Members of frequent flyer programs that participate in the Star Alliance have long been able to use the ANA award search tool to search for awards on Star Alliance carriers and recently, the tool has become even more useful with the addition of award inventory of Swiss, Air China and Shanghai Airlines. If you are a member of any Star Alliance airline and want to redeem your miles, register for a ANA Mileage Club account so you can access the ANA award booking engine. After logging in, you can search for awards on Star Alliance airlines even if you don’t have any Mileage Club miles. The tool is great for looking for awards when the FFP you belong to doesn’t display partner awards online. For example, if you want to redeem Continental OnePass miles for a flight from the U.S. to Europe, you can search for flights with the ANA booking tool and then call the OnePass award center to book the award you found. United Mileage Plus, however, sometimes blocks Star Alliance awards that would otherwise be available so even if you find an available award with ANA’s tool, you may not be able to redeem Mileage Plus miles for it.