When you talk about airlines doing exciting things, ANA kinda took the world by storm in 2020. Without any teasers or product launches with fireworks, ANA quietly unveiled what I’d argue is the best business class seat in the world, and a brand new first class suites too. They don’t just look extraordinary, they are. In a rare move, ANA has dumped quite a few dates in each month from both New York and London where you can use points to book these exceptional experiences for yourself…
ANA is rolling out its new cabins between London Heathrow and Tokyo Haneda, and between New York JFK and Tokyo Haneda and Narita. Heathrow is already flying and New York will be online before the end of 2019, and fortunately, there’s amazing award availability for a seat in first class from both airports in both 2019 and 2020.
- New York JFK to Tokyo
- London Heathrow to Tokyo
It’s worth noting that San Francisco and Frankfurt will also be added, so it’s a good idea to check space for 2020 from both as well…
From the start, you should know that there are a few ways to book this, and by far the best is via the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Round Trip first class using Virgin Atlantic miles requires 120,000 points, whereas United would charge 110,000 miles each way to book these. The best options for booking ANA first class using points, including the transfer partners from which you can create these miles are…
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club – 120,000 Miles Round Trip – Amex, Citi, Chase transfer partner.
- United MileagePlus – 110,000 Miles One Way – Chase transfer partner.
- Avianca LifeMiles – 90,000 Miles Each Way – Capital One, Amex, Citi transfer partner.
- Aeroplan – 105,000 Miles Each Way – Capital One, Amex transfer partner.
It’s typically not easy to find more than a few singular dates in an entire calendar year when ANA has released first or business class seats, let alone multiple dates in many months for their newest and very best seat, complete with privacy doors. It’s exciting stuff…
From London to Tokyo you can find first class availability on: January: 14, 29 February: 25, 28 March: 26 April: 13, 14, 15, 26, 27 May: 20, June: 6, 15 July: 28 August: 7, 18, 19, 21.
From New York to Tokyo you can find first class availability on: October: 2, 3 January: 29 February: 4, 5, 20, 21, 29 April: 1, 7, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 May: 20, 27, 28, June: 11, 16, 21, 22 July: 1, 13 August: 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 18, 21, 22.
Don’t forget that you can use Amex Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, Capital One Venture Miles and more to create miles with any of the programs mentioned above. Award avail like this comes and goes, and since changes or cancellations are usually inexpensive, it’s best to book first and figure it out later.
Although you’re flying on ANA, all the searching and booking will be done with whatever airlines miles you plan to use to book this. In other words, if you want to use Virgin Atlantic miles, call Virgin Atlantic to book. If you want to use United miles, use the United website to book. If you want to use Aeroplan, use the Aeroplan website, and so forth.
The best way to search availability for ANA is with United.com so look there, and then call your airline to lock in what you find. There’s less availability returning from Tokyo, but you could always fly back in business, or at least lock in one segment now and add return later. Here’s first time tips for Tokyo and why expensive sushi is worth it, while you’re here…
Is this mostly for just one single seat on those dates? I went through several of the dates searching for 2 seats and couldn’t really replicate the results on the days listed from either origin. Thanks.
Mostly for one. ANA rarely releases 2 F at once, but often will release a second over time. Sometimes good to book one in business and one in F and set alerts for when and if a second F opens, generally t-10 days.
I’m flying ORD-HND-ORD in March. What’s the word on the conversion to that equipment?
Hard to say, to be honest, at least from my outside perspective.
How I do I know I’m not booking the old first class suites on NH’s 77W’s? I’m looking at the seatmaps for the flights out of JFK and it looks like the old configuration.
Count the business class seats. New planes have lower seat count with 64 in total.
Gil,
Is it possible to do an open jaw when using Virgin miles for these?
i.e., LHR-TYO TYO-JFK ?
Tbh, I’ve often wondered the same. Query VS and let me know how you get on? I’ll be joining if it’s a yes. My gut would think, sure, it’s the same amount of miles, but ya never know. Fingers crossed!
This is wrong. Some dates you put out don’t have the new product, and the others are VERY uncertain.
New cabins have J class to Row 20 only. Old cabins have J class to Row 21.
For London, they all have the new product. For New York, the Lions share of availability is in 2020, when it will have the new product.
Off peak season, 2 seats of ANA first class from JFK to Tokyo are not difficult to find, provided that you book 300+ days ahead. It’s the business class that is horribly difficult to book, no matter how early you book. Even when they do release business class seat, they often only release 1 per flight. You can easily imagine why — there are far less people having enough points to book first class. In addition, ANA probably makes more money from selling business class, therefore they are less willing to release biz class seats.
Just curious the source for it being added to the SFO route. I had seen FRA and JFK, but yet to see the source for the SFO route. If so, excited, as I am flying them in April in F from SFO. So, hoping it will be the new seat!
If virgin is using the ANA award rules, The open jaw must be in the same country. (Per ANA rules, all Europe is considered one country, and USA and Canada is considered one country.)
So LHR TYO _ TYO FCO would be allowed, but LHR TYO – TYO HNL not.
Similar to Jim, I’ve only seen that FRA and JFK will get the new business and first class cabins. Where did you hear/read that SFO will also get it?
Is this a congressional hearing? Everyone has sources within airlines.
Exciting for those based near SFO. Any insight as to when the new cabins will be available to/from SFO?
All 777?
Its premature to assume most of 2020 will have the new cabins, especially on both JFK flights. This article is about booking ANA award space in the NEW FIRST CLASS to Tokyo using POINTS, and there isn’t even a footnote to the very real chance that your followers could be in for a big disappointment.
This is especially true since we are all av-geeks and some would book only to experience the new cabin. With any airline, there are chances of equipment swaps even with confirmed routes if the entire fleet of the specific a/c is still in progress. Any info that minimizes the chances of this is welcomed and sought.
Revising to reflect KNOWN information is especially important because it’s exactly what the whole point of the article is and would actually enhance the value of your writing.
I do appreciate content like this and the time responding to most comments. It’s an opinion/alert column, and as such, being technically correct that ANA will operate the new cabins most (more than 50%) of 2020, means nothing to those that might fly in Jan or Feb and get the old cabin. Just read the comments, readers are already searching for availability and planning. Wouldn’t you want them to know that old cabin is still DAILY from JFK? It is award space, and almost guaranteed someone with find last minute availability on other days you didn’t list and will have the old product.
Great article. We have 400k CapOne Miles and were trying to book 2 ANA business class seats to Tokyo this spring (April/May) from the east coast (JFK or IDA) but it looks like all the J award seats are sold out. Does that sound right?
Any other airlines you would recommend to fly J to TYO? I think our only option would be to transfer to Aeroplan then book from there, but I could be wrong? We’ve never tried to travel back like this.
I found one flight leaving LAX via ANA Business Class, but on the return flight, there was a First Class ANA flight available. Can you mix classes when booking a round trip? I’ve looked into September 2020 and there are practically no ANA Award flights available. Is this typical or do you think the Summer Olympics is affecting travel? Thanks.
Yes you can! Enjoy!
Just did a search on United for the entire year for ANA flights, not a single business nor first. Gilbert, am I doing the search wrong? Curious if you’re able to see availability
Cheers