I'm a first-time poster, but have learned so much from this site, for which I thank you all. My husband & I want to take our first trip to New Zealand in Feb or Mar of 2006. We will have enough AA miles to redeem for business class tickets on Qantas, although we hate to fly that far and get no mileage credit. We really don't want to fly United to Sydney (although we could probably accumulate enough points to upgrade a coach ticket by then). I don't know what other options we would have, other than to either sit in coach for a very long flight, which I would have trouble with, or buy business class tickets, which are very expensive. Do any of you have any suggestions? Can a flight in coach from the west coast to New Zealand be a pleasant experience? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

In my experience it is fairly unusual to have a great experience travelling across the pacific in coach. It is fairly rough, but still it can be done - thousands do it every week. If you can sleep on planes it helps. I haven't flown Qantas to NZ but I know that the United flights are very packed. I would assume the Qantas ones are too.

I suppose it all depends on how you look at things. If you think of it as only being miserable for 12 hours (twice) and otherwise having a wonderful trip then I'd just go in coach. If you are happy to wait longer to build up the miles then that is a fine option too. You will definitely be more comfortable and have a more pleasant start to your vacation, but at the end of the day, unless you have any sort of condition or problem that makes uncomfortable seating extra difficult for you, you will survive!

In any case I would very much recommend visiting NZ in Feb or March as you said. This is the best time to visit as the temps are very nice. Unfortunately most Americans tend to visit during the summer here (school holidays) and end up down under when the weather is quite cold.

Best of luck deciding anyhow - you'll have a wonderful time no matter how you get there!

We booked flights to NZ using Alaska FF miles on Qantas over a month ago for next April (2005). We wanted March, but no seats were left in Business class. As you plan your trip, get ready to book as soon as the window opens, I think it's 330 days out, if you want to get your preferred dates.

I would under no circumstance fly coach on United to Australia. They divide their economy section into "economy plus" and regular ecomony. The economy plus is great, but it seems that the extra space comes from further squeezing the regular coach seats together. Unless you have elite status with them (or pay for an expensive ticket), you are stuck in the regular coach seats which is MUCH worse than other airlines coach seats in terms of space, and you will have a miserable 12 hours if the flight is at all full.

I unfortunately had to take United to Australia last year in a regular coach seat. I was originally booked a business class award ticket (using Air New Zealand) but due to mechanical problems with the originating United flight, and to United's refusal to put me on another airlines flight (because I was travelling on a free ticket) I missed my connection. The only option was to take a seat in the horrible coach section on the United flight to Sydney and then connect to Auckland, or to wait for 24 hours for the next ANZ flight. Needless to say, I have not purchased another United ticket since!

On a more positive note, New Zealand is beautiful and definitely worth the trip. I found the best source for inexpensive 3*/4* hotel bookings for New Zealand was www.ratestogo.com (though since they are a last minute reservation site, you can only book 20 days in advance). For the shoulder season (November) they had some great rates, ie the Heritage Auckland or the Heritage Queenstown for NZ130 (or about $85 US).

Anything more than two hours in coach on ANY airline is too long! My wife and I cashed in miles for business class tickets on Qantas to Aukland last April, and it was a terrific experience. Qantas really treated us (and everyone else in the cabin) quite well. Food was good, service was good, and we were comfortable.

As for New Zealand, we had an amazing trip. We spent almost three weeks in the North Island alone. A wonderful country full of really terrific people. We're planning a return trip in 2006 to visit the South Island and spend a little more time in the North Island.

Have a great trip!

Welcome to FT lolosmama

NZ economy class has 34" pitch on the 747. These are the nonstop flights from LAX and SFO to AKL (and starting Nov LAX to CHC too). There are also flights using 767 via the pacific islands (makes for a nice free stopover) - pitch in economy is 32". Unfortunately you cant use AA miles on NZ (but United miles accepted!).

For more details I would take a look at the Qantas and Air NZ forums. Lots of friendly and knowledgable folk ready to help.

The best weather is Feb/Mar, so thats a great time to visit. A bonus is school is back so not so much pressure on accom etc. However it is still fairly busy period with lots of foreign tourists, so I would look to book flight awards as early as possible.

My wife and I flew MEL - LAX in 2000 on AirNZ in economy ($A999 fares!) and found the trip quite comfortable and the service excellent. I highly recommend AirNZ for anyone contemplating flying across the pacific.

cheers Peter

I note too that if you have United miles, you can use them on AirNZ (and thus avoid having to fly United to Australia and then double back). That's what I'm doing next January.

I'm glad I caught this thread because I am planning to go to NZ around November, 2005, but I am planning now.

I will be using United FF miles to upgrade a Air New Zealand ticket SFO-AKL from coach to business. I will have to buy the ticket, but at least I am re-earning the miles flown (13,000).

It's my understanding that Australia and New Zealand are popular redemption destinations for miles since they are farther away than Europe. I hope that scoring an upgrade on AirNZ with United miles won't be a problem then...all suggestions are welcome!

Also, by that point, I will be Premier Executive with United, so I will have status on StarAlliance...any chances of status upgrades or is it strictly miles to upgrade on these desirable routes?
Thanks in advance!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you cannot use UA miles to upgrade NZ. Check out this thread in the Star Alliance forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329589

United miles can only be used for award on NZ, not upgrade. United upgrade vouchers do not work on NZ.

Thanks to everyone for all the input. I guess we'll use American miles for business class tickets, unless something changes between now and 330 days before our flight. Maybe by then things will change & we'll be able to buy coach seats on Qantas & use American miles to upgrade. The other option I've been toying with is something I read about recently, maybe here at FT, regarding using west coast consolidators who offer cheap premium cabin fares, usually on 2nd tier Asian carriers, although somehow that doesn't sound like such a great idea.

Those rates were available on the Heritage website, tha "mother" website had way better rates for suites. The Queenstown rooms had no view, so finding a local serviced flat with view is way worthier.

People die to travel on the SQ executive economy LA-Sg. I understand there are no normal economy seats on the plane. Connecting to "normal" economy to NZ can give you a cheaper and a bit comfortable journey that earns airmiles as well.

One really cheap site for Hotel accommodation I have found is

http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com

Another good one is

http://www.wotif.com

Check these out - its worth the effort.

cheers Peter

I think the consolidator tickets in bc are still 2-3 grand minimum.

Personally, this is a no brainer to use miles to get into bc -- its trips like this why I save miles in the first place -- although I admire your reluctance to part with miles.