Air New Zealand Air Points - Valid Routings on Airpoints Partner Awards

So, I've been discouraged by the complete lack of avail of biz class SFO/LAX-AKL after Jun 15th. And considering I live in NY, I'm trying to redeem a partner award NYC-SYD for A$1250.

However, the agent I just spoke with says I either have to go on UA all the way, or UA/NZ. Is this accurate?

What are the valid routings from North America - Australia and Europe - Australia? Can I fly SQ/TG/etc. via Asia?

Sorry if this has been asked already, but I tried searching via google and sifting manually through old threads. No luck finding anything relevant.

Thanks!

I dont see anything in the Airpoints terms and conditions (www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airpoints_tc.htm) requiring most direct routing. However the cost of award is the sum of sector costs - ie more going an indirect routing, so you need to take that into account.

I dont think you'll get it for 1250 airbucks each way. AFAIK there is no one sector between NYC and SYD. The best you can do is on UA, NYC-LAX/SFO and LAX/SFO-SYD = 1750 airbucks each way. Going via Asia costs more (eg EWR-SIN-SYD is 2250 airbucks each way).

FYI here is the definition of a sector from the T&Cs


"Sector" means an aircraft's single scheduled Flight between two different points.

I dont see anything in the Airpoints terms and conditions (www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airpoints_tc.htm) requiring most direct routing. However the cost of award is the sum of sector costs - ie more going an indirect routing, so you need to take that into account.

I dont think you'll get it for 1250 airbucks each way. AFAIK there is no one sector between NYC and SYD. The best you can do is on UA, NYC-LAX/SFO and LAX/SFO-SYD = 1750 airbucks each way. Going via Asia costs more (eg EWR-SIN-SYD is 2250 airbucks each way).

Yeah, I feared as much. However, one point I have a question about. Shouldn't NYC-SYD should be 1250 each way as a partner award? The partner chart lists Australia - North America at $1250 each way. I would presume that provided the routing was direct from Australia-North America, connecting traffic on either end would also be included in the price.

e.g. SYD-LAX-JFK on UA I would think should cost 1250 just like SYD-LAX.

Argh. Just hit this item in the T&Cs:

3.3.1.3 Airpoints Dollars for Partner Airline Tickets are deducted based on the Service Class of travel and the Sector to be travelled. When travelling within a geographical Zone (Intra-Zone), Airpoints Dollars are deducted based on the Service Class of travel, the Sector travelled and the kilometres flown.

But it would seem a bit silly to me to say North America and not allow connecting travel within a zone as long as the routing didn't involve any additional zones.

I think if they add the word wholly before "within a geographical Zone" it would make this item a bit more clear (if that's even the case).

Thats because of the change to revenue based system. Each additional sector costs for award, or earns more for paid (note some exceptions for travel within NZ).

OK, to clarify further. In a similar example, my brother and his wife are attempting to book travel to the US using airbucks. They need to get from CHC to Durango in Colorado, but at the moment only have CHC-LAX direct flights confirmed for A560 each way.

To get from LAX to Durango on *A requires flying via DEN, so am I correct in understanding that LAX-DEN-DRO would cost an additional A300 each way? (Based on A150 LAX-DEN and A150 DEN-DRO, since both sectors are under 2,000km.) Am I also right in thinking that the price of their long haul sector should actually *drop* from A560 each way to A450 each way, since it would now be a mixed carrier itinerary and therefore booked under the airline partner reward chart (http://www.airnz.co.nz/airpoints/spending_airpoints_dollars/flight_rewards/star_reward_redemption.htm)?

Sorry for the dumb questions, but the only thing I usually use my meagre supply of airbucks for is the odd upgrade, so I'm a bit stupid about these things! :o

:mad: :( Just confirmed w/ NZ that everything is as Kiwi Flyer says.

I know it's my fault for not paying closer attention to the changes from airpoints to airdollars. But I naturally assumed based on their chart that travel between regions would cost the listed amounts, but connecting travel would be included. It never occurred to me that they would charge per flight!

Had I known that, I think I would have been more diligent in getting rid of my balance before the changes. *sigh* Now I'm sitting on over $5k airdollars that don't buy as much as they did before Nov 15th.

To get from LAX to Durango on *A requires flying via DEN, so am I correct in understanding that LAX-DEN-DRO would cost an additional A300 each way? (Based on A150 LAX-DEN and A150 DEN-DRO, since both sectors are under 2,000km.) Am I also right in thinking that the price of their long haul sector should actually *drop* from A560 each way to A450 each way, since it would now be a mixed carrier itinerary and therefore booked under the airline partner reward chart (http://www.airnz.co.nz/airpoints/spending_airpoints_dollars/flight_rewards/star_reward_redemption.htm)?


Based on my understanding of the program, yes, your calculations are correct. A450 for the long haul sector (assuming X inventory is available), plus A300 for the LAX-DEN-DRO flights.

Unless you can get LAX-DRO on a single flight number. I know UA has a lot of funny single flight number routes that are really 2 segments. No idea if this is one of them though.