Fast6

I think they're about as common as the yeti or nessie. While there's anecdotal evidence of some people getting availability, most of the experiences seem quite the opposite. I spent about an hour on the phone with a very patient agent awhile back looking at all manner of itineraries across a range of dates, and there was simply nothing to be had.

Ellice

Thanks Fast6 that's helpful to know. I thought so. I've spent hours reading all the pointshack stuff etc. Easy to write down the theory, in practice a lot harder to actually find something that suits. I have quite a lot of flexibility for a holiday next year so should be an interesting exercise to see if I can in fact get anything to work.

NZbutterfly

I'm no points expert. I've looked into things a bit but it's a fair amount of research time to get to know the ins and outs of programmes. Like you can/can't have a stopover, or you can't fly SQ's A380 etc

I think for *A flights Avianca Lifemiles is popular for searching. Joining is free and it's one of those programmes you can buy miles when promo's are on. I think people mainly took advantage of flights on Thai airways.

UA is another site used for searching *A. I read about some issue with searching SQ flights in particular.

If searching Etihad flights then you need to search Etihad's website looking for 'Guest seats' which show up with searches anyway.

CX you can use QF's site. I suspect BA also but not sure on this. BA doesn't allow Oz/NZ addresses so I used a friends address and put Austria for the country as I'm only using them as a search engine.

I've used BA to search for QR flights which actually isn't a difficult search and took maybe 30mins to find flights? I'd actually be using AA miles for the redemption but just needed BA to search for the partner airline QR.

I think if you find the availability then it makes the discussion with the airline agent better if you have already found the availability. The availability for awards seem to be best to those within the FFP of that airline but there is still availability outside of these it seems.

I've read sometimes there are issues where despite you being able to see it the agent can't.

There are also sites now that offer award assistance for a fee so you don't have to do the search.

There is a lot of good value to be had but it's a bit of work reading up on this area but I guess once you know the ins and outs then you're pretty set (airlines can also adjust the rules in the programmes though). Some searches come up quickly and others can take a bit of time. I think you end up finding flights THEN booking your holiday around the dates rather than the usual set your dates then book the flights. Typically they're 1 way awards so you actually have to find 2 award dates to include the return, or use different programme miles to get the return leg. Or you can buy a cheap return ticket eg from EU to Aus/NZ (which are supposed to be cheaper than the tickets originating in Aus/NZ, then search another award date for the return leg >1yr down the track).

I think from Asia I'm quite happy taking Scootbiz (really a PE product on a LCC and if early the biz seat can be less expensive than the economy seat on a full service carrier) back to Oz then a cheap fare back to NZ. (NZ had the better changing flights policy over VA). I think some of the other seats on the plane are probably fine too but I'm just exploring when we have time.

Anyway there's lots of options but learning about them takes time. Best to play around with the search process which is free then decide if it's a useful option for you. Depending on the carriers you're using you can find info in the individual airline forums here on FT. Or the blog sites come in handy also eg http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....-availability/

Some googling will bring up some of the useful pages. I just put this one up as an example.

Good luck in getting a bit more mileage out of your APD.

Ellice

Many thanks NZ Butterfly for that useful info. Like you I've done a bit of research but still trying to figure out the best way to use these strategies. I found pointsguy is also quite good albeit US based. I think the NZ-US routes are hard to get because so many people in the US have cottoned on to this stuff whereas not so many people in Asia are trying it. I've narrowed it down crediting points to Krisflyer, AA advantage and Alaska Airlines to try and get a good deal on the reward tickets. However that keeps changing the more I read!! I made the first step to buy some SPG points, quite a few. Gulp. I'd be interested in using the award assistance websites, might be easier just to outsource everything. Do you have any that you think would be worth a go?

I tried initially looking at SQ availability from New York to Europe and there wasn't anything showing in the premium cabins for the whole year! Maybe I'm not doing something right there. I will have to do some more work on availability in the weekend. I thought probably the best option is to buy an NZ fare to the US try and upgrade with the RUs and then try for availability from the US to Europe. Those $699 fares to the US they just offered are pretty sharp.

