Air NZ airpoints

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surfisup1000

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Topic # 105155 28-Jun-2012 09:39
I've just noticed that Air NZ have slashed the airpoints you earn -- 2 years ago I earned 230 airpoints to the US. But, I'm only earning 60 airpoints for my next trip (fare price about the same). It is quite a big drop, I'd certainly have reconsidered flying Air NZ had I known at the time. Looks like my next trip to Christchurch will not be airpoints after all.

freitasm

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Reply # 647439 28-Jun-2012 09:54
Yep... Air Nz is giving less and less. I was Gold Elite for a couple of years, then Gold, now Silver - not travelling less, just earning less points. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

keewee01

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Reply # 647469 28-Jun-2012 10:27
They're not the only ones - we're heading to the US later in the year on Qantas so I checked out their equivalent. It isn't even worth paying the joining fee for what we'd get back! There is almost no point to it.

gmball

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Reply # 647475 28-Jun-2012 10:34
Yes fare is the same, price of fuel has tripled, and unfortunately airlines are in business to make money. Unfortunately for most though, a large loss is more common than a profit.

Talkiet

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Reply # 647496 28-Jun-2012 11:01
I have noticed this too... It's a shame but it's economic reality. They have also done a lot of cost cutting in the Koru lounges over the last 18 months - They are still a better place to wait for a flight than the departure lounge, but the gap is closing. Cheers - N There are interesting hacks you can use (like signing up for Turkish airways or something - any of the Star Alliance airlines) and cashing in your points form AirNZ on their loyalty programs. This is generally only worth it if you want to get to silver or gold more easily... I think you can transfer points back to AirNZ as well but not sure on that. There are still some airlines that offer better rates than AirNZ but they are all getting worse.

Kyanar

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Reply # 647515 28-Jun-2012 11:19
It's possibly partly to do with the ability to buy points at a 1:1 rate against NZD, devaluing them something fierce? At least, that's the impression I get reading complaints about the state of the program on sites like FlyerTalk.

edge

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Reply # 647523 28-Jun-2012 11:27
Hard to disagree that it is just an economic reality. Just on 20 years of Koru membership now and, like Mauricio, I have gone the Gold Elite --> Gold --> Silver route!! Now I can earn almost as many airpoints from my monthly credit card spend as I can from the cheapest economy one-way flight to London!! Definitely a bit different from the "good old days". But I just treat them as a bonus - certainly don't go out of my way to try and get airpoints dollars. My wife even gets the credit card points now to maintain her silver, as I can do it on flights alone! But the answer is definitely to treat them as a bonus and nothing else. "It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into." — most commonly attributed to Jonathan Swift, author/theologian

bonkiebonks

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Reply # 647528 28-Jun-2012 11:35
How can you slip from Gold Elite -> Gold -> Silver? As far as I aware, only airpoint dollars are affected. Status points awards remain largely the same, so you'd be able to keep your status, no?

freitasm

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Reply # 647529 28-Jun-2012 11:35
Status points have been slashed too in the last three years. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

edge

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Reply # 647593 28-Jun-2012 13:28
bonkiebonks: How can you slip from Gold Elite -> Gold -> Silver? As far as I aware, only airpoint dollars are affected. Status points awards remain largely the same, so you'd be able to keep your status, no? As per Mauricio's comment. Also - I must admit I travel slightly less now, but much is made up by the reduction in status points that MF notes. If you get grabaseats for instance, they earn no points, and smart saver earn considerably less than fully flexi. All leads to much slower accumulation for most of us. This is offset to some degree however by the fact that other spend (e.g. credit card) also earns some status points. As a general rule, at least 50% of status points must be earned from flights to retain/upgrade status level - i.e. you can't get silver by obtaining 450 status points from a massive credit card spend - at least 225 have to come from flights. "It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into." — most commonly attributed to Jonathan Swift, author/theologian

Satch

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Reply # 648150 29-Jun-2012 12:40
freitasm: Yep... Air Nz is giving less and less. I was Gold Elite for a couple of years, then Gold, now Silver - not travelling less, just earning less points. It was always too easy to earn those levels in the old days. A Gold Elite status should be reserved for only those who are travelling long distance in the forward cabins all the time. A few years ago I hit Gold FF status with Qantas. That was after one business class work trip from Auckland through to Pennsylvania, and then back to Auckland with a stop in Melbourne. Sure I enjoyed the free lounge access for the next 18 months, but I was hardly a top tier traveller. More recently I hit Silver with AirNZ with a return business class work trip to Chicago. Again hardly a regular traveller based on that one trip alone. I do a bit of travel around the place, most often national flights. But I used to go with the best deal until Jetstar screwed me around royally last trip. But not enough to break into any new membership tiers and quite rightly. Most of my points come from my credit card spend. I went return to Vegas late last year on Qantas points, and will be going with my girlfriend to the West Coast of the US in September - both finance by points. I've since switched my credit card over to an Air NZ points scheme as Qantas points are hard to use in NZ now (unless you don't mind stopovers).