ANA is flying three Pokémon jets in 2026, and you can book a seat on the routes they serve using points. What you cannot do is book a specific one, because ANA states plainly that which aircraft flies which route "will not be confirmed until the day of departure."
That single sentence should shape the whole plan, and most write-ups leave it out. This guide covers the three aircraft, the routes each one serves, how to book those routes with points, and how to give yourself the best odds of actually getting the jet.
Everything below was read on ANA's own pages on September 4, 2026.
The three jets
ANA is marking two anniversaries at once. Its own page describes the occasion as the 30th anniversary of Pokémon, dating from the release of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green in 1996, and the 40th anniversary of ANA's international flights.
The airline announced three aircraft rather than one:
| Jet | Aircraft | Service |
|---|---|---|
| Pokémon Jet Red | Boeing 787-8 | Domestic routes |
| Pokémon Jet Green | Boeing 787-9 | International routes |
| Pokémon Jet Blue | Boeing 737-800 | Domestic routes |
ANA said the three "will be introduced sequentially throughout 2026," and they have arrived on that schedule. The Red jet's first flight was July 29, 2026. The Green jet's first flight is September 18, 2026, on a Boeing 787-9 registered JA923A.
This is not a new idea for the airline. ANA notes that "since the launch of the world's first Pokémon Jet in 1998, ANA has a long record of surprising and delighting air travelers," which is why a Pokémon-liveried aircraft at a Japanese airport is a familiar sight rather than a novelty.
Where they fly
ANA publishes the route lists, and they are the practical starting point because they define the set of tickets worth buying.
Red Pokémon Jet, domestic, from July 29, 2026. To and from Tokyo Haneda: Sapporo (New Chitose), Hakodate, Osaka (Itami), Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa (Naha), Miyako and Ishigaki. To and from Osaka (Itami): Sapporo (New Chitose) and Okinawa (Naha).
Green Pokémon Jet, international, from September 18, 2026. To and from Tokyo Haneda: Honolulu, Seattle, Vancouver, Sydney, Manila, Singapore, Delhi, Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. To and from Tokyo Narita: Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, Perth and Mumbai.
For a traveler from the United States, the Green jet's Seattle, Honolulu and Vancouver services are the realistic targets. Those are the routes where a US itinerary and a Pokémon jet actually intersect.
The catch, in ANA's own words
Read this before you plan anything around it.
ANA states: "In the event of flight irregularities, the aircraft may operate on routes other than those listed below." And more directly: "The flight routes vary depending on flight status, so they will not be confirmed until the day of departure."
That is the airline telling you it will not promise the aircraft. A specially painted jet is one airframe in a fleet, and it goes where the operation needs it. Maintenance, weather, a swap at the other end of a rotation, and the aircraft you booked for is somewhere else.
Two conclusions follow, and they are the honest ones.
Do not pay a premium for the livery. Not in cash and not in points. You are buying a route, and the aircraft is a possibility rather than a product.
Do not build a trip around it. If seeing the jet is the point of the journey, you are likely to be disappointed. If the journey is worth taking anyway and the jet is a bonus, you will enjoy it either way.
Booking those routes with points
ANA is a Star Alliance member, which its own site displays, and that is what opens the booking options.
ANA Mileage Club. The airline's own program, and the most direct route to ANA metal. Our ANA Mileage Club guide covers how the program works and where its award pricing is strongest.
Star Alliance partner programs. Because ANA sits in Star Alliance, partner programs can issue awards on its flights. Air Canada Aeroplan is the one most accessible to US cardholders: Chase states that "one Ultimate Rewards point is equal to one Aeroplan point," and that Aeroplan reaches "more than 40 airline partners," which is the entire alliance.
United MileagePlus. The other obvious Star Alliance route for a US traveler, particularly on the transpacific services. Our coverage of MileagePlus earning changes is worth reading if that is your program.
For the domestic Japanese routes the Red and Blue jets serve, the calculation is different and usually simpler. Short domestic sectors in Japan are frequently inexpensive in cash and modest in points, so the question is less about maximizing value and more about picking a route you wanted to fly anyway.
Our guide to the best ways to fly to Japan with points covers the transpacific side properly, and the best credit cards for flights to Japan covers which currencies feed the relevant programs. The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve are the usual US routes into Aeroplan, and the Amex Platinum reaches ANA's own program.
What is actually on board
Worth separating clearly, because this is where expectations most often outrun reality.
A special livery is paint. The cabin, the seats, the service and the catering on a Pokémon jet are ANA's standard product for that aircraft type, and the 787-9 flying the Green jet's international routes is the same 787-9 you would get otherwise.
ANA has historically paired these campaigns with onboard touches, and its current program includes item distribution timed to the launch, which its own page notes is "scheduled for approximately two months after the service begins" and ends "once supplies run out." Treat any onboard extra as a limited promotional flourish rather than a fixture of the flight.
So the honest description of what you are buying is a normal ANA flight, on a normal ANA aircraft, that happens to be painted. That is not a criticism. ANA's standard product is very good, and the paint is free to the passenger. It is simply not a different flying experience, and anyone expecting a themed cabin will be puzzled at boarding.
The photograph, on the other hand, is real, and for the audience these jets are aimed at the photograph is most of the point.
Improving your odds
You cannot book the aircraft. You can change the probability, and a few things genuinely help.
Pick a route the jet serves often rather than rarely. A jet assigned to a dense domestic rotation operates several sectors a day. On the international side, a once-daily route means one chance.
