Originally Posted by qasr
That would be an open jaw, assuming you will SYD-XXX-MEL flights yourself, presumably on QF/DJ.
That's what I mean. I want to the the SYD-XXX myself, but then do the XXX-MEL on the award. So the award legs would be: LAX-SYD, XXX-MEL, MEL-LAX where XXX is not SYD. I'm assuming this is not allowed.
Not at all. United.com does not show *A partners at all for award bookings. You should be clear that you are allowed one stopover, or open jaw enroute. So you could do LAX-AKL (stopover) AKL-MEL (destination) LAX. You can transfer fairly liberally though, and as long as your stop for less than 24 hours, it does not count as a stopover.
Well, that's good news for me, I guess. How would I try to see if there's availability on NZ using UA miles?
Edited to say I found the ANA search tool. Seems there's no availability to NZ and so I doubt there will be to the south pacific island. Sigh. Also, why can't *alliance have a partner that has flights within Australia so I can go to Cairns or something?