If you stumbled into ANA Mileage Club's Amazon gift card redemption a few years back, the appeal was obvious. You had a balance of ANA miles, you weren't going to fly to Tokyo any time soon, and Amazon takes anyone's money. Swap miles for gift cards, problem solved. The math was bad, but the convenience was real.

That option went away in 2025. ANA suspended Amazon gift card redemptions across its participating markets, and as of mid-2026 the suspension remained in place. ANA has not announced when, or whether, the option will return. So why write about a redemption that doesn't exist right now? Because the people most affected are still sitting on ANA balances they don't know what to do with, and because if the program does come back, the underlying math hasn't changed.

This guide walks through what the redemption used to deliver, where better options for ANA miles sit, how to handle the 36-month expiration clock that's probably the real reason you're reading this, and where to look if Amazon purchasing power is actually what you need. It's a decision framework, not a tutorial for a feature that isn't currently live.

Current status of ANA Amazon gift card redemptions

ANA discontinued the Amazon gift card redemption option in 2025. The change applied across the markets where it had been offered, including the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan. ANA did not provide a detailed reason for the discontinuation, and the airline has not published a timeline for restoring the feature. As of mid-2026, the option had not returned.

What that means in practice: if you log into your ANA Mileage Club account today looking for the Amazon redemption, it isn't there. The "Other Awards" section that used to list partner gift cards has been pared back, and any miles you still hold need a different exit plan.

For readers who never used the feature: the rest of this guide is still useful because it covers what to do with ANA miles in general, which is the question most people are actually asking when they search for this topic.

What the redemption used to deliver

At the levels published before the suspension, ANA's Amazon gift card conversion looked roughly like this:

  • U.S. members: 12,000 ANA miles for a $100 Amazon gift card
  • U.K. members: 10,000 ANA miles for a £60 Amazon gift card
  • Germany members: 10,000 ANA miles for a €70 Amazon gift card
  • Japan members: similar ratios in yen

The U.S. ratio worked out to about 0.83 cents per mile. The U.K. ratio came in at roughly 0.75 cents per mile at then-current exchange rates. The German ratio sat closer to 0.7 cents per mile. None of those numbers should sit comfortably with anyone who knows what airline miles can do at their best.

Redemptions were processed digitally. ANA emailed a gift card code that applied to your Amazon account in the standard country store. No physical card, no shipping wait, no minimum purchase requirement.

Why the math was always bad

The case against Amazon gift card redemptions is simple: ANA miles are worth far more when used for ANA's intended product, which is flights. Specifically, premium-cabin international flights operated by ANA or its Star Alliance partners.

A reasonable working valuation for ANA miles in flight redemptions falls between 1.5 and 5 cents per mile, depending on the route and cabin. The Amazon gift card option delivered roughly 0.6 to 0.83 cents per mile. That means in the worst comparison, you were trading roughly a sixth of the value you could have extracted. In the best comparison, you were giving up about half.

Put in dollar terms with a real example: 100,000 ANA miles at 0.83 cents per mile produced $830 in Amazon credit. The same 100,000 miles could book a round-trip business class seat between North America and Tokyo, which on a cash basis frequently prices between $4,500 and $7,000. The difference between $830 and $4,500 isn't a rounding error. It's the entire reason people collect ANA miles in the first place.

The Amazon redemption was a convenience option priced like a convenience option. If giving up two-thirds to four-fifths of your potential value was worth that convenience, that was your call. For most people, it shouldn't have been.

The 36-month expiration problem

Here's where the Amazon redemption question stops being theoretical for a lot of readers. ANA miles expire 36 months after they're earned. There is no activity-based extension. There is no status-based exemption for general members. Once a mile hits its 36-month birthday, it disappears.

This is the constraint that drove most Amazon gift card redemptions when the option existed. People weren't choosing Amazon credit over Tokyo business class. They were choosing Amazon credit over zero, because their miles were about to expire and they couldn't find or book an award flight in time.

With the Amazon option no longer available, the question becomes: what do you actually do with ANA miles that are nearing expiration?

The honest answer involves three options, in rough order of value:

  1. Find any flight award you can actually use. Even a domestic Japan flight at a relatively poor cents-per-mile redemption beats letting miles expire. ANA's domestic awards in Japan start around 5,000 to 7,500 miles each way for short routes. If you have any reason to be in Japan and any flexibility on dates, that's a real out.

  2. Book a Star Alliance partner flight. ANA miles redeem on United, Lufthansa, Singapore, Turkish, Air Canada, and the rest of the Star Alliance network. If you can find availability on any partner route you'd actually fly, that's usually better than letting miles die.

  3. Accept the loss. If you have 8,000 miles expiring next month and no realistic redemption, those miles are gone. That's painful, but it's the truth, and it argues for keeping ANA balances small and only earning miles when you have a specific redemption in mind.

The 36-month rule is also a reason to think twice before chasing ANA miles through credit card transfers. American Express Membership Rewards transfers to ANA at a 1:1 ratio, and that transfer is one-way and irreversible. Move 100,000 MR points to ANA and they now have an expiration clock. Membership Rewards sitting in your Amex account do not expire as long as you have an active card.

