MarkL99

Hi there,

I've been collecting points for several years but have never had an opportunity to redeem any. That is going to change next year as I will be travelling from Toronto to Auckland in April 2017.

I would really like to be able to use points to fly and ideally in the best class that I can. I have accumulated about 400,000 RBC Avion points which can be converted 1:1 into BA Avios, AA AAdvantage or Asia Miles.

I have specific dates that I have to be in Auckland so I need to make sure that I can book a flight that will get me there when needed.

I know that the flight is going to use up a lot of my reward points so before I convert them into a specific miles program I want to make sure that I pick the right one.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

dukerau

I'm not familiar with RBC Avion points, but I am familiar with the 3 airline programs you mentioned. Unfortunately they are all oneworld programs, so they access pretty much the same award availability. For oneworld YYZ-AKL, your best option, mileage cost-wise is YYZ-LAX-AKL on American, which would be 42.5k/82.5k/112.5k AA for eco/biz/first (Y/J/F) one way. Experience-wise the best would probably be YYZ-HKG-AKL on CX, which would be 110k/175k (Y/J) CX round trip. Or if you want first class (which CX doesn't fly to/from YYZ), something like YYZ-ORD-HKG-AKL for 260k CX round trip. Qantas is a good option as well, but J/F availability is nearly impossible. If you can find it, AA miles would be best at 42.5k/82.5k/112.5k Y/J/F one way. Lastly, you could fly on JAL, something like YYZ-ORD-NRT-AKL, which would have same CX pricing as the prices for flying CX.

BA won't be relevant due to very high mileage cost and fuel surcharges for this itinerary.

Mwenenzi

MarkL99 Welcome to FT

Best means different thing to different people
FF miles are not equal to earn or burn between ffp's.

As above all OneWorld nominally have the same award availability
Effectively Air NZ (Star Alliance) does not offer awards
Aust NZ flights are relatively cheap and frequent. Especially if AKL is not the final destination

Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from Australia (not from all airports to all airports)
- United UA (LAX SFO – SYD MEL) [Star Alliance]
- American Airlines AA (LAX - SYD) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- Qantas QF (LAX SFO JFK DFW HNL YVR*– SYD BNE MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner) {* seasonal}
- Jetstar JQ (HNL – SYD BNE)
- Delta DL (LAX – SYD) (VA & AS partner) [Skyteam Alliance]
- Virgin Australia VA (LAX – SYD BNE) (DL partner)
- Hawaiian HA (HNL – SYD BNE via Hawaii) (AA & VA partner)
- Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO IAH YVR via AKL) [Star Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ (LAX via Fiji) (QF, AA & AS partner)
- Air Tahiti Nui TN (LAX last segments on codeshares) (AA & DL partner)
- Air Canada AC (YYR – SYD, BNE from Jun 2016) [Star Alliance]
And others via Asia & Middle East


Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from New Zealand are (not from all airports to all airports)
- Qantas QF (via SYD BNE & MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- American Airlines AA (LAX - AKL) from 23 June 2016 [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
- Virgin Australia VA (via BNE & SYD) (DL partner)
- United UA (SFO - AKL) from July 2016
- Hawaiian HA (HNL-AKL)(AA & VA partner)
- Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO IAH YVR- AKL)[Star Alliance]
- Fiji Airways FJ, (via Fiji) (QF AA & AS partner)
- Air Tahiti Nui TN (via Tahiti -AKL) (AA & DL partner)
And others via Asia & Middle East

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

Awards assistance tools (use at your own risk. May not be up to date. These are not recommendations)
- AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds -->http://www.awardace.com/
- Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> http://www.flyermiler.com/
- http://www.expertflyer.com/ is a common tool used on FT. There is a $99.99 annual fee.
- http://www.travelcodex.com/how-many-...chart-search/? (commercial blogger)
- http://awardmapper.com/ (hotels)