Avios to New Zealand

[MH_23]

Hi all,

Having only recently started on points collecting, so far my experience has only been a couple of reward flights to Europe from London, which have been relatively simple after having found HfP.

I’m now looking to go a bit further afield, and want to look at using points as part of a trip to New Zealand for 2 people next Sept/Oct. I’ve got £210k avios and a Barclays upgrade voucher, which I appreciate might not get both of us there and back, but might help some.

I’ve read the articles on going to Australia and NZ, but struggling a bit to put it into practice. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of routes to take, stop offs on the way, or other ideas to make the most of the modest available avios budget?

Thanks in advance.

[nectar collector]

Well, 2 economy reward return tickets London to Auckland on Qatar Airways via Doha would cost a total of 90k Avios plus approx £370 per person, so your available Avios would technically be enough to get you all the way there …….

If you just have one Barclays voucher, then it has to be used on a flight from London, for 1 person return or 2 people one way, and on BA operated flights. As BA don’t fly as far as Auckland, to use this in some way on this trip you’d maybe have to look at using it to get as far as say Doha or Singapore or even Sydney on BA, and then using a combination of cash and Avios on remaining leg(s) to Auckland on Qatar or Qantas. So you could use the Barclays voucher to get say Premium Economy Avios bookings one way to an intermediate stopping point for both of you and have some of your Avios left over to part pay for cash tickets onwards, and/or the return to London.

As an example, 90k Avios plus approx £430 would get both of you as far as Singapore in Premium economy one way, using your Barclays voucher.

Any potential Avios bookings are of course subject to availability or reward tickets, but Economy and PE are obviously easier to get than Business or First.

How you might mix and match the options to some extent depends on what cabin(s) you are prepared to travel in, and what your budget is for costs over and above what the Avios and voucher can cover.

I’m sure others can add other ideas and options, but hopefully this is a starter for 10 on what you can explore.

[kiley]

Have u considered going the other way?
Possible to get to Santiago or Los Angeles using avios, then a cash fare to Auckland respectively.

Use you barclays voucher and avios to LA and avios only from la to Auckland on AA.

Obviously to get to Santiago via madrid a BA amex voucher would help.

New Zealand is an amazing place. Ideally you will need atleat 4 weeks there to scratch the surface.

I did north island only in 2.5 weeks and by the end was only just getting a feel for the place. We flew with emirates without a stopover. Its a looooong way..

[nectar collector]

+1 on it’s an amazing place…..heading out next year on our third trip, and first using Avios on Qatar.

[MH_23]

Thanks both, some very helpful starting points to look at. This is my first time going, so very excited!

Any thoughts on using the avios to upgrade cabins on parts of the journey? If we didn’t have the points we would pay to travel in economy, so wondering if using the avios to make the journey a bit nicer might also be an option?

[nectar collector]

Yes that’s another option, feels like you need to build a spreadsheet to compare the various ‘costs’ in terms of Avios and cash to see what you then think is the best value for you!

Economy cash prices on BA to SIN and OZ are pretty sky high at the moment IMO, Qatar and Malaysia airlines, both Oneworld partners for Avios earning and spending, are cheaper but obviously this fluctuates depending on dates, sales etc. Also could look at Cathay via HK but you couldn’t use the Barclays voucher on any of those. And as @Kiley said, you can go the other way round on BA/AA so there are lots of permutations to compare if you’re keen to get the ‘best’ combination of £ + Avios value, and potential stopoff points on the way.

[phantomchickenz]

I’m originally from NZ, and got into the points game 10 years ago for the sole reason of not having to fly economy for 26+ hours to visit home.

My advice – unless you’re going to dedicate significant hours to this ‘hobby’, forget your upgrade voucher and redeem (or upgrade) with Qatar (considering the east coast Oz cities as well to maximise availability).

Sounds like you’ve got a bit of time up your sleeve, so the second person can get cracking on building up their own Avios balance in the meantime?

[MH_23]

Thanks. Qatar is sounding like the simplest option. I’ll have a play around with some different routes and see where I get to.

[Ash]

Thinking about this trip 2024/25.

Am I correct in thinking the only Avios bookable flat bed business class from continental US to Hawaii is from Dallas?

I’d be more keen to stopover on west Coast but so far the feedback is Hawaii to west coast avios bookable flights are quite poor standard. True?

Via South America or Central America would be fantastic.