I have a friend who have asked me ways to use up his points. I said he can gift the points to another person by purchasing their tickets for them, if they are a AirNZ member then without the $25 admin fee. Any other suggestions?

Situation:
He probably has $3k+ of APD.

He is in Christchurch so his family in Singapore / Malaysia, he said he didn't book on AirNZ / SIA because on the return leg it gets in at night into AKL therefore he misses the last flight into CHC. So reward flights and upgrades are out.

He also has a wife and a very young child and doesn't want to go thru too much hassle. Ie - spend a night in AKL before arriving back in CHC and paying for the night.

He currently on a platinum card so his points doesn't expire. He's probably a Jade member though.

He asked me about NZ hotel bookings to consume his points but it seems to be not worth it. Ie $200-300APD for a night in Dunedin.

Due to the flight times, he's never really flown with star alliance carriers. They are all accumulated by their credit card spending.


Cheers

Edit - is there an SIA flight from Chc just checking ... it's not an AirNZ flight but SIA on the AirNZ website that can be used with APD ...?