ANA Stopover and Add-on Free Fare: Two Free Flights Across Japan, and No Hotel at All

Last verified: August 2026.

ANA belongs in this series for the same reason Malaysia Airlines does: it answers the long-layover
question with an aeroplane rather than a bed. If you are flying to or through Tokyo, ANA will carry you to
two more Japanese cities for no extra airfare — which on a country with a domestic network as
expensive as Japan’s is worth considerably more than a night near Narita.

Stopover or transfer — and why the distinction is in your favour

ANA defines a stopover as a stay at a transfer point of more than 24 hours. Anything
shorter is a transfer. The benefit covers two of either, which is more generous than it first
looks: a quick same-day hop through Osaka and a four-day stay in Sapporo both draw on the same allowance,
and you are not penalised for using one of them briefly.

ANA flies to over 40 domestic destinations, so the practical constraint is your own time rather than
the route map. The two obvious shapes are a north-and-south split — Hokkaido one way, Kyushu or
Okinawa the other — or a single deeper stay somewhere the international network does not reach.

The fare gate

This is where people fall out. ANA states the benefit is
“applicable only to the following fare types: Value, Standard, and Full Flex”.
Those are ANA’s international economy fare families — and the cheapest promotional buckets sit below
Value. If you bought on price alone through a comparison site, check the fare name on your confirmation
before you plan a week in Hokkaido around it.

What is not included

• No hotel. Nothing in this offer covers accommodation.
• No ground transport. ANA states plainly that transportation costs other than the
  flights are not included in the total fare — so trains between cities are yours.
• Taxes and fees are payable on the free sectors. The fare is waived; the rest is not.

One campaign you will still see quoted, which has ended

Through 2025 and into 2026, ANA ran a promotion with the Japan National Tourism Organization that is
still widely written up as if it were live. It was scoped to run until 31 January 2026,
which has passed. The underlying Stopover and Add-on Free Fare benefit described on this page is a
property of ANA’s fare rules rather than that campaign, so it did not disappear with it — but if you
have read an article promising a limited-time JNTO offer, that specific promotion is over.

It is the same pattern that keeps Oman Air’s expired free-night offer circulating two years after it
ended: a campaign gets covered heavily at launch, and nobody publishes a correction when it lapses. Check
the fare rules, not the coverage.

How to book it

Use the multi-city search on ana.co.jp: enter each leg with its dates in order, finishing with your
flight home, then search the itinerary as a single booking. The benefit is a property of the whole
itinerary, so booking the international ticket first and adding domestic flights afterwards will not
produce it — you will simply be buying two separate tickets at full price.

Is it worth it?

Yes, and more than most things in this series, because Japanese domestic fares are genuinely
expensive and the alternative — the rail network — is superb but slow to Hokkaido and Okinawa
and not cheap either. Two free sectors on a long-haul ticket you were buying anyway is real money. Just
do not arrive expecting a room: this is the flights, and only the flights.

Frequently asked questions

What does ANA actually give you?

Two free stopovers or transfers inside Japan. In ANA’s words: “Enjoy 2 FREE Stopovers or Transfers benefits with ANA” when you buy ANA tickets to Tokyo in one itinerary combining international and domestic travel. The domestic sectors cost no extra airfare — you pay consumption tax and applicable fees.

Is a hotel included?

No. This is not a transit-hotel programme and ANA does not claim it is. It is free internal flights. ANA states that “transportation costs other than the flights are not included in the total fare”, and accommodation is entirely yours to arrange.

What counts as a stopover?

ANA defines it as “a stay at a transfer point en route to a destination for more than 24 hours”. Under 24 hours it is a transfer rather than a stopover — and usefully, the benefit covers two of either, so a short connection does not waste one.

Which fares qualify?

Only Value, Standard and Full Flex. ANA is explicit that the benefit is applicable to those three fare types, so the very cheapest promotional fares are outside it. Check the fare name, not the cabin.

Do both free flights have to use the same airport?

No, and this is the detail that makes it genuinely flexible. ANA states your free domestic flights “don’t have to arrive/depart from the same airport”, so you can fly into one city, travel overland, and fly out of another.

How do I book it?

Through the multi-city search on ana.co.jp — you enter each leg with its dates, ending with your flight home, then search the whole itinerary as one booking. It will not appear if you book the international and domestic sectors separately.

Related guides

• Malaysia Airlines Bonus Side Trip — the same idea, from Kuala Lumpur
• Vietnam Airlines transit tour — a hotel, meals and a tour instead
• All airline stopover hotel programmes compared — every carrier in this series side by side