American Matches Delta and United’s Already-Deeply-Discounted First Class Fares to Hawaii

November 2015
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The Suite: Eight semi-enclosed suites (no privacy doors) on B777-300ERs, arranged in a 1x2x1 layout. Each has a private closet, 77-inch-long lie-flat seat, and 23-inch-wide LCD monitor.

Routes with the First Class Suite

To/From Tokyo: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Flying Beyond Tokyo: All Nippon’s destinations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East can be added for more miles.

[aside headline="Two Ways to “Buy Miles to Fly in Style”—at Up to 86% Off" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]Simply by purchasing Amex Rewards points, at 2.5¢ each (up to 500,000 per year permitted), First Class will cost you about $3,750 to $4,125 round-trip (including taxes)—for a seat that otherwise goes for as much as $27,792.[/aside]

Sky-High Fare Equals Great Mileage Opportunity

Published First Class Fares: Normally $19,027 round-trip (14-day advance) to $27,792 to Tokyo from JFK, for example, making this a prime route for using miles.

Mileage Cost: Starts at 150,000 through All Nippon.

No All Nippon Miles? No Problem.

Transfer Starwood Points to ANA: 120,000 to 135,000

Transfer Amex Reward Points to ANA: 150,000 to 165,000.

No Amex Card to Buy the Points and no Starwood Points to Transfer? No Problem.

Consider buying LifeMiles from Avianca. This can net New York-Tokyo in First Class for just $4,145. More on LifeMiles magic.

Five Steps to Booking Award Space

Step One: Survey the chart to the right for award space.

Step Two: Log in to your All Nippon account.

Step Three: All Nippon will not hold mileage award space unless you have the miles needed in your account. If you have the miles, book award space.

Step Four: Transfer the necessary points from Amex Rewards or Starwood. Find information on All Nippon miles.

Step Five: As soon as points have  transferred, go back to the site and  book the award.

How Anyone Can Save Up to 86% on All Nippon’s First Class Suite

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Use Miles Instead?

For most, no; American charges 75,000 miles round-trip for a free award ticket from LAX to Hawaii. If you have miles to burn, use them, knowing that the return is only about 1.6¢ per mile. The return per mile on an upgrade is about the same. The lowest economy fare is currently $600 (Q class) from LAX, plus $350 co-pay and 30,000 miles (replacement cost is about $885).

[["","First Class","Economy"],["Fare","$1,200 ","$600"],["Hours in the air (round-trip)","11.5","feels like 15+"],["Cost to upgrade with no extras","$600","#colspan#"],["<strong>Upgrade Cost-Per-Flight Hour<\/strong>","$52","#colspan#"],["One checked bag R\/T","$0","$50"],["Premium Economy Seats R\/T","$0","$180"],["Meal and drink R\/T","$0","$30"],["Difference in miles earned value","$0","$74"],["Total cost including the common extras","$1,200 ","$934"],["Cost to upgrade when extras are in play","$266","#colspan#"],["<strong>Upgrade Cost-Per-Flight Hour<\/strong>","$23","#colspan#"]]
<small><em>*Fares based on Nov. 30 departure and return on Dec. 7.</em></small>