Air New Zealand Air Points - UAL Mileage Plus Availability to New Zealand from the US

My wife and I are interested in using our UAL miles to fly to New Zealand from the US. What is award availability like these days on Air NZ from LAX-AKL?

I have previously redeemed both AA (Qantas) and UAL (Air NZ) awards on this route, but I'm concerned because AA has suddenly become very stingy (they never release AKL-LAX and usually try sending you via Australia) and I was wondering if Air NZ is any better.

What class of travel? How many people? When are you wanting to fly?

AA is not being stingy with the awards flying Qantas. It is Qantas being stingy in not releasing many awards for AKL-LAX (even for their own members they mostly force AKL-NAN-LAX or AKL-BNE-LAX or AKL-MEL-LAX), compounded by QFF releasing awards ~ 355 days before departure but AAdvantage being limited by their own systems to booking 330 days before departure (when most business awards in particular have already gone).

Flying Air NZ, business awards are next to impossible to get on the nonstop flights between YVR/SFO/LAX and AKL. Not so hard to get on the island-hopper flights between LAX and AKL, via APW/TBU or RAR.

Hi, the quick answer is that it's pretty darned tough - even those who are elite with NZ Airpoints have difficulty finding award seats outright. MP members find it basically impossible - I don't know if anyone in recent memory has managed to score an award seat? Some manage to do UA metal LAX - SYD and connect via NZ to AKL.

NZ Airports upgrade awards are generally more available, but also can be scarce (thank to Expert Flyer and others to help find seats!)...and since MP doesn't allow *A upgrades, doesn't leave you much choice.

I had a bunch of MP miles and finally just burned them on getting a few transcons in the USA in F, since I don't fly UA metal international anyway.

Best of luck in your search - it never hurts to try!

Forget C, it is practically 0 chance. I am struggling even to find Y seats right now using my UA miles for Jan 09. At 330 days out, it seems I took the only 2 Y seats on AKL-SFO... Going into AKL I have to fly SFO-SYD-AKL. UA still has reasonable availability in Y going to SYD, but if you want the direct flights, f'uhgetta bout it.... :rolleyes:

Mr. S
If you are looking to fly spring/summer NZ seasons then as others say you are really out of luck. I had lots of luck this April/May finding business class seats (there were on a few occassions even 2 available) for my wife to accompany me on a paid ticket on YVR-AKL, SFO-AKL and LAX-AKL for roughly 2 weeks from the date I was looking. So there is always last minute out of season availability. Otherwise, you are going to have to pay for these seats.

So there is always last minute out of season availability. Otherwise, you are going to have to pay for these seats. There has been last minute in season availability over the last few years as well. While that might not work for many, it would be wrong to say it doesn't exist.

I had lots of luck this April/May finding business class seats (there were on a few occassions even 2 available)


April is one of my favorite months to be in NZ - the weather's often still good, and it's just past the main summer holiday season, so rates are cheaper for hotels typically. Not the best ocean swimming time of year, however, for most who I've compared notes with. So I usually recommend to friends/family to visit in April just after Easter.

What class of travel? How many people? When are you wanting to fly?

AA is not being stingy with the awards flying Qantas. It is Qantas being stingy in not releasing many awards for AKL-LAX (even for their own members they mostly force AKL-NAN-LAX or AKL-BNE-LAX or AKL-MEL-LAX), compounded by QFF releasing awards ~ 355 days before departure but AAdvantage being limited by their own systems to booking 330 days before departure (when most business awards in particular have already gone).

Flying Air NZ, business awards are next to impossible to get on the nonstop flights between YVR/SFO/LAX and AKL. Not so hard to get on the island-hopper flights between LAX and AKL, via APW/TBU or RAR.

Thanks for clarifying, Kiwi Flyer.

We are looking for 2 coach seats in May. New Zealand is my favorite place in the world, but my wife absolutely refuses to go if the routing is too indirect or circuitous (such as via Australia). Most recently, we were able to route ourselves via Tahiti on Air Tahiti Nui (using AA miles) and she was fine with that because it "wasn't out of our way". The only time we used UAL miles we made a stopover in HNL (that we wanted to do), and then we got a nonstop back from AKL-LAX.

So using UAL miles from LAX/SFO, what would be our best options? We are open to making a stopover in a tropical destination on the way to/from NZ. What is availability like on the HNL flights and how frequent are those flights? Besides HNL, where else are there nonstop flights from LAX/SFO from which we could easily connect to/from Auckland.

Also, what is NZ like in May? Our previous visits have been in November.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

NZ flies YVR-AKL (3 per week), SFO-AKL (daily), LAX-AKL (daily), HNL-AKL (2 per week)
LAX-APW-TBU-AKL, LAX-RAR-AKL (1 or 2 per week each).

NZ in May is autumn and will be a lot cooler than November. Weather changeable. Eg in the South Island risk of snow in the passes but too early for skiing - most likely cool and showery (or cool and dry inland), frosty inland. Whereas in North Island too early for snow except on the very highest part of the central volcanoes, and mild to cool (up to low 20s C in Auckland).

I actually had better luck getting Y with US Airways over United. Flying out Dec 28, returning Jan 16. Got LAX-AKL with NZ for the 28th, but had to settle for United out of Sydney for the return. United didn't have any NZ availability for either December or January. Based on what a lot of people say about US Airways on this board, I was really shocked they even had the Y seats open when United didn't. I don't have status, but was very satisfied dealing with US Airways' call center which was US based as opposed to United's offshore center.

If you're moving hotel points around to get the awards (which I did) you might want to check out US. I've never flown their metal, but I'll gladly take advantage of their awards if they have what I need.

I actually had better luck getting Y with US Airways over United.

I'm really surprised to hear that. In 2006 I booked summer-time award travel to Europe and had a really hard time finding availability on USair. Note that I called 11 months in advance and had an open mind to many different scenarios on multiple Star Alliance airlines that I had mapped out in advance. I was so frustrated by my experience with USair that I decided to call UAL to see if they had more availability, and almost every single flight that was unavailable on USair was available on UAL.

I'm really surprised to hear that. In 2006 I booked summer-time award travel to Europe and had a really hard time finding availability on USair. Note that I called 11 months in advance and had an open mind to many different scenarios on multiple Star Alliance airlines that I had mapped out in advance. I was so frustrated by my experience with USair that I decided to call UAL to see if they had more availability, and almost every single flight that was unavailable on USair was available on UAL.

I don't know about US' availability overall, but just happened to luck out on the two dates at the end of the year that I was looking at (albeit the return had to be routed through Sydney). This was booked about 11 months out as well.

I know this doesn't really help the OP, but in January I called United MP and booked one award ticket in coach:
20Nov: IAD-LAX-AKL-CHC
9Dec: AKL-SFO-IAD

In March I found I would be able to extend my trip through the whole third week. No award seats on Friday 12th or Saturday 13th. I'll be flying home on Sunday the 14th (not that I'm too upset about that):
AKL-SYD-SFO-IAD