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ANA first started to introduce a Premium Economy cabin to its fleet in 2015 and the cabin is now fitted to 59 of its aircraft flying 30 international routes.
Up until now it hasn’t been possible to book Premium Economy awards on ANA (a bit like the situation we currently face with American Airlines) but the airline is looking to change that in 2019.
From 5 December 2018 (3pm Japan time) travelers will be able to book ANA Premium Economy awards for travel commencing 1 April 2019. The ability to upgrade to Premium Economy will be introduced in September 2019 for travel from April 2020.
Eligibility & Cost – Premium Economy Awards
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Valid for flights departing from April 1, 2019.
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Reservation and ticketing will start from Dec. 5, 2018, at 3 pm (Japan Time).
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Eligible flights include all ANA Group-operated flights with Premium Economy seats.
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Tickets are available for ANA Mileage Club members and their registered award users.
Eligibility & Cost – Premium Economy Upgrades
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Valid for flights departing from April 1, 2020.
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Reservation and ticketing are scheduled to start from late September 2019.
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Eligible flights include all ANA Group-operated flights with Premium Economy seats.
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ANA Diamond, Platinum, Bronze and Super Flyers Card members are able to use ANA Upgrade Points.
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Tickets are available for ANA Mileage Club members and their registered award users.
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Eligible booking classes to/from Japan are Y, B, M, U, H, Q, V.
ANA Premium Economy
The ANA Premium Economy cabin is fitted to select 777 and 787 aircraft in the airline’s fleet and in most cases the cabin the majority of the cabins offer seats with 38″ of pitch (legroom) and a little over 19″ of seat width.
This puts the cabin in line with what you can expect to find on American Airlines, Delta and United but the seats are up to an inch wider than what you’ll find on British Airways while being two inches narrower than what you’ll find on Virgin Atlantic (an ANA partner).
The ANA Premium Economy cabin is a clear improvement on the regular Economy Class cabin but that may not be the only reason you’ll want to consider it as an option.
As well as an upgraded cabin, ANA Premium Economy passengers get the following benefits:
- Priority check-in areas
- Priority baggage handling
- Enhanced dining options
- Enhanced beverage options
- Onboard amenities including slippers, eye mask, dental kit and more
Note: the amenities are not presented as a kit and need to be requested once onboard
Thoughts
As a traveler who’s increasingly looking to Premium Economy to make my travels more affordable without the often harsh conditions of Economy Class I’m very happy to see ANA opening up the cabin to award bookings.
In the US American Express Membership Rewards convert to ANA miles in a ratio of 1:1 and that makes the ANA Premium Economy award chart quite interesting.
When viewing the award chart in terms of Membership Rewards points a roundtrip Premium Economy flight between the US and Japan from 62,000 points looks like very good value to me…especially if you’re originating on the East Coast.
As of now it doesn’t look like any of ANA’s partner airlines have adjusted their award charts to incorporate the Airline’s Premium Economy cabin but it will be worth keeping a watch on these in the coming weeks.
One of the better award redemptions you’ll find is when you use Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for ANA Business Class awards so, if Virgin Atlantic prices up ANA Premium Economy awards in a similar way, there could be yet more good deals to be had (let’s just hope Virgin doesn’t use this as an opportunity to hike the price of Business Class redemptions).
What do you guys think? Anyone planning to book an ANA Premium Economy award when they go on sale?
