We have a flight in Business Class - ticketed as a refundable fare on LH stock - for an NZ-Europe-NZ trip next year.
I have researched potential earnings - in particular for the final sector which is YVR-AKL - NZ23 operated on NZ metal.

The app on my phone says Potential Flight Earnings: Airpoints dollars 231.50
Status points 308

The Airpoints calculator disagrees:

The e-ticket shows CX0XICFF as the fare basis which I assume means C class. When selecting 'Advanced search' for YVR-AKL and entering C for the class, it returns Potential Flight Earnings as $492.90 and Status points 456.

Advice please - and I imagine there is no point raising this as an issue until after the sector is flown, and only contact NZ if the lower amounts appear. But generally, which one trumps the other? The airpoints calculator or the app? If others have had a similar experience have you been successful eventually in obtaining the higher amounts?

You could probably call Air NZ contact centre to find out the exact fare code on NZ sectors? The app potential earning and calculator should match, so you may not be ticketed in "C" code.

When using the calculator using NZ or LH for the YVR-AKL calculations? Given LH ticket it will be LH earn not NZ earn.

NZ metal will get NZ earn even ticketed by LH.

100% Correct. I flew on an SQ ticketed which included NZ metal AKL-SIN and SIN-AKL (native Nz flight number) and both credited per the NZ earn on calculator at airnzpoints.co.nz

It might depend on how LH C class maps across to NZ biz fares. C class on LH is not the highest biz fare bucket.

308 SP indicates the the system is seeing LH C as mapping to NZ J class.

My understanding of the LH fare basis mapping is

C = cabin type (Business)
X = discounted/restricted
OX = advance purchase
I = international
CFF = same cabin for full fare/fare family

LH ticket stock in my experience always include the exact fare class per segment, incl. for partners. You may need to request a full receipt on their website to access full ticketing details if your booking confirmation did not include this, but given you booked a discounted business fare, I would not expect it mapping into NZ-C, most likely J, as others have suggested.

NZ provide a page that matches LH booking classes to levels of Airpoints and status points.

The link is https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/star-alliance-lufthansa


My interpretation is that LH C class ticketed flown on NZ metal earns Airpoints/Status points as full Business class.

And answering a question higher up the thread - was I using LH or NZ as the search option in the airpoints calculator?

Definitely NZ. It isn't possible to input YVR-AKL as an airport pair when LH is the chosen airline.

As a further point for consideration - we took NZ23 (YVR-AKL) in Business in May last year (2025) and earned 492.90 Airpoints and 456 status points. If I recall correctly, the flight was ticketed in Z class.

My original question still stands - why the difference between the reported earnings on the app vis a vis the airpoints calculator?

This doesn�t completely answer your question but (that link) to my understanding are the classes that are eligible for apd/sp earn if you were flying on LH metal.

so you�d still need to figure out if your NZ flight maps as C or J as others have suggested

Don't take this as advice but I've almost never had a discrepancy between what the app estimate is and what my actual earn was.

I paid using Flexipay once for a TT flight. App estimate was 16 SP earn. Waited 72 hours, still nothing, filed a claim, instantly received full earn of 123 SP. (93 + 30 dom). Pretty good! I've been extremely lucky through 2025 with Airpoints glitches to my advantage.

The only discrepancy between app and calculator I am aware if is the domestic add on to an international fare is still using the previous system of either 10 or 20 SPs, rather than than pulling the SP from the calculator on specific fare class for the add-on.

Example - I have an econ (S) fare to BKK, back in PE (O) with Y for AKL-WLG.

The app says the domestic sectors earn 10 and 20, however I will actually earn 9 WLG-AKL (S), and 30 AKL-WLG (Y) based on the calculator and having done this many times.


Add-on WLG-AKL in S earns 9 not 10







Add-on AKL-WLG in Y earns 30, not 20

That table is relevant only for earn on LH metal.

Your situation is LH ticketed but flown NZ metal. Hence I think it is still likely that you�ll earn per the app, and as I noted that amount on the NZ calculator suggests earning as if NZ J class. Of course, great if there's a glitch in your favour!

Please report back the outcome.