Star Alliance: CDG-North America-Auckland-Asia-CDG 2735€ biz
#286
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 956
You can route to AKL non-stop on AC from YVR
.
I booked CDG-YVR (stop 6 weeks), YVR-AKL (stop 6 weeks), AKL-YVR (stop 3 months), YVR-CDG for €4500, basically creating, from our home in YVR, a long vacation in New Zealand as well as a return to Europe next Spring, with positioning flights from an already planned November vacation where I currently am. So not a MR, just a great way to travel up front to places we wanted to go to anyway.
The YVR-AKL-YVR legs are on AC non-stop 789's. Their business cabin is excellent. I've also flown that route on ANZ, and although agree the layout is weird, I found the service better than AC and was equally satisfied, so I wouldn't rule it out.
.
I booked CDG-YVR (stop 6 weeks), YVR-AKL (stop 6 weeks), AKL-YVR (stop 3 months), YVR-CDG for €4500, basically creating, from our home in YVR, a long vacation in New Zealand as well as a return to Europe next Spring, with positioning flights from an already planned November vacation where I currently am. So not a MR, just a great way to travel up front to places we wanted to go to anyway.
The YVR-AKL-YVR legs are on AC non-stop 789's. Their business cabin is excellent. I've also flown that route on ANZ, and although agree the layout is weird, I found the service better than AC and was equally satisfied, so I wouldn't rule it out.
Last edited by tomvancouver; Nov 17, 2022 at 9:28 am
#288
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 956
Up-thread it was noted that around Labour day some, but not all, of these deals stopped. Sorry, I haven't tried searching again recently, but when I last looked (in October) for my booked dates (starting November) the price had gone up a bit. It may have since gone, I guess.
#289
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 956
I played around with this a bit, for March in New Zealand with AC non-stop for the YVR-AKL-YVR legs and maybe this would work? €5,275
#290
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 310
I played around with this a bit, for March in New Zealand with AC non-stop for the YVR-AKL-YVR legs and maybe this would work? €5,275
NZ for the TPAC legs is 2917.39EUR:
You should be able to find dates that allow you to fly AC on the TPAC legs, but I didn't specifically look for them because I tried to match your dates as closely as I could.
#291
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 956
I'm not sure if you need to depart from Madrid, but a departure from MXP would save you a considerable amount of money.
NZ for the TPAC legs is 2917.39EUR:
You should be able to find dates that allow you to fly AC on the TPAC legs, but I didn't specifically look for them because I tried to match your dates as closely as I could.
NZ for the TPAC legs is 2917.39EUR:
You should be able to find dates that allow you to fly AC on the TPAC legs, but I didn't specifically look for them because I tried to match your dates as closely as I could.
My dates in this example were arbitrarily based on 747jetter's question up-thread. I'll leave them to search further for specific dates suitable, and would be interested to hear if it works out OK.
#292
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Currently in Bloomington, IN, but Normally NYC, CDG, and even POZ or wherever FT takes me.
Programs: Northwest Airlines. MTA pay-per-ride Metrocard; zero-balance Oyster card.
Posts: 14,015
I keep thinking about this fare daily, and daily the fare buckets around my dates are filling up. It would probably be best to s*** or get off the pot, but it’s still hard to plan so far in advance right now (a June/July). All I have thus far are a pair of saver tix to MXP on UA, and that took two hours on the phone with an extremely helpful UA agent because finding saver awards to Europe in summer is like winning the Powerball. Not bloody likely.
Is it wrong to not want to fly paid UA J and instead opting for LH or LH instead?
I haven’t flown LH J in ages, for example, but I already know that it’s bound to be better than whatever UA offers up-front, for example. Or would I be wrong to think so? Is Polaris, or whatever, up to par with foreign flag carriers’ pointy end product nowadays?
Sorry for the dumb questions, but I haven’t been anywhere special since way before COVID, so even though I have way over 1 million butt-in-seat miles, ten thousand IND-EWR legs hardly constitutes “real” flying.
Is it wrong to not want to fly paid UA J and instead opting for LH or LH instead?
I haven’t flown LH J in ages, for example, but I already know that it’s bound to be better than whatever UA offers up-front, for example. Or would I be wrong to think so? Is Polaris, or whatever, up to par with foreign flag carriers’ pointy end product nowadays?
Sorry for the dumb questions, but I haven’t been anywhere special since way before COVID, so even though I have way over 1 million butt-in-seat miles, ten thousand IND-EWR legs hardly constitutes “real” flying.
Last edited by notsosmart; Nov 19, 2022 at 8:19 am
#293
Thank you so much for including me in your first ever FT post!!!
