And then there was one…
Collecting points is the easy part. You just swipe, tap, type and spend away, and slowly but surely your points balances begin to stack up. But the big question is: what’s the best way to get great value for your points?
If you’ve got U.S. Amex points, there’s one highly underrated option, which has managed to avoid the “D” word, and yes, by “D” world – we mean D-E-V-A-L-U-A-T-I-O-N. That program: All Nippon (ANA) Mileage Club. It’s magic – and here’s why.
Distance Based Brilliance
Distance based charts offer some of the greatest flexibility for travelers who might not want to just go from point A to point B. If you’d like to add in a C, D, E or more, distance based charts allow you to fly pretty much wherever, just paying by the amount of distance you actually cover.
Think: around the world trip. ANA offers around the world business class for just 125,000 Amex Points, which is nothing short of incredible. You can fly a variety of airlines like United, ANA, EVA, Air Canada, Swiss and many more, globetrotting with lengthy stopovers in any city you like.
Interested in travel to Japan? Using your Amex Points, you could pay a minimum of 85,000 points each way for business class from North America using Delta, or as little as 75,000 points round trip using the ANA Mileage Club program. Yes, round trip!
Economy flights start at 35,000 points round trip for low season, and business is just 75,000. Standard season is 50,000 and 85,000 round trip for economy and business respectively, which is a total bargain for more than 24 hours in the air! And from Japan you can pay just 65,000 points for round trip business to Australia!
Oh, and short flights within Japan cost just 5,000 points.
Business class between the US and Europe or South America is just 88,000 points round trip. By flying on top airlines like Air Canada, you’re able to avoid high surcharges charged by some European airlines, while paying a mere fraction of the miles charged by most other programs.
88,000 round trip to Southern South America, like Argentina is an absolute steal for more than 20 hours of business class. 120,000 points round trip from the U.S. to Australia, or 136,000 from Europe to Australia also represents tremendous value.
ANA allows a stopover either on your outbound or return, which can help to unlock even further value from their great points rates.
Basically, even on point to point flights, you’re charged by region and not by segment, so on a trip to Sydney, you’d be allowed a stopover in Auckland for no additional mileage. It’s basically a free side flight to a nearby destination.
Have you used ANA Mileage Club before?
Featured image copyright Mark Chua, TheShutterWhale.com.
please don’t post this. its depressing for UK readers. I have enough points to go to Oz in first class for 2 pax by ANA but as you know amex is not a transfer partner with ANA in the UK. what a shame. I am still collecting points like a beggar to figure out an alternative route – likely CX or SQ i na mix of J and F.
Get yourself a US P.O. Box and have everything forwarded to the UK!!! Brilliant!