Air New Zealand Air Points - silver recognition upgrades

so with one up bidding this may be a pointless question at the moment, aka, how long is a piece of string.

But what are the chances for silvers getting recogniton upgrades in general. I'd be really pissed if we didnt get to use the upgrade on either of 2 legs, ie, akl to hk, and then hk to lhr

When silver before (10 years ago mind you) I had no success in gaining comp/recog upgrades as Silver. Has been good when Gold (used 7/8), and now Silver again. I have no travel plans where I am likely to use the 1 Silver UPG I have on falling to Silver form Gold, so simply don't care.

My advice is to have low expectations of gaining upgrade (esp AKL-HKG-LHR) and be pleasantly surprised; than the other way around. Saves on the grey hair as well.....

Hello - once you reach Silver you will get 1 recognition upgrade that can be confirmed within 48 hours of flight, so that will (supposedly) remain unchanged.

The biggger question is whether the OneUp bidding process will reduce the overall ability for Gold and Silver passengers to successfully use their recognition upgrades.

So in your example, you would only be able to u/g one class on either the AKL-HKG or HKG-LHR segment, not both.

so with one up bidding this may be a pointless question at the moment, aka, how long is a piece of string.

But what are the chances for silvers getting recogniton upgrades in general. I'd be really pissed if we didnt get to use the upgrade on either of 2 legs, ie, akl to hk, and then hk to lhr

When I was last silver about 10 years ago, the only place I was able to use the upgrades was between Kansai and Auckland, as it is a relatively lightly loaded flight, however, remember this flight is one of the old config 767s.

More recently, my partner struggles to use her silver upgrades except on Auckland to Brisbane, as it is usually a lightly loaded flight, although, she has to take the only available flight with business class seats, which means timings don't really suit her.

But what are the chances for silvers getting recogniton upgrades in general. I'd be really pissed if we didnt get to use the upgrade on either of 2 legs, ie, akl to hk, and then hk to lhr

I have applied for upgrades a total of three times (as NZ*S each time) with 100% success rate:
AKL-LAX Dec '10 (Recognition upgrade Y -> PE, cleared manually by check-in agent)
YVR-AKL Dec '10 (Airpoints upgrade Y -> PE, had cleared by check-in)
AKL-HKG Dec '11 (Recognition upgrade for me, airpoints upgrade for partner, Y -> PE, cleared about 36 hours prior by call centre)

Sounds as though I've had better-than-average luck - possibly due to only trying on flights around Christmas.

Basically, the odds are low if you're flying to North America, Hong Kong or London, and high if you're flying to China or Japan.

As someone above said, expect to be disappointed, and you might be surprised. It might be best trying it for the HKG-LHR leg perhaps?

i assume if we dont get if akl - hk, then we could immediately apply for the next leg, hk - lhr. we will be in hk for 3 nights, so would be able to go on line and apply again i'm thinking.

It may not get refunded straight away, but e-mail silver@airnz.co.nz if it doesn't and get them to do it for you.

It may not get refunded straight away, but e-mail silver@airnz.co.nz if it doesn't and get them to do it for you.

good advice, thanks for that

good advice, thanks for that

I have never had mine automatically refunded despite reassurances that it would be, so yes make sure to check online and email or even give them a call if hasn't been refunded.

I have applied for upgrades a total of three times (as NZ*S each time) with 100% success rate:
AKL-LAX Dec '10 (Recognition upgrade Y -> PE, cleared manually by check-in agent)
YVR-AKL Dec '10 (Airpoints upgrade Y -> PE, had cleared by check-in)
AKL-HKG Dec '11 (Recognition upgrade for me, airpoints upgrade for partner, Y -> PE, cleared about 36 hours prior by call centre)

Sounds as though I've had better-than-average luck - possibly due to only trying on flights around Christmas.

Definitely better than average luck. As GE my u/g success rate on NZ over the years is about 70%.

FWIW, my GE recognition/comp/air-points upgrades have confirmed at 100% - mainly because I book over 6 months out.

One did indeed not clear until in the lounge at LAX however.

I'm at 3/3 gold and 1/2 silver on complimentary upgrades thus far.

i'm hoping that 2 silver requests (ie, my partner and I) will outweigh a gold with a non status partner flying with them. :p