jackp

Should I just call United..tell them I want a F award to New Zealand or....do you suggest certain airlines, flights, etc? I will be leaving from IAD and I can go when an award ticket is available (nice to be retired).

Thanks!

wrenz

You will need to contact UA to redeem your award if using M+ miles. There is no F service from USA to NZ on any carrier. You could fly to Sydney in F then business across the Tasman.

Alternatively save some miles & time and fly NZ Business from LAX or SFO. It is quite good with wonderful service - it's been the best sleep on a plane I have had.

swdke

How difficult is it to obtain a NZ Business award seat from LAX/SFO to AKL using MP miles? Thanks

chowder

if you don't feel like being at the mercy of the agent(s) you happen to speak to, due diligence on the star-alliance website or ana/air-canada websites will let you check route possibilities and availability. i just plugged in lax-akl for giggles and saw Y and J availability.

Happy

Y seats are available 80% of the days I checked, March 1 to April 30. SFO to AKL.

My guess is the 777 has better seatings than the retro-fitted 747 (from LAX)

WindFlyer

What do you mean by better 'seatings'? More award seats, or better seats?

TOMSURFER

Very difficult/impossible to get premium seats from US to NZ I suspect.
BUT from the end of October this year Air NZ have a new service from LHR to AKL via HKG (to avoid the LAX homeland security).

I have managed to book two business seats using MP miles (240,000 miles in total) from LHR to CHC on SQ and returning from AKL to LHR on NZ. (ANA award checker shows that all NZ flights had at least 2 business seats available for awards from LHR to AKL via HKG. The OP might therefore want to consider flying via London if he/she has plenty of miles and time !!

wrenz

I was able to book two Business seats AKL-LAX-HNL-AKL using M+ miles for dates close to my ideal dates about 7 months in advance. With winter coming, we're ready for some island time in a couple of weeks.

Reason077

It is quite possible to find C *A Award seats on Air NZ provided you are not travelling during peak times (particularly Jan/Feb), and are willing to be flexible with your dates. Also, NZ tend not to make a lot of seats available until 2-3 months before the flight date, so looking too far ahead may not get results.

Alan6557

I've spent several hours looking for a 2 Saver Business Class Mileage Plus awards from LAX to New Zealand, departing anytime around Dec 14-25, 2018. The only availability I've found is YVR-TPE; TPE-BKK; BKK-SYD. This will require a separate re-positioning flight LAX-YVR and SYD-AKL. I don't have a problem with paying for re-positioning flights, but this itinerary is very roundabout totaling about 48 hours travel time. I'm fine with economy seats for short legs, but really want business class for the longer legs. We don't mind layovers, but would prefer to maximize our time in New Zealand. We will not have checked luggage, so we can be quicker getting connecting flights that are on a separate ticket (perhaps not a great idea?) I also have plenty of American Airlines miles.

Any suggestions on what else I should consider?

malmostoso

I'm afraid you should consider paying for the tickets! Seriously, awards to NZ are very hard to come by. Keep on looking from NRT, PVG, BKK as something might pop up. You can position there directly from LAX.

Mwenenzi

You have bounced a very thread (2006) that has no relevance to the current situation. This is discouraged by FT rules.

Suggestion: use money, as above.
Air NZ are well known for not releasing awards. Air NZ freq flyers can use NZ airpoints in lieu of cash.

For those dates you will be lucky to find any award seats North America NZ/Australia. The peak of peak time. Airlines know they can sell for very good money every seat on the aircraft.

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). No flights 5 August 2017 and 5 October 2017
• Air New Zealand NZ (LAX SFO 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 (via SYD BNE & MEL) [OneWorld Alliance] (AS partner)
• United UA (SFO - AKL) No flights 18 April 2017 and 30 October 2017
• Virgin Australia VA (via BNE, MEL & SYD) (DL partner)

And others via Australia, Asia & Middle East

mahasamatman

No need to stick with one airline, as long as you stay within the alliance.

And I'm not sure why last year's availability is important.

Kacee

Search for saver award availability every day first thing in the morning. If you don't have access to XN inventory (Chase card or Premier status) search from both LAX and SFO.