Air New Zealand Air Points - Upgrades?

I'm about to book 2 one way tickets to London via LHR. I have in excess of 6000 of airpoints and two one class upgrades. Would it be better for me to spend the airpoints on the whole of the upgrades, or pay cash for the seats and upgrade with the air dollars. OR would it be better for me to travel economy and have a 3 day lay over in LA?

I would quite like to save my airpoints to use travelling over Europe once I arrive, but will appreciate your comments.

thanks

Liz

Use the comp upgrades. As GE you will go to the top of the list. Don't you mean via LAX?

So many options Liz!! :D

Your GE status counts for a lot, but upgrades via LAX do seem very hard to come by these days, and Business and Premium Economy (PE) are heavily booked, so don't count on getting standby upg's.

Personally I'd use your AP for some cheap economy tickets, and then apply for whatever upgrades you want using using your two comp upgrades and any remaining points. If you choose the 747 flights, then economy is still a good product if you don't get as many upg's as you put in for. And at least you should both get a confirmed upg to PE on one of the sectors. If you paid more and got a Y,B,H or M class booking, then you could get confirmed upg's via airpoints, but prob have to pay too much to get these fare classes.

If you did want a night or two in LA (not my idea of fun), that would break up the journey, but I say get it over with, then recover.

OR if you felt like some more comfort, you could always buy Premium Economy tickets with your AP, (which will probably use them all), and then get your two confirmed GE comp upgs to Business Premier for you both on one sector (I'd go LAX-LHR). OK you blow all your AP, but travel around Europe is so short haul, cheap and easy on so many carriers, your AP won't be particularly useful I expect. But I know you may not want to blow them all, so it just depends how much pampering you both want on the long hauls!!

Can you go via HKG?? Might have more luck with upgrades although baggage allowance not quite as good, although your GE status will give you much more allowance anyway.

As a GE, you probably knew all this, but thought I'd say my 2c anyway!! :o

Cheers
TiggerK

I was speaking to an NZ res agent some time back. She was telling me that PE is nearly always fully booked to LAX, which i don't doubt. She mentioned you have more chance of getting an ug from PE to BP rather than Y to PE.

Indulge yourself and go BP - it's lot of AP i agree, but worth it.

Welcome to Flyertalk;
You really have two options -

1) Buy two discounted business awards on NZ
Cost: A2270 *2 = A4540 + booking fee & taxes (do NZ charge the YQ surcharge on award tickets?)

2) Purchase two economy tickets
Cost: NZD1820 *2 =NZD3640
Apply for Upgrades to Business Premier: 2 GE + A1980
Apply for Upgrades to Premium Economy: 2 GE + 440

In your situation I think the best is option 1 [and lean on NZ to ensure availability of award space]. It gives confirmed business premier, plus this leaves your two upgrades for use at another time [and they can be transferred to anyone] for less than a thousand dollars or equivalents.

Your air points dollars will not go far in Europe because you still need to pay with cash the taxes for traveling around Europe and when the fare component is only 12 pounds and taxes 100 pounds there is not much value to be found.

1) Buy two discounted business awards on NZ
Cost: A2270 *2 = A4540 + booking fee & taxes (do NZ charge the YQ surcharge on award tickets?)

Yes, and the tax + surcharge must be paid by credit card (not by points, except for domestic awards).

3.1.12 Where your itinerary commences outside of New Zealand, you can't pay taxes, levies or surcharges using Airpoints Dollars - these must be paid in cash. Where your itinerary commences in New Zealand and is part of an international journey, Airpoints Dollars may be used to pay any fuel and/or insurance surcharges included in the published fare but all other applicable taxes, levies or surcharges must be paid in cash. Where you [sic] itinerary commences in New Zealand and is part of a domestic journey within New Zealand only, Airpoints Dollars may be used to pay all taxes, levies and/or surcharges included in the published fare.

I haven't checked but isn't 3.1.12 referring to the any seat awards rather than partner awards or "discounted business awards"?

I haven't checked but isn't 3.1.12 referring to the any seat awards rather than partner awards or "discounted business awards"?

3.1.12 appears to refer to all:


3.1.6 Subject to clauses 3.1.12 and 13.4:
3.1.6.1 Travel solely on Air New Zealand Operated Flights will be charged at the Airpoints Dollars equivalent of our published fares, or will be charged using the Discounted Long-haul Reward Travel on Air New Zealand Chart (in each case, subject to availability and to any applicable taxes, levies or surcharges).
3.1.6.2 Travel solely on Partner Airlines, or a combination of Air New Zealand and Partner Airlines, will be charged using the Partner Airline Reward Chart (subject to seat availability and to any taxes, levies or surcharges).