Tokyo, May 13, 2026, 00:13 JST
- ANA will split its Super Flyers Card program into SFC PLUS and SFC LITE from April 2028, with the top benefits tied to annual ANA Card and ANA Pay spending.
- Members spending less than ¥3 million a year will lose ANA Lounge access and move from Star Alliance Gold to Silver-level treatment under the new structure.
- The change has drawn fresh attention in Japanese media and flight-review forums, where some ANA flyers are already framing it as a break with the old SFC bargain.
ANA’s planned overhaul of its Super Flyers Card has become a fresh flashpoint among Japanese frequent flyers, with the airline preparing to make annual spending, not just past flying, the gatekeeper for key elite perks.
The issue is not new, but the anger has not faded. A May 12 ITmedia Business Online article described criticism from so-called “mileage runners” — passengers who take extra flights mainly to earn elite status — after ANA said SFC holders spending under ¥3 million a year would lose lounge access from 2028. Hatena Bookmark
ANA says the change is meant to provide services “more appropriately” by setting two categories based on annual payment volume. The first assessment period will run from Dec. 16, 2026, to Dec. 15, 2027, and the new service categories will start in April 2028. ANA
Under the new system, SFC PLUS members — those with at least ¥3 million in annual ANA Card and ANA Pay spending — will keep ANA Lounge access, receive 5,000 miles and retain Star Alliance Gold. SFC LITE members, below that spending level, will not be able to use ANA Lounges and will be treated as Star Alliance Silver, while keeping other ANA Group flight benefits except lounge use.
Star Alliance Gold matters because it is not just an ANA badge. It typically brings lounge access, priority check-in, priority boarding, extra baggage allowance and faster baggage handling when flying on Star Alliance carriers, so the downgrade can change the value of an international trip as much as a domestic one.
The rule also applies to existing SFC cardholders. ANA says members who do not reach ¥3 million will not be forced out of SFC, but their category will be judged every year; family-card spending can count toward the main member’s total. Customers who have flown 1 million ANA Lifetime Miles on ANA Group-operated flights will qualify for SFC PLUS regardless of card spending, though the 5,000-mile bonus still requires the ¥3 million threshold.
Nikkei framed the change this month as ANA putting a ¥3 million annual payment condition on “upper-member” treatment, with lounge rights at the center of the shift. The shorthand is rough but accurate: ANA is turning a once semi-permanent perk into a yearly test of wallet share. Hatena Bookmark
FlyTeam, a Japanese aviation community site, showed how the dispute has seeped into day-to-day flyer talk. A review posted a day ago carried the headline “Farewell SFC” and covered ANA Flight 572 from Wakkanai to Tokyo Haneda in May 2026, a small but telling sign that the program change is being discussed outside loyalty-program message boards. Flyteam
The business logic is clearer than the customer-relations problem. ANA Holdings said in January it wants to expand its fan base, improve domestic passenger profitability and push more value through digital and related services, while President and CEO Koji Shibata said the group would use international passenger and cargo operations as “dual drivers” of growth. Anahd
Atsushi Ishikawa, a mobile-industry columnist at K-tai Watch, wrote on May 13 that ANA’s wider “economic zone” now includes ANA Pay, credit cards and ANA Mobile, and noted that the ¥3 million card-spending rule stands out as a visible downgrade for lounge users. ケータイ Watch
Japan Airlines is the obvious peer. JAL’s Global Club is built around Life Status Points earned over a customer’s lifetime, with JGC available from 1,500 points and lounge access listed as a benefit for JGC members; it is not a clean one-for-one comparison, but ANA’s move puts the two domestic loyalty strategies in sharper contrast.
The risk for ANA is that a cleaner, less crowded lounge system may come at the cost of trust among members who believed SFC benefits were durable once earned. Some may shift spend to ANA cards to keep SFC PLUS; others may accept SFC LITE, buy lounge access elsewhere or test JAL, but switching is not frictionless because JAL’s own elite path is also demanding.
ANA Holdings shares ended May 12 down 1.38% at ¥2,789.50 in Tokyo, with the market closed by the time of publication. The share move was not clearly tied to the SFC debate, but the loyalty change lands as investors watch whether airlines can turn recovered travel demand into higher-margin, repeat customer revenue.
