I was on the phone for 53min with the most sympathetic agent ever , unfortunately we didn’t get anywhere..
I could change the destination to CHC that is within 250 miles of WLG , but zero availability from Sydney and very scarce availability from AKL (1 or 2 seats ) .
There is enough availability from AKL , but only for flights early in the morning before the SFO flight arrival or in the evening that would get us at about the same time to WLG or CHC in comparison with the Sydney departure .
Couple of things to note, because we are travelling with a minor (4 years old ) :
1. The agent said to call back on Nov 3rd when new award availability might open , in the meantime she is leaving a note in the system …
2. Even if it doesn’t open , eventually United could push Air NZ to open some for us due to 11 hours layover with a minor , but it’s a whole process and they would do that when gets rclose to departure …
Also , I was told by the agent if we end up keeping the long layover in Sydney , we are due for a compensation, either miles or electronic certificate.