Delta Air Lines to New Zealand

Old Sep 13, 2002, 12:10 pm
  #31  
 
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I thought United and Delta still had an arrangement whereby you could earn/use miles on each other's flights. I know Ive earned DL miles when flying United. If that is, or ever was true, then could you use DL miles for United to get to NZ?
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Old Sep 13, 2002, 12:16 pm
  #32  
 
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SinWithZin:
I thought United and Delta still had an arrangement whereby you could earn/use miles on each other's flights. I know Ive earned DL miles when flying United. If that is, or ever was true, then could you use DL miles for United to get to NZ?</font>
Agreement only covers domestic trips.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 11:44 am
  #33  
 
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Best time to New Zealand with Miles (if possible)

Could not find existing thread on this topic.....is there a "best" time to use miles for flights to New Zealand? I am a Delta Diamond with close to 220000 miles to kill and would like to go with fam...any thoughts or ideas would be great
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 11:51 am
  #34  
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DL doesn't fly to NZ, so your choices are either to use DL miles to get to SYD and then purchase a ticket or use your miles on a partner to connect through Asia. Partner awards cannot be searched on delta.dumb; you must call. I'm not sure how large your family is, but 220K miles might not be realistic.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 11:51 am
  #35  
 
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Your can go through Seoul on Korean (tons of blackout dates for months at a time), Kuala Lampur on Malaysian or through Sydney and buy a ticket

I'd imagine going in their summer (our winter) will be peak season and it will be easier to get award seats during our summer (their winter)

Last edited by thepointsguy; Dec 10, 2010 at 12:08 pm Reason: Edit
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 11:58 am
  #36  
 
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Take your skis (or better yet, rent/demo) and go in July/Aug.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 12:01 pm
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You can't redeem Skymiles on Virgin Blue though right? You'd have to buy a ticket.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 12:08 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by kahuna613
You can't redeem Skymiles on Virgin Blue though right? You'd have to buy a ticket.
Correct- I edited my post.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 3:59 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by thepointsguy
Your can go through Seoul on Korean (tons of blackout dates for months at a time), Kuala Lampur on Malaysian or through Sydney and buy a ticket

I'd imagine going in their summer (our winter) will be peak season and it will be easier to get award seats during our summer (their winter)

Early summer is the plan....I have done Sydney 3 times and it was almost always in April....I looked into the various routes through Asia and they look absolutley brutal for the fam (not a problem for me).....we are talking 29 hrs....Sydney and tik looks like it.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:12 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by DeltaOMG
Early summer is the plan....I have done Sydney 3 times and it was almost always in April....I looked into the various routes through Asia and they look absolutley brutal for the fam (not a problem for me).....we are talking 29 hrs....Sydney and tik looks like it.
You are going to be looking at 24 hrs +++ no matter what you do. I don't know where you are located and trying to fly from but for me to get to NZ via Australia would be:

4 hours MSP-LAX
3 hour layover in Los Angeles(1 hr could be tight late in the day)
15 hours LAX-SYD
3 hour layover in Sydney
3 hours SYD-AKL

Total trip time 28 hours.....So 29 hours to get to NZ through Asia doesn't sound too bad. Not sure exactly what you are expecting. Unfortunately Air New Zealand is not DLs partner so you can't fly non-stop LAX-AKL.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:12 pm
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
DL doesn't fly to NZ, so your choices are either to use DL miles to get to SYD and then purchase a ticket or use your miles on a partner to connect through Asia. Partner awards cannot be searched on delta.dumb; you must call. I'm not sure how large your family is, but 220K miles might not be realistic.
This is a fam of 4....before Summer I will be doing India, Tel Aviv, and Europe 7 times...I may throw in a non-business related RT to Johanesburg...I may have enough for 3 tiks and pay for one to SYD....then buy the remaining ones to Auckland. Thanks for response.....
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 4:18 pm
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by GYEWorldTraveler
You are going to be looking at 24 hrs +++ no matter what you do. I don't know where you are located and trying to fly from but for me to get to NZ via Australia would be:

4 hours MSP-LAX
3 hour layover in Los Angeles(1 hr could be tight late in the day)
15 hours LAX-SYD
3 hour layover in Sydney
3 hours SYD-AKL

Total trip time 28 hours.....So 29 hours to get to NZ through Asia doesn't sound too bad. Not sure exactly what you are expecting. Unfortunately Air New Zealand is not DLs partner so you can't fly non-stop LAX-AKL.
This will be out of ATL....you are right about the time....if i go through LAX, it will be similar to yours...and it does appear this will be my route...thks!!
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Old Dec 11, 2010, 6:55 am
  #43  
 
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Try Air Tahiti Nui out of LAX. We just booked 4 Y tickets for May/June travel to AKL with a stopover in PPT on the way back. 100K miles each including the DL connecting flights to/fm LAX. Good award availability, and much easier than flying all the way to ICN first.
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Old Dec 11, 2010, 8:11 am
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by jon330cic
Try Air Tahiti Nui out of LAX. We just booked 4 Y tickets for May/June travel to AKL with a stopover in PPT on the way back. 100K miles each including the DL connecting flights to/fm LAX. Good award availability, and much easier than flying all the way to ICN first.
Welcome to FT to both the OP and you, jon330cic. Great first post, thanks for pointing out something it seems the rest of us have missed! To the OP, I'd suggest looking into this option. The DL LAX-SYD flight is a really tough flight to find low mileage seats on and the Trans-Tasman flights can be pricey (from my limited research the couple times I've flown the route). Perhaps VA is easier to get in Y on LAX-SYD, I have no experience booking with them. Since you are already spending 100k miles RT for coach tickets (the highest "low" award in the system I believe), why not get all the way to your destination. The routings I just looked at via PPT all had 1.5-2 hour layovers or just enjoy a free stopover en route in PPT!
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Old Jan 16, 2011, 4:58 pm
  #45  
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Using SkyMiles US-New Zealand

Flying to New Zealand this fall. Would like to use my SkyMiles account (currently 210,000+) to obtain two Premium tickets.

When I spoke to an amazingly ill-informed Delta international rep, I was first told the only partner serving Auckland was Korean, via Seoul. With a little more digging I got her to acknowledge that Air Tahiti Nui and V Australia also fly the route (a bit more directly perhaps?).

Questions: Are there any other SkyTeam partners flying to Auckland I should be aware of?

I'm hoping to fly in to Auckland and home from Christchurch or Queenstown. Do any of these carriers allow for such a routing?

Air Tahiti Nui is the most convenient to Auckland, with nonstops from LAX. But beyond that, do any of these carriers rank higher than the others in terms of the quality of their "premium" cabin or in the availability of seats in the "low" category (traveling in Oct).

Would happily use my AA miles to fly the route on Qantas, but it's time to empty out my SkyMiles account. Thanks for any guidence provided.
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