Spending UA miles on NZ flights

[stuartfaz]

Hey all,

Just a question for anyone who has used Mileage Plus Miles on Air NZ flights.

I have 33,000 points, enough, according to United, for a business class flight to and from NZ. However, UA grades their award levels Economy, Business, First (in this case, 20K, 30K and 40K respectively), whereas NZ's three levels are Economy, Premium Economy and Business.

Question is: Do UA MP compare their UA's First class with NZ's Business class? And if so, am I going to be stuck in Premium Economy with NZ if I book with UA miles?

Cheers.

[stryker]

Hey all,

Just a question for anyone who has used Mileage Plus Miles on Air NZ flights.

I have 33,000 points, enough, according to United, for a business class flight to and from NZ. However, UA grades their award levels Economy, Business, First (in this case, 20K, 30K and 40K respectively), whereas NZ's three levels are Economy, Premium Economy and Business.

Question is: Do UA MP compare their UA's First class with NZ's Business class? And if so, am I going to be stuck in Premium Economy with NZ if I book with UA miles?

Cheers.

book on a 2 class a/c and it won't be a problem.

[Kiwi Flyer]

Nope. You can't redeem for premium economy. A business award gets business class seat on NZ regardless of whether a/c is 2 or 3 class.

If on a route with a choice, I'd take the 3 class a/c (ie 747 or 777) since much nicer than A320 or 767.

Note for the same amount of miles on UA Mileage Plus as AKL-SYD you can do as much as PER-AKL-PPT.

[StevePER]

Note for the same amount of miles on UA Mileage Plus as AKL-SYD you can do as much as PER-AKL-PPT.

True in economy, but not in business class. Australia-New Zealand is 30k and Australia-South Pacific is 40k. But you could always buy the extra 7,000 for US$213 if you wanted to go further afield.

Cheers,
Steve