Great Updates To ANA Award Search Tool

Ehhhhh, it's still a pain to use in my opinion. You still get errors for multiple zones. The fact that I can't easily just search and go through the motion of trying to book a flight from JFK to JNB is absurd (in my opinion). Maybe it's better in that one zone but even then, I hit random errors or glitches when trying to use around four stops.

I miss the old ANA website :/

Thanks for such an informative post. It is great to have the ANA toll back. Are the AC or OZ sites good for checking for Star awards as well for Mileage Plus members?

thanks for such useful post. I am a novice in searching award seat with Star Alliance carriers (only have used United.com) so two quick question:
1) could you provide a direct link of "Aeroplan search tool"?
2) for both (Ana & Aeroplan), can I search availability without any membership log in?

@ chitownflyer -- The Aeroplan site is good for economy awards. I tend to find it doesn't suggest any routings that are even remotely complicated or unusual, so it's not my favorite for premium cabins. It's also fussy.

@ jessie -- You're welcome! You do need to enroll in both programs, but there isn't a charge to do so. The link to the Aeroplan site is here: https://www4.aeroplan.com/enroll.do

Ben also has links and phone numbers for all the search tools and frequent flyer programs here: https://onemileatatime.com/loyalty-programs-links/

I seem to be seeing a ton of phantom space on UA flights on the ANA site at the moment -- either phantom space or space that UA.com itself isn't showing.

Actually, it's not phantom space -- it's putting in economy segments on UA flights (even long haul) even when searching for business or first.

Remember also that with Aeroplan the search engine will preferentially show Air Canada flights and often their partner flights (with fuel surcharges (YQ) for a given route), and not display all flights that may be available for that route and date. It will also only show up to a certain number of flights on the website and not display other possible flight options - even if they are more suitable in some cases IME - so it should never be used for an initial overview of what is available as it is limited in scope (use UA instead).

is it still possible to book SQ flights intra Asia and intra Australia routes using UA miles when using this tool ?

@ choi -- Generally yes, though you'll want to plan 2-3 hours on the phone with United to get the ticket issued.

That checkbox has been there for at least a month.

@ Steve -- About that, yes, but I haven't had time to write about it until now.

I'm seeing strange behaviour where the "ANA Award (ANA flights only)" is waitlisted but the "Star Alliance Award (Combination with Star Alliance carriers)" is listed as OK. This is for an ANA flight like NH1011. This doesn't make sense — does ANA provide less availability to its own members than Star Alliance?

Then when I select one I get the error:

The selected flight is available,but the class you selected is not available or no setting.
Please check User Hints for more information, and search again. (Error Code:E_A01P03_0014)

Seems buggy.

@ Ben Skelton -- It's definitely buggy, but I haven't see that particular error yet. What day are you searching?

@ Ben Skelton -- Actually, I think I just figured it out. Is there ANA space in both directions, or are you getting UA space for the return? If so, the ANA Award column will only display "Waitlisted" on the outbound, as it isn't possible to create a full ANA award on the selected dates.

Now that United has switched over to their new website, have you noticed if it has improved or gotten worse in terms of award search?

Bookmark link doesn't work. Try https://aswbe-i.ana.co.jp/international_asw/pages/award/search/roundtrip/award_search_roundtrip_input.xhtml?CONNECTION_KIND=LAX&LANG=en

Does ANA release more award space for their own members? I asked because I'm not sure if I can see ANA space on ANA do partners have access to those spaces?

Do you still need an active ANA account with miles in it to use the tool? Maybe I missed it but I didn't see that mentioned in the article...

@ dmodemd -- You don't need miles, but you do need an account.

Tiffany

I noticed you have 100 miles in your ANA account. Does this help with doing searches?

@ jp01 -- Not anymore. It used to be a requirement, but they've removed that restriction.

Come on....

Shows UA transatlantic ECONOMY award space (per UA site) but identifies it as BUSINESS.

Can you retract your assessment that the ANA tool is better? It's lousy. And that's a shame, because UA and Aeroplan don't reliably show SAS transatlantic award space.

Someone commented earlier about ANA releasing more award space for their own members? I ask again because it does seem like some ANA F awards are showing up as available "OK" on the ANA website, but then when looking up the same award on Aeroplan and United, it is not available.

Specifically, NH7 SFO-NRT on 12/15. Shows "OK" on ANA, but none available on other partners.

Heya,

I'm trying to check if I can redeem miles one-way. Can't seem to do one-way redemptions?

L
🙂

Thank you for doing this! I was looking for a way to double check United searches and heard ANA would be the way to do that. I initially found old instructions but kept digging and found yours.

Hi Tiffany,

Is there anyway to book a flight from a non-Star alliance member (Etihad) on ANA? Maybe I'm mistaken, but I read that you don't need any miles for the tool to show you flights on Star alliance partners, but need some miles in your account for it to show you award flights on partner airlines. I transferred 1000 Amex points and once they posted, ran the search tool, but don't see the Etihad flights I want (only Turkish Airlines show up). I confirmed the award tickets are available through Etihad's site. Any ideas?

Thanks