Air New Zealand Air Points - Airpoints earning on mixed class itineraries

So, I'm grumpy after having an interesting exchange with Air NZ.

I flew CHC-AKL-LHR (via HKG), booked in B (global flexi) class. I then flew LHR-HKG, booked in Q class (global saver) class. I stopped in HKG for ~6 weeks and had to change the date of my HKG-AKL and AKL-CHC flights. When I changed the dates I also refared to Premium Economy since it was the same price as simply changing dates.

I have two problems with how the Airpoints have credited:

1. The LHR-HKG sector was flown on the first day of the first month of the 12 month requalification period for GE, yet they have not shown as contributing to my 'dollars-to-qualify-remaining' counter..
2. The HKG-AKL sector credited as discount economy (global flexi). When I emailed the Gold Elite team and included the eTicket, this was the answer I got:

Dear ajnz,

Thank you for forwarding us a copy of your electronic ticket receipt. I
have queried the accrual with our credit administration team who have
advised that although fare difference was paid to upgrade the fare from
Hong Kong to Auckland into a premium economy fare class, paragraph 1.2.4
of the Airpoints terms and conditions states that "If your Journey is in
more than one Service Class, we'll calculate Airpoints Dollars for the
entire Journey based on the Service Class in which you travelled the
greatest distance".

The distance between London Heathrow and Hong Kong is 9676KMS and the
distance between Hong Kong and Auckland 9133KMS so therefore the points
were accrued right the way thru at an economy fare level.
If there is anything else that we can help you with please do not
hesitate to call the Contact Centre on 0800 737 000.

Kind regards,

Premium Team

Now, ignorance is no excuse and I was not aware of clause 1.2.4. However, this has really annoyed me as it serves no purpose! I did clarify with the agent when I refared that I was doing this since it earned me more Airpoints Dollars.

I'll respond to NZ and explain that I am really disappointed, and that this is going to probably end my relationship with them -- because this rule is just beyond stupid.

Really grumpy!

You have every right to be grumpy ajnz.
But I knew of the rule only thought it impacted on people for example doing AKL-HKG in Business then changing over to HKG-LHR in PE, same flight and plane.
Oh well I never thought Airpoints was the best programme anyway and this just proves who stupid some of the rules really are.:td:

This is what I'd do in your situation:

Call up and speak to a real person as that has a higher chance of getting a satisfactory result than email. They can just ignore you over email or do a copy-and-paste job. Technically they don't have to give you the points for PE under their 1.2.4 clause (which I wasn't aware of either) but surely they could make an exception for a Gold Elite, especially seeing you weren't aware of the clause and had essentially a 6 week stopover, so you weren't trying to cheat them out of any airpoints.

As a bluff (or even not a bluff) you could ask the Gold Elite agent to prepare you a letter stating that you are Gold Elite, how long you have been one for (and possibly how long you were Gold/Silver before that) etc. Tell the agent that you require it as QF will be matching your status to Platinum and they treat their top frequent flyers with much more leniency and better service.

As regards to the dollars not counting towards requalification...there could be two reasons:

1. I have a feeling that the first month is a "dead month" whereby any Airpoints dollars earnt in that first month of requalification does not count. But I may be wrong.

2. A friend of mine recently moved from Silver to Gold. He qualified for Gold in September but won't be actually given Gold status to November for some reason. As a result, all the airpoints dollars he's been earning in between September and November haven't been counted towards Gold Elite/Gold requalifying for some reason.

So according to clause 1.2.4 I could book AKL-HKG-LHR with AKL-HKG in Y and HKG-LHR in J and receive full J Airpoints Dollars from AKL-LHR?

Sorry to hear of your experience, AJNZ

This is really interesting, I didn't know this:
"If your Journey is in more than one Service Class, we'll calculate Airpoints Dollars for the entire Journey based on the Service Class in which you travelled the greatest distance"

I have at times done MEL-AKL in PE and then AKL-LAX in BP, usually on two tickets. Points earnings has been according to the class on the tickets. If the above quote holds, maybe I should get BP earning for the whole journey?
I'll try booking the PE and BP combo on the one ticket next time.

