How Airline Mileage Programs Work - The Flight Mile Formula and ANA vs. JAL

A mileage program is an airline membership program in which "miles" accumulate from flights and everyday spending, redeemable for award tickets, seat upgrades and more. In Japan, ANA Mileage Club and JAL Mileage Bank are the two major programs.

The core of the mechanism is that miles earned from flying (flight miles) are determined by "distance flown x fare type." Both ANA and JAL use the same formula:

Flight miles = sector base miles x accrual rate for the fare

Sector base miles are distance-based numbers fixed per route, and the accrual rate depends on which fare you bought. Fares closer to full price earn higher rates; sale and tour fares earn less. The same route can therefore yield two to three times more or fewer miles depending on how you buy the ticket - knowing this alone changes how you forecast your mileage balance. Search "マイレージ" on Amazon

Comparing the two programs' basics using their official sites:

Item	ANA Mileage Club	JAL Mileage Bank
Flight mile calculation	Sector base miles x fare accrual rate	Sector miles x fare accrual rate
Domestic accrual rate range	50-150% (for boarding through May 18, 2026); 30-150% (new system from May 19 onward)	50-100% (fare categories 1-6)
Expiry of regular miles	End of the month 36 months after use	End of the month 36 months after accrual
Alliance	Star Alliance	oneworld
Miles on award tickets	Not accrued	Not accrued (free award travel does not earn miles)

Accrual categories and figures get revised, so read the table as the content of each official site as of August 2026. To check how many miles your specific flight earns before ticketing, use ANA's accrual conditions page or JAL's mile search tool.

Taking ANA's domestic rates (for boarding through May 18, 2026) as an example: premium fares earn 150%, premium advance-purchase discounts such as ANA VALUE PREMIUM 3 / SUPER VALUE PREMIUM 28 earn 125%, standard fares such as ANA FLEX earn 100%, advance-purchase discounts such as ANA VALUE / SUPER VALUE earn 75%, and individual inclusive tour fares or Smart U25 earn 50% - five groups, each fare group with a set rate. A paid upgrade to Premium Class adds a flat 50% on top of the original fare's rate.

Note that ANA overhauled its domestic fare structure for boarding on and after May 19, 2026: in the new system, Economy Class earns Flex 100% / Standard 80% / Simple 70% / Sale 50% / inclusive tour discount fares 30%, and First Class (former Premium Class) earns Flex 150% and so on. JAL similarly groups fares: category 1 (Flex family) at 100%, categories 2-4 (shareholder discounts and Saver family) at 75%, and categories 5-6 (individual inclusive tour fares, Sky Mate and other promotions) at 50% (all per official information as of August 2026).

The common pattern: the earlier and cheaper you buy, the lower the accrual rate. Buying expensive fares just for miles defeats the purpose, but when the price gap is small, choosing the higher-accrual fare is a rational move.

Anyone earning miles efficiently uses "double dipping." The mechanism is simple: miles come from two separate sources - flying and paying.

Source	What it rewards	Example (official information)
Flight miles	The flight itself (distance x accrual rate)	Both ANA and JAL accrue by the formula above
Payment miles	Paying for the ticket	Buying an ANA ticket with an ANA Card earns 1 mile per 100 yen

For example, buy an ANA ticket with an ANA Card and fly: the payment miles post at purchase, and the flight miles post separately after boarding. JAL likewise offers official add-ons - in-flight shopping earns 1 mile per 100 yen, and enrolling in JAL Card Tour Premium brings eligible tour-type fares up to 100% of sector miles.

For strategies on earning miles through everyday credit card spending and how to think about mile value, see the glossary entry on mileage programs. The broader points-versus-miles picture is covered in how point reward systems work.

Earned miles expire. JAL states that miles are valid until the end of the month 36 months after accrual, and ANA's regular miles likewise last until the end of the month 36 months after the month of use. Both count as "three full years plus the rest of that month."

Watch out for campaign miles. ANA sorts miles into "mile account groups 1-4" by how they were earned: regular miles from flights and everyday services (group 1) follow the 36-month rule, but campaign miles (groups 2-4) carry expiry dates set per campaign. The more miles a campaign hands you, the more you should suspect a shorter-than-usual deadline and check.

Also, you cannot credit another person's flight - even a family member's - to your own account (stated in JAL's official Q&A), nor register the same flight with multiple airlines' programs. Since every flight forces a choice of program, the basic strategy is to concentrate on the airline and alliance you fly most.