lionred2012

I have flown with SQ earlier this year (economy) and discovered that my flights SIN-DAC and return did not qualify to give ANZ airpoints or status points. I can't find any reference to this on the Air nz website (star alliance sector).

I book my flights through Air NZ and at the time, they did not realise it either.

I have just finished a trip AKL-LHR on NZ BP. Then on to Dhaka and back to London. This was on TK LHR-IST and IST-DAC. Again, the fare did not qualify for points. I have flown this route earlier, and received SPs etc. All flights on this route taken by me were economy. So, is there an economy fare that does not accrue points, and if so where can I find out the details?

If this is the case that there are non-accruing fares then obviously my choice of carrier will increase, and I will review my carrier to Europe.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out point earning details on the various fare structures. It is all very frustrating.

Xiaotung

You will need to look for the booking classes of your particular ticket. Many classes on partner airlines don't qualify for Airpoints.

If you go to Star Alliance section on the NZ website you will find all eligible booking classes under each airline.

http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/star-...apore-airlines
http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/star-...rkish-airlines

libertyuk

As annoying as this is, you'll find this is increasingly the case across Alliance FFPs. NZ reciprocates by ensuring that many of its lower economy fare categories earn nothing on other *A FFPs. e.g. unless you buy fully flexible fares on domestic flights, you'll earn nothing on non-NZ *A FFPs.

SQ is easily the worst on NZ, which appears to be a combination of SQ's own stingy policy around FFPs (It didn't even have a FFP for economy class passengers until it joined *A) and NZ not wanting Airpoints to incentivise flying on SQ.

lionred2012

Thanks for the answers. I understand that, but my eticket doesn't even have the ticket class on it. It just says economy. What is annoying is that the sales office knew that I wanted a fare that accrued SPs etc.

ruff00

Same thing annoyed me last month.

Travel Broker would have been told to book a different class to earn points, but even he did not know.

Frustrating.

Xiaotung

True. Also look out for those partner fares earning less than 50% miles on other FFP's. They most likely aren't accruable as Airpoints only has 2 earn levels, Economy and Discount Economy. A good example is Air Canada Rouge flights. These flights earn 25% miles on most other *A programmes but on Airpoints earning is prohibited.

pbl22

This is why my philosophy is to have two *A FFPs being credited to. Where possible, the non-Airpoints one gets all of my *A flying. The majority of my NZ flying (which accrues nothing on the other FFP) gets credited to Airpoints, as its the only FFP available.

There is the odd occasion like the OP's where you cannot credit to either, so you would be sure to credit to SQ (in that example) or ensure that the fare class purchased is accruable in the *A FFP.

kiwibattler

Had the same experience with Singapore Airlines flying to Singapore. No Status Points or benefits flying with them, which means I won't be maintaining my loyalty to alliance partners if none is shown in return.

I note that while Singapore Airlines may have replaced their 747 fleet to NZ I'm still sitting on the same uncomfortable seats and watching the same video technology I was 10 years ago!

Kamadan

Having just done my 3-week holiday over in the States, I must thank Air New Zealand for giving out 100% APD and SP on all my domestic United flights.

In fact, looking at AirNZ's site:
http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/star-alliance-united (as of November 2013, seeing as earn rates might change in the future)
All discounted economy classes still earn 100%. That is rather generous when the reverse isn't true - on United MileagePlus you earn nothing on AirNZ's discounted offerings.

Let me use all my flights as an example.

The discounted Economy long-haul AKL-SFO return (NZ8/7) costed me NZ$1600.00 (during their Easter sale) and earned 80 APD and 160 SP.
That's NZ$20 per APD and NZ$10 per SP.

I took a total of 7 domestic United discount economy legs, costed me NZ$779.80 + NZ$125.00 baggage fee at the gate (because United charges even the 1st checked piece) = NZ$904.80, and earned 115 APD and 130 SP in the end.
That's NZ$7.88 per APD and NZ$6.96 per SP.

In fact, if I were to do a Status upgrade run, it's CHEAPER for me to book and fly United, than with Air NZ.

That doesn't make any sense does it? Flying on a partner airline's DISCOUNTED economy offering gets you better Status points and more reward (APD), than your own.

kiwibattler

It doesn't make sense and its defies logic. I pay $1,400 for a return flight on Singapore Airlines and get no AP or SP. I pay $250 for a flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou on China Airlines and earn 30 SP, or a cheap return fare to Dunedin and get 32 SP.

I don't understand it to be honest.

Kamadan

I guess it really boils down to the agreements between the various partner airlines.

Least we can conclude that Singapore Airlines is REALLY not a team player within the Star Alliance, while United is over-generous.

Would booking the AKL-SIN flight with a AirNZ codeshare number makes things different? Otherwise if cost is similar, I'd suggest booking AKL-HKG-SIN in the future as at least AirNZ flies their own equipment for the AKL-HKG leg.

Xiaotung

NZ made a mess when they converted distance based to revenue based programme. The reality is you can't use a simple chart to reflect the value of routes of over 30 partner airlines. There are too many variables, mostly outside NZ's control. Now NZ will only tell you that the programme is not perfect but meets the needs of the majority of NZ customers. In general you will find the best value on short haul premium cabins and the worst value on long haul discount economy but this will change post March 2014. I'd say take advantage of any routes you can find while you still can.

mad_atta

It's not NZ who is being generous, it's United. The host airline determines whether it will pay other *A frequent flyer programmes for its fare buckets, so you'll see that all United's revenue fare buckets earn 100% in all *A programmes (while NZ's cheap fare buckets earn in none other than Airpoints itself). UA knows that appealing to FF's is one of the very few advantages it has.

jswong

This is absolutely true. In some cases however the operating airlines will pay other programs but that other program still does not have to award points. This year I had 4 SK flights. Credited 1 to UA and 3 to NZ. The 1 flight credited to UA no problem. The three to NZ were declined. I then claimed UA credit for the three flights which suceeded

I clearly did not do sufficient research before the claim. I don't imagine SK allows payment to partners dependent on which partner

Jeff

Xiaotung

Because Airpoints doesn't use % mileage and only have discount economy and full economy earn levels so when a partner doesn't give full mileage on certain fares Airpoints usually just excludes them from earning altogether. I note SK has reviewed their fares a few months ago and now most fares earn 100% miles on partner airlines (even the stingy SQ KrisFlyer gets 100%) but Airpoints refused to review fully and still excludes most economy fares from earning.