Sorry to hear of your experience, AJNZ

This is really interesting, I didn't know this:
"If your Journey is in more than one Service Class, we'll calculate Airpoints Dollars for the entire Journey based on the Service Class in which you travelled the greatest distance"

I have at times done MEL-AKL in PE and then AKL-LAX in BP, usually on two tickets. Points earnings has been according to the class on the tickets. If the above quote holds, maybe I should get BP earning for the whole journey?
I'll try booking the PE and BP combo on the one ticket next time.
From December, I think, you will no longer be able to book PE TT.
I also think this rule is not triggered if you fly on different flight numbers, however ajnz flew 6 weeks after the other flight!:confused:

Thanks for everyone's replies - I am still sitting here, rather grumpy with NZ. This is probably the straw that has broken this camel's back, given that it is not only more expensive but also somewhat more awkward for me to fly NZ and retain that status (particularly given the miserly earning for Star Alliance partners, and living in SIN...)

1. I have a feeling that the first month is a "dead month" whereby any Airpoints dollars earnt in that first month of requalification does not count. But I may be wrong.
I had thought that too, but I finally figured out how it works - although the website does NOT make it easy to understand.

My "achievement" date (for *E) was August 29th, and the status kicks in the 1st of the month following - so 1st October in this case. However, the website says I have until 1st September 2009 to requalify for *E. Unless Air NZ expects us to requalify in 11 months (clause 5.3 of Airpoints T&C is very clear on the 12 months), the first month has to count for status.

That said, after asking them to fix it and expressing my disappointment with how this has been handled - and indicating it will make me ramp my QF flying up to Platinum, I received this response:

Your current tier status is valid from 01 October 2008 which means only flights after this date count towards this next years retain of Airpoints status. Your retain review date was 01 September 2008 which is the date we checked your Airpoints account to see if you were likely to retain status for another year. It’s unfortunate that you are disappointed on this occasion with the Airpoints programme. We are on the verge of releasing enhancements to our Airpoints programme which will mean retaining tier status may be easier for the next year. There are also many other ways that we are changing the way you fly and you are able to view this enhancements via www.changingthewayyoufly.co.nz.

If there is anything else that we can help you with please do not hesitate to call the Contact Centre on 0800 737 000.
Words fail me. :|

Maybe it is time to start earning that QF WP status?

If you leave NZ now then you retain you GE until next requalification, then the next year you have a soft landing to Gold, then a soft landing to Silver. So if you ultimately decide on another FFP then you have at least two years as a *G for *A flights.

I might be a bit of a pr!ck but I would call up the Gold Elite desk and tell them to write up that letter for you confirming that status, then if you have any refundable bookings tell the agent you want all of them cancelled and refunded as you will rebook on QF.

You never know you're luck. If you fax QF Premium Desk with your Gold Elite confirmation, a list of flights in the previous year and a list of all your upcoming flights they may actually look at comping you...or politely tell you where you can stick it.

Of course this is only if you actually decide to go to QF and if it is actually worthwhile cancelling any remaining NZ flights and booking them with QF (might actually work out costing you more money). There may still be hope for NZ bucking up its act and sorting the situation out.

Maybe it is time to start earning that QF WP status?

If you leave NZ now then you retain you GE until next requalification, then the next year you have a soft landing to Gold, then a soft landing to Silver. So if you ultimately decide on another FFP then you have at least two years as a *G for *A flights.

I might be a bit of a pr!ck but I would call up the Gold Elite desk and tell them to write up that letter for you confirming that status, then if you have any refundable bookings tell the agent you want all of them cancelled and refunded as you will rebook on QF.

You never know you're luck. If you fax QF Premium Desk with your Gold Elite confirmation, a list of flights in the previous year and a list of all your upcoming flights they may actually look at comping you...or politely tell you where you can stick it.

Of course this is only if you actually decide to go to QF and if it is actually worthwhile cancelling any remaining NZ flights and booking them with QF (might actually work out costing you more money). There may still be hope for NZ bucking up its act and sorting the situation out.
It's not a bad idea, although I will give the NZ team a chance to sort it out but I am not holding my breath.

I tried to call the premium consultant I had been exchanging emails with to no avail - after a fairly lengthy hold period to get an agent, it was then determined the consultant I wanted had already left for the day... and there were no supervisors who could (would?) take the call, so they would ask her to call me tomorrow - except I'm traveling (on QF!). I wrote another email and again asked for them to resolve the status airbucks earning issue; then re-iterated my position on this stupid clause and asked if NZ really wanted to lose a supposedly valuable customer.

I'm sure this is relatively minor given all the faults and problems in the world, but it's really annoying me given that this economy airfare was NZD4.8K to start with, with another NZD$650 spent to upfare/date-change the HKG-AKL sector. I think NZ got their $ from me; now I want my A$ from them! :)