There is exactly one welcome bonus on the market right now that gets you to Japan in business class, and it's not the one any of the big affiliate sites are pushing. It's the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club chart for ANA flights: 95,000 points round-trip from the US for a seat that retails for $14,000. I've run this redemption three times since 2023, and as of April 2026, it still works.
This guide is for the version of you who has 60,000 to 200,000 transferable points sitting somewhere (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou, or Capital One Miles) and is wondering how to actually turn them into Japan flights. I'll show you the four programs worth using, the one redemption that's been the best deal in points for two years running, and the booking moves that have changed since the last time you read a Japan-with-points guide.
What's actually different in 2026
ANA Mileage Club still doesn't charge fuel surcharges on its own flights. United MileagePlus still uses dynamic pricing but still releases consistent saver-level award space at 60K to 80K round-trip economy. American AAdvantage still partners with JAL for the world's best business-class hard product. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club's ANA partner chart is still the secret-handshake redemption that points enthusiasts have been quietly using for years.
What has changed: more cardholders have transferable points than ever before. Chase, Amex, Citi, and Capital One all issue 60K+ welcome bonuses on their flagship cards, and Bilt and Wells Fargo have joined the transfer-partner game. That means more people are competing for the same award seats. The booking-window strategy I cover below matters more in 2026 than it did even two years ago.
The four programs worth using
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: the headline redemption
Virgin Atlantic charges 95,000 miles round-trip for ANA business class between the US and Japan, plus around $250 in taxes. Same seat: 110,000 ANA Mileage Club miles, 160,000+ United MileagePlus, $14,000 cash on a paid ticket. It's not close.
The catches:
- Round-trip only. No one-way Virgin awards on ANA partner flights.
- ANA flights only. You can't book United, Air Canada, or any other Star Alliance carrier through this chart.
- Award space tracks ANA's own release pattern. If ANA isn't releasing partner space, Virgin doesn't have it either.
Virgin Atlantic miles transfer 1:1 from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Capital One Miles. Bilt also transfers at 1:1. Transfers are typically instant from Amex and Chase, and 1 to 3 business days from Capital One.
If you're sitting on 200,000 transferable points across two cards (say a Chase Sapphire Preferred welcome bonus plus an Amex Gold welcome bonus), Virgin Atlantic ANA business class round-trip for two people is on the table.
ANA Mileage Club: the most reliable
ANA's own program charges 88,000 miles round-trip for business class from the US West Coast and 110,000 from the East Coast. Economy runs 60,000 (West Coast) or 75,000 (East Coast). No fuel surcharges on ANA's own flights, just government taxes, usually $50 to $150 round-trip.
ANA is the right call when:
- Virgin Atlantic award space isn't there. It happens. ANA releases more space to its own program than to partners.
- You're on the East Coast, where Virgin's 95K rate beats ANA's 110K but the time-zone math may not.
- You want to lock in a reliable program where the points-to-seat conversion never surprises you.
ANA transfers from Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points. Capital One does not transfer to ANA. Marriott Bonvoy transfers at 3:1 with a 5K bonus per 60K, which is a top-up option if you're 10K short.
United MileagePlus: the flexible one
United's chart is dynamic, which means rates float with demand. As of April 2026, business class to Japan runs 80K to 120K one-way during off-peak windows, and 120K to 160K during peak. Round-trip is 160K to 240K.
United is the right call when:
- You need last-minute availability. United releases more saver space inside 30 days than ANA, and there's no fuel surcharge headache.
- You're flying a route ANA doesn't fly. United flies San Francisco to Tokyo Haneda direct daily, plus IAH to Tokyo and EWR to Tokyo. ANA matches some but not all.
- You have Chase Ultimate Rewards points and don't want to wait for a Virgin Atlantic transfer to clear.
United transfers from Chase only. The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve are the relevant cards.
