Air New Zealand Air Points - Companion Ticket HNL-AKL

My wife and I will need to purchase two one-way tickets for November 2008 travel from HNL-AKL, prior to starting a cruise. [We will be returning LAX-HNL, and unfortunately I can't use my Mileage Plus miles for free tickets, as UA doesn't offer one-way awards and they won't ticket this itinerary as one RT award because the open leg (AKL-LAX) is longer than the legs that would be flown.]

Although the one-way fares from HNL-AKL are reasonable, all things considered (about $800 US per person, including taxes, and when adding to that, the very reasonable one-way fares from LAX-HNL, the total is less than what the cruise line would charge for booking the air), I saw on the NZ website, a program where "airpoints dollars" can be used to purchase one-way companion fares for very reasonable amounts for the HNL-AKL leg.

When I spoke to the very pleasant NZ CSR about whether someone who was an Airpoints member could purchase a companion ticket with airpoints dollars for my wife, he laughed and said yes, but only if it was the member who would be actually traveling with my wife :)

Anyway (thanks for bearing with me here), is that correct, that an Airpoints member cannot use airpoints dollars to buy a companion ticket for another person's companion?

Also, are there any frequent flyer awards that anyone is aware of that would ticket one-way travel on NZ from HNL-AKL; as if there were, I believe I might be able to use Coupon Connection to facilitate that.

Thanks in advance for any help, and Merry Christmas.

For a companion award the person whose points are being used must travel with the recipient.

Yes many FFPs allow one-way awards at some fraction of the return award cost (ranging from 50% to 75% in my experience). The miles buzz forum has at least one thread listing some of these programs.