Air New Zealand Air Points - Gifting Awards

I posted this message on the United forums earlier... I'd be interested to get any thoughts from any of the resident AirNZ experts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

So I was reading the Qantas forum and noticed that awards could be transferred to family members. This got me to thinking about the possibility of swapping awards with my Mum in New Zealand - I could give her an award on United to come over here shortly, and could get an award from her US-NZ booked on AirNZ (that way the ticket would be safe). AirNZ seems to only allow this for people living in the same household though, so I guess I am out of luck. Does anyone know United's policy on this? Or any way of getting around it on the AirNZ end http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Cheers.

[This message has been edited by Mrukk (edited 04-09-2003).]

Any ideas? I just read a response to the following question on the AirNZ FAQ:

Why is Airpoints gifting based on residential address?

"This is related to Human Rights Policy within New Zealand, as we need to cover all family and living scenarios. We can’t specify ‘family members’ since there is no single definition of a ‘family’ unit."

Does anyone else think this might mean that they really are happy to allow gift awards to immediate family members (even those not living in the same house), but that they are just being careful in their wording? I could always call them, but I am interested in getting informed opinions first, since you never know what sort of a mood you will catch an Airpoints agent in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks!

Mrukk, for what it's worth, I think you're right that they are just being PC with their use of the term 'household', and that you would be able to gift awards to your mother or vice versa, without having to live at the same address.

Let us know what you find out!