Can You Buy Singapore, Cathay, ANA, JAL, or Korean Air Miles in 2026?

Ask whether you can buy miles for Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, ANA Mileage Club, JAL Mileage Bank, or Korean Air SKYPASS, and the honest answer is: for three of the five, no — not at any price, not ever. ANA, JAL, and Korean Air have no mechanism for a member to hand over cash and receive miles. Singapore and Cathay do sell, but only as a "top-up" once you already hold most of the miles for a specific award — Singapore requires you to already hold at least half, Cathay at least 70%. You can check today's live per-mile prices for all five programs before you decide anything.

That combination — three programs that flatly don't sell, two that only sell once you're most of the way there already — is unusual among major airline programs, and it's the reason a below-retail marketplace matters more here than almost anywhere else in the loyalty world. It's also easy to miss if you're comparing these five programs against the wrong benchmark: plenty of guides quote a generic 'airlines sell miles around 3¢' figure that simply doesn't apply to three of the five programs on this page. This guide lays out exactly what each program allows, what it costs where buying is possible at all, and what our live market charges instead.

Asian Airline Miles: Official Buy Price vs Our Marketplace (2026)

The table below is the fastest way to see the split. "Does not sell" means there is no purchase mechanism at any price; "Top-up only (gated)" means the airline will sell, but only mid-booking and only once you already hold most of the award. Direct figures are as researched and dated below; our figures are live-market and move with the miles price index.

Why don't ANA, JAL, and Korean Air sell miles like other airlines do?

Among major airline programs, selling miles directly — at some price, with some promo cycle — is the norm, not the exception. UpgradedPoints' actively-maintained July 2026 roundup of current buy-miles promotions lists seven programs selling directly: Air France-KLM Flying Blue, American AAdvantage, British Airways, Etihad Guest, Garuda Indonesia, JetBlue TrueBlue, and Lufthansa Miles & More. Korean Air, ANA, and JAL are absent from that list, and FlyerTalk's community consensus on Korean Air is unambiguous: no one reports ever buying miles from them.

There's no official explanation from any of the three carriers for why they've opted out of the buy-miles model that the rest of the industry uses. What matters for a buyer is simpler: whichever the reason, it means transferable credit-card points, flying, or a below-retail marketplace are your only three ways into ANA, JAL, or Korean Air miles — there's no fourth 'just buy them' option to fall back on the way there is with most other programs.

How much does it cost to buy Singapore KrisFlyer miles?

Singapore Airlines will sell you KrisFlyer miles, but only as a "top-up" during the booking of a specific award, and only once you already hold at least 50% of the miles that award requires. The rate is US$40 per 1,000 miles — 4.0¢ per mile — confirmed by MileLion's 2026 tracking. Our marketplace price runs roughly 1.65¢, with no award-in-progress requirement: you buy the miles first and decide what to book after.

Buying beats cash mainly on premium-cabin awards, and KrisFlyer has one real advantage worth knowing: Singapore Airlines dropped fuel surcharges on its own-metal awards back in 2017, so a KrisFlyer redemption on an SQ-operated flight adds only real taxes, not a surcharge. The gotcha is partner awards — book a Star Alliance partner like ANA, Lufthansa, or United instead, and carrier-imposed surcharges reappear, commonly US$300–500 and sometimes over US$1,000 on Lufthansa Group flights out of the US.

How much does it cost to buy Cathay Pacific Asia Miles?

Cathay Pacific also only sells Asia Miles as a top-up, and the bar is higher than Singapore's: you need to already hold at least 70% of a specific award's miles before Cathay will sell you the rest, at US$60 per 2,000-mile block — 3.0¢ per mile, per FinlyWealth and OneMileAtATime's 2026 coverage. Our marketplace price runs roughly 1.6¢, available without holding any miles first.

Unlike KrisFlyer, Asia Miles doesn't get a surcharge waiver: Cathay passes carrier-imposed fuel surcharges through on every redemption, own-metal and oneworld partner alike. Those surcharges roughly doubled in March 2026 before being cut 15% from July 1, 2026 (a long-haul segment fell from about US$174.60 to US$149.20, per MileLion) — still elevated versus pre-2026 levels, and the rate locks at booking date, not travel date. Budget for it before you buy.

