V-Flyer

Other than spending hours on the phone with Flying Club, does anyone know how you can search for Air New Zealand miles flights?

Tried on their website but couldn't see it.

Thanks.

Apologies that I have stuck this in the wrong section

If you want to use Virgin Flying Club Miles to book an Air NZ flight, you need to telephone the VS flying club number.

VS' website is too archaic to cope with this.

Be forewarned, I've never seen anyone on this website have any success with redeeming on NZ.

clarkeysntfc wrote:If you want to use Virgin Flying Club Miles to book an Air NZ flight, you need to telephone the VS flying club number.

VS' website is too archaic to cope with this.

Be forewarned, I've never seen anyone on this website have any success with redeeming on NZ.

I believe that DragonLady managed it. Took a lot of persistence and flexibility though.

I have seen Air NZ flights available to LAX on http://www.rewardseats.com from time to time y)

Hull wrote:I have seen Air NZ flights available to LAX on http://www.rewardseats.com from time to time y)

Yes but I believe that there is a 'pot' of awards that VS has access to (or not) which is different to the generic reward seats inventory.

tontybear wrote:

clarkeysntfc wrote:If you want to use Virgin Flying Club Miles to book an Air NZ flight, you need to telephone the VS flying club number.

VS' website is too archaic to cope with this.

Be forewarned, I've never seen anyone on this website have any success with redeeming on NZ.

I believe that DragonLady managed it. Took a lot of persistence and flexibility though.

Nope I gave up ! ....I've tried it more than once ( using Premier Team and NZ direct) but no cigar...and I was uber uber flexible ! ....I ended up using VS metal( miles) for one flight and EK First ( revenue) for the other.
The EK ( F) on a 380 in Suite 1A was a horrid journey ... NOT
DL

inkiboo wrote:Other than spending hours on the phone with Flying Club, does anyone know how you can search for Air New Zealand miles flights?

Tried on their website but couldn't see it.

Thanks.

The truth is that ANZ are extremely restrictive with premium reward space, especially between the West Coast and NZ. United's website is a good place to search however, as they show a fair share of availability with *A partners. Other than that, chances are slim. Very slim.

inkiboo wrote:Other than spending hours on the phone with Flying Club, does anyone know how you can search for Air New Zealand miles flights?

Tried on their website but couldn't see it.

Thanks.

Supposedly, if you're wiling to route through Asia, they have much much better availability.

DragonLady wrote:Nope I gave up ! ....I've tried it more than once ( using Premier Team and NZ direct) but no cigar...and I was uber uber flexible ! ....I ended up using VS metal( miles) for one flight and EK First ( revenue) for the other.
The EK ( F) on a 380 in Suite 1A was a horrid journey ... NOT
DL

It must have been awful for you ! ) ) )

DragonLady wrote:Nope I gave up ! ....I've tried it more than once ( using Premier Team and NZ direct) but no cigar...and I was uber uber flexible ! ....I ended up using VS metal( miles) for one flight and EK First ( revenue) for the other.
The EK ( F) on a 380 in Suite 1A was a horrid journey ... NOT
DL

oh poor you lol
me? jealous? noooooooo lol well just a tad lol
anyway back on topic. Reward flights on another airline using VS miles must be really tricky. After all do they really want to give away a seat?

I've been or Air NZ twice with VS miles. Both times were LAX to AKL in Business (=UC) and were great value. The second time was for 2 tickets, traveling with my partner, so in effect, have done it 3 times.

Put a search alert on Expert flyer, that worked for me, although I did hear something recently about the allocation changing to favor ANZ's own flyers over partners.

Good luck

narikin wrote:Put a search alert on Expert flyer, that worked for me, although I did hear something recently about the allocation changing to favor ANZ's own flyers over partners.

Good luck

I believe the fare clas is I for FC miles to be used . Koru members reward bookings come from a separate fare bucket ( ?? X ?| ) which tend to be more plentiful.
DL

We tried and gave up. Needed to put specific requests in for dates individually, await response and if no repeat process with different dates....
Designed to be awkward..

clarkeysntfc wrote:

Hull wrote:I have seen Air NZ flights available to LAX on http://www.rewardseats.com from time to time y)

Yes but I believe that there is a 'pot' of awards that VS has access to (or not) which is different to the generic reward seats inventory.

Correct, a couple of years ago Mrs Scrooge and I were thinking of going to New Zealand, I called Premier and asked for availability of two seats, there were none available with in the 330 day booking window.

As I have said many times, the so called "partner airlines" are great for earning miles on, but trying to spend them is just a waste of time and effort.

Scrooge wrote:Correct, a couple of years ago Mrs Scrooge and I were thinking of going to New Zealand, I called Premier and asked for availability of two seats, there were none available with in the 330 day booking window.

As I have said many times, the so called "partner airlines" are great for earning miles on, but trying to spend them is just a waste of time and effort.

I'm sorry but that is not true. I have personally got seats a number of times on partners. Including 3 seats across 2 occasions on Air New Zealand, Business Class.

Like I said, join Expert Flyer, put an alert for the class and dates (with flexibility) into the system, it will send you an email when something comes up. Move fast to book those. You can put in multiple alerts on multiple dates. (If you even just do the trial subscription, the alerts still come to you after the trial has ended! ) That's how I got mine. and how I'll get them next time.

Where it doesn't work is when you say I want 2 seats on these exact days, with my returns on these exact days, and that's it. You need flexibility, and to be prepared to book 1 way, and wait for the return to come up. Also note that the closer the dates come the more seats they start to drop into the Reward category. Look at BA Business rewards on a popular route months out you'll find little, look for the next 3 days, and there is lots. At a certain point reality sets in and otherwise empty seats are freed up for Reward booking.

