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I used AMEX via ANA transfer to get over $0.20/point value on a pair of business class tickets from West Coast US to Japan this last year. I’d say that was goo

I used AMEX via ANA transfer to get over $0.20/point value on a pair of business class tickets from West Coast US to Japan this last year. I’d say that was good value.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago
I hope Amex never devalues their program
scarface74 4y ago
As someone who has an idea about transfer partners. There is a huge difference between being able to book a flight on a random day from a random place to a random destination and just choose to pay with miles like I can do on any random Delta domestic flight for 1.3 - 1.5 cpp and having to deal with partners and waiting for award flights to open up and then only on certain days and from certain cities.
- CobaltFire 4y ago
  This was an arbitrary date and the transfer took less than 30 minutes. It was my first time using it and it was about as painless as I could have hoped for. I will say that we mostly only fly to a couple places and we mostly fly ANA, so we are an edge case.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Okay, so you’re actually using Ana to book flights directly instead of trying to use ANA to book flights on other airlines in the same alliance - in ANAs case Star Alliance. In that case, I take back everything I stand corrected.
    - CobaltFire 4y ago
      Yeah, I can't imagine the headache to do THAT. The ANA flights in these cases were Star Alliance operated long haul legs paired with shorter ANA operated legs, and we got to see both the older and newer business class for Delta (typical for most routes; we aren't where ANA runs their specific long haul). Newer is MUCH nicer.
ValentineC 4y ago
> I used AMEX via ANA transfer to get over $0.20/point value on a pair of business class tickets from West Coast US to Japan this last year. Would you have paid anything close to the cash price though? If not, the $0.20/point value seems to be more of an arbitrary number often abused by bloggers.
- CobaltFire 4y ago
  I probably would have bought the $1250 tickets instead of the $5k tickets, but we certainly appreciated the upgrade. It's what I have the cards for, after all.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    > I probably would have bought the $1250 tickets instead of the $5k tickets, but we certainly appreciated the upgrade. It’s all about perspective. For instance, my wife and I end up doing the MCO <-> ATL route a few times a year. We live in Orlando and our family/friends are in ATL. (Don’t quote me on the exact numbers. I found something similar when I looked a couple of months ago) I could fly main cabin for 13,000 miles one way and get around 1.3 cpp on Delta Main cabin. Alternatively, I was able to find a Delta flight booked through Virgin Atlantic for 18000 miles first class where I would get 1.7 cpp. The value chasers would have chosen Virgin Atlantic. I fly Main anyway and it wasn’t worth the extra 5000 points. While 5000 points is only worth about $75, even with my best earning Amex Point categories - groceries and dining at 4x on the Gold - I would still need to spend $1250 to recoup those points. Also, the standard issue with booking through partners is that only a limited number of award bookings are open and usually first class. I could find multiple flights on any given day on Delta. I could find only one during the week on Virgin Atlantic.

I used AMEX via ANA transfer to get over $0.20/point value on a pair of business class tickets from West Coast US to Japan this last year. I’d say that was good value.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago

I hope Amex never devalues their program

scarface74 4y ago

As someone who has an idea about transfer partners. There is a huge difference between being able to book a flight on a random day from a random place to a random destination and just choose to pay with miles like I can do on any random Delta domestic flight for 1.3 - 1.5 cpp and having to deal with partners and waiting for award flights to open up and then only on certain days and from certain cities.

CobaltFire 4y ago
This was an arbitrary date and the transfer took less than 30 minutes. It was my first time using it and it was about as painless as I could have hoped for. I will say that we mostly only fly to a couple places and we mostly fly ANA, so we are an edge case.
- scarface74 4y ago
  Okay, so you’re actually using Ana to book flights directly instead of trying to use ANA to book flights on other airlines in the same alliance - in ANAs case Star Alliance. In that case, I take back everything I stand corrected.
  - CobaltFire 4y ago
    Yeah, I can't imagine the headache to do THAT. The ANA flights in these cases were Star Alliance operated long haul legs paired with shorter ANA operated legs, and we got to see both the older and newer business class for Delta (typical for most routes; we aren't where ANA runs their specific long haul). Newer is MUCH nicer.

ValentineC 4y ago

> I used AMEX via ANA transfer to get over $0.20/point value on a pair of business class tickets from West Coast US to Japan this last year. Would you have paid anything close to the cash price though? If not, the $0.20/point value seems to be more of an arbitrary number often abused by bloggers.

CobaltFire 4y ago
I probably would have bought the $1250 tickets instead of the $5k tickets, but we certainly appreciated the upgrade. It's what I have the cards for, after all.
- scarface74 4y ago
  > I probably would have bought the $1250 tickets instead of the $5k tickets, but we certainly appreciated the upgrade. It’s all about perspective. For instance, my wife and I end up doing the MCO <-> ATL route a few times a year. We live in Orlando and our family/friends are in ATL. (Don’t quote me on the exact numbers. I found something similar when I looked a couple of months ago) I could fly main cabin for 13,000 miles one way and get around 1.3 cpp on Delta Main cabin. Alternatively, I was able to find a Delta flight booked through Virgin Atlantic for 18000 miles first class where I would get 1.7 cpp. The value chasers would have chosen Virgin Atlantic. I fly Main anyway and it wasn’t worth the extra 5000 points. While 5000 points is only worth about $75, even with my best earning Amex Point categories - groceries and dining at 4x on the Gold - I would still need to spend $1250 to recoup those points. Also, the standard issue with booking through partners is that only a limited number of award bookings are open and usually first class. I could find multiple flights on any given day on Delta. I could find only one during the week on Virgin Atlantic.