My search was not super successful, so hopefully I just didn't miss something easy to find. I'm looking at taking a family (5 people) trip from the USA (IND or drive to ORD) to New Zealand in Late Dec/Early Jan, which of course is almost a year away.

I am a UA low-level (Silver) Elite w/ United Club and have been using miles for some decent receptions, so I don't have a ton now but do have a decent amount of Chase UR. I'm looking for what might be a reasonable way to approach timing of booking and strategy of flights. We'll probably just do it economy, but of course if I can find a way to make something higher reasonable enough (Air NZ SkyCouch? or business), I'd love to do that for the family.

Do you have any recommendations on routes to approach, timing, or other experiences for booking? United or Air New Zealand are both Star Alliance, so I suppose I could look at both.

Thanks for any pointing you can do in the right direction!