Ending soon: How I booked 13 hours in business class for 37,000 points with this transfer bonus

I missed this summer's fast-paced trips because of my desire to travel. It doesn't mean I can't start planning for next summer despite the fact that this isn't the right time to explore.

There were 12 limited-time transfer bonuses with some of American Express' most powerful transfer partners. Many of the best Amex membership rewards redemptions are on sale. The transfer bonuses end in September.

I wanted to see if I could take advantage of the 30% transfer bonus with Virgin Atlantic to book my first trip to Asia.

Let's see how I did it, and why you might want to do the same.

Virgin Atlantic’s ANA sweet spot award chart

ANA is one of the best places to redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. You can see that from the West Coast to Japan is a round trip.

The price of one-way award tickets come out to half the round-trip rate. Los Angeles can be booked in first class for just 55,000 points. Some loyalty programs charge more than that.

Although first class sounds unbelievable, when business class from Tokyo to my home airport of Dulles International Airport became available, I knew I could not turn down the opportunity.

How I booked ANA business class for 37,000 Amex points

I needed 47,500 points to get from Tokyo to Washington. This is half of the price from the east coast to japan.

It's easy to earn Virgin points with its extensive list of transfer partners. You can transfer almost all major reward currencies to Virgin.

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This is where the 30% transfer bonus came in handy. I received 1.3 Flying Club points for every Membership Reward point I transferred. If you want to take advantage of the transfer bonus, act fast because it ends in September.

I was able to book the ticket because I transferred 37,000 Membership rewards points. After logging in to American Express, I entered my Flying Club information, which led to the transfer.

How I booked the flight

It is not possible to book ANA awards booking online with Virgin Atlantic, even though I was able to use my preferred Star Alliance award search engine. There is an excellent explanation of how to find ANA award availability provided byTPG.

I contacted Virgin Atlantic to confirm the availability. I was able to get through to an agent quickly despite the lengthy wait times on the website. The agent told me that I needed to book 47,500 miles to get an award seat.

Taxes and fees for the reservation were higher than usual The price of the ticket was due to high fuel prices. It was worth it for nearly 13 hours in business class.

Most transfers are instant and allow you to transfer points and confirm the ticket while on the phone, but the agent could not hold award space for ANA.

I had to wait five hours for the points to show up in my account because the transfer wasn't instantaneous.

I called Virgin Atlantic to book my tickets after I got my points.

Bottom line

Despite the transfer delay, I was able to book a ticket that would have cost me almost $8,000, plus taxes and fees. I got 22 cents per Membership Reward point, 11 times higher than the current valuation of 2 cents per point.

Not only will I be able to fly back from my first trip to Asia in style, but I will be able to do so for less than what United charges for a seat in economy on the same route.

Booking through Virgin Atlantic's sweet spot is something I have always wanted to try, as ANA offers one of the world's best business-class products. Having American Express add a transfer bonus this month was the icing on the cake.