Air Canada Aeroplan: the back door
Aeroplan partners with both ANA and United. Aeroplan business class to Japan runs 75,000 to 95,000 miles one-way depending on routing, which beats every other Star Alliance program for one-way bookings. The fuel-surcharge dance with Aeroplan is gone since their 2020 program reset; you'll pay around $50 to $100 in taxes on a one-way award.
Aeroplan is the right call when:
- You want a one-way redemption (Virgin and ANA both default to round-trip).
- You're routing through Toronto or Vancouver and want to take advantage of Aeroplan's stopover-for-5,000-points policy to bolt on a free Canada visit.
Aeroplan transfers from Chase, Amex, Capital One, and Bilt at 1:1.
What I'd actually do with 150,000 transferable points
Here's the call. If you have 150,000 transferable points sitting in Chase, Amex, or some combination, and you want to fly to Japan in business class, the move is:
- Search ANA award availability on aeroplan.com (it shows ANA partner space cleanly).
- Once you find dates, transfer 95,000 points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
- Call Virgin Atlantic at 1-800-365-9500 and book the ANA flights you found.
- Pay roughly $250 in taxes.
- Land in Tokyo with 55,000 points still in the bank for the return on your next trip.
Total cost: 95,000 points plus $250. Cash equivalent: $14,000. The math is so good it almost feels like a mistake.
Booking-window strategy
Cherry-blossom season (mid-March through mid-April) and fall foliage season (mid-October through mid-November) are the two windows where award seats vanish before the calendar even opens. ANA releases its award inventory exactly 355 days ahead of departure. If you want March 28, 2027 in business class, you're searching on April 7, 2026.
For everything else (winter, shoulder season, late spring) there's almost always something. Off-peak Japan business class shows up regularly inside 60 days, and economy availability is plentiful even at 30 days out.
The booking window I'd pencil into the calendar:
- Peak season (cherry blossom, fall foliage, Golden Week): the morning the calendar opens, 355 days out.
- Shoulder season (May to June, September): 6 to 8 months out.
- Off-peak (November to February except holidays): 2 to 3 months out, with last-minute availability often available inside 30 days.
The transferable-points stack worth building
If you don't have 150,000 transferable points and want to build toward a Japan trip, the welcome-bonus stack that gets you there fastest in 2026:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred: 60,000-point welcome bonus after $4,000 in 3 months. Transfers to Virgin Atlantic, United, Hyatt. $95 annual fee.
- Amex Gold: 60,000 to 90,000-point welcome bonus depending on the offer, 4x at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets. Transfers to ANA, Virgin Atlantic, Delta. $325 annual fee.
- Capital One Venture X: 75,000-mile welcome bonus, $395 annual fee offset by a $300 travel credit and 10K anniversary miles. Transfers to Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada Aeroplan.
Three cards, roughly 200K transferable points after meeting spend, four months of effort. That's two round-trip business-class trips to Japan, both booked through Virgin Atlantic on ANA metal.
What I would not do
I would not transfer points to Marriott Bonvoy and try to redeem Marriott points for flights. The 3:1 conversion ratio is bad and the bonus mileage stipulation is fiddly.
I would not chase JAL business class via American AAdvantage on a single trip. JAL's hard product is excellent, but AA award space on JAL is hard to find and AA miles don't transfer from any major flexible-points program. If you don't already have AA miles, this is not the year to start chasing them.
I would not pay cash for Japan business class in 2026 if I had any flexible points at all. The points pricing is too good and the cash pricing has gotten worse: fares have crept up 15 to 20 percent since 2023.
How I'd actually use this guide
If you're new to points and you're reading this thinking "great, but I don't have 150K transferable points," the realistic 12-month plan is: open a Chase Sapphire Preferred today, hit the 60K bonus by July, open an Amex Gold in August, hit that 60K to 90K bonus by November. By December, you're sitting on 120K+ transferable points and you can book April 2027 cherry-blossom dates in economy or partial business through Virgin Atlantic.
If you're already at 150K+ transferable points: open the Aeroplan award search now. Find March 2027 ANA business class. Transfer to Virgin Atlantic. Call them. Book. The whole process takes about 90 minutes.
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