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Flying ANA's “THE Room” business class has been on my travel bucket list pretty much since it was announced. But I still hadn't had the chance to book it as I could never line up availability with one of my many trips to Japan. So, when ANA business class award availability opened for a 15-hour flight on a route I planned to fly, I knew I had to snag it.
The only question was how to book it.
Should I transfer Amex points to ANA? Or transfer Chase points to Virgin? As a recent Turkish Miles & Smiles millionaire, my first preference was to redeem my Turkish miles. But this ANA business-class availability wasn't bookable via Turkish's website or phone agent.
After considering all my options, one stood out as the best way to book this flight. And it would only cost me $1,161 out of pocket — zero existing points or miles balance needed. When you factor in the long flight time, that cost breaks down to under $80 per hour in one of the world's best business-class products.
Here's how I snagged this incredible award, plus ways you can book it for even cheaper by utilizing transfer partners.
Why I Decided to Buy Aeroplan Points for This Award
My trick of booking 15 hours in ANA business class for $1,161 per person: Buy Aeroplan points with a 100% bonus, then redeem them immediately for this award.
But I didn't just jump to buying Aeroplan points.
As a long-time points-and-miles collector, I always first consider how I can use my existing balances. And, as my AwardWallet summary shows, I have no lack of points and miles to draw from:
I could have transferred Amex points to ANA or Aeroplan, Chase points to Aeroplan or Virgin, Citi to Virgin — all of which are detailed below.
But when I considered my options, I didn't want to burn a large stash of valuable transferable points when there was a cheap option staring me in the face.
Buying Aeroplan Points for This Award
Through February 16, Air Canada offered a 100% bonus on buying Aeroplan points. This bonus effectively dropped the per-point purchase rate to just 1.37 cents per point. (While that offer is over, Aeroplan is offering a 90% bonus when you buy Aeroplan points by March 19.)
Unlocking the 100% bonus required buying 80,000 points — which would be doubled to 160,000 points. And that's exactly how many points I'd need to book my wife and me in ANA business class on the route from Tokyo Haneda (HND) to London Heathrow (LHR).
The cost for those points: CA$3,000. That purchase posted on my credit card as US$2,214 — or $1,107 per person.
I charged the CA$146.80 (which posted as US$108.34) in taxes and fees to my primary travel card — the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
In total, I paid CA$3,146.80 = US$2,322.36 to buy enough Aeroplan points and pay the taxes and fees for two passengers. That's $1,161.18 each. Not bad for 15 hours in an excellent business class seat that retails for more than $4,000 one-way!
Especially after taking the flight, we'd happy pay that price again for the incredible experience.
Transfer Points to Book ANA The Room for Cheaper
While buying Aeroplan points made the most sense for me this trip, award travelers have even cheaper ways to book ANA The Room business class using points and miles.
ANA Mileage Club
The cheapest mileage option on this route was via ANA's own Mileage Club program. ANA charges just 55,000 miles plus $236.50 in taxes and fees per person. Although ANA historically required round-trip award bookings, you can now book one-way awards via ANA Mileage Club.
Don't have ANA Mileage Club miles? No worries. ANA is an Amex transfer partner — or you can transfer a variety of hotel points to ANA:
If you want to build your stash of Amex points to book ANA THE Room or one of the other best uses of Amex points, several Amex cards are offering large welcome bonuses:
$325Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 4X Membership Rewards® Points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. (on up to $50,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels and other eligible travel booked on amextravel.com
- 1X on other eligible purchases
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year).
- Earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel®.
- Earn 5X points on Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection bookings.
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. shipping providers.
- 2X earning rates are subject to a cap of $2 million in purchases per calendar year.
Virgin Flying Club
If you don't mind a little more hassle, you can also score a great deal on ANA business class via Virgin Flying Club. You only have to pay 60k Virgin points between Tokyo and destinations like London, New York, and Chicago — or just 52,500 from the U.S. West Coast to Tokyo.
Flying Club has been my go-to for booking ANA awards, as there's almost always a transfer bonus from Chase, Amex, Citi, or Capital One. 40% transfer bonuses are common, which would drop the rate to just 43k transferred points! But this award availability popped up at a time when none of these were offering a bonus.
Here's the full list of Virgin transfer partners — including any transfer bonuses available at the time you're reading this:
That means you can essentially stock up on Virgin points by getting one of the following cards:
$95
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
$95Rates & Fees
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
$95Rates & Fees
- 10X on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 1X – Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
Air Canada Aeroplan
Last but not least, you can use Air Canada Aeroplan points to book ANA business class. Aeroplan uses a unique zone-plus-distance-based award chart. Business class awards up to 7,500 miles in distance price at a reasonable 75,000 points one-way — such as Houston (IAH) to Tokyo (HND):
While I bought Aeroplan points for my award booking, you can earn Aeroplan points organically through cards. U.S.-based travelers can get the Chase-issued Aeroplan® Credit Card to earn Aeroplan points directly:
- Earn 60,000 bonus points
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- $95 Annual Fee
- Redeem points for both international and domestic flights with the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
- Fly to another continent and travel the world with the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
- Earn 3X points for each dollar spent at grocery stores, on dining at restaurants, and Air Canada directly. Earn 1X point for each dollar spent on all other purchases.
- 500 bonus points for every $2,000 you spend in a calendar month - up to 1,500 points per month.
- Member FDIC
- 3x points directly with Air Canada
- 3x points on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services
- 3x points at grocery stores
- 1x point on all other purchases
Or, you can transfer points to Aeroplan from several different transferrable points currencies:
Bottom Line
At AwardWallet Learn, we often focus on earning and redeeming points through credit card spending and transfer partners. But sometimes the best move isn’t using points you already have — it’s buying them strategically.
In this case, purchasing Aeroplan points during a promotion let me book a 15-hour flight in ANA’s outstanding “THE Room” business class for about $1,161 per person. That’s an exceptional value for one of the world’s best business-class experiences — and it allowed me to preserve my transferable points balances for future trips.
Of course, this strategy won’t always make sense. If you already have transferable points or can take advantage of a transfer bonus, booking through ANA Mileage Club or Virgin Flying Club can be even cheaper. But when the numbers line up, buying points or miles can unlock premium experiences that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars.
The key is keeping every option on the table — whether that’s transferring points, redeeming miles you already have, or occasionally buying points outright when the deal is good enough.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees), American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees), The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), and Aeroplan® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