BTW I've never booked a flight from somewhere back to NZ one way. Is this possible? How do you do this, simply go on the website based in another country and buy the ticket? For Air NZ it keeps directing you back to the NZ site.
Thanks again for your help.

libertyuk

ANA's programme also is free to join and is useful to search for *A award availability.

Ellice

Thanks Liberty Uk. Will sign up for that one as well I've now signed up for an awardwallet account to keep track. Seems to be quite a good app. Also going to give awardnexus a go for searching availability. I started to wonder whether it might be more straightforward to buy NZ flights and use the standby upgrades. I guess that's what NZ want you to do. But definitely not keen on embarking on a long haul trip in Y.

I guess there is a steep learning curve for this stuff (or at least a lot of reading and familiarisation of the various programs and airline websites!) but once you've done the ground work it should be easier. Eh? As nzbutterfly said it's probably a matter of working around availability, if you can find anything, rather than set dates.

sbiddle

Availability of reward flights is becoming a nightmare across all alliances now. Much of this has been fueled by US carriers literally giving away points in some cases, and then customers using these to book heavily discounted travel on other airlines outside the US.

Why would Air New Zealand for example want to literally give away reward seats in BP on North American routes when they have no trouble selling those seats to paying customers?

While these deals look great on websites, being able to actually take advantage of them is something entirely different!

Ellice

Good point. I think also there are so many credit card sign up bonuses, happening even in New Zealand where points are given away that it has an effect on award travel space, premium award space especially. I guess that's why programmes like KrisFlyer are making more award space available to members only. Anyway I'm still keen to try and get some award free lunches...

jawnbc

Bumping this thread up...in case there's some sage advice to found.

I have good *A award availability searching via my AC/Aeroplan account. I have some points there I'll burn as a o/w reward from Europe to AKL in business class. I've got some good choice on the inbound sector.

My problem is the outbound. I've plenty of APDs, but can't find any *A with through J class: either to BKK or SIN I'm getting offered X though Asia-Europe in I isn't hard to find.

For CX rewards, I resurrected my old BA.com account--does anyone know if their Avios search for CX is accurate? I have used this to find space for an AS reward on CX a couple of years ago.

Am I correct in assuming that I can use a partner award AKL HKG (to Asia) and another to MAD (Asia-Europe) on CX based on the partner award chart?

Thanks!

NZbutterfly

Have you tried the UA search engine as well for *A availability to Asia? Just popped in July Aug 2018 and at first glance looks good to at least HKG and BKK. May have to do AKL-BNE in Y on NZ but there were days with direct flights or one stop all in J. At the end of the day if you're using APD awards you're going to have to call up and confirm with NZ? I've never used APD this way before but keen to know if it comes through.

Also quickly looked at QF for AKL-HKG and CX availability exists every day in July for business. The other one I was going to look at was AA for the search but it looked wide open with QF. BA is supposed to be a good search engine for OW awards but at the end of the day the proof is in the actual booking. I believe there are different rules for different award systems. Am sure the BA crowd would be able to help you out with Avios specifics.

jawnbc

Very interesting--thanks butterfly. I don't have access to the UA or QF engines. Was looking for 26-28 April AKL to MAD or LIS in J. AC's engine shows AKL BKK in Y

Thai-Kiwi

TG has good availability for those dates MEL-BKK according to ExpertFlyer.

Ex-AKL has no availability.

libertyuk

Yes it's good.

Kiwi Flyer

You don't need a UA account to search for *A awards on their website.

Hector99

Re igniting life into this thread - has anyone had any joy with this recently...?

Either NZ1/2 or:
Australia to Europe: Applies only to journeys between Australia and Europe where the sectors flown have the same flight number and on the same through journey - without stopover.

is this only EY?

Thanks