, pushing Europe business class on partners such as United and Lufthansa above the prior 80,000-mile level, per AwardWallet. The pattern is industry-wide: long-haul premium awards are being repriced upward, but each program is moving at a different rate and by a different amount.

For Tokyo–NYC business class specifically, the mechanism produces a clear relative shift. ANA's own award remains anchored at 60,000 miles one-way, while the partner route that once competed with it, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, now prices the same ANA business seat up to 26% higher. The devaluation did not touch the 60,000-mile figure, so the gap between booking ANA directly and booking through a partner widened in ANA's favor rather than closing.

The practical read of the mechanism is about which chart you price against. The 60,000-mile figure is a one-way business class award on ANA's own metal for Tokyo–NYC; it is not a round-trip price and not a partner redemption rate. Because the devaluation left that one own-metal number in place while lifting partner rates around it, the mechanism increasingly funnels this route toward ANA's own program rather than toward a transfer partner.

The evidence: three sources, one convergence

Three independent sources, three different programs, one consistent story: the cheap partner routes into ANA business class are closing, while ANA's own award on its own metal remains the outlier. When separate analysts tracking separate programs land on the same conclusion, that convergence is worth more than any single data point.

Mighty Travels documents the anchor figure: ANA's own Tokyo–New York business class award remains bookable at 60,000 miles one-way, the lowest price among the three programs compared here. That is the number every partner alternative now has to beat, and per their reporting, none of them does.

The Points Guy reports the first crack: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has increased business class redemption pricing on ANA by as much as roughly a quarter. The practical meaning is that the old-rate partner window — the reason many travelers transferred transferable points to Virgin Atlantic specifically to book ANA — has closed. If you hold Virgin Atlantic miles, the check is now simple: price the same ANA business seat through Flying Club, compare it against ANA's own 60,000-mile one-way rate, and only transfer points if the partner math still wins. In most cases it no longer will.

Frequent Miler adds the third data point from a different alliance partner: Alaska's Japan Airlines business class award from the west coast rose from 70,000 miles one-way to 85,000 miles one-way. That is an increase of 15,000 miles, or about 21%. The pattern matches Virgin Atlantic's move — partner programs that used to offer discounted access to Japan's premium cabins have repriced upward, in Alaska's case by a five-figure mile jump on a single redemption.

Program	Route	Cabin	Price (one-way)	Change
ANA (own metal)	Tokyo–New York	Business	60,000 miles	Held at old rate
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	ANA business redemptions	Business	Raised	Up to roughly a quarter more
Alaska (JAL awards)	West coast–Japan	Business	85,000 miles (was 70,000)	About 21% more

The convergence points one direction: for Tokyo–New York business class, ANA's own 60,000-mile one-way award is the best redemption on ANA metal, and booking through ANA directly beats routing partner miles through Virgin Atlantic or Alaska. If your miles sit in a partner program, verify the current partner rate before any transfer — the repricing documented by The Points Guy and Frequent Miler means yesterday's transfer advice may cost you tens of thousands of miles today.

Options compared: ANA vs partners

When you line up the ways to fly Tokyo–New York in business class on this route, ANA's own award on ANA metal sits at 60,000 miles one-way, per Mighty Travels. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club raised its business class pricing on ANA by as much as 26% (The Points Guy); because the sources give the percentage but not the resulting rate, verify the live Virgin price against the 60,000-mile benchmark rather than assuming it loses. Alaska Airlines, booking into Japan Airlines, now charges 85,000 miles for west coast departures that used to cost 70,000 (Frequent Miler). The table below sets out the comparison.

Program	Award	Price (one-way)	Verdict
ANA (own metal)	Tokyo–NYC business	60,000 miles	Winner — book this if you hold ANA miles
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	ANA business	Up to 26% above the old rate	Check the new rate before transferring
Alaska Airlines	Japan Airlines business, west coast	85,000 miles	Works, but costs more than ANA direct

The practical rule falls out of the table directly. If your miles already sit in your ANA account, the 60,000-mile one-way business award is the redemption to make as priced above. If your miles sit in Virgin Atlantic or another partner program, do not transfer anything until you have searched the award at the program's current rate and confirmed it still beats 60,000 miles plus whatever taxes and fees ANA's own booking carries — a cash component no source here quantifies.

The Virgin Atlantic case deserves its own check. A 26% increase is a ceiling, not a floor, so the exact new price depends on the specific date and cabin you search. That means the arithmetic you need is simple: take whatever rate Virgin shows you for your dates and compare it against 60,000. If the gap favors Virgin by enough to offset any difference in fees, the partner booking can still win — but only after you verify the live number, because the old cheap rate is gone.

Alaska's 85,000-mile JAL award is a different animal entirely: it books Japan Airlines metal rather than ANA, and the published figure is for west coast departures, so a New York origin may price differently. Treat it as a fallback when you specifically want JAL's cabin or when ANA award space is thin, not as a price competitor to the 60,000-mile ANA award.

