delfindo

Flexipay popped up as a payment method the other day - I've found a flexipay guide - not sure about this 10% fee for using my Airpoints, seems a bit on the nose but I can't complain as it's better than having them sit there...

smandkjc

"Any airfare purchased with Flexipay earns 20% of the standard earn rates."
The above was enough to put me off using the option.

nzkarit

I guess it is aimed at the people who have points which expire before use. So they would be happy for the discount even with the 10% surcharge and the lower earn. I assume the target market is the people who do a couple of flights a year and don't have a credit card that keeps points active.

So if you use 90% APD plus 10% APD plus 10% NZD you could get 20% earn. So basically pay an extra 10% on flights and get 20% earn. So really if you have the points use them all and don't fluff around with flexipay as not going to come out on top really.

SilverTP

I'm thinking this could work well with my Sharepoints accounts. I use most of my Airpoints on purchasing flights for my family as I'm not concerned about the lack of status points. This will mean that we could potentially accrue a few additional Airpoints dollars.

Xiaotung

What? You have to pay a 10% fee for using the points you earned? What an insult! This is another example that on the outside it looks like a good scheme but people who use it are just a bunch of suckers. They first make sure you don't earn enough to redeem for a flight, then they make you pay for something you earn. I know some people would say that they don't fly enough for a reward ticket but why would you bother with Airpoints. Just find another airline with cheaper fares. This is not about rewarding loyalty but just another ancillary revenue. Having ancillary revenue within a loyalty programme, that's another world first.

sbiddle

The vast majority of Airpoints members had no idea you could top up your APD balance with Onesmart.

Clearly even fewer are aware your still can with the Air NZ Airpoints credit card.

Xiaotung

Assuming this is designed for those who don't fly enough to earn a meaningful APD balance, why would those people care about 20% of APD/SP earn? This makes absolutely no sense and a complete waste of time.

gratn

Can you please explain this? I wasn’t aware this was still possible.

sbiddle

If you have any Air New Zealand Airpoints credit card (including the low fee $25 year card) you can simply buy APD from within your Air NZ account portal. A $5 fee per transaction applies for this.

The ability to do this was being abused on OneSmart by a small number of people so wasn't extended to the new OneSmart as Air NZ wanted to further restrict the ability to purchase APD.

When they removed this from OneSmart they introduced the $5 topup fee and introduced a 20% top up fee that is currently being waived. This was introduced (with a disclaimer waiving it at present) so Air NZ can easily implement further changes if needed to combat abuse of APD upgrades which became an unlimited upgrade fund for some Elite customers who were gifting huge numbers of these.

gratn

Sorry, do you mean within my Air NZ login, or my credit card provider login (ANZ, in my case)?

I’ve searched across the Air NZ site while logged on but can’t see anything about this. Sigh and fail on my part...

Xiaotung

Only those issued by Kiwibank.

sbiddle

It only applies to the Air New Zealand Airpoints credit card range which is issued by Kiwibank. It doesn't apply to other Airpoints cards issued by ANZ, Westpac or Amex (which are merely Airpoints cards not "Air New Zealand Airpoints credit cards").

If you want this feature the low fee Air New Zealand Airpoints card is ideal for $20 year.

gratn

Thanks, I’ll check that out.

akl_cat

Am curious as to how tickets bought through flexipay will credit to other non-NZ programmes. Do you get 20%? The full amount of that booking class or na da? Any reports on this?

Xiaotung

You won't get 20% across another programme. You either get full miles or nothing. Yes, there potentially would be a loophole but NZ probably wouldn't care as most cheaper fares on NZ gets you no miles in non-NZ programmes anyway.