The coronavirus pandemic has caused huge problems for airlines, most of whom have had to ground most or all of their fleets. These decisions have resulted in millions of passengers wanting refunds for their cancelled flights. ANA has temporarily suspended services on select routes, and revised its summer schedule for international flights.
What should I do?
Bear in mind that that all airlines are overwhelmed by the current situation, and so will be working through hundreds of flights with tens of thousands of passengers.
In these circumstances all aviation call centres, no matter how many extra staff they employ/contract with, are experiencing difficulties responding at the busiest time they have ever experienced.
If your flight is not for this week or next week, it may make more sense to wait a few weeks until the airlines have sorted our resourcing issues in call centres and also improved their online refund procedures.
For general advice on claims, including EU261 claims, see
ANA has cancelled my flight. What are my options?
ANA says that it is emailing or calling the affected customers individually, unless they purchased tickets through a travel agency or airline other than ANA. In this case, customers must contact the relevant agency.
Passengers have the option of getting a refund for a cancelled flight, or postponing the booking.
Am I entitled to a refund?
If your flight has been cancelled, then yes you are.
For domestic flights in Japan
If you purchased the ticket between February 28, 2020 and your flight was scheduled for travel between April 6 and April 28, 2020, your ticket will be eligible for a full refund.
International flights
Customers must visit the reservations page to request a refund. Cancellation fees will not be applied.
Customers who bought a ticket with miles must call ANA to request a refund. Note that, due to the high volume of requests, it is currently taking longer than normal to process refunds.
Refunds can be requested via the website until 24 hours prior to the departure of the flight. Requests can be made up to one year and 30 days from the travel start date.
See the eligible tickets below. These may be extended if circumstances change, so keep checking the website.
Postponing your flight
It is also possible to change your ticket once if you no longer wish to travel on the original date. ANA has waived change fees and eligible flights (see above) must be rescheduled for travel on or before June 30, 2020.
What about my miles?
ANA has extended the expiry dates for miles and ANA Sky Coins.
Those that were meant to expire between March 31, 2020, and February 28, 2021, will be extended until March 31, 2021. Customers are not required to apply for this extension as it will be done automatically.
To encourage future bookings, the airline is also giving twice the normal number of premium points for ANA flights boarded between January 1 and June 30, 2020.
Can I claim on my travel insurance?
Possibly, depending on when you booked your flight – and also when you took out your insurance. See the following article for advice on that.
PLEASE DO NOT include your booking references, ticket numbers or names in the comments below. It contains personal information and should not be put on public forums.
We are trying to XXXX these out when we see them, but we are not the airline, and this is a public website.
