kiwifrequentflyer

Lol, if I was paying cash airfares, I'd much rather fly BP in EK than Air NZ anyway! That sale is fantastic and I wish I had an excuse to take advantage.

cavemanzk

Very temping when NZ wants $1300return for the Works in July....

Rebound

Try Premium Economy for the same price....

cavemanzk

On some dates NZ's PE is $800return more expensive than EK's J, they must be hopefully of some loyal passengers to still pay those prices.

Beano

often you do need to pay more with airnz just so you can retain your status with Airnz

kiwifrequentflyer

If people are paying more to retain status with Air NZ, I think they need to stop and ask themselves why they are doing that.

Why do you want status? For Koru lounge? Ask yourself if the higher priced tickets are costing you more than a Koru membership. If they cost less, then even if your tickets are more expensive than the cheapest: you're still winning.

Do you want status for *G? If so, ask yourself if you can just credit to another *G partner that's easier to attain status with for less flights - and also genuinely ask yourself, why do you want *G? Is it for actual benefits, or is it a pride issue?

Do you want status for APD upgrades? If so, then you want to fly in premium cabins. Yes you may pay more expensive base fares, but you're in actuality winning overall because if you were to be paying for PE or BP out of pocket and not use APD upgrades, your fares would be far more expensive. So you are saving money.

I myself have treated airline status as a pride issue in the past, and am genuinely trying to not do that now. People pay a lot of money just to have the fancy status cards.

Beano

1: when you get 500+ SP from credit cards ...which are pretty well free
2: 400 SP from domestic flight ...apparently you cannot credit to any other airline
3: you only need to fly a couple of long haul flights to maintain status extra cost over other airlines maybe $2000
4: confirmed airpoints upgrades saving perhaps $2000
5: having one star alliance and one koru club free saving $1000
6: free upgrades worth perhaps $1000
so all ...worth it

kiwifrequentflyer

Just FYI you can credit your domestic flights to another *G airline, I can't see why you couldn't.

Beano

Did not realise the domestic grab a seat flights you can credit to other airline planes.
Maybe I need to look into other star alliance airline frequent flyers scheme ?
(not looking forward to starting at the bottom again or can you just show your Airnz card at the Koru lounge and ring the service centre to get priority seating ? )

kiwifrequentflyer

I am unsure if grab a seat is different, you might want to check that. I figured Koru worked no matter whose number was on the ticket but I also could be wrong there!

Beano

I will check out the grab a seat domestic ..do not use the grab a seat long haul as I cannot upgrade
probably do 12 long haul sectors a year in addition to the domestic ..all upgrades to BP ..all confirmed ones (pretty easy to get so long as you book well in advance and flexible with dates)
TT the earn is pretty bad on airnz so fly Virgin on TT (Virgin is pretty easy to retain status due to family pooling)

sbiddle

Many cheap domestic and GAS fares have zero value if credited elsewhere, it depends on the booking class. You need to check the 3rd party earns on the fare class before changing your FQTV.

Thai-Kiwi

You might think so. However Air NZ would very likely to require the AirPoints number of the Koru Club holder to be in the booking.

For those who hold status on other airline programs, and not in AirPoints, Air Nz requires that you have the program with status in your booking if you want the benefits of that status.

So, if you hold status with NZ and want to build status on another *A carrier and have that number in your booking, then NZ will deny you lounge acces and wotnot unless you agree to have your NZ Airpoints number entered. I dont know, but assume that thisnhoods true for Koru members.

Similarly, I cant build status on NZ and use my *G benefits of my THAI status since I MUST enter that number into my booking to access benefits, or forgo these benefits and accrue to NZ instead. Previously it was possible to have both Airpoints number to collect Airpoints, and other program with status gain lounge access etc enetered into the booking.

And as sbiddle notes, the earn needs to be worth it - however you want to measure that worth.

Tag1987

It all depends how you earn your status. I earn mine through work and domestic travel (no cost to me) NZ is really the only program now. Most *A programs are qualifying miles based and domestic sectors are so short the earn is pointless if it is eligible. I earn around 2500 - 3000 status credits p/year but if this was translated to miles I probably wouldn’t even hit KrisFlyer Gold. If you earn via long haul travel - then absolutely look at the mileage earn rates and calculate your potential earning for the year and move. But you’re going to have to be status free for a period (not that big a deal if you travel long haul J)

As mentioned by others - each program will have different rules, for instance fare buckets X, S, P, L, G and K which are commonly used domestically have no earn with SQ when flown domestically. So you get nothing.

Also you will absolutely be made to use your Airpoints number to access Koru benefits. Your best trying to change your FF# yourself through the manage booking function online once in the lounge - but this doesn’t always work.

Thai-Kiwi

I, ...erm... know someone, who did this successfully last year outbound on a domestic return, but then found to their dismay that the Airpoints FF# (naturally) then also populated the return leg. Consequently were denied entry until KC staff manually entered the program FF# for which they held status in. They also said they performed such a 'FF# clothes change' in the KC in the past week, but this hadn't worked - ie the Airpoints FF# although changed in the app, hadn't successfully overwritten the other 'status holding' information held in the system and nor could a retrospective claim be made online.