I flew on these flights a few years ago. I paid for Economy Premium and think it was well worth it; very few of my pictures have the wing in it unless I purposefully did so for effect . The flight is about 12 hours from Sydney, with 4 hours spent flying over the ice. No miles earned though! They fly fairly low over the ice (8-10000ft); enough to get a very good view; the exact route flown depends on the weather. Is it worth it? Depends. True you haven't actually stepped on Antarctica, but you can say you've been within 8000 feet (vertical) of it! And you get to stay warm.


The AKL-SCL flights don't get near enough to Antarctica to see it.