eccentricFool

I was wondering which award miles give good redemption value to use from Delhi to Auckland to Delhi. I have 100K+ UR and AA miles. I am open to buying some miles to get business class travel on this route. Thanks for the help!

Mwenenzi

What research have you done yourself?
Award flights are never guaranteed.
Airline ffp's generally do not sell ff miles so that the cost of a long haul premiumn seat with ff miles is less than cash

Frequent flyer miles are not equal to earn or burn. 10,000 miles in 1 ffp may get you a longer award flight than 15,000 ff miles in another ffp. And then there is award cash surcharges.


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.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html --> http://www.awardhacker.com/

BSBtraveller

MH would be the obvious choice.

eccentricFool

Thanks for the reply. I used travelcodex so I have some understanding now of what are some mileage programs I can target. I am interested in flying business, so AA (80K), United (60K), and Alaska (60K) seem to be the ones to explore more. They all have reasonably low fees I guess. But, there are availability issues in Dec '16 dates.

eccentricFool

Thanks for the information. Award travel has availability issues, even if I try flying out from Malaysia - it takes me via Dubai thus wasting a lot of time. I am looking in Dec '16.

Mwenenzi

Early December 2016 or later towards 25th December?
Awards near Christmas would have been snapped up many months ago. At that time airlines will be expecting to sell all seat for high money.

eccentricFool

I am trying for mid-Dec, i.e. before Christmas. I have been able to narrow down my search now. Specifically, I am trying Cathay from HKG-AKL (and eat DEL-HKG) on 13th or 14th. There is no availability in business.

I know one has to be flexible in searching for awards but now I am wondering if any new awards shall be released closer to the date.

Mwenenzi

By Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th NZ - Australia is starting to slow down for Christmas - New Year. 1000's of people travelling. This year Christmas (25th) is the Sunday.
Award flights will not increase. Airlines will be selling all seats for top $$$$$ into NZ-Aust

Look for award flights into Australia. Many more airlines/Au destinations. Many flights from Australia to New Zealand, but cash prices will start rising for your dates.
Airlines that fly Australia (CNS* MCY* BNE OOL SYD CBR MEL ADL PER) to/from New Zealand (AKL WLG CHC DUD ZQN) (not from all airports to all airports)
- Air Asia D7 (OOL - AKL) from March 2016
- Air New Zealand NZ (codeshares with VA) [Star Alliance] {* winter seasonal}
- China Airlines CI (BNE SYD MEL* – AKL CHC*) [Skyteam Alliance] {* summer seasonal}
- Emirates EK (codeshares with QF)
- Jetstar JQ (owned by QF)
- LAN LA (SYD AKL) [OneWorld Alliance]
- Philippines PR (CNS - AKL)
- Qantas QF (codeshares with EK) [OneWorld Alliance]
- Singapore SQ (CBR WLG) [Star Alliance] from Sept 2016
- Virgin Australia VA (codeshares with Air NZ) (Delta partner)

eccentricFool

The list looks promising. I'll report back if I have success. Thanks for taking the time out for posting the list!

Mwenenzi

Australia to NZ is about 3 hours. Many aircraft are narrow body & economy only. Is AKL the final destination?