Welcome to FT! Take a look around the other boards and you may find some useful info.

Some tips
- QF upgrades stink, they're standby only and cost more than half the miles of the equivalent award flight. Only really useful for people whose Y fares are paid by someone else

- Fares out of NZ on LAN and even Aerolineas to EZE can be quite attractive (use QF points to get to NZ)

- One-way (and return) fares ex EZE are much less than ex MEL, could look at award out, paid return

- Up till this weekend Feb 28, you can buy enough AA points for a biz class return award MEL-EZE on QF for USD1100