Unfortunately not . In terms of earning, there's no difference between *E and Jade (unless, of course, you happen to live in the UK this year ).

I guess there are different reasons why people stick with Airpoints, most probably just don't know better (until they discover flyertalk). For me it's just that I'd be flying NZ anyway because of the excellent service and route network in the pacific so it's worth it for all the extra perks. But with things like these increases, no bonus miles, expensive reward flights etc. it does get harder and harder to justify, especially when you know what other FFs are getting . Basically if AirNZ wasn't such a fantastic airline I'd have switched a long time ago.

Cheers, Zac