Using UAL FF Miles to New Zealand
 

I am having a devil of a time trying to book a trip to New Zealand using miles. I have more than enough miles for two business class tickets, but when I call UAL, they indicate there is no availability. I am trying to use the miles that are not supposed to have any restrictions. I have been trying to book this for the past 30+ days for a trip next February. I have been told by UAL that they restrict flights on their air partners - ugh! I have been saving these miles for quite a long time (all by the way earned by flying - no credit cards, etc.)

Has anyone had any luck? Any tricks? I just don't know what do do. I also tried to book an upgradeable economy ticket and use miles to upgrade, but there was no availability for a 30-day period of time.

I am getting to the point I want to use a travel agent to help - any good ones out there for this stuff?

You're willing to spend double the miles for a "standard award", right? Those only apply to UA/Ted/UAExpress.

So your best bet is to claim such an award to SYD, then buy a separate ticket to NZ, which should be relatively inexpensive.

Thanks. Now why couldn't UAL tell me this?

BTW, go to Flyertalk.com and ask about it on their United Mileage Plus forum. Others may have other suggestions.

Also, I don't know if they check EVERY partner, and not just AirNZ. Because you can get to NewZealand via BKK (using Thai), and via SIN (using SQ). Takes longer, but won't be that bad if you're flying business class, and won't be that much longer compared to connecting in SYD.

SFO-AKL is 6516 miles
SFO-SYD-AKL is 8762 miles
SFO-NRT-AKL is 10596 miles
SFO-SIN-AKL is 13671 miles
SFO-BKK-AKL is 13866 miles

I think that your options from the USA are to go to AKL on Air NZ or go to SYD on UA and connect there to New Zealand. They might route you thru Vancouver to Sydney on Air Canada.

There is a rule that limits the distance that you can fly on an award. Going via BKK or SIN might be too far.

You could go to united.com and search for award seat availability on United to Sydney. Just search LAX-SYD and SFO-SYD. Then call MP to get them to find a connecting flight to New Zealand.

If you sign up for the ANA mileage club then you could use their search engine to find Star Alliance availability.

You shouldn't have any trouble getting a standard award on United to Sydney.

The reservations agents typically check all partners. They might not check all routing. I see that Air NZ flies between YVR and AKL and would ask the agent to check routing that way.

I don't know about specific detail on Mileage Plus rules, but the OP didn't say where they're flying from. From the east coast, a SIN or BKK connection doesn't add THAT many miles.

And if they can get saver reward, even the extra mile should still be less than the "standard" reward on UA.

Just thinking out loud. I don't know MP well enough.

LBLB555,
I assume that if you earned all your miles flying, you are a premier member. If so, are you calling the number for premier member reservations? They are much more accommodating.

JFK-AKL is 8828 miles
JFK-LAX-AKL is 8979 miles
JFK-NRT-AKL is 12217 miles
JFK-SIN-AKL is 14762 miles
JFK-BKK-AKL is 14610 miles

It's over 5000 miles farther to go via SIN or BKK.

The distance traveled doesn't matter for the award cost. It's just a "N. America to Australia/NZ" award. It's 110,000 miles in business class as a Saver/Star Alliance Award (the mileage requirement was recently increased, in Oct 06 I think). Doesn't matter the routing.

I don't know what "the miles that are not supposed to have any restrictions" means unless OP is referring to a "United Standard Award". That would be 220,000 miles and would be only on United (UA/UX/Ted). The seat comes from available revenue seats, so it's going to be pretty wide open now for next Feb.

Exactly, that's what I mean. Seems like the OP is trying use the 220K award; and those don't work on partners.

That's why I want them to make sure MP checked ALL partners, not just NZ. The other airlines can get them to AKL too - though, yes, takes quite a bit longer.

As for the mileage, sorry I was way off the mark. Somehow I was thinking about going to London, which is about equi-distance either way. From the US, yes, definitely shorter to go cross the Pacific.

The United Standard Award would only get you as far as Sydney or Melbourne because United doesn't fly to New Zealand.

I think that United doesn't "restrict flights on their air partners". That would be contrary to their interests. The available seats on partner flights may be restricted, but they are restricted by the partner. Air New Zealand has a good case for restricting award seat availability to MP members. These are difficult award seats to get.

It would be possible to go to NZ via Japan or North Asia or South Asia. It would probably be two Saver/Star Alliance awards. One to Asia for 90K and then on from there to NZ for another 75K. But the trip would be 3500 to 5500 miles farther each way.

mrwunrfl posts: "I think that United doesn't "restrict flights on their air partners".
Unfortunately, recent anectdotal evidence posted on Flyertalk.com suggests that in fact this is EXACTLY what is being done.

UA has to "pay" for award space that it obtains from other *A carriers, and has at times chosen to restrict ITN from allowing this inventory to be shown to UA res agents. A simple check of the NH booking engine for award travel can demonstrate that while X airline (SQ, for example) may have C/F space available on Y date, UA does not make that inventory available to MP members.

Best, Dave

I booked two business class tickets to Christchurch, NZ from Singapore on Singapore Air using my UA miles about two weeks ago. Took two phone calls - one to UA to make the reservation, then a follow-up the next day to make sure the flights had cleared with SIA. No problem.

I've also recently booked three flights from Singapore to the US (two over Christmas)- purchased economy class tickets, then used UA miles to upgrade to business class on UA flights.

Have yet to have a problem using miles with UA but perhaps it's because our flights originate from Singapore (?) or we're traveling on less popular routes (?)

That's interesting, Dave, I would have thought the opposite: that Air NZ would limit seats to MP fliers because they could be overwhelmed by the UA fliers who never use Air NZ.

I got business class award seats LAX->PEN on Dec 20 (wanted the 20th) and SIN->LAX on Jan 7 (wanted the 6th) without any trouble as an MP member. Travel is on SQ with LAX-SIN nonstops both ways.

Got the 20th, wanted the 21st

Thanks for all the advise. I find it very frustrating that UAL shows on its website that flying from North America to "Australia or New Zealand" when the reality is that you CANNOT use mile to fly to New Zealand from North America. I have spent hours on the phone with United and this has been confirmed by multiple reservation agents. I consider it fraudulent that their website adverstises that you can use miles to New Zealand. I asked about some of the routings mentioned by others and UAL was not able to book these with miles (could pay for a ticket, but couldn't use miles).

I also find it frustrating that they adverstise Saver Business Class to Australia. After dozens of calls, I could not find a reservation agent that could find me even a single saver flight - for any month for any length of stay.

I think it's all a scam and am really starting to hate UAL. I fly 50,000 to 100,000 miles domestically on UAL - not a ton, but I am on a UAL flight at least weekly and not sure I can stay with them any longer. Just think they are fraudlent.

Thanks. I feel better.

If ANYONE has actually booked a business class ticket using miles on United dirctly from North America to New Zealand, please tell me how the heck you did it. The website says you can, but the reservation agents say no.

Don't feel bad. Everybody complain the same about <b>their</b> FF program. Miles are possible to use, you just have to be very flexible, and you need to have lots of patience to know how to use it.