Hi all,

I'm looking at going to MEL (and possibly SYD or AKL) next August (from NYC), and was hoping to fly in C, using DC cash & miles.

The obvious routing would be to fly to LAX (or SFO), then use NZ from there, both for the excellent NZ lounge in LAX and for the great business product that NZ has (especially compared to UA). Unfortunately, every NZ TPAC flight I have searched (via ANA) has zero available seats, in either direction, in C or in Y! Does anyone here have any experience booking awards on NZ TPAC flights? Is there a typical time when NZ TPAC award availability shows up?

Second question: the *A flight search tool shows a few bookings from NYC to MEL east-bound [e.g. JFK-FRA-SIN-MEL] and returning west-bound [MEL-BKK-FRA-JFK]. Would the ICC be willing to route me that way, even though it's about 4,000 miles longer? Would similar routings be allowed as well [JFK-ZRH-BKK-MEL]?

Thanks for your help!