ANA Award Flights: Additional Cash Fees (Fuel Surcharges & Taxes) Differ Widely by Operating Carrier

Fuel Surcharge Variance

55,950 Yen Cash Difference

When booking international award flights using ANA Mileage Club miles, out-of-pocket cash varies significantly depending on whether the flight is operated by ANA or a partner carrier—even for the exact same 35,000 miles.

When booking a round-trip award flight between Tokyo and Singapore via ANA Mileage Club, both options require exactly 35,000 miles. However, flights operated by ANA incur 70,060 yen in cash charges, including 54,600 yen in round-trip fuel surcharges. In contrast, choosing a partner flight operated by Singapore Airlines—which does not levy fuel surcharges—requires only 14,110 yen in airport taxes and fees, producing an astonishing cash difference of 55,950 yen (confirmed September 26, 2026).

First, Confirm: Does Your Flight Qualify?

When accumulating ANA miles and redeeming international award flights, many travelers assume that having enough miles makes the flight completely free. In reality, fuel surcharges (fuel special additional fares) and airport passenger charges must be settled in cash when the ticket is issued. Understanding this surcharge structure is crucial for maximizing redemption value.

You hold ANA Mileage Club miles and are considering international award ticket redemption
You plan to fly routes with heavy fuel surcharges, such as Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Europe, or North America
Your destination is served by Star Alliance partner airlines (such as Singapore Airlines)
You want to minimize total out-of-pocket cash payments settled at booking, not just required miles
You understand the difference between codeshare marketing flight numbers and actual operating carriers

If all of the above apply to your trip, your choice of operating carrier on the award reservation screen can shift your total travel budget by tens of thousands of yen. Checking the surcharge policy for each operating carrier before spending miles is indispensable. Particularly on Southeast Asian routes, selecting the right partner carrier can easily save enough cash to cover several nights of quality hotel accommodation.

Step-by-Step Operating Carrier Comparison Guide

Here is the exact procedure on ANA’s official website to book partner airline award seats and spot discrepancies in additional cash fees.

Step	Procedure & Operational Checkpoints
Select Partner Award Search	Log into your ANA Mileage Club member dashboard and choose multi-carrier award search including “Partner Airline Award Tickets” rather than exclusively searching ANA-operated flights. This allows side-by-side seat availability across Star Alliance carriers.
Verify the Operating Carrier	Enter your desired itinerary (e.g., Tokyo to Singapore) and check award availability. In the flight results list, look closely at whether the flight states “Operated by ANA” or “Operated by Singapore Airlines.” Even with an NH flight number, flights may be codeshares operated by partner metal.
Review Total Payment Breakdown	On the seat selection confirmation screen, inspect the total “Taxes, Fees & Charges” amount displayed separately from the 35,000 miles consumed. Flights operated by ANA display approximately 70,060 yen, whereas Singapore Airlines displays approximately 14,110 yen.
Inspect Itemized Fee Details	Click the fee summary to expand itemized charges. Confirm whether 54,600 yen is billed under “Fuel Special Additional Fare (Fuel Surcharge)” or reflects 0 yen. On Singapore Airlines-operated flights, the fuel surcharge is 0 yen, leaving only mandatory airport taxes.

Regional Fuel Surcharge Rates Across ANA International Routes

ANA’s official fuel surcharges are reviewed on a bi-monthly cycle linked to Singapore kerosene benchmark market prices. Standard rates per sector for tickets issued from September 1, 2026 onwards are summarized below:

Destination Zone	One-Way Surcharge	Round-Trip Surcharge	Partner Airline Comparison Notes
South Korea	4,000 yen	8,000 yen	Minor difference compared with Asiana Airlines
East Asia (Taiwan, China excluding Korea)	14,300 yen	28,600 yen	Differences may arise with EVA Air and partners
Vietnam, Guam, Philippines	19,300 yen	38,600 yen	Varies by partner airline policy
Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia	27,300 yen	54,600 yen	0 yen surcharge on Singapore Airlines-operated flights
Hawaii, India, Indonesia	35,800 yen	71,600 yen	Substantial surcharges on ANA-operated flights
Europe, North America, Middle East, Oceania	49,000 yen	98,000 yen	Long-haul routes incur a 98,000 yen round-trip burden

Official fare rules explicitly specify that fuel surcharges apply to “ANA-marketed flights departing from or arriving in Japan, including codeshare flights operated by partner carriers.” This means that any booking booked under an ANA flight number automatically incurs ANA’s published fuel surcharge schedule. However, when redeeming partner award tickets issued under the partner airline’s own flight number and operated on partner metal (such as Singapore Airlines flights without an NH code), fuel surcharges are assessed at 0 yen if that carrier does not charge surcharges under its own rules, even for ANA Mileage Club members.

