Air New Zealand Air Points - AKL to india, UK frequent flyer programme

Planning to fly at least 1 trip a year to the UK or India -Chennai from AKL

looking for suggestions on the best frequent flyer programme for out of NZ

is it with Air NZ and the star alliance or would I be better off using Qantas/Cathay/One world

If that's the only flying you're likely to do, I don't think it matters too much-although you'd be best not to credit to NZ.

SQ gives the best connectivity options IMO, but often difficult to get competitive Y fares on.

CX used to publish excellent I-fares ex-India to AKL that, if you can structure your purchasing to be ex-India, are very attractive for the travel in business class.

CX used to publish excellent I-fares ex-India to AKL that, if you can structure your purchasing to be ex-India, are very attractive for the travel in business class.

+1 to this.

Picked up a BOM-SYD-BOM fare with a stopover in HKG for under 2400 AUD.

Back to the OP, Emirates might be another carrier worth looking into for your NZ-India/UK flights.

+1 to this.

Picked up a BOM-SYD-BOM fare earlier this week (flight dates October, April), with a stopover in HKG for under 2400 AUD.

Back to the OP, Emirates might be another carrier worth looking into for your NZ-India/UK flights.

Depends on the class you are flying.

Like others have said, SQ is likely to have the best connections. CX will be competitive on price, as will EK, but the travel times would be higher (considerably so with EK as it involves backtracking).

Airpoints will offer you nothing useful for India, and only marginally useful for London if you are in business class. SQ isn't much better on the frequent flyer programme front, especially for those in economy, but if it is all in business then it isn't bad. Certainly if I had regular NZ-India, NZ-UK flights in business I'd be aiming to go on SQ.

FF programmes nowadays aren't really enough to sway the choice of airline over factors like price, schedule and product quality.

Pick your preferred carrier and then pick a FF programme based on what you want a programme for. Is it status to get lounge access etc? Is it upgrades? Is it free flights?