Where ANA miles actually shine

The reason ANA Mileage Club has its enthusiasts is the airline's published award chart for partner flights, which on certain routes is one of the best fixed-chart products left in the industry. These were the redemptions worth saving for.

At ANA's published award chart at last verification:

Premium cabin sweet spots in business class:

  • North America to Japan: 75,000 to 85,000 miles each way in business class on ANA, with peak/regular/low pricing
  • North America to Europe via Tokyo: roughly 88,000 to 100,000 miles each way
  • North America to Central or South America: about 88,000 miles each way
  • Round-the-world business class: 170,000 to 200,000 miles, with strict routing rules but enormous cash value

Economy redemptions that hold up:

  • North America to Europe: 55,000 miles round-trip in low season
  • North America to Asia: 60,000 miles round-trip in low season
  • Intra-Asia: 35,000 miles round-trip for several routes

The headline number is ANA's own business class between the U.S. and Japan. The cash price for those seats routinely sits in the $5,000 to $8,000 range. At 85,000 miles each way, you're getting cents-per-mile values that the Amazon option never came close to.

The catch with ANA premium-cabin awards is availability. ANA releases business class space conservatively, and the best dates open and close on irregular schedules. Booking these awards usually requires flexibility on dates or a willingness to hold miles until the right space opens. That's the trade-off you accept in exchange for the chart-rate value.

Better routes to Amazon purchasing power

If what you actually want is Amazon gift cards, redeeming airline miles for them is the long way around. Several flexible points programs and cash back products will deliver Amazon credit at much better effective rates.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points redeem directly for Amazon purchases at roughly 0.8 to 1 cent per point, depending on the offer in your account at the time. That's a similar rate to what ANA Amazon redemptions delivered, but it leaves your transferable points intact for higher-value uses if you change your mind. Citi ThankYou Points operate similarly, with direct gift card redemptions close to a penny per point.

The Amazon Prime Visa, the co-branded card for Amazon Prime members, earns 5% back at Amazon directly. If your goal is recurring Amazon spending, that 5% rate beats funneling miles through any conversion. A flat 2% cash back card used at Amazon also delivers a better effective rate than 0.83 cents per mile ever did, because those rates are denominated in actual dollars rather than in a currency that requires a punitive conversion step.

The general principle: never redeem airline miles for retail gift cards if you have any other option. The conversion is structured to favor the program, not the member.

When the trade was actually defensible

There were three narrow scenarios where the Amazon redemption made some sense, and they're worth understanding because the same logic applies to similar low-value redemption decisions you might face elsewhere.

Scenario one: an orphaned ANA balance with no realistic flight redemption. If you had 12,000 ANA miles and no Amex Membership Rewards account to feed the program further, no upcoming travel that fit ANA's route map, and no Star Alliance award space you could actually use, then $100 of Amazon credit beat $0. The redemption was defensible because the alternative was watching the miles expire.

Scenario two: imminent expiration with no usable award space. ANA's 36-month clock didn't care about your travel plans. If your miles were timing out within 60 days and you'd checked availability on every Star Alliance partner without finding a fit, the Amazon option converted a worthless balance into a usable one. Bad value beat zero value.

Scenario three: a small balance left over after a flight redemption. You booked your Tokyo trip for 75,000 miles, you had 8,000 miles left over, and you weren't going to earn ANA miles again any time soon. Those 8,000 miles weren't going to get you another flight. Converting them to a $60-something Amazon balance was a clean way to close out the account.

Outside those scenarios, Amazon redemptions sacrificed too much value to make sense. The discipline that good points strategy requires is the willingness to hold miles for the redemption they're actually built for, even when an easier exit is sitting right in front of you.

Action plan if you have ANA miles right now

If you're reading this because you have an ANA balance and you're trying to figure out what to do with it, here's the practical sequence:

First, check your expiration dates. Log into ANA Mileage Club and look at when your earliest miles expire. That tells you how urgent the decision is.

Second, search award availability on the routes you'd actually fly. Use ANA's own search tool, but also check United and Air Canada's tools, since ANA partner awards are sometimes easier to find through those interfaces. If you find space on any route you'd take, book it.

Third, if you can't find space and your miles are at risk, look at lower-value flight redemptions. Domestic Japan flights, intra-Asia regional flights, anything that converts miles into a real trip is better than waiting.

Fourth, if you're holding Membership Rewards and considering a transfer to ANA, don't transfer until you have an award flight identified. The 36-month clock starts the moment the miles land in ANA, and there's no reversing it.

Fifth, if you genuinely can't use the miles and they're about to expire, accept the loss as a lesson and adjust your earning strategy. Hold flexible currencies. Transfer only against confirmed redemptions.

Closing thoughts

The ANA Amazon gift card redemption was a feature that solved a real problem, namely what to do with leftover or expiring airline miles, in a way that quietly cost members most of their potential value. Its discontinuation in 2025 removed a soft landing for a planning failure. The better answer was always to avoid the planning failure in the first place by treating airline miles as currency for the flights that earn 1.5 to 5 cents per mile, not as a backup form of Amazon credit at 0.6 to 0.83 cents per mile.

If the option returns, the same math will apply. If it doesn't, the framework is the same: hold flexible points where you can, transfer to airline programs only when you've identified the redemption, and accept that the cost of airline mile collecting is the discipline of waiting for the right flight.

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