OneMoreDay previously wrote three articles on using ANA miles: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. They highlighted some of ANA’s sweet spots: U.S.-China round-trip business class for just 95,000 miles, U.S.-Europe round-trip business class for just 80,000 miles, intra-Asia round-trip awards for at most 56,000 miles, and so on. But ANA miles also have a downside: fuel surcharges, commonly called YQ. In particular, YQ on ANA-operated business class awards can often be outrageously high. The only flights that do not have YQ are on Air China, UA, and Air Canada. So if we want to enjoy ANA’s high-quality business class, is there any way to avoid paying hefty YQ?
Method 1: U.S.-Japan Round Trip + Japan-China Round Trip
Starting on December 1 of last year, ANA eliminated YQ on all flights to Japan. For example, the itinerary below has no YQ:
But U.S.-China round trips still have YQ, roughly a little over 300 round trip (don’t worry about details like connection times :) ):
You may remember that in my earlier post AA Will Use a New Award Chart Next March — The Expected Devaluation (1), I mentioned a trick: book a U.S.-Japan round trip first, then use BA to book the Japan-China segment. The difference is that in the AA example, we did this to save miles; in the ANA example, we do it to save YQ. In other words, you book the U.S.-Japan round trip first, then add a Japan-China round trip on JAL booked with BA. JAL flights departing from Shanghai (both Pudong and Hongqiao) can be booked for 7,500 Avios. The same number of Avios can also book routes such as Dalian-Tokyo, Tianjin-Nagoya, Taipei-Nagoya, and Taipei-Osaka. Other JAL flights between Japan and China require only 10,000 Avios.
No need to worry about baggage. ANA and JAL have an interline baggage agreement, which means even if you book ANA + JAL on separate tickets, you can still ask at checkin to have your bags checked through to the final destination.
Method 2: The HKG Trick
Simply put, on a U.S.-China round trip, if you choose Hong Kong as the starting point of the return or add a stopover in Hong Kong, you can avoid YQ. As shown above, YQ on a typical U.S.-China ANA round trip is often as high as $400+, but if you make Hong Kong your stopover on the return, YQ can be reduced substantially (the example below uses SJC, but other U.S. cities are similar):
Note that the stopover in Hong Kong must be longer than 24 hours. Otherwise, YQ + taxes and fees will still exceed $400. Mainland Chinese passport holders transiting in Hong Kong en route to another country can stay visa-free for 7 days, so this also makes it easy to spend some time shopping in Hong Kong.
If you don’t want to stop in Hong Kong, you can also consider using an open jaw in Hong Kong, which can likewise reduce YQ:
Here, Guangzhou can be replaced by other cities in China (Beijing and Shanghai both work, but for some reason Chengdu apparently cannot cut YQ for now; readers are welcome to test other cities). If you live in Guangzhou, then on the return you only need to take the high-speed rail to Hong Kong Airport. But what if you live somewhere else? For example, if I book an ANA open-jaw ticket like SJC-WUH, HKG-SJC, how should I handle the Wuhan-Hong Kong segment in between?
Fortunately, Hong Kong Airport is the HUB of oneworld member Cathay/Dragonair, so that intermediate flight to Hong Kong can be easily booked with BA miles (similar to Method 1). For example, Wuhan-Hong Kong requires only 4500 Avios:
OneMoreDay believes this method is better than Method 1. After all, Dragonair serves far more mainland cities than JAL. 4500 Avios covers Central and South China, 7500 Avios covers the entire southern region, and 10000 Avios covers all Dragonair destinations in mainland China. If you want to know how many Avios it takes from your city to Hong Kong, you can check here: https://wandr.me/Award-Search/Avios-Map/HKG
What if you replace Hong Kong with another city? Based on OneMoreDay’s testing, airports in Vietnam and Indonesia work (for example Hanoi HAN, Ho Chi Minh City SGN, and Jakarta CGK), but Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand do not. Other places have not been tested. Interested readers are welcome to try and leave DP in the comments. However, Hong Kong is considered Asia 1, while Vietnam and Indonesia are Asia 2, and Asia 2-North America round-trip business class costs 115,000 miles, so this is really only suitable for people who already have a strong need to travel to Southeast Asia.
As for U.S.-China round trips, since all flights departing from Hong Kong do not charge YQ, you can start from Hong Kong and then stop in your home city on the return. Just make sure the final destination is set as Hong Kong (you could skip the last segment, although OneMoreDay does not recommend doing so). ANA has a strange rule: tickets originating in Hong Kong cannot have an open jaw at the origin, so in the end you must return to Hong Kong. For example, if you want to do a Chengdu-SJC round trip, you can first use BA miles to book Chengdu-HKG, then add the following ANA ticket with the YQ removed (whether you fly the last segment depends on your needs):
OneMoreDay is simply offering an idea here; the exact execution will still depend on each reader’s needs. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment below or start a discussion on Yunzhongke. And if you discover new ways to cut YQ, please share them as well.