#294
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 9
LX
I keep thinking about this fare daily, and daily the fare buckets around my dates are filling up. It would probably be best to s*** or get off the pot, but it’s still hard to plan so far in advance right now (a June/July). All I have thus far are a pair of saver tix to MXP on UA, and that took two hours on the phone with an extremely helpful UA agent because finding saver awards to Europe in summer is like winning the Powerball. Not bloody likely.
Is it wrong to not want to fly paid UA J and instead opting for LH or LH instead?
I haven’t flown LH J in ages, for example, but I already know that it’s bound to be better than whatever UA offers up-front, for example. Or would I be wrong to think so? Is Polaris, or whatever, up to par with foreign flag carriers’ pointy end product nowadays?
Sorry for the dumb questions, but I haven’t been anywhere special since way before COVID, so even though I have way over 1 million butt-in-seat miles, ten thousand IND-EWR legs hardly constitutes “real” flying.
Is it wrong to not want to fly paid UA J and instead opting for LH or LH instead?
I haven’t flown LH J in ages, for example, but I already know that it’s bound to be better than whatever UA offers up-front, for example. Or would I be wrong to think so? Is Polaris, or whatever, up to par with foreign flag carriers’ pointy end product nowadays?
Sorry for the dumb questions, but I haven’t been anywhere special since way before COVID, so even though I have way over 1 million butt-in-seat miles, ten thousand IND-EWR legs hardly constitutes “real” flying.
#295
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: BAEC, M&M, VA Flying Club
Posts: 124
Ha ha, yes I booked with them. I know my schedule changed 4 months ago but they've only just notified me and told me my only option is to accept the schedule change, no option for refund (which is just pure rubbish) or alternative flights. They have given me until today to respond to them but I'm not even going to pick up the phone as 8-9 months ago I tried to change my itinerary and spent days on the phone with no answer. I'm due to travel 19th Jan CDG-MUC-SFO | HNL-AKL | SYD-HND-FRA-CDG
#296
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 69
Ha ha, yes I booked with them. I know my schedule changed 4 months ago but they've only just notified me and told me my only option is to accept the schedule change, no option for refund (which is just pure rubbish) or alternative flights. They have given me until today to respond to them but I'm not even going to pick up the phone as 8-9 months ago I tried to change my itinerary and spent days on the phone with no answer. I'm due to travel 19th Jan CDG-MUC-SFO | HNL-AKL | SYD-HND-FRA-CDG
#297
Join Date: Oct 2022
Posts: 12
I have managed to book one Ex LIN(Milan)
Jan, LIN-FRA-SEA (LH)
Jan LAX-AKL (NZ)
Feb AKL-ICN (NZ)
----------------
Aug ICN-FRA-MUC-PMO (LH)
All LH booked into P, All NZ booked into J
papa+Juliet combination yields the cheapest fare of EUR2388.
Don;t expect to get any miles out of papa but lucky me based in NZ+Korea these credited to NZ airpoints will give me about NZD600 of airpoints dollars which I can use easily
I managed to book SV's dirt cheap Y $600 R/t for ICN-EUR-ICN flights
SEA-LAX surface sector will be covered by Amtrak's Coast starlight.
It took me about 2 weeks of search to find this itinerary. I wasn't able to find J in SEA-AKL, plus NZ's J in 12hrs+ flights won't be comfortable.
I intentionally chose LIN as first leg as it saves me on tax(not a lot ~EUR20) plus it gives me 2+hrs layover to enjoy a morning beer of two?
And for the last leg of ICN-FRA-MUC-PMO, adding MUC yields ~EUR100 less than ICN-FRA-PMO//ICN-MUC-PMO due to routing rule on PNCIA
I'm sure most of you will know how to search an availability of a specific fare bucket on ITA but will include here for anyone who is struggling.
Search for a "ONEWAY" on a specific ciry pair, (i.e. LAX-AKL)
"Routing Code" O:NZ or C:NZ (O stands for Operating airlines while C specifies marketing airlines) for any NZ operated direct flights between LAX-AKL
"Extension Codes" F bc=j (Only show if J bucket available)
"See calendar of lowest fares"
any dates shown will have at least 1J.
Click on the date you want to double check its fare bucket of J
and you would repeat this through your itinerary.
* NOTE, even if it shows on ITA doesn't mean that it is available. If someone builds itinerary and pulls one out from that bucket, then It won't show till payment deadline. So If you want, try Experflyer to search for a seat availability. and go for 2+ seats to be safe.
