Originally Posted by
SFOTurtle
My experience exactly. Looking at a NZ operated flight next year. Lowest fare UA shows on .com is $3500, although NZ is selling seatss around $1200. I recognize that might need to pay a little higher to get a fare basis to earn PQM on UA (leaving aside issue of PQD), but UA.com isn't even close to being competitive. I haven't tried calling UA yet. Will wait to see if others report any success before wasting any time on this.
I'm in the same boat, looking at SFO-AKL tickets and NZ has the best option, nonstop and it's lower than any UA flight, including UA codeshare on the same NZ flight.
Here is what ITA search shows, only two Nonstop flights on this itinerary for the dates I'm interested in. They're on NZ metal:
1/25 SFO-AKL 19:45 - 5:45 NZ7 Economy (T)
2/1 AKL-SFO 19:30 - 10:30 NZ8 Economy (V)
Total fare: $1777
1/25 SFO-AKL 19:45 - 5:45 UA6755 Economy (Y)
2/1 AKL-SFO 19:30 - 10:30 UA6754 Economy (Y)
Total fare: $5003