How to pay less than €1300 instead of €13,000 for a ticket in the best first class in the world
Serial accumulators of points and miles have goals, dreams to achieve, flying first class with the [...]
Virgin Atlantic
All Nippon Airways (ANA)
Star Alliance
Serial accumulators of points and miles have goals, dreams to achieve, Flying first class with Japanese airline All Nippon Airways is one of them.
In this article:
The reason is simple, we are talking about what is unanimously recognized as the best first-class cabin in the world whose paid tickets can cost no less than 12 thousand euros.
Currently, Japan's borders are only open for Olympic athletes, but a reward traveller knows very well that he has to plan well in advance for certain trips, especially when, as in this case, premium seats in the world's most exclusive cabin are extremely rare commodities.
Bad news first
In the pre-pandemic world, Italy had only two direct flights with Japan, both operated by Alitalia. From Milan and Rome to Tokyo Narita. In conjunction with the announcement of Alitalia that would operate out of Haneda Airport., closer to the center and easier to reach, ANA had announced that it would activate a connection to Milan Malpensa
It is currently unclear if and when, ANA will activate flights to Lombardy, but in any case if you want to take a place (or two) in "The room" you need to aim for 2022. By then hopefully we will all be in a better situation.
This is because not all of ANA's long-haul fleet is outfitted with the new first and business class cabins, and at the moment the certainty of finding these seats is only on some routes operated with Boeing 777s such as London Heathrow, New York JFK, and Frankfurt. That is why, in this article, we will repost as examples only flights departing from London and German airports.
Now for the good news
In Italy, there is no possibility of Turn Membership Rewards points into points in the ANA loyalty program, a different strategy must therefore be employed. That is, buying the points, but not of ANA, but of the program. Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club.
Right now the London-based company founded by Sir Richard Branson has an extraordinary and unprecedented promotion that allows up to 70% bonus points for those who buy points from its program. To have a term of comparison, the maximum offer made by Virgin has never exceeded the 30% bonus.
Although this is an excellent way to save money on ANA first and business class tickets, it is not without risk. Japan's borders are still closed to tourism because of the pandemic, so you may need to change or cancel your trip. Therefore, if you plan to go to Japan, it is best to plan as far ahead as possible.
N.B. At this time (July 18) it is possible to book tickets departing June 2022
In addition, there is no guarantee that Virgin Atlantic do not devalue ANA awards in the future. That is why the saying "no risk, no gain" applies in this case. As a reward there is the possibility of saving more than 10 thousand euros on booking a ticket, on the other hand there is the risk of being left with a handful of points in your hand that may no longer be enough for that same itinerary.
Traveler forewarned, traveler half saved.
How many Flying Club points are needed for this ticket
Obviously, it is an expensive ticket, which is why being able to take advantage of the 70% bonus could save you so much money compared to operating without a bonus or with a less generous bonus.
As you can see in the table, booking a first class ticket from Europe (including Italy) to Japan costs 120k points, if you settle for business class you will save a little bit, as the round trip ticket costs only 95k FC points.
How to find ANA award places
If you want to book your award ticket with ANA through Virgin Atlantic's loyalty program, you have to go through the airline's call center.
There are several ways, the easiest being to be enrolled in ANA's loyalty program and search for seats directly from the Japanese carrier's platform. Of course, we are talking about finding a needle in a haystack.
Two places we found them on April 7, 2022 from London
Or May 11 from Frankfurt, for return flights are often "waitlisted," so it might be an idea to test outbound in First and return in business, which is feasible and also cheaper.
The offer in detail
Bonuses change depending on the amount of points you intend to buy:
- By purchasing up to 24,000 points, you get the bonus 15%
- By purchasing up to 69,000 points, you get the 20% bonus
- By purchasing up to 99,000 points, you get the 40% bonus
- The maximum is achieved by buying 150,000 points by triggering the 70% bonus
If you want to aim for one ticket, you only need to buy 81 thousand points for an expenditure of £1,230, or about €1,430 + 150€ tax
If you instead aim to share this experience, you must buy the maximum points allowed, which is 150k for an expenditure of 2,265 pounds, at the exchange rate is 2600€, it means that the 12,500€ ticket you pay only 1300€ + 150€ tax
Important things to know
- To be able to buy points there is time until Aug. 14, the points must be used within 36 months, but you can renew the validity with little effort.
- You must be enrolled at the Flying club
- Your FC account cannot be zero, you must have at least one point
- Before buying points, look for award places. When you find them, contact VA and opts places for 24 hours, then buy the points and complete the transaction
How to earn your first FC points
I am a registered FC and Silver member, thanks to thestatus match operation launched this winter, but not having flown with them yet I was zero until 3 days ago. Then, determined to take advantage of this promo, I transferred 12k Marriott Bonvoy points into 4k FC points, points that were credited to me in less than 48h.
If you do not have Bonvoy points, my advice is to turn 10k Membership Rewards points into Bonvoy points and then from there into FC points.
So if you've made it this far in the article, it means that the idea of peeling off this prize ticket, second perhaps only to the round-the-world race, interests you. If you think it's "too complicated," let me tell you that it's true, it's not simple, but the reward is commensurate with the hard effort. You might be able to pay, including taxes, less than €1,500 for a ticket that costs no less than €12,500. The game is worth the candle, isn't it?
Have you tried? Have you succeeded? Tell us about it in the comments
