Originally Posted by
aacharya
Why not fly as ticketed, and manage this once in SYD? NZ would need to place you on the next flight that day if you miss this one. Unless it's smack in the midst of peak travel, I can't imagine you'll not be placed on that one.
interesting idea. NZ only has one non-stop flight per day, plus seemlingly one option via WLG that gets us to CHC at a reasonable time. there is also an option with a very long connection in AKL. so it seems a little riskier than i want to be, if i was on a revenue ticket i would do it and just tell them they have to put me on EK if i missed the connection.
i don't really want to be separated from my baggage either, since we are jumping in a campervan on arrival and heading out into the countryside. i think i will let this stew for awhile and if nothing good comes of it by about 30 days before departure, ask them to force space to put us on SMF-SFO-AKL-CHC on either the previous or subsequent day, or parlay this into a free change if NZ opens up some space on one of their long hauls in I.