Great ANA All Nippon Airways Experience To Use Standby For Earlier Flights On Award Tickets

In the past two years, I have increasingly used many of my United Airlines Mileage Plus miles for Economy short-hop flights within Asia, especially domestic flights in Japan with ANA, which can be lucrative. The downside is that the most popular flight times are often […]

Mar 29, 2025 - 10:11

In the past two years, I have increasingly used many of my United Airlines Mileage Plus miles for Economy short-hop flights within Asia, especially domestic flights in Japan with ANA, which can be lucrative.

The downside is that the most popular flight times are often not available but I figured out it’s very easy with ANA to just book a later flight and then ask at check-in to be confirmed for an earlier one.

This practice is basically what we came to know as “same day confirmed” many years ago from other airlines in the U.S. such as United and American, but it’s hard to say if this is an official rule ANA has or if it depends on the discretion of the agent at check-in.

Usually, it depends on how I book my domestic flights in Japan, if you book early enough, you can find flights for 13,000 Yen so ~ US$80 one way and I wouldn’t redeem miles in that case but for last minute bookings it can be more expensive so then a United award booking is reasonable:

That’s a little too late for me, but it was the only flight bookable that day, so I grabbed it right away. I checked on Expertflyer in the morning, and the midday flights at 12pm/1pm/2pm were still available in Economy.

I decided to leave my hotel in Osaka early, head to Itami airport around 10:00am and ask the counter staff at the Premium Check-In for an earlier flight. As usual, they offered me the 12:00pm flight instead and confirmed the seat straight away:

I even got the first row, aisle seat on the high-density B787, their domestic configuration.

It’s a quick hop over from Itami to Haneda but I came to like these domestic flights especially as traveling by train to Shinjuku has really become a nightmare due to the construction at Shinjuku Station. With the Shinkansen I’d have to transfer once in Osaka, once in Tokyo and then hike through Shinjuku station.

If I fly, it’s almost door-to-door using the airport bus, which is much more comfortable.

Conclusion

I really started to like the ANA All Nippon Airways service of allowing passengers to go on earlier flights. I’m trying to find out if this is official policy, available for all fare classes, or if it’s a combination of ticket type, status, staff discretion, and, as so often in Japan, just being a foreigner asking dumb questions.

So far I was never denied even once to take an earlier flight and they always confirm it right away at the check-in, at least at Itami Airport in Osaka. I’m still Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Gold so that might help as well.

Have you had any experience with changing your flights with ANA (and Japan Airlines for that matter)?

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