[migratory birds]

Interested in hearing about people's experiences with Air NZ's mileage programme...

Has it been worth the $50 (per family member - INCLUDING EACH CHILD!) enrolment fee?

Is the number of miles one needs to rack up in order to reap the benefits (get a free ticket) reasonable or is it a number so high that only those who fly frequently (i.e. for business on a weekly or monthly basis) can expect to get anything out of it?

Has it been easy enough to get a seat on your desired flight when you did "cash in" on the miles? Or did you find that options for those flying on frequent flyer miles were just too limited that you ended up buying another ticket to fly according to what worked best with your schedule?

For those flying with kids, has it been smooth when you, the person who ultimately paid for the child's ticket(s) to use compile children's miles to get one ticket out of it? Or was it far more hassle than you would've expected? (They tell me there's a way that one person's accrued miles (in my case the child's) can be "gifted" to another person's account - but in practise has this gone thru without a hitch for those of you who've tried to compile miles within a family to get a ticket?

[Mickstim]

We belong to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club (free) and miles are earnable and redeemable on Air NZ. Maybe worth looking into?

[Jo Jo]

I'm with Virgin flying club, too. When I first looked into frequent flyer programmes it looked easier to get points with Virgin than with Air NZ, though I think Air NZ changed their rules this year so that more flights qualified for miles than before. (I was looking into this about a year ago). I recently flew from Sydney to Auckland on Air NZ and the flight I booked didn't qualify for miles with Air NZ's programme, but it did with Virgin's.

[Hayden1002]

I joined Air NZ's club as I was flying London - Auckland - London.
Some tickets don't qualify for points/all the points whereas others do.
Part of my flight got me max points for that bit and other bits got me reduced points.
Won't know if its worth joining until we (family) fly out in 18 months time and add those points to our already got points. Then we can see if we qualify for anything.
I think if you get "deals", including Air NZ's deals, then you my find you are ineligable for points or for reduced points.
Hope this helps (and you can understand what I've written)

[migratory birds]

We did fly US>NZ>US on a greatly reduced fare recently - good to know that the flight may not count for points. And like most people I tend to look around or wait for the best fares so it may not be worth joining if reduced fares don't count.

[KerryS]

I fly with AirNZ a lot for work, and these flights accumulate quite a lot of points. I find it only tends to be the SuperSaver priced flights that are ineligible.
I've been to the US a few times, and have always had points when flying there.

[migratory birds]

KerryS,

Has it been difficult to redeem points? Are the "rewards" (frequent flyer ticket) attainable or does it seem like a pie in the sky as far a numbers of points you need to redeem?

[kanatakiwi]

I belong to both Air NZ airpoints and Air Canada Aeroplan. I found that it takes longer to accrue enough points with airpoints, as when claiming a reward it is one point for each dollar cost of the plane ticket. (a $2000 ticket to USA return for intance, would need 2000 airpoints. ) We recently flew "round the world "and only got 450 airpoints for that--29,000 miles, just to give you some idea how long it takes to get 2000 airpoints.) So for me its much easier to get to the point where I can redeem a free award ticket on Air Canada.... on Air Canada 75,000 points would give me a free return flight to NZ from Canada, and I would have got that pretty quickly because there are so many other things that you can earn points with besides flights.

BUT,.... and this is important to me...

To get an upgrade on an air NZ flight you have to have Airpoint status. I could have 100,000 points on air Canada plan but it wouldnt get me upgraded to biz class on an Air NZ flght. And as its Air NZ that flies those long haul flights over the pacific when you would really really love to be upgraded to one of those biz class beds, it makes it worthwhile to be with NZ airpoints. I now have silver status with them and am entitled to a free upgrade and I am looking forward to it.:D

for what its worth, I have heard redeeming points for flights on Air NZ is pretty hassle free.

[KerryS]

KerryS,

Has it been difficult to redeem points? Are the "rewards" (frequent flyer ticket) attainable or does it seem like a pie in the sky as far a numbers of points you need to redeem?


No, you gain airpoints dollars for each flight - for example, a flight from Auckland to Sydney is worth $30. You can save these up until you have enough for a flight, then whenever you want to book a flight can do so using them. There aren't a restricted number of seats or anything - as long as you have enough airpoints dollars you can use them on any flight you like, and the price of the flight is the number of dollars you redeem.
You can book online; there is an option on the airnz website when booking to pay with points. You can also buy companion tickets as well.

As KanataKiwi said - you get status being with AirNZ scheme, which means you can get upgraded on flights, use the Koru lounge etc. It doesn't take long to get to SIlver/Gold status. If you belong to other schemes you won't get these additional benefits.
Also, I only ever paid the joining fee once. If you use AirNZ flights then the annual fee is waived.

[urban78]

If you want to make it easier, sign up for Airpoints (Air NZ FF scheme) and get a BNZ Global Plus credit card.

http://www.globalplus.co.nz/

You still have to pay the joining fee but with that kind of card you rack up points when using it. So if you pay your flights with the card you get points and if you end up travelling on a qualifying flight, you also get the points ;) Bearing in mind, as Kerry mentioned, that if you don't fly at least once a year with Air NZ, you have to pay an annual account fee...which you don't pay if you have a Global Plus card as you already pay an annual fee for the card.

For what it's worth, it's easier to use the points on Air NZ cos you can use them on every flight, unlike some other carriers who have a limited number of reward seats on each flights :D

Jen


Interested in hearing about people's experiences with Air NZ's mileage programme...

Has it been worth the $50 (per family member - INCLUDING EACH CHILD!) enrolment fee?

Is the number of miles one needs to rack up in order to reap the benefits (get a free ticket) reasonable or is it a number so high that only those who fly frequently (i.e. for business on a weekly or monthly basis) can expect to get anything out of it?

Has it been easy enough to get a seat on your desired flight when you did "cash in" on the miles? Or did you find that options for those flying on frequent flyer miles were just too limited that you ended up buying another ticket to fly according to what worked best with your schedule?

For those flying with kids, has it been smooth when you, the person who ultimately paid for the child's ticket(s) to use compile children's miles to get one ticket out of it? Or was it far more hassle than you would've expected? (They tell me there's a way that one person's accrued miles (in my case the child's) can be "gifted" to another person's account - but in practise has this gone thru without a hitch for those of you who've tried to compile miles within a family to get a ticket?