Originally Posted by
Often1
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As others note, the number of seats which can be sold is effectively set by the NZ government and as that number is far below aircraft capacity, the likelihood of redemption space into NZ is close to nil. Not much higher via Australia on UA.
They aren’t limited to how many seats they can sell (unlike Australia). New Zealand changed to an voucher based system late las year. Making it simpler for airlines, and puts the management of passengers numbers back on the passenger.
Every passenger wanting to travel to travel to New Zealand, is required to have booked an MIQ Voucher. These give an 48hr period to book your flight, then provide your confirmed flight details to the government to secure your MIQ hotel room.
https://allocation.miq.govt.nz/portal/
Here you will see an indication of ability, which you see everything till the end of March is currently booked out. MIQ has approximately 5000 rooms nights per day. This is taken an hit recently with the Pullman being temporary pulled from the pool of room, as transmission within the hotel.