Air New Zealand Air Points - RTW trip in Oct - ? credit to NZ Airpoints?

Hi there.

First post here, so forgive if I breach any etiquette. We're taking a RTW trip next month (WLG-AKL-SIN-LHR-ORD-SFO-AKL-WLG) that will clock up around 29000 miles. With the upcoming change to Airpoints Dollars, is it worth it adding these miles to Airpoints, or would it be better to add them to another * partner with a more conventional FF accounting (I have a hefty account over on UA). We pretty much take one long trip a year and don't do much else.

Also, we have around 80K in our NZ airpoints - are class upgrades a worthwhile way of using our points?

Thanks -- the threads here are most interesting.


jofy

Hi jofegan - welcome back to FT :)

It really depends on what you want to use them for (NZ flights or other, short or long haul, award or upgrade in econ/biz/first, etc).

You dont mention what class you are travelling in - can make a big difference in mileage earning.

Depending on class, one such trip per year may be enough to maintain status. However if you arent flying much apart from these RTW trips and the RTW is in business/first then status may not count for too much. If your RTWs are in econ then status definitely worth going for IMHO. So the key considerations are mileage earn:burn and status.

As it seems most of your flying is/has been on *A (star alliance) I would suggest checking out that forum. There are some neat summaries of what status means on various carriers and advice on what to look at when choosing a FFP.

Dont be put off by the different accounting (which NZ already has with airpoints based on kilometers - yes harder still to compare with airbucks). The easiest way I find is to look at earn:burn rates - how many trips I am likely to make does it take to earn an award I would like?

Personally I find mileage upgrades relatively expensive and they are becoming more so (not just NZ but other FFPs too), however you do get the benefit of mileage earned on paid fare to help offset.

As you already have a reasonable number of airpoints I would also look at whether you need to top the account up to get a desired award/upgrade, taking into account it may be better or worse to book that award/upgrade before/after the change to airbucks. This may mean crediting some sectors to NZ and other to other FFP - which is fine to do.