DinoFlyer

Hi,

Me and the fiancee are looking to burn about 325,000 miles (maybe more if needed).
We want to go to New Zealand or maybe Fiji and would like to travel first class.

Any ideas on what Star Alliance carriers to use or do we use United? I tried a search on UA's website, but it comes up with nothing.

We don't mind if it is up to a year from now.

Thanks in advance!

clacko

a few years back, the bw did a ua award on ua/nz? via akl to mel....i'd call ua and ask for their input....you will have to call to book....good luck...

IAHRyan

UA doesn't fly to AKL, but NZ does, as do a number of other *A carriers via Asia. I'm not sure exactly of the routing rules but I imagine you could go via NRT, HKG or BKK.

Try searching CO's site, they show award inventory on NZ.

Also, search FT for the "ANA tool" as it shows far more *A inventory than either CO or UA's own sites. You should be able to book anything shown by ANA by calling either CO or UA.

sbm12

There is no F to either NZ or to Fiji AFAIK. That said, if you can find seats on the Air New Zealand flights in C you'll likely be quite happy. Of course, finding said seats can be quite a challenge.

DCF

Air New Zealand's Business Premier on its 747 and 777 fleet is superior to almost any First Class in global aviation anyway.

Bear in mind that New Zealand has a marine temperate climate - you are likely to want to visit between November and March. In contract, Fiji is too rainy from November to March.

goingbananas

If you are GS, have UA convert some UG space to SYD for you to F award seats. Look at tying in a NZ destination with it, then get a NZ to Fiji award ticket. That is your best option on *A.

smn

Good luck. We wanted to do the same thing as you, and got lucky to find tickets. Then NZ cancelled one leg, and the entire itin is screwed up.

Appears you can't get LAX-AKL on NZ in F/BF as they rarely release seats for that, and LAX/SFO-SYD-AKL is apparently over MPM. Also, AKL-NAN I'm told they never open up F seats, so we settled for Y for that leg.

sbm12

At least for the next couple months moving the points over to CO and redeeming there will skip this issue as CO doesn't put MPM restrictions on the awards the same way UA does.

DinoFlyer

Thanks everyone! I am going to try all of the suggestions.

sheepherder

When are you going?

Eventually CO will be flying to AKL. That is, if they ever get their dreamliner.

Always Flyin

Funny, but not even close to the truth.

traxler35

Hey everyone!

This will be my first international trip and I want to make it as epic as possible. Currently I have 120k United miles, and I am heading to Auckland, NZ from the US. The gateway city is wide open, as I'll have no problem getting anywhere domestically to hit the international legs.

I would love to get a taste for the International F class on my way TO New Zealand, and from what I've heard is that I can feasibly do that by flying through asia.

I've been looking at routes for the past 2 days and my brain is fried.

This is where I'm asking for your help.

Do any of you have suggestions for how to book to AKL routing through asia? I wouldn't mind having a stopover somewhere in a major hub city for a few days

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

PV_Premier

when are you traveling (month at least)

sbm12

Search for USA-Asia and then that city on to AKL. Keep in mind that NZ rarely opens up much in the way of long-haul premium cabin seating and only United, ANA or Asiana have F TPAC that you can get an award on with UA miles so your routing options are somewhat limited. You might end up with something routing on TG via BKK/SYD to get the F seat you want.

QBK

1. You're not going to get there and back in premium cabins for 120K UA miles. It's 135K in business, 160K in first. However, you could book F over and Y back for 120K.

2. There's a lot of availability on TG's BKK-SYD route, even in F. There's also decent availability on TG's BKK-AKL in J (2-class 777) and NZ's PVG-AKL (2-class 767).

3. UA allows routing through Asia, but (1) no more than 4 segments on a one-way these days (r/t may allow 5 segments on one half), and (2) won't usually show you the Asia routings. Search for availability segment by segment, and use multicity to book.

4. Consider LAX-ICN-BKK-SYD-AKL. It's reasonable to get LAX-ICN in Asiana F, BKK-SYD in Thai F, and OZ/TG/NZ J for the shorter legs (ICN-BKK and SYD-AKL).