Air Miles, Velocity or other?

[jcbdigger]

I have just booked a couple of Long Haul return Business Class flights with Air New Zealand travelling November/December. We each have an Air Miles account but the earn seems pretty low and we are largely unable to use what few points we already have with them. On the booking I saw we could select to earn Velocity points but I am sure I read somewhere that Velocity earn with Air NZ was ceasing following their recent divorce. Velocity earn would be good as I am Gold with them and top ups are always welcome.

Would anyone know;

1) Is Velocity earn still available, or has it now (or is it about to) cease?
2) What might be an otherwise viable alternative to Air Points (we have SAL and a few other memberships kicking around unused!).

 

[andye]

The alliance between VA and NZ end on 27th October.
Other Star Alliance including Singapore KrisFlyer or United would be options
Qantas will be codesharing with NZ on non-trans Tasman flights from 28th October but I don't think you will be able earn Qantas points on an NZ flight number
wheretocredit.com is a good resource

 

[NZflygirl]

There will be no VA/NZ alliance when you fly so no go.

You could use APD for a flight across the Tasman one way. Use cash to pay one persons air fare and APD to pay the other although Australian taxes are pretty high. Not sure if there is a difference in the direction of flight. There are some pretty cheap grabaseat deals on from time to time so you could use APD towards those. They've gone up by $5 so instead of say $35 it's about $39 to fly Auckland to Wellington. Or you could choose one of the regions. Best to sign up to the deals though. I think they come out ~ 2 months in advance. Great if you want to fly to say Napier Gisborne Blenheim etc to try wine from those regions. Or if flying from Oz into Queenstown is expensive then just fly to Auckland or Wellington or Christchurch etc then use the APD for the onward leg to Queenstown via grabaseat. Of course you'll need to leave some room in that transit for error as Wellington gets windy, Christchurch can be foggy etc etc. Then you'd be stuffed for your onward flight. Or just make sure you have great travel insurance.

The alliance between VA and NZ end on 27th October.
Other Star Alliance including Singapore KrisFlyer or United would be options
Qantas will be codesharing with NZ on non-trans Tasman flights from 28th October but I don't think you will be able earn Qantas points on an NZ flight number
wheretocredit.com is a good resource

The only time you can earn QF points on NZ is domestic flying within NZ and vice versa, but pretty sure it has to be part of a TT itinerary on which you would fly QF across the Tasman then onwards to some regional destination with Air NZ.

The partnership doesn't extend to other destinations like the US.

wheretocredit.com is good and will tell you which programme will give you the most credits for your NZ flight.

You do have 4 years to use your Airpoint dollars before they expire unless you attain gold or higher status or buy koru club.