Air New Zealand Air Points - Sorry to ask Please dont hurt me

Ok So we are traveling for our honeymoon SEA(LAX) to Sydney and coming back with a stop over in new zeland.

What is the best for economy, Air New Zeland or Qantas. there just 2 of us traveling, and were going to spend a month there traveling.

So we want to know for the long flight which would be the best? They both offer inseat entertainment correct? My longest flight before this was 6 hrs. this one is going to hurt the legs..

we have 150,000 usair miles
and 100,000 AA miles

we do plan on buying our tickets but is there any upgrading to be had with our miles?

Thanks

You wont be able to upgrade on either Air NZ (NZ) or Qantas (QF) with your US or AA miles.

Star Alliance is in the process of introducing alliance-wide mileage upgrades. Once US and NZ join this scheme then you can use US miles to upgrade on NZ. But there is no date yet so it may not happen before your trip.

NZ has the best economy product between USA and Australia/NZ. NZ's 747s have 34" pitch (by comparison your US and AA domestic flights have around 31" - the extra 3" make a huge difference). QF 747s have 31-32" pitch, noticeably less.

NZ also has better IFE - personal screens and audio-video on demand (avod) - meaning you choose your own movie (dozens to choose from) and can stop, start, rewind, etc to suit yourself. QF has some aircraft with avod and other aircraft with limited choices and non-avod. QF avod system is not as good as NZ avod.

If you want to pay a little more, NZ also has a premium economy which gives even more leg room.

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

IMHO both are world class carriers that offer a similar service. I have not flown Air NZ for a while but if I was you would give them a go unless you feel you will start flying more often then fly QF and put the points into your AA account. You may even qualify for the AA platinum challenge :cool:

They both offer inseat entertainment correct? My longest flight before this was 6 hrs. this one is going to hurt the legs..

Thanks

It will not hurt at all after 6 Hrs in WHY you lower body will be nice and numb, you will not feel a thing :D

NZ definitely. the refit economy is a better product.

fly QF and put the points into your AA account. You may even qualify for the AA platinum challenge :cool:

The deep discount tickets only earn 30% miles if that much. The AA codeshare would earn you 100% miles and probably would qualify for the AA PLT challenge, but it would cost you 30% more then essentially the same flight, operated by QF, but you can get it on QF site with the promotion.

It then boils down to whether you are willing to "buy" the miles or save the money.

I would go for NZ who also has promo on their site, but the seats on 747 are better. Dont know if NZ flight would earn you 100% UA miles or a discounted one similar to QF but you would definitely want to find out from UA (Star Alliances).