Jan, LIN-FRA-SEA (LH)
Jan LAX-AKL (NZ)
Feb AKL-ICN (NZ)
----------------
Aug ICN-FRA-MUC-PMO (LH)
All LH booked into P, All NZ booked into J
papa+Juliet combination yields the cheapest fare of EUR2388.
Don;t expect to get any miles out of papa but lucky me based in NZ+Korea these credited to NZ airpoints will give me about NZD600 of airpoints dollars which I can use easily
I managed to book SV's dirt cheap Y $600 R/t for ICN-EUR-ICN flights
SEA-LAX surface sector will be covered by Amtrak's Coast starlight.
It took me about 2 weeks of search to find this itinerary. I wasn't able to find J in SEA-AKL, plus NZ's J in 12hrs+ flights won't be comfortable.
I intentionally chose LIN as first leg as it saves me on tax(not a lot ~EUR20) plus it gives me 2+hrs layover to enjoy a morning beer of two?
And for the last leg of ICN-FRA-MUC-PMO, adding MUC yields ~EUR100 less than ICN-FRA-PMO//ICN-MUC-PMO due to routing rule on PNCIA
I'm sure most of you will know how to search an availability of a specific fare bucket on ITA but will include here for anyone who is struggling.
Search for a "ONEWAY" on a specific ciry pair, (i.e. LAX-AKL)
"Routing Code" O:NZ or C:NZ (O stands for Operating airlines while C specifies marketing airlines) for any NZ operated direct flights between LAX-AKL
"Extension Codes" F bc=j (Only show if J bucket available)
"See calendar of lowest fares"
any dates shown will have at least 1J.
Click on the date you want to double check its fare bucket of J
and you would repeat this through your itinerary.
* NOTE, even if it shows on ITA doesn't mean that it is available. If someone builds itinerary and pulls one out from that bucket, then It won't show till payment deadline. So If you want, try Experflyer to search for a seat availability. and go for 2+ seats to be safe.
Last edited by mymoga; Dec 4, 2022 at 5:34 pm Reason: adding images
#298
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: LAS
Programs: UA 1k / Marriott Plat
Posts: 6
Apologies I'm unable to post links or images, but FYI this fare is still trucking and I was finally able to get another to ticket out on Amex portal. Happy to have my 1K spend finally sorted...
12/10 LIN - LAX
12/21 ORD - AKL
12/25 AKL - SIN
9/18 BKK - MXP
TOTAL - $3,603
Guess I'm headed to Milan tomorrow for some x-mas shopping!
12/10 LIN - LAX
12/21 ORD - AKL
12/25 AKL - SIN
9/18 BKK - MXP
TOTAL - $3,603
Guess I'm headed to Milan tomorrow for some x-mas shopping!
#299
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: UK
Programs: BA Silver (temp demotion), *A Silver, HH Gold, IHG Diamond
Posts: 480
I've been lurking on the thread since day one as I'm planning a fall 23 trip to New Zealand ... and very pleased to see that the fare is still alive. I've absolutely noted that it is hard to find and have already spent some hours on Matrix but would appreciate some tips on 'date searching'.
In simple terms, I am looking for a set of flights that roughly meets this routing in October/November 2023. [Here is an example that is close - but is September slightly above budget https://www.google.com/travel/flight...qjb7Kjwckr26V7 ]
Milan - YVR (one week) - AKL (two to three weeks) - TYO (one week) - MIL
I'm looking to get something that falls into the under EUR3k limit (there are two of us) and if that's achievable I'll then look to optimise each leg (eg timings, carrier, stops).
Where I am struggling is the use of Matrix multi-leg tool because really what I want is a calendar view and not have to input set dates for each of the legs. Is there anyway to shorten the laborious change each day process?
In simple terms, I am looking for a set of flights that roughly meets this routing in October/November 2023. [Here is an example that is close - but is September slightly above budget https://www.google.com/travel/flight...qjb7Kjwckr26V7 ]
Milan - YVR (one week) - AKL (two to three weeks) - TYO (one week) - MIL
I'm looking to get something that falls into the under EUR3k limit (there are two of us) and if that's achievable I'll then look to optimise each leg (eg timings, carrier, stops).
Where I am struggling is the use of Matrix multi-leg tool because really what I want is a calendar view and not have to input set dates for each of the legs. Is there anyway to shorten the laborious change each day process?
#300
Join Date: Sep 2022
Location: FCO, SYD
Posts: 198
Must you have the stop-overs in Vancouver and Tokyo? If you're just after New Zealand, you can get FCO-YVR-AKL-FCO that comes in at €2,908, or, with a stop-over in YVR, just over your limit at €3,019.