Have the rules for spending Airpoints Dollars on flights changed?

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kryptonjohn

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#229190 12-Feb-2018 09:11

Hi all,

I've noticed that any flight booked through the AirNZ website or app will allow payment with Airpoints dollars only if the flight is all on AirNZ operated aircraft.

If, for example, the flight is AKL to Miami via Houston and 2nd leg on a United operated flight, that the pay by Airpoints option disappears. I thought that Airpoints dollars could also be spent on partner airline operated/AirNZ ticketed flights booked through the app?

So... another option is to book an award flight through a Star Alliance partner for that second leg, with the inconvenience of having to re-check baggage? Ok, so looking at this page:

https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/airline-partner-reward-chart

Huh? An Auckland->"North America" flight is 750 airpoints dollars? That's quite a bit cheaper than Air New Zealand... especially if the flight is to Miami for example. So maybe better to just get a United ticketed Star Alliance award flight the whole way?

As this particular trip isn't until April 2019 I can't book it yet so am a bit ahead of myself!

Cheers

JohnO

sbiddle

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#1955599 12-Feb-2018 11:02

The rules haven't changed. You've always only been able to use APD on flights that are NZ metal with a NZ flight number. The exceptions are the SQ (only to SIN), CX (only to HKG), VA (where the flight is TT) and UA (only to SFO) joint ventures.

You also misunderstand how the *A award table works - this won't get you a flight to Miami for $750, it would only get you AKL to IAH. You'll also need to fight for the *A award seats of which Air NZ pretty much have zero availability of as they're incredibly stingy when it comes to allocating these particularly on North American routes. You might get lucky if you're checking a year out and flexible with dates (over the course of a few weeks) and only want economy. A booking fee and taxes (around $120 to IAH from memory) also applies on top of this so the actual cost isn't any cheaper than IAH retails for normally on special.

Most people only use *A award seats for flying at the front of the plane as that's where the big savings are and NZ simply allocate very few seats as they're full of their own paying customers.

kryptonjohn

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#1955622 12-Feb-2018 11:30

sbiddle:

The rules haven't changed. You've always only been able to use APD on flights that are NZ metal with a NZ flight number. The exceptions are the SQ (only to SIN), CX (only to HKG), VA (where the flight is TT) and UA (only to SFO) joint ventures.

You also misunderstand how the *A award table works - this won't get you a flight to Miami for $750, it would only get you AKL to IAH. You'll also need to fight for the *A award seats of which Air NZ pretty much have zero availability of as they're incredibly stingy when it comes to allocating these particularly on North American routes. You might get lucky if you're checking a year out and flexible with dates (over the course of a few weeks) and only want economy. A booking fee and taxes (around $120 to IAH from memory) also applies on top of this so the actual cost isn't any cheaper than IAH retails for normally on special.

Most people only use *A award seats for flying at the front of the plane as that's where the big savings are and NZ simply allocate very few seats as they're full of their own paying customers.

Hmm, thanks. I kinda expected that but hoped not!

Don't mind booking a year out (or 332 days or whatever the limit is) but not flexible though. $750 + taxes is a still good deal if flying "free" on points. The cheap AirNZ tickets are $1000.

sbiddle

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#1955646 12-Feb-2018 12:10

You'll have a booking fee on top of that as well which from memory is around $100. Suddenly the price is now close to $1000 plus you'll also be dealing with very limited availability.

Houston drops to about $849 every time there is a US sale. You'd be better off using the APD for one of these fares than a *A award booking.

kryptonjohn

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#1955700 12-Feb-2018 13:42

Yep definitely. Had a chat with friend of a friend at AirNZ and she sorta confirmed it, although in this case it is United being stingy with their partner flights that is the main issue. She did think that when the flights opened up there might be a few initial seats allocated so we set a date to take a look on the day.

The other drawback is they will be separate flights, so have to allow for retrieving bags and checking in again.