For years the ANA tool, which has been available to all members of ANA’s Mileage Club, has shown award availability on all Star Alliance partners. Well, given how much it was used by people that never had the intention of redeeming ANA miles, they’ve added a bit of a restriction. At the bottom of the log-in page there’s now a message that reads:

The Partner Flight Award search function is not available for passengers who do not have any mileage balance.

Can’t say I blame them! Nonetheless there are several easy workarounds here, like transferring 1,000 Membership Rewards points to ANA or crediting some partner activity to them, like a hotel stay.

Update: Via Brandon in the comments section, there’s a workaround for the time being (though I wouldn’t be surprised if they fix the loophole soon enough):
1.go to ANA International Flight Awards
2.Enter an ANA operated route
3.Click Next
4.at the bottom click on Use Star Alliance Members Airline (2nd blue button from the bottom)
5.in the near future credit something small to ANA to avoid having to do 1-4

No clue how I survived this dreadful 14 hour flight…

Here we go, I’m kind of excited. If you’d like to enjoy the flight with me (minus the flat bed, caviar, and mocha ice cream), you can follow along here.

As I mentioned earlier today, I just booked a round the world ticket. This was a total spur of the moment thing.

My brother is spending the summer in Germany, and I convinced him to make a quick trip to Seoul at the end of his stay. When he was planning his flight to Germany I was going to book him a first class award, which would cost 100,000 miles, while a trip to Asia via Europe is 120,000 miles. So for a premium of 20,000 miles he’ll be flying from Frankfurt to Seoul in Lufthansa first class and from Seoul to Frankfurt in Asiana first class. He can easily down 20,000 miles worth of booze, and he has wanted to visit the DMZ, which I visited a few years back (though not sure how great of a time it is right now).

I was looking into hotel options for him, and nothing struck me as being a particularly great bargain. But the Park Hyatt Seoul was available using “Big Welcome Back” nights from Hyatt’s very generous promotion, so I decided to pull the trigger and join him in Seoul. I wouldn’t have done it if the flights didn’t work out as beautifully.

When all was said and done, here’s my routing over the coming week:

Not bad, right? Best of all, it was a mere 120,000 Aeroplan miles. Pretty unbeatable, in my book.

I’ll be leaving on Tuesday, and I saw space on both Singapore Airlines from Los Angeles to Singapore (via Tokyo) in first class, as well as space from Washington Dulles to Tokyo in ANA first class. Singapore Airlines first class is impossible to beat, but I’ve done it before. I’ve never done ANA first class, so I decided to give them a shot. Best of all, when I get to Tokyo I’ll be able to pick up the continuation of the Singapore Airlines flight, so I’ll still get seven hours of Singapore Airlines service.

Then I’ll be spending a few nights in Singapore, first at the Crowne Plaza Changi due to the late arrival time, and then at the Grand Hyatt Singapore using free nights from Hyatt’s “Big Welcome Back” promotion. I like Singapore, though was only there for about two days during my last visit, so am looking forward to seeing a bit more.

The next portion of the trip is where I struggled with my options, since I needed to get to Seoul. I was initially set on flying from Singapore to Hong Kong to Seoul, with Singapore to Hong Kong being on United in first class and Hong Kong to Seoul being in Thai business class (on a two cabin plane), but that just didn’t sound very exciting. So I decided to push the maximum permitted mileage on this routing to the max. How?

I noticed that much like Turkish Airlines, which I flew last year, Thai is now wet leasing some 777s from Jet Airways. These planes have some of the nicest, most private suites, so I wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity. The ground services in Bangkok are also among the best in the world. The first class lounge is great, and more importantly, they have a spa. As a first class passenger you get a (near) full body hour-long massage for free. Quite relaxing! So I’ll be flying from Singapore to Bangkok in Singapore Airlines business class, then from Bangkok to Tokyo in Thai Airways first class, and then from Narita to Seoul in United Airlines first class.

I get to Seoul the night before my brother arrives, and Incheon (where the airport is) is about 90 minutes from Seoul. Conveniently enough there’s a Hyatt Regency located at the airport, which is a mere 8,000 Hyatt points per night. So I booked that for the night as I wait for my brother, and then we’ll head into the city together and stay at the Park Hyatt Seoul.

Lastly I’ll be flying from Seoul to Frankfurt on Asiana in first class, which is another first for me. Then I’ll be overnighting in Frankfurt at the InterContinental using Priority Club points, before continuing to Seattle in Lufthansa first class the next day.

Overall I’m quite pleased given that the cost was a grand total of 120,000 miles and about $160 in taxes.

And of course you can bet I’ll be tweeting and twitpicking every step of the way!

I should mention, though, that this award didn’t come without some struggles. When I called to book this award the agent was of course a bit reluctant given my routing. Eventually I showed her that the routing was within 37 miles of the maximum permitted mileage plus 5%, which is what Aeroplan goes by. 37 miles on a 15,000+ mile one-way journey is what I call precise planning.

The next challenge was the connection in Washington Dulles on the way out. I had a 1hr18min connection, and they tried to tell me the minimum connection time was 1hr20min. That’s BS, as the domestic to international connection time is in fact 45 minutes, as confirmed by United. United schedules the flight from Tampa to Washington so that it connects to their flights to Tokyo and Beijing, so there was no way it wasn’t allowed. After over 45 minutes on hold a supervisor finally approved it.

