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Japan is one of the hottest destinations in award travel right now. That can make finding award space, especially for premium cabins, more difficult than ever. As many points aficionados know, one of the best deals out there is All Nippon Airways (ANA) business class between the U.S. and Japan from 50,000 ANA Mileage Club miles each way.
Finding ANA business class or even premium economy seats to or from Japan bookable with miles can be like looking for a unicorn. But there's a new award availability calendar on ANA's website that can help. While this tool will not solve every problem, it gives you a fast way to scan months of dates, compare cabins, and pounce when award space appears.
Let’s look at how to use ANA's International Award Calendar to find business and first class seats bookable with Mileage Club Miles.
What is the ANA International Award Calendar?
ANA’s International Award Calendar is a feature that allows travelers to scan months of award availability at a glance. Rather than searching day by day, you can view multiple dates on one screen and quickly see which routes and cabins have open seats, which are waitlisted, and which are completely unavailable.
The calendar lets you filter by route, direction, and cabin class so you can narrow in on the exact type of ticket you want. Note that you will only be able to search for flights on ANA, not Star Alliance or other airline partners.
For those looking for ANA business class, it can confirm in seconds whether your desired route is open or as elusive as ever, helping you decide whether to keep searching, pivot to another cabin, or choose a different set of travel dates altogether.
How Do You Use the Tool?
The tool is straightforward and simple to use. You'll need to make sure you have a Mileage Club account before you can access the calendar.
Step 1
Sign in to your ANA Mileage Club account, navigate to Use Miles, International Flight Awards, and then the Award Availability Calendar. If you navigate directly to the link, it will prompt you to sign in.
Step 2
Select your region. The tool will then display available routes to and from Japan, along with directional options (to Japan and from Japan) for each city pair.
Step 3
Choose your cabin. Select Business if that is your goal. If space looks tight, you can run the same search again in Premium Economy.
Step 4
Use the symbols to determine the space available. You are looking for circles that will show you that there is space on that route and date combination.
You can then select the dates you want to be taken to the flight search page. Or you can note the dates with availability and plug them into the search yourself. It is best practice to confirm award availability before transferring any points.
Limitations of the Award Calendar
While the ANA Award Availability Calendar can be a powerful planning tool, there are a few important things to keep in mind as you use it.
First, the calendar only displays six months of availability at a time. If you are planning a trip further in the future and hoping to snag award seats as soon as availability opens — 355 days in advance for ANA — you'll need to search the old-fashioned way. Or use an award search tool such as Point.me to help you find space.
Second, the results are updated just once per day rather than in real time. That means award seats you see may be gone by the time you click through, especially on popular routes. Conversely, new space might appear after the calendar refreshes, so it pays to check back regularly.
Finally, the calendar does not display the exact number of seats available. It can tell you if there is award space, but you must click through to the flight selection screen to verify whether enough seats are available for your entire party. This step is especially important for those searching for two or more seats in business class, where space can be extremely limited.
Therefore, use the calendar as your first pass to spot promising dates, then click into those dates to confirm exact flights, cabin types, and seat counts before transferring points or committing to a plan.
How to Earn ANA Miles
As with most airline loyalty programs, you can earn ANA miles by flying with ANA or its partners. There are also several other ways to accumulate ANA Mileage Club miles. The most effective strategy is earning transferable points through either American Express or Marriott Bonvoy.
Transfer points to ANA
You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards to ANA at a 1:1 ratio. Keep in mind, however, that transfers to ANA can take as long as 48 hours, which can be another significant difficulty in securing that hard-to-find award seat.
If you just need to top off your miles, you can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a rate of 3:1, with a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 60,000 points transferred.
Other hotel programs, including Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG, also allow transfers to the ANA Mileage Club. However, the transfer rates are generally poor, and you’ll likely lose significant value by using your points this way. For that reason, we don’t recommend transferring most hotel points to ANA miles. Here's a table of the programs that transfer points to ANA Mileage Club.
Here are some of the best cards for minting ANA miles:
(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
(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.
(Terms apply)
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media (online, TV, radio)
- U.S. purchases made from electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery
- Transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways
- Monthly wireless telephone service charges made directly from a wireless telephone service provider in the U.S.
Earn miles through credit card spending
ANA does offer a U.S.-based co-branded credit card, the ANA Card U.S.A.. It offers perks such as 2x miles per $1 spent on ANA purchases and a fast track to Bronze elite status. But it’s generally not worth considering, especially compared to the much better value you’ll get from American Express cards that earn Membership Rewards points.
That said, the card is available to you even without a credit history, and could work as an entry-level card for those looking to build their credit profile. As an added bonus, the card also offers free FICO® scores.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Booking ANA Award Flights — And How to Earn Mileage Club Miles
Bottom Line
ANA’s International Flight Award Availability Calendar is not a magic solution, but it is a good way to get a clear picture of award space at a glance. For travelers searching for one or two seats, the calendar can save hours of manual searching by highlighting the few dates when business class is actually available.
It is most helpful for those with maximum flexibility. If you can adjust your travel dates to match the dates with availability, you dramatically increase your odds of snagging ANA’s business class for just 50,000 miles one way.
In short, this tool helps you move from guesswork to strategy. Whether your goal is to fly The Room in business class or simply lock in a comfortable Premium Economy seat, the ANA award calendar is one way to spot opportunities and act before they disappear.
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), and American Express® Business Gold Card (Rates & Fees)
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