One caveat before you commit: the table compares mile costs, not out-of-pocket costs. Carrier-imposed surcharges and taxes vary by program and routing, and none of the three sources above prices them for you. Price the full cash component on the ANA site and on any partner site you are considering before deciding — the miles comparison only settles half the transaction.

Costs and numbers that matter

Start with the only number that should anchor your decision: ANA's own Tokyo–NYC business class award at 60,000 miles one-way, per Mighty Travels. That figure is the benchmark. Every partner program you might use to reach the same seat has to be measured against it, and in 2026 the gap is widening fast enough that a casual transfer can cost you real value.

The clearest warning comes from Virgin Atlantic. Its Flying Club program raised business class redemption prices on ANA by as much as 26%, according to The Points Guy — but that percentage applies to Virgin's own prior rate, which the available sources do not state, so no exact new mile figure can be computed here. The check is mechanical: price the same ANA business seat through Flying Club for your dates, then compare that live number against ANA's 60,000-mile one-way benchmark. Only if the partner total still beats ANA direct does the transfer make sense.

Alaska Airlines shows the same pattern on a different partner. Frequent Miler reports that Japan Airlines business class awards from the west coast moved from 70,000 to 85,000 miles one-way — a 15,000-mile jump, or roughly 21% more. Different program, different airline, same direction: partner pricing on Japan awards is climbing while ANA's own-metal rate holds at 60,000 miles one-way.

Program	Business award, one-way	Change
ANA (own metal, Tokyo–NYC)	60,000 miles	Benchmark
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (ANA)	Up to 26% more	Increase
Alaska (Japan Airlines, west coast)	70,000 → 85,000 miles	+15,000 miles

So the rule for 2026 is mechanical, not emotional. If you already hold ANA miles, book the 60,000-mile one-way business award directly and stop shopping. If your balance sits with Virgin Atlantic or Avianca LifeMiles, do not transfer a single point until you have priced the current partner rate for your exact date — the old rate you remember is not the rate you will pay.

One caution before you commit: this section gives you the mile costs and the percentage changes, nothing more. Taxes, carrier surcharges, and availability rules on these awards are not established here, so verify them at the time of booking rather than assuming the 60,000-mile figure is your all-in cost.

What the evidence does NOT establish

The available sources does not establish whether ANA's 60,000-mile Tokyo–NYC business award includes carrier-imposed surcharges or government taxes. Mighty Travels reports the 60,000-mile figure as the award price, but award prices and cash components are separate line items in most programs, and the source does not break out what cash you actually pay at checkout. Before you transfer a single point, pull up a live ANA award search for your exact date and read the total cash due on the confirmation screen. If the surcharges on ANA metal run into the hundreds of dollars, that changes the math against a partner award that prices higher in miles but lower in cash — and the available sources gives you no figure either way, so the booking flow is the only place to get it.

The exact new Virgin Atlantic Flying Club rate for ANA business class is also missing. The Points Guy documents an increase of as much as 26% on ANA business redemptions, but the article states the percentage, not the resulting price. That means you cannot compute your own break-even from the available sources alone. The rule: open Virgin Atlantic's site, price the same Tokyo–NYC business itinerary you found on ANA, and compare the two totals side by side — miles plus cash — before you move points from a credit card partner into Flying Club. A 26% increase applied to an unknown base is not a number you can plan around.

Alaska's 85,000-mile figure comes with a geographic qualifier that is easy to miss. Frequent Miler describes that rate in the context of west coast departures, where the price rose from 70,000 miles. Tokyo–NYC is not a west coast departure, so the 85,000-mile figure should not be treated as your price. Check Alaska's award chart for your specific city pair and cabin before assuming any number applies. The same caution applies to the LifeMiles devaluation AwardWallet covered: that reporting concerns Europe redemptions on Star Alliance partners, not ANA business class to New York, so do not carry those figures over to this route.

One more limit worth naming: none of the available sources sources verifies award availability. A 60,000-mile rate that has no seats on your dates is worth nothing, and devaluation coverage typically tracks prices, not inventory. Search ANA's own site first for saver-level business space, confirm the cash total, then decide whether a partner program is even worth checking.

Unverified item	What to do instead
Whether 60,000 miles covers surcharges and taxes	Read the total cash due in ANA's live booking flow
Virgin Atlantic's exact new ANA business rate	Price the same itinerary on Virgin Atlantic's site
Alaska's 85,000-mile rate outside west coast departures	Check Alaska's award chart for your city pair

Booking Tokyo–NYC business

Booking this award is a two-checkpoint process, and the order matters. Start with ANA's own site, not a partner program. Search award space on ana.co.jp for your travel dates in business class, one-way, Tokyo to New York. If ANA's own flights price at 60,000 miles one-way, you have found the best redemption on ANA metal per Mighty Travels — but read the total cash due (taxes and any carrier-imposed surcharges) on the confirmation screen before ticketing, since no source here establishes that amount. Do not transfer any points until you have confirmed the seat is actually available for your dates; transferred miles rarely come back.

