Originally Posted by
FormalHall
I think the best bet would be cheap paid fare from BNE to AKL (use virgin or QF), fly Air New Zealand using UA miles to HNL then use up your Qantas points from HNL to CLE (I can't pull CLE up on the Qantas FF site at the moment, but it should be 25-30K points each way, with only 5USD in fuel fines.
That's a lot of work and may not be worth it when you pay ~$500+ cash, 100k+ miles, deal with 3+ different purchases/redemptions, and get put on 3+ different tickets. One IRROPS and you're done for. Why not just use miles all the way for 100k+, or full cash which is ~$1500?
My advice would be to collect Star Alliance and Delta miles. If you're fine with economy class it isn't THAT hard to find availability. Delta miles can be used on V Australia 100k economy or 150k business. US Airways has the best US-Australia chart in my opinion, and is 80k economy or 110k business.
The combination of the 2 should allow you to travel back and forth with ease. If you can't find direct routes, using the US Airways miles to route thru Asia makes availability VERY easy to find, especially if you're fine with economy. Keep in mind the tickets need to be roundtrip.
As far as earning the miles, Amex Membership Rewards points transfer 1:1 to Delta and there are numerous cards with signup bonuses in the 50k-75k range. Barclay's has a US Airways card that can be churned for 40k after first purchase. Amex SPG card also transfers to both at a 1.25:1 ratio if redeemed in 20k point intervals.