NZbutterfly

https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airl...r-reward-chart

*A including non *A partners to redeem APD. Some sweet spots in there.

sbiddle

While I'm sure we've all lodged upgrades for people (and I'll admit I lodge them 2-3 times per year for a friend who visits the US but is only Gold) at the end of the day doing this really just is a self defeating. It simply means more upgrades out there which in turn affects all of us.

I know there are still a small number of Elite pax who lodge significant numbers of upgrades for people. Air NZ took steps to clamp down on this in part by removing the ability to purchase APD with OneSmart and introducing a $5 top-up fee for doing this with the Air NZ Airpoints credit card along with introducing the 20% commission into the T&C. While this is currently being waived Air NZ reserve the right to introduce this at any time as a measure to stop what they determine as abuse of the APD upgrades.

APD upgrades are the best benefit of being Elite, and I'd hate to see major changes occurs need to occur.

kiwifrequentflyer

So far I've bought no airpoints. I put through a significant chunk on my credit cards thanks to business so I've just been using that. But even so - eh. One of the flights had PE half empty. I don't feel bad gifting lots of PE upgrades. And PE upgrades have no impact on Koru lounge. I hardly view it as abuse to upgrade friends/family who are traveling overseas for their very occasional holiday to make it a bit more special.

Oh I'd entirely forgotten about that. Nice! And I'm actually going to probably make serious use of this now that I see Qantas/Etihad is on the list. There are some extremely cheap first class flights there: https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/co-operation-partners

SeaProf

The lack of credit card options is the biggest disadvantage for those of us in North America. All our dollars and points are accrued solely through flying (assuming no NZ address, of course), yet we have to attain the same point levels credit card users attain.

hodi

This is very true for me. When I first made Elite I was doing 4-5 in and outs around the country a week, this went on to varying degrees for a couple of years. Essentially got me a free koru membership, upgrades I lost as I whipped through the tiers so fast and two RUs I couldn't use as all domestic. Now I do internationals its amazing, I think 8/10 legs last year were successful from PE to J between RUs and APD upgrades.

Having said that Im not sure how you can reward domestic customers beyond lounge access, although I think a separate space would be a start and perhaps gifts at particular domestic earn points, akin to post banked year. Maybe a crate of L and P at 500 domestic anda pair of all birds at 1000

I'm not sure I agree around upgrade gifting, surely as an elite you would trump a no status request anyway, as for the ability to confirm well in advance when travelling as a family under the same booking, that to me is one of the biggest perks.

sbiddle

It it fair that somebody with no status (or even Silver) could end up with an APD upgrade lodged by somebody else that would clear ahead of a RU lodged by a Gold? We don't know the definitive order or APD upgrades and how they're processed but it's safe to say they are well up the chart.

hodi

drajknox

kiwifrequentflyer

Yeah I don't really know what they can do. It's a bit tough: they could definitely add in PE seats CHC - AKL but that is the only major route it would make any "sense" to do it for. More exclusive lounge access is probably what is really, truly needed.

As someone that flies predominately to the USA I find it funny when people complain about Koru lounges because USA lounges are on the whole incredibly bad. Auckland lounge is ridiculously crowded in mornings but I'd STILL rather that than most empty USA lounges since at least I can eat some nice food and drink some nice coffee.

As for the whole gifting thing, is it fair that an elite APD is processed at elite level for giftees with no status? I don't really see why it isn't fair. Air NZ do that not just for the benefit of the giftee, but the gifter as well. It's a perk for the Elite gifter that they know their upgrades have a great chance of clearing. Genuinely, I would do a status point run to hit Elite again if I was short with this being one of the major perks driving me to do it.

I had it confirmed to me by an Air NZ rep who double-checked that yes, APD upgrades clear above Gold RUs.

djsteve

So, does this mean the Australia to Europe reward can now actually be used on QF?! the rule is only a single flight number with no stopover...with QF1/2 this gives you access to this part of the reward chart - of course assuming availability etc. but in theory this is true? First Class for 2,380APs is pretty darn good!

dj

Xiaotung

No, the QF partnership is not a full fledged one and is only limited to QF domestic flights within Australia and you can only book it as part of a trans-Tasman connection.

There is currently no partner that offers flights from Australia to Europe with the same flight number. The nearest future possibility is when TK launches Aussie flights to IST but even if when they do there is no guarantee NZ would make them available as NZ don't appear to offer full partner inventory as other Star carriers such as UA.

The last time this route had a single flight number was when VS still flew to SYD via HKG. I did enquire about it at the time but was told it was not available even though the same flight was available to VA Velocity members.

braiden9

I was VA gold and successfully completed this status match and got AirPoints Gold. Useful as I know live in the UK. I have a few star alliance flights booked but need a few more before end of March 2019 to reach the 450. Anyone have any tips on routes / flights that have a high earn rate? Ideally from UK / Europe.

Xiaotung

Check out SK Plus fares ideally with a connection which credit at Full Economy. Sometimes earn can be pretty good and you don't have to go too far.

sopwith7

Star Alliance Partner earn is fairly set first by distance (I believe; first level under 1000km, next under 2000km, then above), and then by fare class. You can check which level each fare class accrues on each airline here:

https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/star-alliance

As pointed out above, the Full Economy fares are often the sweet spot on price vs status point earn.

You can use the Alliance Route Mapper to find all *A flights departing from convenient airports for you...

https://starmap.fltmaps.com/en/other

Then use the Airpoints Calculator's Partner Airline Flights tab to see the earn for that route:

https://www.airnzpoints.co.nz/

Pick a few routes and see what prices you can find on Google flights.

Just make sure you check that the fare class you are booking qualifies to earn Status Points.

SeaProf

Also make sure you meet the requisite Air New Zealand points on Air NZ flights as part of the overall total.