Fast6

Hi all. I posted this in the flame-free thread a few weeks back and got no response, so I figured I'd ask here instead. Here's my background and query:

I'm from the US but live in NZ and travel frequently between NZ-US for work. Unsurprisingly, this is more than enough to keep me in NZ's top status tier and consequently Star Alliance Gold.

Now that I've got "surplus" travel to book on top of maintaining my *G and NZ status, I'm shopping around for a good program. I'm wondering if maintaining a bank of AS miles would be a good thing for me, and I'd love to hear any downsides as well as clever opportunities. More about my situation:

When I'm in the US, I do some domestic flying (~$2k/yr), which I've historically done on UA due to good NZ earn. However, the destinations I visit in the US (90% west coast) are well-serviced by AS (and besides, flying UA kinda sucks ). Further, I have a friend who lives in Iceland, so the new agreement with FI could be an infrequent albeit decent AS earner for me.

Beyond that, the option to buy AS miles with big bonuses (yes, I'm aware that one of those sales ended recently), means a potential shortcut to forward cabins on long-haul flights ex-US, which is a big weakness of the NZ program (redemption on -any- other carriers).

So...could AS be right for me? Should I transfer some or all of my domestic spend from UA to AS? When it comes time to redeem on other carriers that AS has agreements with, are there restrictions about where miles came from and how long they last? Are there restrictions about using AS miles to book awards tickets for companions traveling with me? etc etc

Thanks for any and all thoughts.

macfadsj

Alaska has a drop dead fabulous program: to answer your questions, Alaska miles expire 24 months after last activity, so given your flight patterns expiration should not be an issue. If you earn your miles legitimately (without getting the co branded credit card over and over) you will not have any restrictions about how you use them either for someone you know traveling by themselves or with you as a companion.

Award availability on most of the Alaska partners long haul J and F cabins is quite good, especially in cases where you can plan up to a year in advance, or have the flexibility to take advantage of seats the partners add in the week prior to departure.

And, Alaska should match your elite status with Air NZ. Send them copies of your elite card , mileage statement showing elite status, and driver's license or passport ID to [email protected] and then enjoy the various benefits of MVP or higher elite status 2-4 weeks later.

Fast6

Thank you so much for your helpful reply, especially the status match tip.

A point of clarification re: status match - if I do that now, will it only be good until the end of the year, or will it carry through 2016?

Cheers!

missamo80

It will be good through 2016. See this post in the status match thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25506684-post421.html.

Neil

Kieron

Please note the wiki post at the top of that same thread - Air New Zealand is not one of the airlines that they will match to, at least as of a year ago.

Mwenenzi

With AS awards you need to be aware of the route & airline limitations.
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx
AA is another option, even if you fly AS (is a ff partner)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

Fast6

Thanks for that. However...

...dang it. I wonder if anyone's had success? Can't hurt to ask, right? Thank you for pointing that out.


Cheers for that. AS award route and airline limitations are a fairly OK match for my crystal ball. Won't win 'em all but I think my expectations would be set correctly.

Yep, was considering AA until the news this week about the changes to their FF program; makes me a lot less interested in them.

NoStressHere

I would go online and "attempt" to book some of the flights you might book to get an idea of where you can fly, and availability. Nothing is for sure, but at least you have a vague idea.

Fast6

Thanks for that.

Anyone have any other thoughts? Or experience with an AirNZ status match?