Looking to fly to Auckland from US West Coast
 

I've got 320,000 miles on my AMEX Mebership Rewards account but cannot seem to find which airline might be best to use (i.e. partner with AMEX Asia Miles, KrisFlyer, Delta, Air Canada, BA).
Seems the easiest flight is LAX direct to AKL, but that is with New Zealand Air and I do not know how to use points from the other carriers (if I transfer them in) for the purchase.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,

Questions/threads about award flights USA-NZ/Australia are common. Business class awards are hard to get.
The "best" is the ffp/airline that has availability close to the date you want to fly.
What ff miles/status do you have?
When do you want to travel?

Very general guide-->https://www.awardhacker.com/#f=SFO&f...=1&c=y&s=1&p=0
Air NZ (Star Alliance, so UA & AC partner) are know for not (~few/nil) offering awards to ff partners

Amex MR Transfer Membership Rewards points to which airline or hotel program?

Airlines that fly USA/Canada to/from New Zealand are (not from all airports to all airports)

• American Airlines AA (LAX - AKL) [Oneworld Alliance] (AS partner). Suspended April through October for 2018.
• Air Canada AC (YVR – AKL)(seasonable from 12 Dec 2019 to end March 2020) [Star Alliance]
• Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO ORD IAH YVR - AKL) [Star Alliance]
• Air Tahiti Nui TN (LAX - AKL via Tahiti) (AA & DL partner)
• Fiji Airways FJ (LAX SFO HNL - AKL WLG CHC via Fiji) (QF AA & AS partner)
• Hawaiian HA (HNL - AKL)(AA & VA partner)
• Qantas QF (LAX SFO DFW JFK HNL YVR* via SYD BNE & MEL) [Oneworld Alliance] (AS partner) {* seasonal}
• United UA (SFO - AKL) [Star Alliance]
• Virgin Australia VA (LAX via BNE, MEL & SYD) (DL partner)
• And others via Australia, Asia & Middle East

An award via Australia or to Australia and then a cash paid flight (~3:30hr) BNE/SYD/MEL-AKL is another option. AA, UA, QF, JQ, VA, DL, HA, FJ & AC fly USA/Canada to Australia

Edit. OP's other [old] threads on this topic. Did you do that trip?

• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...-coast-us.html
• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...ast-us-nz.html
• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sing...-coast-nz.html

3 business class awards on 1 flight will be hard/very hard/extremely hard/impossible. Need to be flexible with dates & routes

If you are considering using Aeroplan for the redemption, you might find this blog post helpful:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/taxes...roplan-awards/

Caution: Do not transfer MR points to Aeroplan (or any other FFP) unless and until you have confirmed that the flight you want is available for mileage redemption. Reportedly, an Aeroplan agent will put an award on hold while you are on the line while you transfer MR points into an Aeroplan account. (You would need to have opened an Aeroplan account and linked it to your MR account before calling Aeroplan.)

OK, we do not have any status on any mileage plans (do not fly enough).
But...your AwardHacker site is the AWESOME...did not even know it existed. That in itself is worth dinner and a beer if you're ever in San Diego.
Cheers:)

Awardhacker site is nothing to do with me. Just use it
AwardHacker: a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles --> Awardhacker.com

I noticed that Asia Miles and KrisFlyer are MR partners...and Asia Miles is a Cathay Pacific FF plan, and Air New Zealand is a partner. How do I get miles from AMEX MR to Asia Miles to be able to book an Air NZ flight? This is where I get lost. I understand how I can transfer miles into Asia Miles and use it on Cathay, but not on how to use them for their partner, Air NZ.
Again, your patience and help are always appreciated.
Cheers,

Forget about using Air NZ for an award flight. They offer nil/very few awards to any other ffp. You may find 1 a few weeks before.
3 years ago I got a business class award flight AKL-SFO on Air NZ using UA ff miles ~3 weeks before. But that was very unusual.
CX & NZ codeshare AKL-HKG flights. Are not full frequent flyer partners, just co-operate on that 1 route.

Edit. AsiaMiles - AirNZ needs a detailed check
https://www.asiamiles.com/en/earn-mi...zealand#redeem
Selecting LAX-AKL Air NZ is not on the drop down list

Are you wanting 3 business class award seats? Or 1 economy? Makes a big difference.

If you have miles in Asia Miles, you simply redeem those miles on either Cathay, or any of Cathay's airline partners. Whether you can redeem Asia Miles for Air New Zealand award flights directly on the Asia Miles website, or whether a call to Asia Miles is required, is something I do not know.

Does Asia miles offer cheaper redemptions than Aeroplan for a U.S.-New Zealand award on Air New Zealand? Be sure to consider not only the number of miles required, but also carrier surcharges, if any.

Either 3 premium economy or 3 business class award seats

For non-Alliance partners I believe you have to call CX, they can't be booked online....AFAIK.
Having said THAT....I wouldn't set your heart on Premium award seats on NZ, they are sort of the Unicorns of transpacific award flights....

3 in Business? No.

I tried on Aeroplan, but no availability in any class:(

3 business/premium economy class awards on 1 flight will be hard/very hard/extremely hard/impossible. Need to be very flexible with dates & routes. May need to split your party to 1+2 or 1+1+1 . And be prepared to fly on different days/routes/airlines/ffp. Or mixture of cash & awards.

USA-Aust/NZ premium awards have a reputation of being one of the hardest to get.
USA - BNE may have more availability than others. Recently Fiji airlines have had some availability.