Fly the domestic network if the livery is the goal. Two of the three jets are domestic, and domestic aircraft fly more sectors per day than long-haul ones. If your priority is seeing a Pokémon jet rather than crossing an ocean, a Haneda to Osaka hop is a far better bet than a transpacific.
Check the day before and the morning of. ANA says assignments are not confirmed until the day of departure, which cuts both ways: it also means the information exists by then. Flight-tracking tools and the airline's own app will show the registration operating a flight once it is assigned.
Have a reason to be on the route regardless. This is the only reliable strategy. Book the trip you wanted, on a route the jet serves, and treat the aircraft as a coin flip you are not paying for.
Our roundup of award search engines covers finding the seats; nothing covers finding the aircraft, because nothing can.
Is it worth the effort
Three honest cases.
Traveling with a Pokémon-aged child. The clearest yes, and the reason most of these trips happen. A domestic Japanese sector on a Red or Blue jet is inexpensive, short, and the kind of thing a seven-year-old remembers for a decade. Build in a second attempt on a different day if the schedule allows.
An aviation enthusiast collecting liveries. Also yes, with the same caveat every enthusiast already knows: special liveries are chased, not booked, and the chase is most of the fun.
Someone who just wants a good flight to Japan. The jet should not enter your decision. Book the routing and cabin that suit the trip, and if a Pokémon jet turns up at the gate, that is a free bonus. Our comparison of Star Alliance and oneworld is more relevant to that decision than any livery.
What ANA is actually doing here
Worth a short note, because it explains why these keep appearing.
A special livery is a marketing asset that flies. It generates photographs at every airport it visits, it draws enthusiasts onto specific routes, and it costs the airline a paint job rather than a media buy. ANA has been doing this since 1998 and has now paired it with a Pokémon GO collaboration, which extends the campaign beyond people who are actually flying.
That framing is useful for a traveler because it sets the right expectation. The airline's incentive is for the jets to be seen, not for you to be able to book one. Nothing about the program is designed to give you certainty, and the absence of certainty is not an oversight.
Enjoy it accordingly: a nice thing that might happen on a trip you were taking, rather than a product you can purchase.
The Green jet is the one to watch from the US
Of the three, only one will realistically appear on an itinerary that starts in North America, and it has only just entered service.
The Green jet is the 787-9 assigned to international routes, registration JA923A, with a first flight on September 18, 2026 and a published operating period running to March 27, 2027. Its published network includes Seattle, Vancouver and Honolulu, which are the three points where a US traveler and this aircraft can meet without an extra positioning flight to Asia.
That has a practical implication for timing. A newly introduced aircraft tends to be operated visibly at first, and the launch phase is when an airline is most inclined to keep a special livery on its advertised routes. Whether that holds is not something ANA promises, and the same day-of-departure caveat applies from the first flight onward.
It also means the Honolulu route deserves particular attention from anyone in the western United States. It is the shortest of the three US-adjacent options, frequently the cheapest in points, and pairs naturally with a trip people take anyway.
The other two jets are domestic, which for a US traveler means adding a Japanese domestic sector to a trip already going to Japan. That is a low-cost addition rather than a separate journey, and it is where the odds are genuinely better.
Before you book
Four things.
Choose from ANA's published route lists. They are the only routes where the aircraft is even a possibility.
Book the trip on its own merits. Route, cabin, timing and price should all work without the livery.
Price it through more than one Star Alliance program. ANA's own program and the partner programs will not agree on the number.
Accept the uncertainty in writing. ANA has told you the assignment is not confirmed until the day of departure. Anyone promising you otherwise is guessing.
One more thing worth knowing about special liveries generally
Paint schemes retire, and they retire without much notice.
ANA has stated operation periods for previous Pokémon aircraft measured in years rather than months, but a special livery lasts until the airframe's next heavy maintenance visit or until the campaign ends, whichever comes first. There is rarely a farewell announcement.
The practical consequence is that "sometime next year" is a weaker plan than it feels. If a specific jet matters to you, the window is now rather than eventually, and that argues for attaching the attempt to a trip you were already going to take this year rather than waiting for a better one.
It also argues against spending points you would rather save. A livery is worth a detour on a trip you were making. It is not worth a redemption you would not otherwise have made, on a route you did not want, for an aircraft the airline has explicitly declined to promise you.
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Sources
- ANA — Pokémon 30th Anniversary: Red, Green and Blue Pokémon Jet, read 2026-09-04: the Pokémon 30th and ANA International 40th anniversaries, the world's first Pokémon Jet in 1998, the Red jet's first flight on July 29 2026 and the Green jet's on September 18 2026, the full domestic and international route lists, and the caveats that the aircraft "may operate on routes other than those listed" and "will not be confirmed until the day of departure"
- ANA Group — ANA to Launch Three New Liveries for Pokémon 30th Anniversary, read 2026-09-04: "Pokémon Jet Red (Boeing 787-8): Scheduled Service: Domestic Routes", "Pokémon Jet Green (Boeing 787-9): Scheduled Service: International Routes", "Pokémon Jet Blue (Boeing 737-800): Scheduled Service: Domestic Routes", and that the three would be introduced sequentially throughout 2026
- Chase newsroom — Air Canada Aeroplan joins Ultimate Rewards, read 2026-09-04: "one Ultimate Rewards point is equal to one Aeroplan point" and Aeroplan's reach across "more than 40 airline partners", cited for the Star Alliance booking route to ANA
- ANA Group — Green Pokémon Jet first flight release, read 2026-09-04: first flight "Friday, September 18, 2026" on a "Boeing 787-9 (Registration: JA923A)", scheduled to operate from September 18, 2026 to March 27, 2027
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