Last, but not least, I called ANA to select a seat. They didn’t see my reservation and insisted they never confirmed the flight. I had to call back Aeroplan, and after an hour on hold we were once again good to go.

So it has been a busy day handling all this, but now that everything is taken care of, I’m quite looking forward to the journey!

I can’t even begin to say how exciting this is. For the first time in at least a year I see Singapore Airlines first class award availability between the US and Asia on the ANA tool. Now in fairness there have been other opportunities to snag first class space, but not through most programs. Lufthansa, for example, has a special relationship with Singapore Airlines, and somehow Continental seems to have access to some availability, even when nothing shows on the ANA tool (I’m not sure if they’re doing manual sells or what).

But now I’m seeing space on SQ11/12 (the Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo Narita flight). The bad news is that it’s only short notice. I’m not seeing any space more than four days before departure, but hell, with Singapore Airlines I’ll take what I can get. Given that they haven’t released any space between the US and Asia to all Star Alliance partners in first class in a long time, this is huge progress. Now here’s to hoping we see a bit of availability further out!

Even more exciting is that they’re not just releasing the space on the through flight (Los Angeles to Singapore) as they did in the past, but they’re also releasing space on the individual segments. So the award space is also showing up when only searching for a Los Angeles to Tokyo flight as well as just searching a Tokyo to Singapore flight.

Also, I’m noticing that ANA seems to be opening up some first class award space really close to departure as well. We’re talking 2-5 days before departure. But I do see the odd first class seat between most of their US gateways and Tokyo Narita on several days.

I might have some time for a quick trip in a few weeks, in which case I might just plan something with only a couple of days advance notice. The opportunity to fly Singapore Airlines in first class again and to finally try ANA first class is too much to pass up. Might even try to squeeze in Asiana first class.

Here’s some exciting news. The super-useful ANA tool now shows Swiss, Air China, and Shanghai Airlines award availability, which it didn’t before. The fact that it now shows Swiss award availability is particularly useful, although it still doesn’t reflect actual award availability completely accurately, in my experience, and that goes beyond United’s Starnet blocking. After a call to Aeroplan and even US Airways, they have claimed there isn’t availability on Swiss when the ANA tool shows seats available.

So overall this is a huge improvement since ExpertFlyer didn’t completely accurately represent Swiss award space available to Star Alliance partners before, but this is still really helpful.

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

Wait a second, isn’t this the same airline that told us to empty our bladders before flying? Well, now they’re introducing female only lavatories on their international flights. Apparently there’s going to be one in the rear of the aircraft which can be used by female passengers in all classes of service.

And of course as is to be expected, there are a bunch of restrictions:

-Use of Women-Only Lavatories by Men
In most cases, men will be restricted from using the women-only lavatories.
In the following situations, however, and depending on flight conditions, men may be allowed to use these facilities. Passengers are requested to check with a cabin attendant after boarding.

- When required for safety reasons, just prior to the seat belt sign being turned on during take-off and landing.
- When a passenger is not feeling well and a personal emergency requires such use.
- When there are very few female passengers and the women-only designation has been lifted for the flight.
*An in-flight announcement will be made in such cases.

I’m most curious about the last one. How many female passengers would “very few” be?

This just seems to me like more trouble than it’s worth. Then again, I’m a guy….

I’ve always enjoyed my flights on ANA, although I haven’t flown them between the US and Japan in a while. While the service and food are excellent, they have slanted flat seats in business class which just don’t constitute a “world class” product anymore. Fortunately that will start changing in February, as they begin to reconfigure their 777-300ERs.

The first class product looks great, although I doubt it will be a big change from the old product, which was fantastic as well. It looks like there will be improvements in the first class ground experience at Narita, though, which is a welcomed change. The biggest improvement, though, is in business class, since they’ll now have relatively private flat bed seating. Coach also looks like a big improvement with shell seating, although I’m not really an expert on that part of the plane (j/k…. sort of).

There’s one thing I don’t understand for the life of me. I’ve always thought ANA had too many premium seats (and not enough coach seats) on their 777-300ERs, yet they’re basically keeping the proportions the same with the reconfiguration. The new configuration will have eight first class seats, 68(!!!) business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 112 economy seats. That’s a mere 212 seats on a 777-300ER, which just can’t possibly make sense, especially as more and more business travelers are looking to save wherever they can.

I’m hoping their business class award availability stays as good as it has been in the past, as I’d definitely like to fly them again when the new product is flying to either IAD, ORD, LAX, or SFO.

(Tip of the hat to Joe)

Check out the article:

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) is asking its passengers to go to the toilet before boarding so it can reduce aircraft weight.

The unusual request is part of an experiment by the airline to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Japan’s NHK television is reporting that ANA began the one-month experiment today on 42 international and domestic flights.

The airline will place staff near boarding gates to ask passengers waiting for flights to go and use the restroom.

I wonder whether this applies to first and business class passengers as well.

(Tip of the hat to Flying With Fish)

At first this didn’t sound so tempting, but I was surprised by how low the fare classes required to upgrade are. Through the end of the year, ANA is reducing the number of miles required to upgrade from coach to business class. From New York to Tokyo one-way, for example, an upgrade will only be 14,000 miles instead of the usual 28,000 miles. Furthermore, the upgradeable fare classes are quite reasonable. I see $1,300 “S” class fares that can be upgraded under this promotion. Keep in mind that American Express Membership Rewards points can be transferred to ANA.

Not bad, although I’ll probably stick to full award redemptions….

(Tip of the hat to David)