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Flying business class across the Atlantic makes the journey much more comfortable, even for a short six-hour flight. Such comforts become even more crucial for flights to Asia, where even the shortest flights to and from North America span 10+ hours.
Flying in a premium cabin allows passengers to lie flat and get some much-needed rest. That could be at the start, the end, or both ends of a trip. Plus, enjoying the in-flight business class amenities helps pass the time on long-haul and ultra-long-haul flights! Expect to redeem more points than the cheapest transatlantic business class options, though plenty of great mileage sweet spots still exist.
Below are details on the cheapest ways to fly between North America and Asia using points and miles.
Page Contents
- From 100,000 ANA Mileage Club Miles Round-Trip from North America to Japan
- 52,500 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points Between Western U.S./Canada and Japan
- 55,000 Aeroplan Points One-Way from Vancouver or Seattle to Tokyo
- 60,000 Alaska Mileage Plan Miles Between Vancouver or Seattle and Tokyo
- 60,000 AAdvantage® Miles Between U.S. and Canada and Japan and Korea
- 70,000 (or fewer) AAdvantage® Miles between U.S. and Canada and Elsewhere in Asia
- Redeem Fewer Points by Maximizing a Transfer Bonus
- Final Thoughts
From 100,000 ANA Mileage Club Miles Round-Trip from North America to Japan
Typically, one-way awards provide maximum flexibility for travelers when booking without requiring additional points or miles. It also allows award travelers to leverage different airline programs flying in each direction.
However, the redemption opportunities with ANA Mileage Club should make travelers think twice. Despite recent increases to mileage requirements, round-trip business class flights between North America and Japan begin at just 100,000 miles — or 80,000 miles if you route from Hawaii!
Compare 100,000 miles round trip with the 110,000 miles United charges one way for flights similar to these, between Vancouver (YVR) and Tokyo.
Even in peak season, ANA Mileage Club charges just 110,000 miles for round-trip business class flights between North America and Japan. Adding flights beyond Japan are fairly reasonable in cost, too.
ANA transfer partners
Only Amex Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to ANA Mileage Club. Transfers take about two days to process, according to available AwardWallet data points. Keep this in mind during flight planning and booking. Whenever possible, put awards on hold before making any points transfers.
Related: The Best Points and Miles for Free Flights to Tokyo
52,500 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points Between Western U.S./Canada and Japan
For just 2,500 extra points, West Coast-based travelers can book the same ANA flights mentioned above without the round-trip requirement. Those flying from the rest of the U.S. or Canada will need to pony up an extra 10,000 points rather than 2,500.
However, this still represents a fantastic redemption opportunity, even after a recent devaluation. Even the redemption cost for first class from the West Coast to Japan remains competitive with many other programs' business class options. Price from Hawaii are comparatively low, too.
You won’t find ANA flights when searching on the Virgin Atlantic website. Instead, search via another partner airline such as United Airlines, or use a handy award search tool, to help find this often scarce award space.
Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability
Virgin Atlantic transfer partners
In addition to still being one of the cheapest ways to book business-class flights to Japan, Virgin points are some of the easiest points to accumulate. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club partners with practically every transferrable points program. Even better, frequent Virgin transfer bonuses can further reduce the award costs.
Related: Overlooking Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Can Be Costly
55,000 Aeroplan Points One-Way from Vancouver or Seattle to Tokyo
Air Canada Aeroplan’s once-unique hybrid award chart dictates award prices by region and distance. Longer flights, of course, require more points.
Particularly relevant is that flights between North America and Asia include many of the world’s longest. Still, two transpacific routes span just under the 5,000-mile threshold:
- Vancouver to Tokyo
- Seattle to Tokyo
That means you can book these routes for just 55,000 Aeroplan points inbusiness class!
ANA flies both of these routes, and Air Canada also serves the Vancouver to Tokyo route. Unfortunately, transpacific ANA flights have not appeared on the Air Canada website for some time, so booking these flights may pose a challenge in the short term. You may find it worth calling Aeroplan to try to book over the phone.
Related: The Secret Sweet Spots of Aeroplan Stopovers and Open Jaws
Air Canada transfer partners
Aeroplan points transfer in from several partners, making them easy to collect. Transfers are typically immediate as well.
60,000 Alaska Mileage Plan Miles Between Vancouver or Seattle and Tokyo
Those with large swaths of Bilt Rewards points can get to Japan in business class for 60,000 points, thanks to Bilt's recently added transfer partner Alaska Airlines. Similar to Aeroplan, Alaska Mileage Plan now determines award pricing based on a hybrid zone-and-distance award chart. Still, for the aforementioned Vancouver to Tokyo and Seattle to Tokyo routes, travelers need just 60,000 points for a business class award flight.
Alaska Airlines also offers a valuable Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card that makes it easy to earn enough miles to book this sweet spot.
- LIMITED TIME ONLINE OFFER-Buy One, Get One + 50,000 Bonus Miles!
- Buy one ticket, get one for just the taxes and fees ($0 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) and get 50,000 bonus miles with this offer. To qualify, make $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.
- Get Alaska's Famous Companion Fare™ ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) each account anniversary after you spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year. Valid on all Alaska Airlines flights booked on alaskaair.com.
- Earn unlimited 3 miles for every $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases. Earn unlimited 2 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, EV charging station, cable, streaming services and local transit (including ride share) purchases. And earn unlimited 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases. And, your miles don't expire on active accounts.
