Originally Posted by
tommyleo
Thanks for the ideas so far! Sorry I didn't give more details regarding payment. My options:
(1) Buy coach (unless I can somehow buy F or business at a reasonable rate)
(2) Buy coach and use miles to upgrade.
(3) Pay nothing and use miles for the entire trip
(4) A combination of any of the above -- depending on the segment.
Unfortunately, until *A upgrades are introduced "some time this year", you won't be able to buy coach and use your miles to upgrade. Since you're traveling in Sept, they *may* be available by then, so if you're willing to take that gamble be sure to buy a full Y or B ticekt in order to use the *A upgrade.
If you can find a reasonable fare on Air NZ I'd just buy it. If not, use your miles. Be creative with the phone agent and you should have a good selectionl. You can use your DMs to fly UA, Air NZ, Air Canada, Hawaiian and even the Asian *A carriers depending on how many miles you're willing to burn.