Not really... I personally find it ridiculous, but hey supply and demand.....

So, talking to the awards desk, it seems the only viable choice is LAX/SFO-AKL-NAN-AKL-LAX/SFO so really it only adds an extra 6 hours of flight time... Not too horrible. They said it is not a problem tracking back to AKL as long as it is a connection. Is this kosher? I somehow remember you not being able to do this or was it only for your stop over, not a connection?

Guess I will go with this unless this contradicts common knowledge what everyone else knows....