Air New Zealand Air Points - To upgrade or not?

Hi all,

I'd appreciate any advice or views on this one.

When I qualified for NZ*S I was given the usual single lounge pass and upgrade. I'd originally thought that the upgrade was only available for pacific short haul, but when I called Airpoints I was told that it could be used on my upcoming AKL-SFO trip.

Here's the problem though - I'm travelling with Mrs NSN-Dave and NSN-Dave junior (6 mths). What do I do?
a). Take the upgrade in the hope that they get charitable and give me another at check in (NSN-Dave junior might make this less likely though)?
b). Take the upgrade and swap seats in the flight, taking turns down the back? or
c). Forget about it.

I'm checking in at NSN, so I'm not sure what my chances are with option a.

Any advice or past experience welcome.


The other option that has some appeal is to try and exchange the upgrade for (perhaps 2?) lounge passes. What are my chances here?

No help on this one yet Dave? Everyone must be on long weekends still!

It's my guess that your charity a) option is unlikely, not only for the rarity of op-ups this board seems to profess but also to get two upgrades at the gate with the baby would possibly require moving other PAX who had requested bulkhead seats - and that might be way too hard for gate staff.

Option b) is a path to divorce if the baby stays in Y :)

Could you buy another upgrade with $AP to go with the SE freebie?

Hi all,

I'd appreciate any advice or views on this one.

When I qualified for NZ*S I was given the usual single lounge pass and upgrade. I'd originally thought that the upgrade was only available for pacific short haul, but when I called Airpoints I was told that it could be used on my upcoming AKL-SFO trip.

D] Upgrade and give Mrs NSN-Dave your seat [Explain what your doing to the ISD once on board; they might be charitable]

Are you sure you can use your comp up for AKL-SFO ?

Air New Zealand has a policy of charging for infants when they fly (even when they don't take a seat) The policy states that if you and the other half have free seats - you have to pay 10% of a business fare to carry the little one in your lap. So unless you can get an op-up, if you use Airbucks for your partners upgrade it will still cost you to get the little one with you.

This stopped me flying Air NZ as Qantas carrys them for free.

[Edited to add clause]

3.2.5.1 Infants aged under two years who don't occupy a seat by themselves will be charged for Reward Travel at the price (in Airpoints Dollars) of an Infant Ticket. These Infants don't need to be Members

In the past there was no Infant Airpoints solution so you had to pay in cash - but now it looks like you can use extra Airbucks to get the infant paid for as well.

....

Could you buy another upgrade with $AP to go with the SE freebie?
Good idea. Looking at my balance at the moment, before we fly I'm likely to be shy of enough dollars to get the additional upgrade. But, by the the time we're there I would have enough to buy the upgrade. I'd have to sort it out from over there though.

I'll call NZ and confirm the Silver upgrade can be used from SFO to AKL (and if they'd charge for upgrading the little one).

I'll call NZ and confirm the Silver upgrade can be used from SFO to AKL (and if they'd charge for upgrading the little one).

AFAIK it's not valid for the US.

AFAIK it's not valid for the US.

Yep, as I guessed, the comp. upgrade can only be used as far as the Pacific.
Upgrading an infant to business class would cost extra airbucks too.

So it's economy for us and here's hoping the plane's not too full.

Yep, as I guessed, the comp. upgrade can only be used as far as the Pacific.

Not quite - it can be used for flights to/from Asia as well. In fact I'm hoping to use one myself next week!

Does anyone think this might work (scraping the bottom of the barrell here):

Writing / calling ANZ (I suspect a letter might have the best chance of success) and asking if I could swap my free upgrade for (say) two lounge passes. On the theory that if you're using an upgrade you'd be using the lounge also..?

Does anyone think this might work (scraping the bottom of the barrell here):

Writing / calling ANZ (I suspect a letter might have the best chance of success) and asking if I could swap my free upgrade for (say) two lounge passes. On the theory that if you're using an upgrade you'd be using the lounge also..?

you could, but Upgrades that are not confirmed at check-in do not recieve lounge access, so your argument isn't very strong.

Try nethertheless, but a comp upgrade [worth 400 airbucks] for 2 lounge passes ? Is it worth it.

....but a comp upgrade [worth 400 airbucks] for 2 lounge passes ? Is it worth it.

Probably is: the chances of me flying international again before November are pretty slim. And I'm figuring lounge access in the middle of a long haul with a baby is maybe even as valuable as the the upgrade.

Probably is: the chances of me flying international again before November are pretty slim. And I'm figuring lounge access in the middle of a long haul with a baby is maybe even as valuable as the the upgrade.

I was hinting that perhaps you should ask for more or an unspecified number of passes.

I was hinting that perhaps you should ask for more or an unspecified number of passes.
mmm yes, but I was wondering if asking for 4 was pushing my luck.

Dave - you have PM.