Air New Zealand Air Points - Is it worth joining Airpoints when flying at Student Discounts?

Hey guys

Just wondering whether or not it's worth joining up with any of the Star Alliance airline programs, coz I'm doing a pretty massive trip at the end of the year:

MEL-AKL-LAX: NZ
LAX-BOS: UA
FLL-BOS: US
BOS-LAX: UA
LAX-AKL-MEL: NZ

I'm flying on student fares from Student Flights here in Australia, and all my USA flights are using student fare airpasses, so I guess my question's two-fold
a) Am I even going to earn any Airpoints/Miles because of the student fares?
b) Is it even worth me joining, as the only flying I'll be doing after I get home will be with non-Star airlines?

I couldn't see any joining/annual fees for UA Mileage Plus, but that doesn't mean it's not there! :P

Cheers,

Liam0s

Welcome to FT LiamOs :)

Without knowing the booking class of your fares its hard to tell how much you might get from that itin, and what it would be worth in terms of being able to redeem for a free flight.

By the way, the US flight probably (depending on booking class) can be credited to Qantas Frequent Flyer if you have that membership.

Thanks Kiwi Flyer :) Everyone on this forum is so friendly, nice to see that for once! *scathing glares at other forums...*

Yeah, I don't know the booking class as I haven't talked to my agent since the fares were released recently, and AFAIK, the airpasses I'm using haven't been either. So not a whole lot of information regarding classes at this end as yet :D

I do have QF Frequent Flyers, I joined because at the time I was of the belief that I would be flying QF/AA, but NZ and Star partners ended up the cheaper option.

Thanks again for the help :)

Liam0s

Of course perhaps it may be better for you to join another * partners program; we won't offer up any more advice until you know if you will get FQTV miles on that fare.

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FLL-BOS: US
<SNIP>

This one really gets me worried... ;)

Just wondering whether or not it's worth joining up with any of the Star Alliance airline programs, coz I'm doing a pretty massive trip at the end of the year:

Air NZ's Airpoints is poor value compared to other programs as the "cost" of reward flights and status is significantly higher (unless you fly in business/first, in which case NZ is good).

If your tickets are eligible for miles accumulation, then with Mileage Plus you should have enough by the time you return for a round trip across the tasman or to the pacific islands - you only need 20,000 miles!

On the other hand, with Airpoints you're going to pay a $50 joining fee and only earn something like 245 AP$, you'd be lucky to get a one-way trans-tasman for that!

There is no fee to join Mileage Plus, so there's no harm in joining that or one of the other *A programs and putting your membership number on the reservation, even if you don't end up earning any miles.

Cheers Reason

I was thinking that UA Mileage Plus was the way to go, specially for the free part!!!

Haven't heard back from my travel agent about whether I can accumulate points on the trip or not, I probably can, but if it's free, I might as well just join up anyway!

BTW, UA882, what's got you worried about the US flight? Something I should know?? :)