So I been wanting to fly to NZ for long time now, but being a college student with no award points make the cost hard to bear. Seeing as I can go to Europe for 400-500 when I find deals. Lately, I've been looking for fares(Air NZ specifically) for dates anywhere between Nov. 06 and May 07 and finding that the average cost in 1200.00 with one stopover in the Pacific(Nadi, etc..) and that's just from LA. So figure another 300 or so just to get to LA and your talking about 1500 just to fly there.

Can anyone give my advice to find a cheaper way of getting there:
What airlines should I be looking at? (Quantas? Air Tahiti Nui? Air NZ?)
Should I get a package? What site or company should I look at?

I'd like to be able to get there from NY for about 1k all in. I really don't think that's asking too much, but maybe I'm wrong. So could you experienced people please help me out. Thanks.