- Earn a 10% rewards bonus on all miles earned from card purchases if you have an eligible Bank of America® account.
- Free checked bag and enjoy priority boarding for you and up to 6 guests on the same reservation, when you pay for your flight with your card - Also available for authorized users when they book a reservation too!
- With oneworld® Alliance member airlines and Alaska's Global Partners, Alaska has expanded their global reach to over 1,000 destinations worldwide bringing more airline partners and more ways to earn and redeem miles.
- Plus, no foreign transaction fees and a low $95 annual fee.
- This online only offer may not be available elsewhere if you leave this page. You can take advantage of this offer when you apply now.
- Earn unlimited 3 miles for every $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases
- Earn unlimited 2 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, EV charging stations, cable, streaming services and local transit (including ride share) purchases
- Earn unlimited 1 mile for every $1 spent on all other eligible purchases
60,000 AAdvantage® Miles Between U.S. and Canada and Japan and Korea
American Airlines remains the last of the three legacy U.S. airlines to publish an award chart — at least one for partner airlines. Luckily for travelers, this award chart remains rife with great redemption opportunities. Business class flights between the U.S. or Canada and Japan or Korea (termed “Asia 1”) represent a fine example of such an opportunity.
For just 60,000 AAdvantage® miles, passengers may fly in style from the East Coast to Northeast Asia. And there are no distance restrictions on this one. You can fly the roughly 6,700-mile flight from Boston to Tokyo Narita for just 60k AAdvantage® miles:
Now that Bilt and American ended their partnership, only Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to American Airlines, and at a 3:1 rate. However, there is a wide array of other methods to earn AAdvantage® miles, with the primary being opening an American Airlines credit card and collecting a sign-up bonus.
With these perks, it's easy to justify the annual fee of $99, waived for first 12 months.
- Free checked bags for you and up to 4 companions on domestic itineraries
- Priority boarding to help you win the race for overhead bin space
- A 25% discount on inflight food, beverage, and Wi-Fi purchases
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at restaurants
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at gas stations
- Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
- Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
70,000 (or fewer) AAdvantage® Miles between U.S. and Canada and Elsewhere in Asia
Noticing a lot of redemption opportunities involving Japan? Its proximity to North America helps keep award costs down. However, Asia includes much more than just one or two countries.
Beyond the 60,000-mile sweet spot to Japan and Korea, flying anywhere else in Asia in business class costs just 10,000 extra miles. American Airlines breaks up Asia into several regions (as most do), but no matter what, the 70,000-mile cost stays the same for business class.
To highlight just how incredible the 70,000-mile rate is, take a look at flights between Key West, Florida (EYW) and Bali, Indonesia (DPS). The Great Circle Mapper distance between the two airports comes in at a staggering 10,881 miles — and that's before you add connections.
For anyone willing to travel more than two days straight for such a journey, an itinerary exists via AA.com for just 70,000 miles in business class:
Three of the four legs required for this journey include lie-flat business class seats. Such accommodations become even more crucial when traveling for this span of both time and distance! The itinerary spans 12,126 miles — with over 11,000 miles in lie-flat business class.
Travelers with time and patience (or quite a bit of luck) may find flights to Asia for less than the prices from the award chart excerpt above. Recall that American Airlines did away with an award chart for their own flights. With a dynamic pricing model in place for American Airlines flights, sometimes this works in the customer's favor.
For example, the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia (PHL) to Doha, Qatar (DOH) sometimes costs just 65,000 miles in business class.
Related: A Complete Guide to American Airlines Award Travel Rules
Redeem Fewer Points by Maximizing a Transfer Bonus
Additional award opportunities require slightly more than the 70,000-mile limit options covered above. For instance, Aeroplan charges 75,000 miles for itineraries up to 7,500 miles in length. Additionally, Avianca LifeMiles now charges at least 85,000 miles for flights from North America to Asia. However, both programs (and others) often enjoy transfer bonuses from one or more of the major transferrable currency programs.
For example, Chase occasionally runs transfer bonuses to Aeroplan. So, if you can leverage a 20% transfer bonus to Aeroplan, that reduces a 75,000-point award cost to just 62,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. It also drops the 87,500-point award cost to just 73,000 points for itineraries spanning 7,501 to 11,000 miles.
Such an opportunity stands out, given that Aeroplan enjoys access to expanded Singapore Airlines partner award space, including the longest flights in the world. Thanks to a transfer bonus, booking through Aeroplan would require just 73,000 Ultimate Rewards points instead of the 111,500 miles Singapore Airlines charges for the same flight.
Be sure to keep all current transfer bonuses in mind when making travel plans. With steep standard redemption costs, even the smallest transfer bonus makes a sizable dent in the overall points cost.
Final Thoughts
Any kind of trip involving a transoceanic flight means a lengthy journey ahead. Enhancing air travel by flying business class makes the beginning or end of a trip much more comfortable. Upgrading the travel experience on either or both sides effectively extends the vacation for several hours.
While the business class flight options between North America and Asia cost a fair bit more than counterparts to and from Europe, great deals are still waiting to be booked. Round-trip business class flights starting at just 100,000 points put potential points costs on par with some European sweet spots!
And, when considering the disparity in distance flown for some of these options, a 12,000+ mile journey to Asia in business class for just 70,000 American Airlines miles starts to look like a bargain.
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