Air New Zealand Air Points - *A upgrade on paid ticket

I am looking to buy two Y+ tickets for LAX or SFO/CHC return via AKL in late 2006. I was wondering if I could either use *A points to upgrade from a paid ticket? I will be *G by then.

Thanks

Not sure what the other side of your 'either' is. But as yet NZ does not allow any other *A partner to upgrade on their flights. UK *G voucures were a one off promotion.

Given the retardedness of NZ computer systems and internet options, I would imagine they will be the last of the *A partners to roll out or accept partner upgrades.

Also while not affecting you I would still expect NZ to offer this rubbish about Y to business being a double upgrade.

Mark

Also while not affecting you I would still expect NZ to offer this rubbish about Y to business being a double upgrade.Well, it is a double upgrade.. just the first upgrade is not so nearly good as the second.

I was looking for going to from Econ Plus, into Business. Will they allow me to transfer points from Starwood to their program and upgrade that way? I will have no status with them, but will be *Gold

I was looking for going to from Econ Plus, into Business. Will they allow me to transfer points from Starwood to their program and upgrade that way? I will have no status with them, but will be *Gold

Yes, you can join airpoints then transfer points from Starwood and use them for upgrades. With no status on Air NZ, you can only buy a standby upgrade, not one that is confirmed in advance. However, I would guess that unless you are travelling at a peak time, from Y+ you will have a very good chance of getting it.

It costs 400 AP$ for a one-way Y+ to C upgrade, and starwood convert to AP$ at 65:1, with a 5000 point bonus for every 20000 points you transfer. So, 84000 starwood points should buy you the 1600 AP$ needed to upgrade 2 people both ways.

On the other hand, hopefully by late 2006 Air NZ will have joined the *A upgrades system. This will allow you to secure confirmed upgrades in advance if you have points in another *A program. So, maybe you'd want to wait and see if that happens before committing points to an AP$ upgrade.

Unfortunantly 99% of my flying is short hops. I get my status by segments, so unless they give out free upgrades, or Delta joins *A, and I can use my 150k points, I'm SOL.

I have a follow up question.

Could I upgrade 3 tickets with AP$ or *A points?

Don't see why not. Do remember that they may not all clear though

Don't see why not. Do remember that they may not all clear though

What is the upgrade window? I wouldn't want to transfer SPG points into this program unless I can gurantee an upgrade. I would be *G at time of booking if that matters any.

All confirmed upgrades come only from Z class availablity. If there is Z class then it is confirmed. If not then you are offered a standby upgrade which will be confirmed at checkin (unless you are an NZ elite, *G does not count).

You cannot waitlist for a confirmed upgrade, so I guess you would need to check each day if they loaded more Z. The second catch is that you cannot put in for an upgrade until AFTER you have paid for your flight.

Note that on most routes they only offer Z=2, and there is no way. PERIOD :mad: at this moment in time that you can get more allocation of confirmed upgrade seats when the yield for Z has run out.

Having just been through a long episode with NZ on this (will write a report when it is all sorted), you are much more likely to find award seating than to find confirmed upgrades. Even when we had found award seats they would not allow me to pay for a H fare and upgrade switching award availability to upgrade. :td:

Thus confirmed upgrades is in my mind is one of the most frustrating aspects of the new system. For NZ*E of course it is very different.

Of course YMMV, but be warned it is not like other system that you may be more familair to. Also a lot of the hassles are related to the new APs system and the new long haul flights with cronically insufficient Y+ seats and less C seats than they had previously.

Mark

Note that on most routes they only offer Z=2, and there is no way. PERIOD :mad: at this moment in time that you can get more allocation of confirmed upgrade seats when the yield for Z has run out.


Really? All the north america and asia routes I've looked at show Z4 availability (with 4 being the maximum displayed, there may really be more than 4 available). Even many tasman A320 flights are Z4. I suspect on many routes they may only offer 2 *reward* seats, but upgrade/Z availability is better.

What is my best bet then. Buy my Y+ seats, call Air NZ, see if there is an upgrade oppurtunity, attempt to hold the seats, then transfer my SPG points to Air NZ $, then get the upgrades that way?

Would it be easier via for my "cousin" who happens to be Air NZ elite, to upgrade my tickets for me?

Would it be easier via for my "cousin" who happens to be Air NZ elite, to upgrade my tickets for me?Are they NZ*G or NZ*E ?
NZ*G can legally gift to two nominees, NZ*E four.

Really? All the north america and asia routes I've looked at show Z4 availability (with 4 being the maximum displayed, there may really be more than 4 available). Even many tasman A320 flights are Z4. I suspect on many routes they may only offer 2 *reward* seats, but upgrade/Z availability is better.

At least looking at February/March next year, they could offer one flight over and one back, both of which were 3-4 weeks off when I wanted to fly. As for award bookings I could get all 3 seats one day after I wanted to fly, and lots of options to come back to LHR. Also they will entertain yield requests for extra award bookings but ABSOLUTELY NO requests to open Z seating for upgrades.

Of course YMMV but you want to be careful not to get caught out. Once you have points in NZ they are there in a system that has expensive *A awards, where the value goes down each year and where the T&Cs are totally inconsistent.

Mark