ANA adds new European routes – finally some Virgin Points availability?

Want to visit Japan using Virgin Points? It is now a decade since Virgin Atlantic dropped Tokyo (part of a route bonfire that also saw Cape Town, Vancouver and Mumbai canned) but luckily it has retained its partnership with Japanese airline ANA.

Even better, ANA has one of the best Business Class and First Class products anywhere.

Even even better, the redemption rates using Virgin Points are exceptionally attractive.

The snag? Availability is terrible. But this may be about to change …..

ANA is the most useful non-SkyTeam airline partner if you have Virgin Points and are based in the UK.

You can also earn Virgin Points when booking cash tickets on ANA, if you want to steer your next business trip their way. ANA is, of course, a Star Alliance member so you also have the option of crediting a cash flight to any Star Alliance frequent flyer programme.

ANA is substantially expanding its European network

This was the ANA European schedule for Summer 2023:

• Frankfurt – 14x weekly on a Boeing 787-9
• London Heathrow – 7x weekly on a Boeing 777-300ER
• Munich – 4x weekly on a Boeing 787-9
• Paris CDG – 3x weekly on a Boeing 787-9
• Brussels – 2x weekly on a Boeing 787-9

We will see a substantial increase for 2024:

• Paris – increases to 7x weekly from 3x weekly from July

• Munich – increases to 7x weekly from 4x weekly from 1st July

• Vienna – renewed route from pre-covid, 3x weekly from 1st August

• Istanbul – new route, starts Winter 2024

• Milan Malpensa – new route, starts Winter 2024

• Stockholm – new route, starts Winter 2024

Further details of the new flights can be found on the ANA website here.

How many Virgin Points do you need to fly ANA?

You can see the Virgin Flying Club earning and spending chart for ANA on this page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

Assuming you start your trip in the UK or mainland Europe, these are the key numbers you need to know:

• Economy return flight (London / Europe to Tokyo) – 65,000 Virgin Points

• Business return flight (London / Europe to Tokyo) – 95,000 Virgin Points

• First return flight (London / Europe to Tokyo) – 170,000 Virgin Points

One way redemptions are possible for half of the above cost.

Note that First Class redemptions seem to be limited to one seat per flight to Europe, especially on the aircraft with the new ‘THE Suite’ product which we discuss below. This was never a great option for a couple unless you book one seat and wait to see if another is released later.

Whilst this article talks about using ANA to fly to and from Europe, you can redeem Virgin Points for any flight on their network. It gives you another option if you are travelling around Asia.

How can you check ANA reward availability?

Virgin Flying Club appears to have access to the same availability as ANA’s Star Alliance partners. The Aeroplan (Air Canada) and United Airlines websites are both decent places to search for seats before calling Virgin Flying Club to book.

What about taxes and surcharges?

Historically there were no fuel charges added to ANA redemptions using Virgin Points which kept taxes and charges from the UK at around £250.

During the pandemic, however, ANA got greedy and started to add surcharges. It isn’t possible to check the numbers online but I believe it is now around £700-£800 return in a premium cabin. If anyone has booked recently, please post in the comments and I will update this section.

Virgin Atlantic lets you book ANA flights 331 days in advance

Virgin Atlantic allows you book rewards 331 days in advance. This applies to all partners and indeed Virgin Atlantic’s own flights.

Whilst this does not sound like a problem, ANA itself opens up its flights for booking at 355 days before departure.

This puts an additional squeeze on reward availability using Virgin Points, since reward seats can be snapped up by ANA’s own frequent flyers or members of partner programmes which work on a 355 day basis before you have a chance to book.

Is ANA any good?

Oh yes.

In 2019, ANA launched a new Business and First Class seat on its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, and the London route was the first to get it.  It looks rather good, to put it mildly.

(Note that only London Heathrow had the 777-300ER for Summer 2023. I’m not sure what will happen for Summer 2024.)

The First Class suites, known as ‘THE Suite’, are arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration.  Finished in dark woods, there are two only rows which make this an intimate cabin:

The seat almost takes the full width of the suite, with only a thin slither along the side given over to storage or as an armrest. There is also an exceptionally large 43” screen which has a 4K display.

170,000 Virgin Points is – given the quality of THE Suite – excellent value for a ‘once in a lifetime’ flying experience, especially on such a long route.

THE Room is ANA’s new Businesss Class product.  Club World style, half of the seats face forwards and half face backwards.

If you look at the photo below the first thing that will strike you is how disproportionately wide the seat is.  Look at the head rest.  You can see the protective cover, which is about what you’d expect the seat width to be. THE Room looks like it is twice as wide – more sofa-like than a seat! ANA says that THE Room has twice the width of their old business class seat (click for Anika’s flight review) which is not hard to believe.

Of course, this is business class and the trade-off is that it does taper into a cubby hole where your feet end up.  Nonetheless, the extra width at torso and shoulder height makes sitting and sleeping in this seat feel a lot less cramped.  It is a very clever piece of design.

I haven’t flown THE Room but I have sat in the seat at a media event.  It is, genuinely, huge.  At one point there were two of us sat side by side on the seat and we were able to have a normal conversation, with a decent bit of space between us.

Not content with a sliding door, THE Room also has a second opening which slides up and down.  This allows the crew to pass food to you whilst the door is closed, getting around one of the biggest issues with Club Suite and Qsuite.  The 24 inch 4K TV also looked very impressive, although it was not operating.

At 95,000 Virgin Points for a return trip to Tokyo, you’re laughing – even if taxes and charges are now steeper than they were.

Conclusion

The sweet spot for using Virgin Points, in terms of airline quality, is using ANA to fly to Japan. The biggest blockage has been seat availability, but hopefully this will loosen up with the addition of new European flights from July 2024 onwards.