This mechanism is founded upon Star Alliance multilateral award ticketing rules. When partner award tickets are issued, taxes and fuel surcharges levied on passengers are calculated according to the rules of the actual operating carrier. Consequently, even when issuing tickets from the identical ANA Mileage Club account, the choice of operating airline creates a massive divergence in the final cash payment.

Crucial Pitfalls and Misconceptions

Here are typical traps that travelers frequently encounter when redeeming international award tickets. These operational nuances are easily overlooked when merely reading policy summaries.

Falling into Expensive Charges by Choosing Codeshare Flight Numbers

If you select a flight starting with an “NH” flight number on ANA’s booking screen, ANA’s fuel surcharge rules (e.g., 54,600 yen round-trip) apply in full—even if the actual aircraft and cabin crew are provided by a partner like Singapore Airlines. To save cash, you must explicitly choose the listing displayed under the partner carrier’s own flight number (such as an SQ flight number).

Partner Award Seat Inventory Is Smaller than ANA Operating Inventory

High-demand partner flights with 0 yen fuel surcharges, such as Singapore Airlines, release a strictly limited quota of award seats to ANA Mileage Club members. Even when award seats remain available on ANA-operated metal, partner inventory often shows as fully booked. Flexibility with travel dates and reserving seats as early as the booking window opens are critical strategies.

Stopovers and Multi-City Itineraries Accumulate Local Taxes

Even when fuel surcharges are zero, adding a stopover exceeding 24 hours or transiting through multiple intermediary airports causes individual airport passenger facility charges and departure taxes to accumulate per airport, inflating final out-of-pocket cash. When structuring complex itineraries, always recalculate total taxes across all intermediate transit points. Standard connections under 24 hours keep airport tax additions to a minimum. For an in-depth breakdown of route fare mechanics, see Why Connecting Flights Are Cheaper Than Direct Flights.

What Happens If You Select the Wrong Operating Carrier

If you complete booking on an ANA-operated flight without noticing carrier fee discrepancies, you will be billed 70,060 yen in cash for the exact same 35,000-mile Tokyo–Singapore round trip. For a family of three, this represents an unnecessary additional cash expense of approximately 167,850 yen.

Once an award ticket has been issued, changing the operating carrier requires cancelling the ticket for a refund penalty (3,000 miles per passenger) and booking a fresh reservation from scratch. Because there is no guarantee that partner award seats will remain available at that point, rigorously confirming the operating airline and total cash balance on the final checkout screen before clicking confirmation is your best defense.

GEAR

Handy Travel Accessories and Baggage Management

Checking portable luggage scales and travel packing accessories in advance ensures you stay within strict international baggage weight allowances.

Check How Flight Prices Differ by Booking and Departure Days

Frequently Asked Questions: Fuel Surcharges, Partner Awards, and Seat Quotas

Here are answers to the most common inquiries regarding ANA award flight ticketing mechanics.

Do other partner airlines besides Singapore Airlines offer 0 yen fuel surcharges?

Policies vary by airline. For example, United Airlines-operated flights across the Pacific generally do not levy fuel surcharges, whereas carriers like Thai Airways or Lufthansa bill their own respective surcharges. Verifying total taxes and surcharges on the award inquiry screen for each respective partner is the only foolproof method.

Can I re-issue an award ticket if fuel surcharges drop after booking?

No. Once an award ticket is issued, the fuel surcharge assessed on the date of ticket issuance remains fixed. When surcharges decrease during bi-monthly revisions, no automatic refund of the fare difference is provided. To benefit from lower revised rates, you must cancel and pay the standard refund handling fee (3,000 miles per ticket) to reissue the booking.

How are taxes and surcharges handled if a flight is cancelled due to typhoons or severe weather?

When flight cancellations or major delays occur due to airline operational issues or force majeure events like typhoons, award tickets can be rescheduled onto alternative flights or refunded in full without penalty fees. In a refund, both the redeemed miles and all cash paid for fuel surcharges and airport taxes are refunded 100%. Detailed irregular operations refund rules are explained in our guide on What Happens to Flights Cancelled or Delayed by Typhoons.

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