Originally Posted by lolosmama
I'm a first-time poster, but have learned so much from this site, for which I thank you all. My husband & I want to take our first trip to New Zealand in Feb or Mar of 2006. We will have enough AA miles to redeem for business class tickets on Qantas, although we hate to fly that far and get no mileage credit. We really don't want to fly United to Sydney (although we could probably accumulate enough points to upgrade a coach ticket by then). I don't know what other options we would have, other than to either sit in coach for a very long flight, which I would have trouble with, or buy business class tickets, which are very expensive. Do any of you have any suggestions? Can a flight in coach from the west coast to New Zealand be a pleasant experience? Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Anything more than two hours in coach on ANY airline is too long! My wife and I cashed in miles for business class tickets on Qantas to Aukland last April, and it was a terrific experience. Qantas really treated us (and everyone else in the cabin) quite well. Food was good, service was good, and we were comfortable.
As for New Zealand, we had an amazing trip. We spent almost three weeks in the North Island alone. A wonderful country full of really terrific people. We're planning a return trip in 2006 to visit the South Island and spend a little more time in the North Island.
Have a great trip!