Air New Zealand Air Points - Anyone had experinces with AP$ upgrades under the new system

I am thinking about upgrading next Feb from LHR/LAX/AKL/MEL under the new system. But have some questions, particulalry on confirmed upgrades

1. If upgrading from Eco to Bus, does the upgrade bypass Y+, or does it first have to clear in Y+ before it will then clear in business.

2. Has anyone actually had any experience with what it means by 'have limited booking class availability to be considered'. I would hope that given the cost and the idea of 'confirmed' that they are pretty much out of a paid fare bucket and not reliant on award availability -otherwise what is the point?

I remember as a NZ*E in the good ole days, they would process your upgrade even if there no seats available for sale.

Also anyone have any knowledge if by Feb LHR/AKL will have the new config, or will it be hit or miss?

Thanks,

Mark

Its more expensive to upgrade econ->business as this is treated as a double upgrade :rolleyes:

In Feb LHR-AKL will be refitted 747s

The question that I have been unable to get any kind of sensible answer out of AP on is their insistance on taking confirmed upgrades only out of the /Z/ fare bucket. (which at least on AKL/LHR they only allocated 2 Z seats per flight). Okay it is better than taking from award booking.

But given that Z is extremely difficult to find, even at 5-6 months out and midweek, why would I want to pay extra for getting to a YBMH fare and pay extra for the upgrade type when it will end up being processed as standby.

The only reply has been that I pay extra to be the possibility of having it confirmed, then rejected, but then maybe confirmed if NZ suddenly offer Z on that route. But I cannot get an answer as to when and how often they recheck, i.e. is it like being waitlisted for Z?

Oh, and even if it is only confirmed at checkin I do not get a refund of the difference.

I find this extremely misleading of NZ - yes they say they are limited availability, but there is limited and then there is limited like my chance of winning lotto!

Mark