So now we just need to consider our alternatives. And bear in mind that North American * Golds have no UA/US lounge access.
My thoughts are this:
1) NZ based elites with regular premium fares to the USA should switch to United Mileage Plus, and continue to fly on NZ and do OneUp bids.
2) passengers from that group who can afford longer travel times should switch to Virgin Velocity or Qantas and travel via Australia, especially if they also travel regularly to other continents.
3) NZ based elites who mainly travel within NZ are stuck with Airpoints.
4) Australian frequent flyers have a very wide choice, and NZ would now be the program of last resort.
Thanks for this advice - I've been pondering whether to shift my *A accrual to US or UA. Given intermittent comments I see on FT about US maybe being bumped from *A, this has discouraged me despite other comments that state it's an easier FFP to get awards and upgrades with (I have no idea myself as I haven't accrued to either for a few years now).
Meanwhile, I've canceled my paid J trip on NZ for late April and am instead giving QF a try AKL-SYD-LAX-MEL-AKL, on the A380 for the transpac - hopefully the engines won't fall off, haha! Between that and my US domestic travel will be able to qualify for Gold again with QF quickly and see how that compares, even if a step lower than equivalent to GE with NZ.
I stopped flying QF when they began to have a string of delays in my own limited experiences and when NZ first rolled out the BP seats, as I tend to travel solo and enjoyed the privacy.
May be time to switch my ANZ plat card from NZ to QF soon.
So would others tend to recommend UA over US for *A as an alternative for Oz/NZ to NA then?