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A bookable route to New Zealand opens up with Virgin Points

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As we discussed in our article last week on spending Virgin Points with non-SkyTeam alliance partners, it is possible to book Air New Zealand flights with Virgin Points.

The snag is that Air New Zealand no longer flies from the UK or indeed anywhere in Europe. It now focuses on flights from the United States. On top of that, availability was very tight.

Something seems to have changed.

A potential route to New Zealand opens up with Virgin Points

According to this US blog post,  Air New Zealand has started opening up business class availability from most of its US destinations close to departure.

This applies to its flights to Auckland from Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and San Francisco.

It is opening up two seats on most flights from the US, and even more on the return flights from Auckland.

You can currently book until early September, which implies that the airline is opening up space on a regular basis in the four weeks up to departure.

A business class one way flight between the US and Auckland on Air New Zealand is 62,500 Virgin Points each way.

You still need to get to Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston or San Francisco of course, but there should be reward availability via either British Airways or Virgin Atlantic. These are also decent cities to spend a day or so if you can’t get a same day connection or want to break your trip.

You can learn more about booking Air New Zealand on Virgin Points in this HfP article. You need to call to make a booking and you should ensure that you can see reward availability via the website of another Star Alliance partner airline before ringing.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (29)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Stuart says:
    11 Aug11 August 07:34

    Were they doing the same for New York too? They were making a huge song and a dance out of that route with advertising everywhere in NYC when the route launched

    • Rob says:
      11 Aug11 August 08:32

      No, no seat release from NY – I suspect they see more last minute cash bookings.

  • Toilet Paper Man says:
    11 Aug11 August 07:39

    Rob / Rhys, heads up BA changed BA Holiday rules.

    Journeys originating in US now count for double Tier Points!

    • Phillip says:
      11 Aug11 August 08:13

      It doesn’t look like the Ts&Cs have been updated to reflect that.

      • Harry T says:
        11 Aug11 August 12:14

        You need to be on the correct US web page for the offer to see the relevant T&Cs.

  • Louie says:
    11 Aug11 August 07:49

    How very opportune. I was just thinking this morning about the most efficient / available / cheapest way from east coast Australia to the UK / Europe via North America (preferably Canada) using points in business.

    I have plenty of Avios, Virgin, UK and Australian Amex MR points and some AA points. Does anyone have any thoughts? I’ve not started researching yet but putting this out there as this article is relevant.

    • aDifferentSimon says:
      11 Aug11 August 13:05

      was a bit too excited with the reply 🙂 miss your North America comment!
      I lived in NZ a few years back and my favourite one was a break via LA in Hawaii (thoughts and prayers currently…). I guess you could do that via Canada?

      • Julia says:
        11 Aug11 August 15:29

        We’re putting together a trip to Fiji with a break in Hawaii. Aged parents aren’t good with long flights plus, as Lady London highlights below, you always have to be mindful of allocating enough time between connections. It’s one thing to have to pay for a short hop in Europe but costs for walk-up long business flights can take the shine off a trip.

  • Mikeact says:
    11 Aug11 August 08:11

    I personally, would kick off by looking at the BA multi carrier with mileage options.

    • babyg says:
      11 Aug11 August 08:28

      multi carrier to NZ often fall apart before they begin…. a simple reward booking is quite appealing IMHO

  • G says:
    11 Aug11 August 08:23

    Is this a relationship unlikely to be affected by VS’ entry into Skyteam? Akin to how Aer Lingus retains its links with United

    • Rob says:
      11 Aug11 August 08:30

      More likely to be affected by their withdrawal from Europe, but I assume the contract is running down.

  • BajiNahid says:
    11 Aug11 August 10:32

    I wonder, is it not much longer to fly to NZ/AUS via USA than it is through the ME3/4 hubs?

    • memesweeper says:
      11 Aug11 August 12:05

      Via LA used to be an Air New Zealand route, comparable to going east from Europe.

      • Rob says:
        11 Aug11 August 12:16

        Yes, you went Heathrow to LA to Auckland, or indeed could just buy Heathrow to LA.

    • Lady London says:
      11 Aug11 August 13:33

      less jetlag for a lot of us going that way round

  • Lady London says:
    11 Aug11 August 13:32

    Used to have the disadvantage that even though NZ didn’t particularly point this out when you booked, if you booked straight through with them via LAX there was no way you could remain in transit zone in LAX, you were forced to immigrate into USA on the connection and then out again to the rest of your journey even on connection of very few hours.

    • blenz101 says:
      11 Aug11 August 13:40

      That is how the US operates for all carriers, nothing to do with NZ. The USA does not offer sterile transit, everyone must pass Customs and Immigration before joining a flight to a third country.

      • Lady London says:
        11 Aug11 August 15:09

        Correct. But a lot of people on those flights didn’t know, and for some, even a 4hr gap between flights did not give enough time for them to complete the formalities

        • Lady London says:
          11 Aug11 August 15:10

          It also meant no time for Lounge!

          • occasionalranter says:
            11 Aug11 August 16:35

            I was on the LAX-LHR leg in 2016. Long after we boarded, a whole load of very flustered and unusually angry Kiwis came on board, having had really hostile treatment by the US authorities after deplaning from the AKL-LAX leg. Most swore never to fly that route to London again.

          • Nick says:
            11 Aug11 August 16:55

            … which is why NZ later opened a LHR-HKG-AKL route as well, in the process creating the only single-carrier RTW itinerary. But for anyone with the right to enter the US (or who could get it easily) the normal route was never really a problem.

            LON-US-AKL has often been a good way to go – in the old days QF operated LAX-AKL and given their partnership at the time with BA it was the standard routing to NZ. In the even older days the BA hopper route went that way as well, and fast forwarding to today UA have managed to win outsize market share with LON-SFO-AKL.

          • Bagoly says:
            11 Aug11 August 17:27

            @Nick: “even older” and “hopper” – when was it eastbound?
            Wikipedia says that in 1982 (the ash-cloud glide) the route was LHR-Bombay-KL-Perth-Melbourne-AKL
            In terms of fuel economy would there be an argument for BA to fly it eastbound both ways to benefit from the winds?

  • Richard says:
    11 Aug11 August 13:33

    A little off topic, for which apologies – but is it just me, or has Qatar availability to the Far East in business at 1x Avios completely dried up? I saw lots about a month ago, and nothing now…

    • Louie says:
      11 Aug11 August 13:45

      Same to Australia.

    • NicktheGreek says:
      11 Aug11 August 19:45

      It’s the same from all of Europe it seems flying east. You can still get first class to Perth or Sydey and (haven’t checked Bangkok) buts it’s 1.5 times what business costs…

      • Rob says:
        11 Aug11 August 20:19

        This is a new thing BTW. First Class availability wasn’t widely available before but is now, at least where the A380 flies.

        Oddly it WAS available via ba.com but not the Qatar Airways site!

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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