It is worth it, as there is none of the Fuel Surcharge nonsense there is flying via London. It is probably the best value redemption out there. LAX to AKL in business was $18 + miles. That's a $5000+ ticket! And a real Reward booking, unlike those on VS themselves, which are really forcing you to pay the equivalent of an Economy ticket in surcharges, and then use your miles for a 'Reward' UC seat, i.e. the most you can get on VS is really a Reward upgrade, not a Reward seat.

I'm in the middle here. Partner airlines work, but not always. As someone who's
- been Suites class with Singapore
- been First class on Malaysian to Australia

Both using virgin points. However ANZ defeated me. Using Expert flyer, I couldn't find any Premier tickets plus or minus a month or so for LHR - AKL

About six months ago, I posted so that V-Flyers could pool experience. For example has anyone redeemed on Air China? Gulf Air? Jet Airways?

Come on, let's share - that's what V-Flyer is all about!

Peter

PeterStansfield wrote:I'm in the middle here. Partner airlines work, but not always. As someone who's
- been Suites class with Singapore
- been First class on Malaysian to Australia

Both using virgin points. However ANZ defeated me. Using Expert flyer, I couldn't find any Premier tickets plus or minus a month or so for LHR - AKL

Maybe there is a difference n routes? I had success going from LAX to Auckland, you are trying to go from LHR to AKL, which can be routed: LHR to LAX/SFO, then on to AKL. so you are overlapping with VS own routes of LHR to LAX or SFO. Maybe there is some blocking of reward booking with partners when there are VS flights on exact same routes, so you are only allowed to take Reward flights with Air NZ only when there is *no* VS identical route?

(please note this is an uninformed guess! ?| )

Perhaps try VS to LAX, then ANZ to AKL, all rewards? Expensive in miles, but maybe permitted.

PeterStansfield wrote:I'm in the middle here. Partner airlines work, but not always. As someone who's
- been Suites class with Singapore
- been First class on Malaysian to Australia

Both using virgin points.

Hi Peter,

Just wondering how you managed to book SQ Suites using Virgin miles? It's something I'd love to do, but their partner page on the VS website states "Redemptions in Business Class and First Class on their A380, 777-300ER and A340-500 aircraft types are not available". Intrigued!

narikin wrote:
I'm sorry but that is not true. I have personally got seats a number of times on partners. Including 3 seats across 2 occasions on Air New Zealand, Business Class.

Like I said, join Expert Flyer, put an alert for the class and dates (with flexibility) into the system, it will send you an email when something comes up. Move fast to book those. You can put in multiple alerts on multiple dates. (If you even just do the trial subscription, the alerts still come to you after the trial has ended! ) That's how I got mine. and how I'll get them next time.

Where it doesn't work is when you say I want 2 seats on these exact days, with my returns on these exact days, and that's it. You need flexibility, and to be prepared to book 1 way, and wait for the return to come up. Also note that the closer the dates come the more seats they start to drop into the Reward category. Look at BA Business rewards on a popular route months out you'll find little, look for the next 3 days, and there is lots. At a certain point reality sets in and otherwise empty seats are freed up for Reward booking.

It is worth it, as there is none of the Fuel Surcharge nonsense there is flying via London. It is probably the best value redemption out there. LAX to AKL in business was $18 + miles. That's a $5000+ ticket! And a real Reward booking, unlike those on VS themselves, which are really forcing you to pay the equivalent of an Economy ticket in surcharges, and then use your miles for a 'Reward' UC seat, i.e. the most you can get on VS is really a Reward upgrade, not a Reward seat.

Congratulations, I can only tell you my experience and the people I know.

You are 100% correct and I agree that using miles to get reward tickets on airlines like NZ is the best way to go, it's just that I have found it impossible to do, you had a different result which is great.

sf wrote:Hi Peter,

Just wondering how you managed to book SQ Suites using Virgin miles? It's something I'd love to do, but their partner page on the VS website states "Redemptions in Business Class and First Class on their A380, 777-300ER and A340-500 aircraft types are not available". Intrigued!

Yes me too.
I looked at this if I ever get to go to Singapore or NZ again but came across the same page.

To reply to sf's question about Suites Class on Singapore, this was before Singapore brought in the rule about travel in Business and First. At that time they did however have a rule about no Suites travel.

However I booked on a 747 route in First, that I predicted would be replaced by an A380. So I got the tickets that way, and when the time came to fly, it was a 380. They tried to downgrade me, but I argued it wasn't MY fault that they'd decided to change the plane....

PeterStansfield wrote:To reply to sf's question about Suites Class on Singapore, this was before Singapore brought in the rule about travel in Business and First. At that time they did however have a rule about no Suites travel.

However I booked on a 747 route in First, that I predicted would be replaced by an A380. So I got the tickets that way, and when the time came to fly, it was a 380. They tried to downgrade me, but I argued it wasn't MY fault that they'd decided to change the plane....

Jammy so and so y)

PeterStansfield wrote:To reply to sf's question about Suites Class on Singapore, this was before Singapore brought in the rule about travel in Business and First. At that time they did however have a rule about no Suites travel.

However I booked on a 747 route in First, that I predicted would be replaced by an A380. So I got the tickets that way, and when the time came to fly, it was a 380. They tried to downgrade me, but I argued it wasn't MY fault that they'd decided to change the plane....

Nicely done! I'm rather jealous