How to use your Japan carrier's frequent flier miles during the pandemic

As many of you can see from the posts I've written here on City-Cost, I am an avid collector of frequent flier miles. At times I also collect some of the popular shopping points, especially if they help me accumulate miles faster. And while I haven't written about my points/miles collection frenzy lately, I've constantly been finding new ways to grow my points faster.

Until this pandemic happened.

Aside from those questions that we have already asked ourselves as we contemplate on our lives and futures, one thought that has crossed my mind is on the relevance of my long-held hobby. I mean, I truly wondered if collecting miles is still worth doing, given the changes happening to air travel. Sure, most airlines have extended the "life" of their miles - to the delight of their passengers, of course. However, for someone who collects miles mainly through non-flight means (i.e., credit card usage), the thought of shifting focus to cash rebates or shopping points collection for the time being has definitely crossed my mind.

Then I remembered that I can still make use of some of the miles I have collected so far by exchanging it to other means that I can readily use, while air travel is still not a good idea. Good thing that the frequent flier programs of Japan's two main air carriers, ANA Mileage club and the JAL Mileage Bank, have in place alternative ways to use their miles. Let's take a look at those.

A. JAL Mileage Bank

If you currently have 10,000 miles or more in your JMB and you also have a d-account, you may exchange your miles to d-points at a 1:1 exchange rate. Once exchanged to d-points, you may use them for purchases at shops that have d-barai cashless payments.

Conversely, if you have a minimum of 5,000 d-points, you may exchange them to JMB and just hope that you can use them for travel soon. Before your miles expire, though, it is best that you convert those to the e-JAL point, to extend their validity for an additional year. The disadvantage of changing your d-points to JMB is that you can only use your miles or e-JAL points on purchases at the JAL shopping website. 

It is now up to you on how you want to make use of your JMB miles and d-points. If you don't see yourself travelling soon (be it due to COVID-19 or not), it might be better to put those miles to d-points and use them for payment via d-barai.

B. ANA Mileage Club

For AMC, you may exchange a minimum of 10,000 miles to T-points at a 1:1 exchange rate. If you would like to do it the other way around, 500 T-points will give you 250 miles.

If collecting miles remains your priority even in these uncertain times for air travel, of course you may do the T-point-to-miles exchange. Similar to JMB, though, the downside is that the miles will expire after 36 months. While you can extend their validity for an additional year by exchanging your miles to ANA coins, you will only be able to use them on the ANA shopping sites.

By converting your miles to T-points, however, you will have more spending power. You may use your T-points as T-money or exchange those to actual cash if you have a savings account with Japan Net Bank. Though the exchange rate at Japan Net Bank is not very attractive, I still prefer exchanging my T-points, including the ones from AMC, to cash as this will give me an opportunity to invest it in Japan Net Bank's mutual funds. 

If you have the same questions as I did on what to do with your miles, I hope the tips above gave you some ideas. At the moment I have an almost equal amount of JMB and AMC miles, and both are about to reach the minimum for points exchange (to d-point and T-point respectively). While I am still undecided on what to do with my JMB, I am definitely exchanging my AMC to T-points then to cash.