djsteve

Hi all,
i was reading an old thread :
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-new-zealand-air-points/1413562-redeeming-airpoints-star-alliance-partners.html

i wondered if the akl-lhr-fra, using NZ/LH under one flight number for the nz and an intra europe addon, was still available?
(assuming one can find availability...)

this would equate to be exceptional value of airpoints...

So is it still possible and can you have a stopover in lhr before continuing to FRA? Of course the Europe addon could be anywhere on the *A network...

thanks!
dj

sbiddle

Exceptional value? Air NZ have had numerous deals of just over $4k O/W to LHR recently in BP flying NZ metal.. And you get SP and a few hundred APD earn on that as well.

Kiwi Flyer

Can also fly return AKL-FRA in business for around 5-6k (less during sales) on some other airlines.

djsteve

At circa $1900 O/W I would rate that as exceptional value. Granted that you don't earn anything nor contribute to status. But a $4k return with a good schedule and good product in J is not far off an economy price. I am buying for four people, so the costs rack up with a 4x multiplier.
so whilst award availability is the Achilles heel of this plan I wanted to check it is still a viable option...

CHCflyer

Only biz fares I can see that I would choose are CX and AA to Europe at around $5,700-$6,100. I am looking at an open jaw to Europe. There are the usual CZ/MU options but SkyTeam doesn't work for me. I can't see any *A options at this price.

sbiddle

How are you getting $1900? There are no flights that I'm aware of still that fit the criteria of being a single journey. NZ2 / NZ1 are not classed as this. You need to double the figure for each sector.

Secondly the chances of getting a rewards for four people are precisely zero. No airline in the world is going to allocate four *A reward seats on a single long-haul flight.

djsteve

This was my original question, does NZ1 and an add on intra Europe flight count as invoking the partner award chart and that NZ1/2 conform to the single flight as per the small print of the chart (Europe to NZ having to be a single flight number). Hence 1705plus 200ish for the infra Europe leg (o/w)

sbiddle

My understanding is no.

It's all pretty much a moot point though because Air NZ simply don't offer availability of *A rewards in BP to LAX so you're not going to get seats regardless.

NZbutterfly

I've only just looked at the partner award chart myself yesterday after Fast6's EY question and noted there are some really good value deals on there. Not really sure how you get to Europe (which includes UK for Air NZ's definition) on a single flight number though. More searching required unless someone here knows the answer? I don't think it matters where you want to go as you'll land somewhere in Europe then catch a cheap flight to your actual destination afterwards.

I called Air NZ and was told it's NZ2 AKL-LHR with $50.88c taxes. Pretty good if that is the case but I still feel a bit suspicious given it's under the airline partner reward chart.

Seems crazy given I used ~ 1900 APD AKL-SIN for business class.

Also on the chart it says you can fly Australia to the Middle East first class for 1965 (I'm thinking EY first apartments) then that seems a much better use/value of APD. I'm guessing I'd have to look at EY's website and find a Guest Seat available on a date then call Air NZ with that date?

Anyone made use of the airline partner award chart?
https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airl...rom-1-november

Does NZ to Asia include SQ to SIN/BKK? or Cathay AKL-HKG? I think there's something about no *A upgrades on the A380, 773 on SQ and I'm guessing that applies to outright reward bookings also from NZ?

Anybody able to share some experience using the partner airline reward chart? My impression of using points for flying non air NZ airlines is that it's a PITA finding dates. However since NZ APD is my main currency I feel inclined to have a go at getting better mileage out of them where available.

dadig

I tried AKL-LHR (with FRA intra) previously with zero availability 8-10 months ahead (non peak) for two Award seats. I would imagine the bookig availability class is the same as RU, companion fare, these seats are few and far between

zoovet

Dadig is correct in that probably it involves the availability of Class A seats. I successfully booked my partner to and from London with me using this system 3 years ago (business going, PE return), but had to juggle the flights around to find available flights. The main hassle was that we couldn't use a stoppover (although I didn't ask about using L.A.)

Kamadan

"A" class is for short-term PE sale or RU upgrade into PE.
As far as I am aware, "R" is for Business RU upgrades/Companion Fares, which is not what these NZ1/2 Star Alliance Partner Chart redemption books into... I believe you'd need "I" class inventory for those, which are almost non-existent.

The only way you can get ticketed onto NZ1/2 under that (*A partner chart) is if you also have a non-NZ operated *A segment tacked onto the same ticket/PNR, requiring it to be priced as a Star Alliance award redemption - for example AKL-LAX-LHR-FRA as mentioned above.

This has been discussed in the past here (buried amongst all the threads).

Top of climb

SQ does not release 380 and 77W (and now, possibly 359) products for redemption through other *A programmes. They can only be booked through KrisFlyer.

The NZ/CX tab of NZ's webpage says that APD can only be spent on CX on AKL/HKG through the NZ flight number, which I read as being as a normal Airpoints dollar booking at the cash fare, rather than paying a fixed partner award value for a redemption seat.

Xiaotung

VA Velocity has the same SQ availability as KrisFlyer even on 380 and 77W's. You would think with NZ/SQ alliance things would be a little different but sadly no.

With CX, other than booking NZ flight number with cash rate, I think you can book AKL-HKG reward sector with CX flight number per the partner chart as well.

Ellice

Thanks NZButterfly for pointing out about the Airline Partner reward chart. I wasn't even aware of it but some Premium and business fares look to be a better deal than buying the fare online. Just wondering how can you check out availability of these partner rewards? I'm just wondering what availability is like. You read about a lot of ways to get cheap reward seats but then there is never any availability.