Unless you are wedded to Star Alliance-Air NZ there are many options trans Tasman. CI recently have been offering business class ~$50-$75 more than Air NZ/VA economy.

There is a lot of competition Australia - New Zealand on the trans Tasman route. Flights scheduled to take about 3:15hr to 3:45hr (east bound is faster due to prevailing winds). The flight schedules are padded so they often arrive early.

Trans Tasman pricing is very competitive. Fares are often ~AU/NZ$200-$275 one way in economy/coach, but can be more or less. Both economy & business fares can be low to very low. Or at peak times can be very high (double or triple the lowest). Air NZ often has sales. China Airlines were usually cheapest in the (southern hemisphere) summer 2015-16. Often best to buy on the com.au or co.nz web sites and/or select NZ or Australia in the upper part of web site.

There is no advantage in buying a Aust-NZ return ticket. All are air fares in Australia and New Zealand are sold as one ways. Effectively no such thing as a “return” with or without conditions. A “return” is just 2 one ways in a single PNR. It is often better to buy 1 one ways, including on different carriers. Often ex NZ is cheaper than buying the same NZ to Australia flight as the second leg of a “return” purchased in Australia.

Some of the Australian & New Zealand based airlines have economy only B737/A320 aircraft on some routes/schedules. Air NZ has a few wide body aircraft on some routes or some times.

For trans Tasman flights carefully check what is included in the price. Depending on the airline and/or fare booking class frequent flyer miles, water, food, checked baggage, seat selection and/or in flight entertainment can all be extra to the base fare.

Many trans Tasman cheaper economy/coach fares on Air NZ flights only earn (very few) NZ airpoints / VA points and can earn nil or a low % ff miles to other Star Alliance airline & partner ffp’s

Airlines that fly Australia (CNS* MCY* BNE OOL SYD CBR MEL ADL PER) to/from New Zealand (AKL WLG CHC DUD ZQN) (not from all airports to all airports).
- Air Asia D7 (OOL - AKL) from March 2016
- Air New Zealand NZ (codeshares with VA) [Star Alliance] {* winter seasonal}
- China Airlines CI (BNE SYD MEL** – AKL CHC**) [Skyteam Alliance] {** November to March}
- Emirates EK (codeshares with QF)
- Jetstar JQ (owned by QF)
- LAN LA (SYD AKL) [OneWorld Alliance]
- Philippines PR (CNS - AKL)
- Qantas QF (codeshares with EK) [OneWorld Alliance]
- Singapore SQ (CBR WLG) [Star Alliance] from Sept 2016
- Virgin Australia VA (codeshares with Air NZ) (Delta & AC* partner) *= some routes in 2017