ANA = The Taylor Swift of Award Travel?!
Let’s be honest.
Booking ANA award seats feels like trying to score Taylor Swift tickets at midnight. You refresh, you pray, you blink, and poof, those dream Business Class seats are gone.
Then, the DMs from my friends start:
“Did ANA get easier since the update of ANA award program on June 24, 2025?”
“Can I actually find seats more easily now?”
Here’s the truth: ANA didn’t suddenly become generous. She just got slightly more flexible. But those award tickets? It is still harder to catch than front-row seats at the Eras Tour.
The good news is that there is a rhythm behind the chaos. And once you learn it, you’ll go from frantically refreshing to calmly seeing the possibility and clicking “book.” Let’s break it down: three lessons, one simple action, and zero stress.
Lesson 1: Find Your Airline’s Real “Friend Group”
Here’s where most beginners start tripping up.
You search for ANA seats on your favorite award tool, see something shiny, and think, “Wait, do I need ANA miles for that, or can I use United? LifeMiles? Maybe Virgin Atlantic?”
Think of airlines like high school cliques:
Star Alliance High:ANA, United, and Avianca (LifeMiles) hang out together.They share notes, that means you can use any of their miles to book ANA flights right online. (The screenshot showed ANA first class award ticket on LifeMiles as they are “best friends.”)
The Exchange Student: Virgin Atlantic. She technically goes to SkyTeam Academy but hangs out with ANA every weekend. So yes, you can book ANA Business or First or Economy (not Premium Economy) with Virgin Atlantic points. You’ll just need to pick up the phone. (Yes, an actual phone. No one said this was 2025-friendly.)
Once you figure out who’s friends with whom, the entire game calms down. You stop searching in the wrong lunchroom and finally start increasing your chance of seeing real availability.
Takeaway: Know your airline’s friend group before you go hunting. It’s the difference between scrolling blind and searching smart.
Lesson 2: The 24-Day Gap That Explains Everything
Let’s talk about the part that makes everyone crazy, the timing.
Quick update before we dig in: In June 2024, ANA rolled out a big change — one-way redemptions.
Cue the messages: “Does that mean it’s easier now?”
I WISH.
One-ways simply mean you can plan more flexibly with ANA without being worried how to book the return. Still the number of award seats as limited as ever. ANA didn’t add more award tickets; they just gave you another door to knock on.
Translation: ANA’s more flexible, not more generous. The rhythm still matters.
Now, let’s pull back the curtain on that rhythm:
- ANA opens award seats 355 days out.
- LifeMiles award calendar opens 360 days out
- United Airlines 337 days out
- Virgin Atlantic award calendar opens 331 days out.
Take Virgin Atlantic as an example. That’s a 24-day lag, which means ANA’s own website will show seats a month before Virgin even knows they exist.
In my ANA screenshot from October 28, 2025, award space stretched through October 16, 2026. Virgin Atlantic? Still snoozing at September 19–20, 2026.
If you’re traveling solo, that lag might not matter. But if you’re planning a family trip during cherry-blossom season or school break, it’s a deal-breaker. By the time Virgin “wakes up,” those ANA seats are long gone.
Takeaway: The early bird doesn’t just get the worm, it gets the Business Class seat.
Lesson 3: How to Stay Calm While Your Points Catch Up
Here’s the part no one tells you until you’re sweating in front of your computer: AMEX → ANA transfers aren’t instant. They officially take up to four days, though in my experience it’s usually 48–72 hours. And those waiting hours? They feel like years when the seats you want are staring at you on the screen.
So first, let’s make sure you’re earning from the right cards.
How to earn points you can transfer to ANA:
ANA is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, so your go-to cards are:
The Platinum Card® from American Express – it is a perfect “Lifestyle Card” with lots of exciting benefits and perks that fit into the travel and daily life.
American Express® Gold Card — great for families, 4x at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets.
All three earn Membership Rewards (MR) points, which transfer to ANA at a 1:1 ratio. That means every 1,000 Amex MR points = 1,000 ANA miles. Now that you’re earning smart, here’s how to keep calm when it’s time to move those points.
Here’s the calm-plan I want to share (and live by):
Photo Credit: Unsplash
- 1] Track manually. I watch ANA’s site for a week to learn the rhythm, sometimes award search tools might help as your assistant.
- 2] Add a small cushion. Once I sense the pattern, I move points two day or three days early. Transfers take time. Build that margin, save yourself the heartburn.
- 3] Know what’s not possible. ANA will only place a temporary hold (72 hours) if you already have all the required miles and the option applies only to ANA-operated flights, not partners. (I have just called ANA this morning!) For most families, that means holding seats isn’t a real safety net. The smarter play is planning transfers proactively and accepting that timing is part of the process.
My own data point: a Friday-night transfer at 10 PM PST posted Sunday morning, right on time for the flights I wanted.
Key takeaway: Focus on what’s controllable: your tracking and timing, not the “holds” that rarely help.
Your One-Minute Action Step
Pick one school break you’d love to plan: winter 2026, spring break 2027, or even summer. Then:
- Open ANA’s award calendar (355 days ahead).
- Note the date your target week appears.
- Set a phone reminder that says “ANA window opens today.”
You don’t have to transfer points or book anything. Just watch the pattern. Once you see it play out yourself, everything starts to make sense, and this is how you increase the chance to score the award tickets.
Final Thought
Award travel isn’t luck, it’s learning rhythms most people overlook. ANA’s still the Taylor Swift of airline awards: high demand, tiny supply, total frenzy. But once you understand how she drops her seats, you can plan calmly, and actually enjoy the process.