Checkpoint 1 is availability, and it is binary. If ANA's site shows no award space on its own flights for your dates, that is the moment to look at partner programs — not before. Searching partners first wastes time, because even when a partner shows the seat, the price will likely be worse than what ANA charges its own members for the same seat.

Checkpoint 2 is the price comparison, and here is the arithmetic to run. Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club has increased business class redemptions on ANA by as much as 26%, per The Points Guy. Take whatever rate Virgin Atlantic quotes

Decision rules for 2026 bookings

Strip away the analysis and the 2026 booking question comes down to three if/then rules. Follow them in order and you'll land on the right program without re-running the whole comparison every time.

Rule one: if you hold ANA miles and find Tokyo–NYC business class open at 60,000 miles one-way, book it immediately. That price survived ANA's 2026 devaluation on ANA's own metal, per Mighty Travels, and there is no reason to wait for a better number that the current award chart doesn't promise. Award space at this rate is the redemption itself — lock it in.

Rule two: if your miles sit with Virgin Atlantic, check the current rate before transferring anything. Flying Club raised ANA business class redemptions by as much as 26%, according to The Points Guy. The check is simple: pull up the same Tokyo–NYC business award in your Virgin Atlantic account and compare it against 60,000 miles one-way. If the partner rate comes back higher, earning or moving miles toward ANA directly — where your card programs allow it — is the better play; if it matches or beats 60,000, book with what you have and skip the transfer risk.

Rule three: if you hold Alaska miles and your goal is Japan Airlines business class rather than ANA metal, expect the repriced level of 85,000 miles for west coast departures that Frequent Miler documents, up from the prior 70,000-mile price — a 15,000-mile jump. That figure is specific to west coast departures, so check Alaska's award chart for your actual origin before relying on it. The decision here is about which cabin and carrier you want, not about dodging a devaluation.

Your miles	Target	Check before booking
ANA	ANA business, Tokyo–NYC	Book at 60,000 miles one-way if available
Virgin Atlantic	ANA business, Tokyo–NYC	Compare current rate to 60,000 one-way; transfer only if it beats ANA direct
Alaska	JAL business, west coast–Japan	Expect 85,000 miles one-way

One caution cuts across all three rules: these figures reflect the post-devaluation charts as reported, and partner rates can move again without notice — Avianca's LifeMiles cut redemptions by 20% with no warning, per AwardWallet. So treat each rule as a check you run at booking time, not a price guarantee. The 60,000-mile ANA award is the anchor; everything else gets measured against it on the day you book.

Also worth reading Delta SkyMiles business class · United 2026 award chart: Europe · United miles to Europe business

What to do next

Frequently Asked Questions

Did ANA raise the price of its own Tokyo–NYC business class award in the 2026 devaluation?

No, ANA kept the Tokyo–NYC business class award at 60,000 miles one-way during its 2026 devaluation.

How much did Virgin Atlantic Flying Club increase business class redemptions on ANA?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club increased business class redemptions on ANA by as much as 26%.

Is the 2026 ANA devaluation a flat across-the-board increase?

No, the 2026 ANA devaluation is selective repricing, raising award prices on some own-metal cabins and markets while preserving the Tokyo–NYC business class award at 60,000 miles.

Which program's identical ANA seat repriced upward while ANA's own price held?

The partner path to the identical ANA seat, such as Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, repriced upward while ANA's own Tokyo–NYC business award stayed at 60,000 miles.

Does the 2026 devaluation affect only ANA and its partners?

No, the mechanism extends beyond ANA and its partners, as seen with Alaska Airlines devaluing Japan Airlines first.

What is the benchmark used to compare booking Tokyo–NYC business class on ANA metal for 2026?

The 60,000-mile ANA direct award is used as the benchmark for comparing every way to book Tokyo–NYC business class on ANA metal for 2026.

Quick answers

What is the benchmark for booking Tokyo–NYC business class on ANA metal in 2026?	The 60,000-mile ANA direct award is used as the benchmark.
How did ANA's 2026 devaluation affect the Tokyo–NYC business class award?	The Tokyo–NYC business class award stayed bookable at 60,000 miles one-way, according to Mighty Travels.
What change did Virgin Atlantic Flying Club make to business class redemptions on ANA?	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club increased the prices of business class redemptions on ANA by as much as 26%, as reported by The Points Guy.
How does the article describe the mechanism of ANA's 2026 devaluation?	The mechanism is selective repricing: some own-metal awards went up, while the Tokyo–NYC business class award was preserved at the 60,000-mile one-way level.
What does the article say about the broader impact of the devaluation beyond ANA and its partners?	The same devaluation wave moved through partner redemptions on ANA, and the mechanism extends beyond ANA and its partners, with Alaska Airlines devaluing Japan Airlines first.