Can you buy ANA Mileage Club miles?

No. ANA does not sell Mileage Club miles to the public in any standard or promotional form — there's no top-up, no gated purchase, nothing, per FlyerTalk's community consensus and AwardWallet's program guide. The only ways into an ANA account are flying, a credit-card transfer (Amex Membership Rewards at 1:1, Marriott Bonvoy at 3:1), or the ANA Sky Shop. Our marketplace price runs roughly 1–2¢ (ANA isn't individually indexed — see the live price index for today's figure), and it's the only route to ANA miles for cash if you don't already hold transferable points.

One gotcha regardless of how you get the miles: ANA charges full fuel and carrier surcharges on both its own-metal and Star Alliance partner awards — there's no Singapore-style waiver — and its international surcharges roughly doubled from May 1, 2026 (¥31,900 to ¥56,000 one-way on routes to North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania, per Wego Travel).

Can you buy Japan Airlines (JAL Mileage Bank) miles?

No. JAL doesn't sell Mileage Bank miles to the public either — the same flat "no" as ANA. Miles come only from flying, a credit-card transfer (Bilt at 1:1 since 2025, Capital One at roughly 2:1.5 since September 2025), the FNBO JAL USA co-brand card, or the JAL shopping portal, per PointsAndMilesDoc's program guide. Our marketplace price runs roughly 1.8¢, and again, it's the only way to convert cash directly into JAL miles.

The gotcha mirrors ANA's: JAL applies full fuel surcharges to both JAL-metal and partner awards, charged in cash on top of the miles, and its international surcharge also roughly doubled from May 1, 2026 (¥29,000 to ¥56,000 one-way on the same route group, per Wego Travel). Tickets issued in Japan between May 1 and June 30, 2026 carry the new rate — confirm the current surcharge before you redeem.

Can you buy Korean Air SKYPASS miles?

No. Korean Air does not sell SKYPASS miles to the public. Miles come only from flying or from the Korean Air/U.S. Bank SKYPASS Visa co-brand card — FlyerTalk's community consensus is blunt on this ("I haven't heard of anyone on KE buying miles ever"), and Korean Air is absent from UpgradedPoints' actively-maintained July 2026 roundup of programs that do sell. "Cash & Miles," which lets you pay for a ticket with part cash and part miles, is a different mechanism and isn't the same as buying miles into your balance.

Our marketplace price runs roughly 1–2¢ (Korean Air isn't individually indexed — see the live price index for today's figure), making it the only route to SKYPASS miles for cash. One gotcha to know regardless: Korean Air's cash-ticket fuel surcharges spiked sharply in 2026 (an Incheon–LA one-way surcharge jumped roughly 3.5x, from 79,500 to 276,000 KRW, per Korea Daily), and that elevated surcharge level flows through to award redemptions too.

How buying miles below retail works

Where the airline sells directly — KrisFlyer and Asia Miles — buying below retail is an alternative to a pricey, gated top-up. Where it doesn't — ANA, JAL, and Korean Air — it's the only ungated way in. Either way, the process on MileMarketplace is the same:

• Confirm the award seat exists on your dates using a live award-search tool before buying anything.
• Check today's live per-mile price for the program on the price index, since the figure moves with supply.
• Buy from a live listing where payment is held until the miles are confirmed in your account, with a refund if delivery fails.
• Redeem the miles yourself, or have the award booking service issue the exact ticket for you at the miles price.

Where to buy Singapore, Cathay, ANA, JAL, or Korean Air miles

For KrisFlyer and Asia Miles, our live market is worth pricing against the airline's own top-up rate before you commit to either — the airline route is gated and expensive at 3–4¢, ours typically isn't. For ANA, JAL, and Korean Air, there's no such comparison to make: the airline doesn't offer a price to beat, so browsing live listings is effectively the only way to buy these three currencies with cash. Not sure buying is worth it for your specific trip? Our award booking service can price the exact flight and book it in your name once you've got the miles.

If you're weighing these five programs against other regions, our broader breakdowns of where to buy miles, which programs hold the most value, and whether buying is worth it in general cover the same decision across the rest of the airline map. For a pure price comparison, the cheapest programs to buy right now round out the picture.