Air New Zealand Air Points - Silly question: just how much do you need to pay for a "free" flight?

OK, I'm a complete newbie here, so this is no doubt a very silly question, but I cannot find the answer on Air NZ website. The site says that a 1 Airpoint Dollar = 1 AUD and you can pay for a flight with Airpoint Dollars. So, if I want to book a return MEL-LAX flight, which costs about $2100 I'd need 2100 Airpoint Dollars. The same flight earns me 150 of these points, as I understand. So I would need to pay for that route 14 times to get another flight free - is this right? It seems like a hell of a lot, especially since the points expire in 4 years.

In comparison, Qantas would give you 15,846 FPPs for the same trip (more if you have some status) and you would require 90,000 FPPs to get that flight as a reward - that's 5.67 times, which seems a bit more reasonable.

So my question is, have I understood the Airpoint Dollars correctly or is there something major that I'm missing? It seems like a bit of a worthless "rewards program" at the moment.

Welcome to Flyer Talk Evgeny :)

Yes you have that right. But that is worse case. Mixed airline awards and discounted longhaul awards cost much less.

For the any seat (limited to NZ flights) awards, think of it as pay more than a traditional award in order to get unlimited availability (except if flight totally sold out) - ie better availability than traditional awards. Whether that extra cost is worth it depends very much on the circumstances.

For someone earning in discount economy, especially longhaul, NZ Airpoints is probably not the programme for them (unless there is a lot of non-airline earning). The value equation is somewhat better on some other routes in higher fare classes.

Thanks, Kiwi Flyer. I suppose I might as well join the program as it doesn't cost much, but it looks like my chances of getting anything out of it are pretty slim unless I suddently start flying much, much more.

I credit mine to a United Airlines account, which is pretty good. One or two flights from Mel-Lax gets me an upgrade on United from Economy to Buiness from LAX-JFK

From memory that is, someone can correct me I am far too tired to check specifics

Thanks, Kiwi Flyer. I suppose I might as well join the program as it doesn't cost much, but it looks like my chances of getting anything out of it are pretty slim unless I suddently start flying much, much more.

If you aren't flying much then I wouldn't pay money to join NZ airpoints. Join another FFP for free. United is probably better for you - no joining fee, cheap awards. Just remember to have some account activity every 18 months - this need not be a flight, can be credit for hotel room or car rental for example.

So, if I join the United FPP I'll be able to earn miles when flying Air NZ and also redeem them on Air NZ flights? According to this page: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1142,00.html it costs 80,000 miles to fly from Australia to the USA on a partner airline - but 150,000 miles on United, which doesn't make much sense to me. Shouldn't their own flights be cheaper? Business class is 120,000 miles, so the difference is completely disproportionate to the cash price difference between economy and business. What's the catch? None of this seems at all straight-forward.

FFPs are confusing aren't they? United has award inventory (saver category) plus extra inventory only on their own flights (standard category). So a bit like NZ's any seat awards - you can improve chances of an award by paying more.

If you have more questions on United Mileage Plus I suggest you head over to the UA forum.

OK, well since it's free, I'll just join anyway. Thanks for your patience!

So, if I join the United FPP I'll be able to earn miles when flying Air NZ and also redeem them on Air NZ flights? According to this page: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1142,00.html it costs 80,000 miles to fly from Australia to the USA on a partner airline - but 150,000 miles on United, which doesn't make much sense to me. Shouldn't their own flights be cheaper? Business class is 120,000 miles, so the difference is completely disproportionate to the cash price difference between economy and business. What's the catch? None of this seems at all straight-forward.

As you are starting to see, you will find that premium cabins redemptions (eg, Business Class or First on a 3 cabin aircraft) are the best mile to cash redemption ratio. Now we can debate if you would actually pay for that premium product, but if you price a biz ticket at say $9k for 140k miles, but see the economy is $1.1k for 80k miles, you can see where that curve really kicks in.

FFPs are confusing aren't they?

Indeed they are.

Best advice to the OP, sensing that he is all a bit of a newbie to this FF thing, is probably to grab a case of Speights and sit down and have a good read of FT - the NZ forum, the UA forum and the BD forum are good starting points. As the cans get knocked back he'll get a feel for things such that his eyes will open to the potential of it all.

Yes, I've been doing just that. It feels like I've now spent more time reading these forums than I've actually spent in the air in the last few years. :)

One further question: if I do join the UA program and fly on ANZ metal, am I somehow better off if I book the UA code share flight (using ANZ metal) or should I just book directly with ANZ?